Wine in the OC
Dallas restaurateur ditches Deep Ellum for wine bar in Oak Cliff
Oak Cliff's getting a wine bar, from a restaurateur with a long history of openings and closings in Dallas and Fort Worth. The place is called Bouchon 1314, after the street number on Davis where it's located.
The owner is Jean-Michel Sakouhi, who has been active on the local restaurant scene for more than 20 years, dating back to his days as a server at the Mansion on Turtle Creek. His previous ventures have included Tramontana in Preston Center, Le Paris Bistrot in Uptown, Severine's in Southlake, the Vault in downtown Fort Worth and So7 Bistro in Fort Worth.
Suffice it to say that, for anyone who likes to write about restaurant openings and closures, Sakouhi is a dream come true.
When we last tracked his whereabouts, he was helping open a wine bar in Deep Ellum in the old EZ Dude BBQ spot, called Cepage, which was slated to open in January 2015. A spokesperson for the landlord said that they were notified a few weeks ago that Cepage would no longer be happening.
In 2009, Sakouhi was slated to open a restaurant at Mercantile Place in downtown Dallas, which subsequently was conceived for the Il Sole space at Travis Walk, before it was scrapped. Sakouhi was drafted to run City Hall Restaurant at ArtHouse in Keller in 2011; that spot has since become FNG Eats. He also ran a place in north Fort Worth called Cowboy Burger Taco Bar.
Bouchon 1314 is going into the quaint chalet-style complex that also houses the Cozy Cottage Children's Boutique and the relocated Zola's Everyday Vintage. Bouchon is going into a space that was once upon a time a supermarket, Tienda Chori's.
According to a worker on the project, it is scheduled to open in the next few weeks.
