Weathered Wrangler

The transition from hoofs to beaks can be awe-inspiring. Chicken chile rellenos topped with roasted corn chowder and Mexican cheese was fitted with tender young corn kernels and juicy chicken. The pepper was smoky and firm without being stringy or mushy. A racy patch of greens broadened the flavors by kicking in some sass.

But perhaps the most impressive stock to come out of Reata's pens were the desserts, imaginative flourishes bursting with freshness and flavor. Dessert tacos were designed to look like the street versions, with diced strawberry and mint leaf shreds standing in for tomato and cilantro. With caramelized banana, vanilla-nut ice cream and shaved white chocolate anchored by a tuile cookie tortilla, the taco was as flavorful as it was deft.

Though the service was half-hearted, featuring scant menu knowledge and uneven pacing, it wasn't enough to thwart the experience. (The wine list could benefit from a less California-centric bent and include more "cowboy" regions in South America, or Texas for that matter, from where it had just three entrants.)

Décor is a museum of wrangler ventures and vestments. The walls are caked with cowboy murals and studded with buffalo, deer and antelope noggins. Boots are sequestered into display cases. All of these knickknacks come from Micallef's western trappings collection. But it's when you ascend upstairs to the patio garden that the Texas drench really sloshes you. This expansive piazza is rich in Texas flora, all meticulously labeled. A waterfall dribbles trickles over rock facings. Like the gazebo in the dining room below, a climate-controlled dining dome serves as the outdoor centerpiece, a kind of Sundance Square "Buckyball," or maybe an architectural calf fry.

With locations in Alpine, Texas, and an upcoming unit set to open in Woodland Hills north of Los Angeles (a Beverly Hills location on Rodeo Drive was shuttered June 2001 after little more than a year in operation), Reata and its cowboy luster have always been objects slated for dispersion. Currently, co-owners Evans and Micallef are eyeing locations in St. Louis, Sacramento and Baltimore.

If these scions hold together anything like the battered Fort Worth version, they should grace these cities with an engaging slice of cowboy culture. Floods, mudslides and power grid ruptures be damned.