Exotic eats in DFW, or the offal truth

If you think eating calf fries is adventurous, think again. You can go totally ballistic eating “nose to tail,” or offal, in DFW. So after you conquer calf fries, why not try some tongue, tripe or tendon?

Here’s where to find them.

Tongue: A fatty, tender meat that is usually boiled with onions or other herbs and spices to add flavor.

Where to try it: The tongue tacos, or lengua, at Salsa Limon and Revolver Taco Lounge are the talk of the town in Fort Worth. And both are excellent. But this dish is hardly exotic and can also be found on the menu at many DFW taquerias.

Tripe: Same goes for tripa or tripe, a Mexican delicacy more commonly known as stomach lining. It’s typically found in menudo but also shows up in tacos and Vietnamese pho. It can be chewy with a bit of a livery flavor, but like a lot of cow bits, it picks up the flavors it is cooked with.

Where to try it: Try the menudo at Los Molcajetes in north Fort Worth (weekends only) or Esperanza’s. Or the tripa tacos at Salsa Limon.

Tendons: Often found in pho, the popular Vietnamese soup, beef tendon itself is tough until it is served in the hot soup, and then it transforms from chewy to gelatinlike with a mild flavor that barely hints at beef.

Where to try it: Pho & Grill in south Fort Worth and Pho Bang in Garland both serve authentic Vietnamese pho with tendon and tripe, if you want to kill two exotic dishes with one soup.

Tails: Oxtails, which actually come from cows, are usually slow-cooked or braised for hours, so the meat becomes very tender and stewlike. It’s something of a Southern delicacy, but is also featured in Jamaican cooking.

Where to try it: Jamaica Gates, an authentic Caribbean restaurant in Arlington, and Buttons, the upscale soul-food spot in west Fort Worth, both consider oxtails among their house specialties.

Sweetbreads (glands): These are not sweet, nor are they bread. But these thymus glands (neck or throat) and pancreas are tender and usually come from calves or veal. The outside can be crisped up, but the interior is smooth and moist.

Where to try it: Chef David McMillan offers crisp sweetbreads with apple mustard and frisee salad on his shared-plates menu at Bird Cafe in Fort Worth and Meddlesome Moth in Dallas. He also offers beef bone marrow and oxtails. What, no calf fries?

Liver: It is loaded with minerals, vitamins and amino acids, which is why predatory animals go right for it. But that also means it’s also a strongly flavored organ, and definitely an acquired taste.

Where to try it: We couldn’t find many places that regularly serve beef liver, probably because it has long been a poster child for yucky eats among kids. But fans of the homestyle dish still sop it up at Ginger Brown’s in Lake Worth, and you may want to call ahead because they often run out. But when in doubt, there’s always liver and onions at Luby’s.

Heart: Rich in vitamin B-12 and nutrients that boost stamina, beef heart is also high in cholesterol and has a rich flavor. It is considered a delicacy and somewhat tough to find on menus in DFW.

Where to try it: Joyce & Gigi’s in Dallas serves a South American-style beef heart pate, infused with wine and herbs. Yum.

This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 12:58 PM with the headline "Exotic eats in DFW, or the offal truth."