Soy Cowboy Brings the Panache the Arlington Sports Scene Has Lacked

Arlington is, arguably (like, let's actually argue about it. You start.) a world-class sports destination. From Jerry World to Globe Life Field and even Choctaw Stadium, a lot happens in that small patch of earth. The MLB All-Star will soon descend, not to mention the World Cup in a couple of years.

But ever since AT&T Stadium opened its XXXL glass doors, the area around it has lacked the pizzazz one might expect around a renowned sporting mecca. The area is rife with retail space, but instead of fun bars and restaurants to pregame, there's a Walmart, Panda Express and Cici's.

Globe Life Field does have Texas Live. While it's one of our favorite sports bars, the food, alas, speaks to its size and stadium location: It's decent for the masses.

But want to have a nice dinner before a game or show at AT&T or Globe Life? Then you probably have reservations in Dallas.
Until now, however. A new Loews hotel recently opened, not to be confused with the smaller one already there. It's a shiny behemoth with a fancy lobby and resort-style pool for which we desperately want a key pass.

The anchor restaurant at Loews is Soy Cowboy, a pan-Asian restaurant and bar from a hospitality group in Houston. The restaurant sits directly across the street from Texas Live with an entrance just down from the main hotel entrance. Party tip: you can valet at the hotel and they'll validate your ticket.

Soy Cowboy, a riff on the name of a street in Bangkok lined with go-go bars, offers a little bit of everything Asian: dim sum, sushi, robata, noodles, dumplings, Korean barbecue ribs and a 32-ounce Australian tomahawk steak with ponzu garlic butter ($285).

The car-check report shows that the service is elevated and spot on. You'll get an option for three different water services: still, sparking or something else. We chose tap. Our server told us the chef suggests three or four plates per person. We did some math and decided to start with two each (four total) and then see how we felt. Good call. We'd call them medium plates.
The salt and pepper calamari was first up and was surprisingly small serving at $22. The salt and pepper weren't as prominent as at a nearby neighborhood spot, where a similar dish lingers long in your mind for significantly less and three times the serving size. Although a smidge overdone, the crust was light and had a nice texture.

The chicken dumplings at two other tables looked wonderful, but we went for the pork shu mai, delightful little purses of pork and wood ear mushrooms topped with a smidge of bright orange tobiko. We could have eaten a dozen but at $4 a pop ($16 for an order of four), we had two each.
The big surprise of the night was fried cauliflower ($14), served with a small pillow of goat cheese hiding out at the bottom of the bowl. Swipe a hunk of the perfectly cooked vegetable through the cheese, grab a raisin on the way out and maybe a crispy scallion. Bright, fresh and rich — it's a scandal for cauliflower and raisins to be this good.
For our main, we split a bowl of yakisoba noodles ($21) with bonito flakes and ginger, topped with shrimp for an additional $17. The only complaint we had about this comforting bowl of noodles was the shrimp upcharge — we didn't get that much shrimp. Nor were we sending the dish back. This, too, was a delight, full of flavor and textures. Lightly sauced, ingredients like bonito flakes and ginger did the heavy lifting, and the noodles were stir-fried perfectly.

The food and experience are great, if on the expensive side, but likely in-line with expense accounts and entertainment districts designed for tourists. In all, we spent $135 with the tip for two, no drinks included (tap water is free), which is standard for a nice night out these days. But in a town that has, if nothing else, amazing authentic Asian cuisine, the prices are, perhaps, a little hard to swallow. Anyhoosie, if you want a swanky pregame in Arlington, Soy Cowboy is the spot.

Soy Cowboy, 888 Nolan Ryan Expressway, Arlington. Sunday – Thursday, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Friday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.