940's Kitchen and Cocktails: A Field Trip to Denton

The denizens of farthest reaches of North Dallas often feel like the red-headed stepchildren of Dallas proper. Not really suburbia but also 20 minutes from Uptown, those of us who live up here are used to trekking for new food adventures.

Spring was in the air and the tulips in Pilot Point were blooming, so we decided to stop in Denton, specifically Downtown Square, for a bite to eat. The square’s focal point is the old courthouse and has the requisite antique shops, used bookstores and eateries surrounding it. The best feature, however, is its free parking lots.
After spending some time at Recycled Books Records CDs, we happened upon 940’s Kitchen & Cocktails, which looked promising. By “happened upon,” of course, we scoured Yelp for good places to eat within two blocks. Their “about” online states: “We’re a restaurant and bar that’s dedicated to serving delicious American fare and drinks to our Denton neighbors. Cooking with fresh ingredients and a lot of love."

Pretty spot on, assuming the love is locally sourced and organic. They have a brunch menu, but we were there for lunch in the middle of the week so ordered off of the dinner menu. One of their specialties is eggplant fries, but this was a light meal in prep for tulip viewing, so chose a couple of sandwiches: the short-rib grilled cheese and the caprese.
The caprese had mozzarella, tomato, pesto and arugula, all served on a garlic buttered baguette. It varied from the traditional in substituting a slightly spicy pesto in place of actual whole basil leaves. It was an interesting touch, and the garlic buttered baguette was a nice addition. It came with french fries that were better than average.

The short-rib grilled cheese was one of the best things I’ve had in a long time. It consisted of an American and fontina cheese blend, perfectly melted on sourdough bread, with scrumptiously tender meat, all adorned with a gorgeous sunny-side-up egg. It looked as amazing as it tasted. One may be so swept away with this sandwich they'd blow up a photograph and hang it on our wall just so to relive it every day. It came with the option of fries or a house salad, and we went with the latter. This, too, was better than average with a nice, light vinaigrette dressing.
This was supposed to be a light meal. After all, we passed up on the eggplant fries starter, but when we were about to leave we noticed scrawled on the chalkboard of daily specials a Nutella cheesecake. The tulips could wait a bit. Even if you're not a dessert person, take heed, it's served with two spoons, so what are ya' gonna do? It was a good slice of cheesecake, not too sweet, not too dry, not too wet. The Goldilocks of early afternoon cheesecake.

It was nice to get out of the shadow of DFW if just for a couple of hours. The food was good, the books cheap and the tulips …  eh, they’re tulips. Still, it was a successful afternoon.

940's Kitchen and Cocktails, 219 W. Oak St. (Denton), 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Monday - Thursday; 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday