They're mighty brave and bold over at The Break Bar & Grill, a new restaurant-bar that opened March 1 in Addison's new Vitruvian Park complex. This fresh venture from Scott Tallis and his father, Alan, takes a daring step that's virtually unheard-of these days: There is only one burger on the menu.
Not 10 burgers. Not even five. One. It's a delicious burger, says father Alan, but the menu includes all sorts of other food items too, like flatbreads, crostini, something called "salads," and an interesting hummus that incorporates mashed avocado.
This fresh venture from Scott Tallis and his father, Alan, takes a daring step: There is only one burger on the menu.
"We have one burger," says Alan, courageously. "This is not a burger joint. There are no fried poppers. We do house-made potato chips from sweet potato and Yukon gold potatoes, served with Boursin-style dressing. Every evening we have a 'surf, turf or earth special.' Surf is seafood, turf is meat, and earth is a pasta or vegetarian dish."
On weekends, they do brunch, featuring a sweet potato smoked turkey hash, with poached egg and Hollandaise sauce.
"It's predominantly fresh foods," Alan says. "The specialties include fish tacos California-style, ahi tuna tacos, and sliders made with ground chicken and andouille sausage on Hawaiian buns."
Alan and Scott were both previously in the hotel industry, though in different areas.
"I spent 35 years as an executive in the hotel industry, working for La Quinta and on other properties," Alan says. "Scott worked more on construction and renovation. Scott has always dreamed of having a sporty-ish place — not a sports bar but with good food. We were presented with an opportunity at Vitruvian to be their first food and beverage operation, and we collaborated."
The Break has a 1,200-square-foot patio overlooking a man-made waterway, part of the Vitruvian complex developed by the City of Addison. In addition to the water feature, Vitruvian has park and sports facilities, residential buildings, plus several bridges, walkways, an amphitheater, and a congregating spot under a huge old oak tree.
Another thing that makes The Break distinctive is that, in addition to the obligatory craft beers and cocktail menu that every restaurant-bar must now have, it is uniquely committed to wine.
"For a bar, we have a pretty good wine list," Alan says. "We're both are wine drinkers. Scott came here from Los Angeles. It's easy to get into wine there, and this place has a California feel."
Fish tacos at the Break Bar & Grill in Addison.
