If you love squash, it's a magical time right now in the Dallas restaurant world. We haven't seen winter yet, but we're seeing it on our plates. Other dining news includes chefs on the move and, as always, an opening or two. Here's all the latest Dallas restaurant dish:
Kabuki Japanese Restaurant opened at Galleria Dallas, where it serves a long menu of 200-plus items in a variety of rooms including a large bar, dining room, sushi bar, and private dining space. A release says that Kabuki is known for reinventing Japanese cuisine as a new comfort food by corporate executive chef Masa Kurihara. There are small plates, salads, sushi, sashimi, rolls, specialty rolls, entrees, signature dishes, noodles, rice, vegetarian, and gluten-free dishes. Highlights include agedashi tofu, sushi rolls, seafood paella, and spicy seafood udon pasta.
The Cookery is an innovative new concept offering cooking classes in the Design District, at 1130 Dragon St., from entrepreneurial chef Kelly Huddleston. It will host interactive dinner party-style classes focused on international, regional, and seasonal cuisine, with classes on Thai, Italian, Japanese, Caribbean, and pasta making. There are also plans to roll out a weekend brunch. Instructors will guide participants through the creation of three to four courses, which are then consumed family-style, with drinks, if desired. Huddleston is originally from the West coast, and previously worked at Hip Cooks, a coastal chain doing a similar concept.
Blatt Beer + Table has a new set of dishes aimed at the growing vegan and vegetarian crowd. Dishes include a veggie burger made with quinoa and roasted beet, served on an oat-topped wheat bun with vegan mayo, caramelized onions, pea shoots, and pickled veggie slaw. OK, I'm in. There's also a vegan "currywurst" served on a pretzel bun, with caraway kraut and German rosemary mustard. OK, I'll take one of those. Falafel sliders, crunchy little non-meatballs made from ground chickpeas, come on a mini flatbread with tahini-yogurt sauce and pickled veggie slaw.
Spin Neapolitan Pizza has a winter pie of the season, available through December 31, with its famous meatballs, ricotta, and roasted sweet potatoes with a red sauce. Did not know its meatballs were famous.
Hard Rock Cafe has a Heineken brisket burger, consisting of a half-pound Angus patty topped with Heineken-braised brisket, caramelized barbecue onions, garlic aioli, and Gouda cheese, served with Hard Rock's seasoned fries. Obviously, you'd be wanting to get a Heineken on draft to go with that. It's available through January 29.
Vegan Noms goodies are now on sale at Royal Blue Grocery in Highland Park Village. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Peanut Butter Cookie Dough are in the refrigerated section, and bagged cookies of both flavors are on the shelves. Vegan Noms is no longer operating as a food truck, but you can still get its holiday treats, including pumpkin cupcakes for Thanksgiving and gingerbread cookies and peppermint fudge for Christmas, by calling 214-614-8354 or by ordering online.
Cedar Grove has some new menu items that it says are influenced by the autumn equinox. They include sausage meatballs in a butternut squash marmalade; roasted squash with spiced yogurt, almonds, and carrots; and sweet potato bisque topped with a garlicky marshmallow. You read that correctly, the marshmallow is garlicky. Pot roast comes with potato mash, kale, and root vegetables; potato mash is similar to mashed potatoes, except the order of the words is reversed. Quail is stuffed with goat cheese, onion, and rapini, and finished with truffle honey. Pork duo combines a pork belly and a pork chop, served with bacon and Brussels sprouts — wouldn't that be a pork trio? Two new desserts include apple crisp and pumpkin cheesecake.
Savor Gastropub in Klyde Warren Park debuts a new fall food and cocktail menu with Brussels sprouts, mussels, ahi tuna tataki, a mixed greens salad, a "carpaccio" made of beet and persimmon, salmon, Texas striped bass, sea scallops, smoked pork brisket, pan-roasted duck breast, short ribs, and crispy potato gnocchi.
Sundown at Granada has a new winter menu with herb-crusted salmon with sweet-potato gnocchi, and pappardelle with sausage, pine nuts, and kale in a chipotle marinara.
Front Room Tavern has a new fall menu with starters such as cauliflower soup, spinach salad, and goat cheese arancini. New entrées include salmon with sweet potato, cauliflower, and pumpkin seed pesto; duck breast with lentils; and half chicken with squash couscous. New desserts include salted caramel pot de crème with cashew brittle and vanilla cream.
Abacus has launched a happy hour with $12 apps and $6 drinks. These will include Abacus' famous lobster shooters (and they truly are famous), crab dip with potato chips, duck confit, poke tuna-avocado roll, and buffalo sliders. Cocktails include a Moscow mule; an old fashioned; and the French 75 with gin, lemon, and champagne. Beer and wine by the glass will be available for half price. It goes down Tuesdays through Fridays, from 5-6:30 pm in the Abacus Lounge.
Americano at The Joule introduces a new daily Aperitivo Hour, an Italian version of happy hour from 4-7 pm, with a selection of specially priced Italian aperitivos, wines on tap, and draft beers. Cocktails include the Negroni with gin, Campari, and rosso vermouth for $7, and the Lone Star Sbagliato with rosso vermouth, Campari, and Lone Star Lager for $6. Tap wines are available by the glass and carafe including chardonnay for $8 a glass or $32 a carafe. Draft beers include Peroni for $5 and Grapevine Sir Williams brown ale for $6. A midday food menu, available from 2-5 pm, features fried olives stuffed with Calabrian chili sausage; arancini with porcini and taleggio; calamari with marinara; and pizzas such as the seasonal pumpkin blossom with preserved Meyer lemon, ricotta, and basil for $15.
Henry's Majestic has a slate of 11 new cocktails with flavors of the season from mixologist Alex Fletcher. To wit: the Butter Me Up with buttero-poached pear-infused brandy, bitters, and citrus oil.
Trompo, the West Dallas taco stand that got a nod from Bon Appétit magazine, can now be ordered via Caviar, allowing you to get Trompo's tacos during regular business hours and forgo the long lines that ensued after the taqueria got national attention.
Madrina has a limited-run champagne tasting with chef-prepared toasts, served through November. It's notable just for the champagne alone, which include a flight of three Ruinart champagne varietals: Ruinart Blanc de Blancs, Ruinart Rose, and Dom Ruinart 2004. Toasts include chicken mousse, radish, and salted butter. The tasting is $49.
Cantina Laredo has two new margaritas. One is made with Espolón Reposado tequila, SKYY Infusions Honeycrisp apple vodka, Monin Granny Smith Apple Purée, and lime juice. The other is made with Hornitos Black Barrel tequila, St-Germain Elderflower liqueur, lime juice, and Angostura bitters.
SuperChix has unveiled its schedule of special flavor custards through January 2. Mark your calendars. The week of November 21, it's gingerbread cookie. November 28, mint Oreo fudge. December 5, brownie batter. December 12, peppermint stick. December 19, eggnog crunch. December 26, chocolate peppermint chunk. Janury 2, English toffee coffee. Custards are $3.25 for a mini, $3.95 for a regular, $4.30 for a large, and $9 for a custard flight with vanilla, chocolate, and flavor of the day.
7-Eleven dabbles in fancy coffee with a new sustainable single-origin coffee from Nicaragua. Called Matagalpa, this is 7-Eleven's first coffee made with beans sourced only from coffee-growers who are Rainforest Alliance Certified (RFA). It's a full-bodied medium-dark roast with a dark chocolate aroma and sweet notes of cocoa.
Dunkin’ Donuts debuts its new candy cane-crunch donut, a yeast donut with vanilla-flavored cream filling, topped with white icing and crushed candy cane pieces. Its new Boston Kreme croissant donut is a glazed croissant donut filled with Bavarian cream and finished with chocolate icing. DD also has new crème brûlée macchiatos, lattes, and coffees. Returning favorites include its peppermint mocha drink and its black pepper bacon breakfast sandwich, with egg, American cheese, and four strips of bacon coated in a brown sugar and black pepper seasoning, served on choice of croissant or flour tortilla.
Starbucks has a new beverage, the spiced sweet cream Nariño 70 cold brew. Starbucks has offered iced and blended versions of its holiday espresso beverages, but this is the first time it has created a cold coffee holiday beverage. Starbucks Nariño 70 Cold Brew coffee is slow-steeped for 20 hours, then spiced with cinnamon, anise, nutmeg, and vanilla, then finished with cream. This is the third of Starbucks' cold-craft portfolio of beverages, following the launch of vanilla sweet cream cold brew and nitro cold brew in summer 2016.
Canary By Gorji has eliminated the practice of tipping, so that what the customer spends will not have any bearing on what the server makes. Owner-chef Gorji Mansour believes that the no-tipping trend is the wave of the future, citing research by Michelin that the international culinary scene, in which tips are small or not expected, is creating the most highly rated fine-dining establishments in the world.
Foodservice giants Aramark and Compass Group have joined a growing trend with a commitment to prevent extreme abuses in their chicken supply chain. Their new policy will observe standards laid out by the Global Animal Partnership, including providing chickens with enriched environments like natural light, better air quality, hay bales, and perches, and rendering chickens unconscious before shackling them, using controlled or low-atmosphere stunning. Aramark is the first major food service company to call on its suppliers to implement additional humane conditions for the treatment of broiler chickens.
Glazed Donut Works continues to beef up its chef staff, with the appointment of Sabrina Metersky as sous-chef. She joins Joe Baker, who was recently appointed executive chef. Metersky has worked at Eleven Madison Park in New York, FT33, The Mansion, Oak, and Filament in Deep Ellum. Glazed is also opening its second branch in Plano, inside Legacy Hall, the massive food hall where chefs such as John Tesar and Matt McCallister are developing concepts.
Kabuki at Galleria Dallas is a new Japanese restaurant that puts kabocha squash on its menu as a dessert.
Brunch at Elaine's Cocktail Kitchen.Courtesy photo
Petals & Pour board at Mexican Sugar.Courtesy photo
Brunch spread at Sixty Vines.Courtesy photo