Thanks Tristan
Fancy new saloon restaurant chips in on revival of Dallas' Victory Park
A first restaurant in Victory Park from Tristan Simon is ready to roll. Called Billy Can Can, it's fashioned after a 19th-century dining saloon and will open at 2386 Victory Park Ln., at the corner of Museum Way, on June 28.
In a release, Simon calls it "a joyful place to experience the great social spirit of Dallas while indulging in delicious Texas food and drink."
Simon is the former CEO of Consilient Hospitality, a group that operated restaurants such as The Porch, Hibiscus, Victor Tangos, Fireside Pies, and CBD Provisions at The Joule. In July 2014, he sold his stake in Consilient to partner Tim Headington and resigned as CEO. In 2016, he formed a new company called Rebees, to launch multiple concepts at Victory Park.
Billy Can Can is named for and designed after a fictional character whose various hobbies are represented in the decor, including a silhouette on the facade.
Chef is Matt Ford (Americano, CBD Provisions, Craft Dallas), whose menu will be modern Texas with a French influence and some Mexican dishes. They'll use Texas-raised beef and game, Gulf seafood, and locally grown produce including some from Ford's personal garden.
Menu items include oyster sliders on sweet-potato rolls; a seafood tower type dish with oysters, blue crab salad, ceviche, and shrimp; venison tartare; Gulf snapper with succotash; fried quail with radish slaw and pickle biscuits; buffalo tenderloin; and Wagyu tomahawk for two with roasted bone marrow and wild-arugula and green-tomato salad.
For dessert, there's a Texas peach cobbler with bourbon, brown-butter drop biscuits, and buttermilk sherbet.
Joining Ford in the kitchen are Michael Llanas (Craft Dallas, Front Room Tavern, Americano) and Carolanne Treadwell (CBD Provisions, Knife, WD50, Ai Fiori), a 2017 Tastemaker Awards nominee for best rising-star chef.
The bar is led by Zach Smigiel (Midnight Rambler, Victor Tangos, The Porch), also a 2017 Tastemaker Awards nominee for best bartender. In addition to the usual spirits, there are 11 beers on draught, including eclectic brews from out-of-state, plus a house-made sarsaparilla.
The wine list include Texas wines, and will be the first in Dallas to feature up-and-coming Hilmy Cellars, including its award-winning Albariño. French wines are another focus; the balance of the list comprises vintages from California, Oregon, Mexico, Argentina, and Spain.
General manager is Abe Bedell (AF+B, Oak, Victor Tangos, Cuba Libre), and manager is Shannon Wilson (Uchi Dallas, Americano).
The restaurant is mid-sized: 4,800 square feet, with 145 seats. The dining room has 16-foot-high ceilings, an open kitchen, studded leather banquettes, and what the release calls "a striking assortment of taxidermy." The focal point is a serpentine pecan-wood bar, made from a 150-year-old pecan tree in Walnut Hill, with a dramatic back bar made on-site from mahogany, red oak, pecan, maple, and pine. Much wood.
Most of the furniture and lighting is custom-made, including zinc table tops; a 12-foot African mahogany communal table; and suspended Art Deco mercantile lights embellished with cast-aluminum peacocks. Designer Kate Murphy says that every element of the restaurant was handmade by local craftsmen and artists.
Billy Can Can will be open for dinner only, but will eventually add brunch.
Simon's development company, Rebees, has signed on to open a number of other places in Victory Park. They keep their plans pretty buttoned down, but a Trademarkia page shows something called Sioco and The Big Tent. Fortunately they have let the trademark lapse on an entity called Madcap Jacks. Name-wise, Billy Can Can is plenty.
The large wraparound bar at Hudson House Southlake.Photo courtesy of Hudson House
East Coast oysters and shrimp cocktail at Hudson House. Photo courtesy of Hudson House 