Downtown Dining News
Tex-centric CBD Provisions restores culinary glory to Joule Dallas
In a season full of buzzy restaurant openings, one shoots to the top of the list: CBD Provisions, a Texas-centric brasserie adjacent to The Joule hotel in downtown Dallas, debuts Thursday, October 10.
Led by executive chef Michael Sindoni, the restaurant that's named for downtown's Central Business District celebrates the culinary traditions of Texas. It opens with a stated commitment to local and sustainable sourcing and a passion for making things in-house.
Featured breakfast items include green chile pork tacos; buckwheat pancakes; and steel-cut oats with Texas pecans, sorghum and crème fraîche. Daytime dishes include oysters with lardo, goat pies, braised tripe, shrimp and grits with ‘nduja, and pig-head carnitas.
"I came up in fine dining and, like a lot of chefs, I want to cook food I want to eat every day, and not just for super exclusive or special occasions," says executive chef Michael Sindoni.
Cocktails by bartenders Chad Solomon and Christy Pope feature updated classics with a regional spirit. The wine list showcases outstanding small producers from Texas, California and France. Craft beer is draft focused with a particular emphasis on Dallas-Fort Worth.
CBD Provisions doesn't replace what was the Charlie Palmer restaurant, says Sindoni.
"Palmer at the Joule is all gone, and that space is being reconcepted," he says. "I am strictly chef of CBD Provisions. There is a difference that a lot of people don't understand; the space that CBD is in was always going to be a more casual restaurant. I was brought to Dallas mainly to oversee Charlie Palmer.
"The fact that it became a steakhouse, I'm pleased with the way it turned out," he says. "I came up in fine dining and, like a lot of chefs, I want to cook food I want to eat every day, and not just for super exclusive or special occasions. I want to work at a place where people can afford to go on a regular basis but still get good food and good service."
One of Sindoni's trademarks has been charcuterie, long before it began turning up on menus everywhere.
"I've always been a charcuterie guy – that was my first thing that got me into this line of work," he says. "All of the best ethnic cuisines come from the utilization and preservation of all the body parts of an animal. People had a limited amount of food and had to use the whole thing but had to make it delicious. It wasn't like the steakhouse, where you're eating 10 percent of the animal. What do you do with the rest is a fun challenge."
And curing isn't just for animals. "You can take the same approach with vegetables," Sindoni says. "Pickling and fermentation came out of the fact that you had a huge harvest you're not going to be able to eat in one season."
CBD Provisions is open breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, with brunch on weekends. It comes from Consilient Hospitality, a restaurant and hotel management company owned by Tristan Simon and the Headington Companies. Consilient manages operations for The Joule and a group of restaurants that includes Hibiscus, Victor Tangos, The Porch, Front Room, CBD Provisions and multiple locations of Fireside Pies.