There's a unique new restaurant coming to a prominent downtown address from one of Dallas' most award-winning-est teams: Called Sauvage, it'll open in early summer at the Statler Dallas hotel, at 1914 Commerce St. #100, in the space most recently occupied by Sfereco, a meatball-themed restaurant that closed in 2023.

Sauvage is from Casey and Amy La Rue, who own La Rue Doughnuts, the massively popular artisan shop at Trinity Groves, and who previously owned Carte Blanche, the award-winning restaurant on Greenville Avenue which closed in 2024 (and is now home to Ocean Ranch, an Italian steakhouse).

Sauvage marks their return to fine dining and will follow a similar tasting menu approach that they maintained at Carte Blanche, but with a smaller footprint: just 10 seats, with two seatings per night.

"This is what our original vision was for Carte Blanche," Casey says. "We started by doing pop-ups out of airbnbs, with a table set up in the backyard, with the eventual goal of opening a restaurant with 10 seats at a big communal table. Our location on Greenville Avenue evolved into something larger, with a bakery and multiple menus — but this will return to the original idea, with one singular menu."

They're calling it a "woodfire omakase."

"We're putting in a wood-fired grill as well as a small smoker," he says. "The menu will be centered on a wood-fire tasting menu, with 16 to 18 courses cooked on a wood fire and served right to you. We'll have the same focus on wild game that we had with Carte Blanche — antelope, elk, venison — plus seafood, vegetable courses, and dessert."

Unlike Carte Blanche, where they had a policy of skipping using beef, Sauvage will occasionally incorporate it. "We got locked into a corner on the 'no beef' thing, but sometimes it's hard to find a tender cut of wild game, so we won't rule it out," Casey says.

The convivial environment will put the diner in the center of the magic, watching as the sizzling meat and game are cut and cooked on the flame and plated — omakase-style.

Each course will celebrate wood-fired flavors, whether on a petite croissant with smoked crème fraiche and Kristal caviar or an A5 Wagyu ribeye with black winter truffle. Every course will be done on the wood grill or smoker, with no gas and no fryer. (No fries!)

It will be a collaboration with Amy doing desserts and breads that will occupy 25 percent of the menu. They'll also offer a beverage pairing, although it won't be restricted to wine.

"The beverage pairing will comprise an eclectic range, incorporating cocktails as well as wine," Casey says. "I think limiting it to wine can get boring — it so often ends up being one expensive red after another."

Pricing will be in line with what tasting and omakase places are charging: $245 for dinner, plus $125 for beverage pairing.

Carte Blanche was the first stand-alone restaurant to achieve Forbes Five-Star in Texas for two years in a row, in 2022 and again in 2023. It was also the only Dallas restaurant to earn the prestigious 5-diamond award from AAA. And don't forget its Tastemaker Awards for Best Restaurant, Best Chef, and Best Pastry Chef.

The restaurant's in-house bakery overseen by Amy, an accomplished pastry chef, turned out to be a juggernaut, with croissants, doughnuts, tarts, and Danish — so successful, it spawned the doughnut shop which they opened in mid-2024.

They'll juggle the two concepts, made easier by the fact that Sauvage will only be open four days a week, as well as the geographical proximity of both concepts.

"With Greenville Avenue, we got a lot of complaints about it being a hassle to get over there for dinner," Casey says. "Downtown is easier, with more than one way to get there, and there's valet parking with the hotel."

The restaurant is not an official part of the hotel, but according to a representative from the Statler, it is part of a larger strategy being executed by The Statler and Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services who are working to solicit culinary visionaries and upscale spa operators to create new experiences for hotel guests and downtown visitors.

“Casey and Amy bring with them a profound appreciation of The Statler and the history within that we’ve worked to preserve,” says Mehrdad Moayedi, CEO of Centurion American Development Group, which owns The Statler. “We have worked diligently to identify the right partner to activate this space to create a luxury experience on par with the hotel itself.”