New Year's Dining

Top Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants to dine on New Year's Eve 2016

Here's a toast to best dining options in DFW for New Year's Eve 2016.

Photo by WJNPHOTO

For some, all you need to celebrate New Year's is a toast (or two). But our favorite way to observe any holiday includes food. Here's a list of restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth where you can ring in the New Year's with a bite to eat:

Bird Cafe
Four-course menu with choices of butter-poached lobster claw, truffle arancini, clam chowder, fig and beet salad, elk carpaccio, pheasant with German potato salad, lamb porterhouse, seared duck breast, and selection of desserts from pastry chef Laurel Wimberg. Sundance Square New Year’s Eve festivities include live entertainment and fireworks. $90. 817-332-2473.

CBD Provisions
New Year’s Eve à la carte specials include oyster with caviar, terrine, duck confit with black-eyed peas, and cassoulet. Chateaubriand steak with roasted winter vegetables, pomme purée, and house-made sherry sauce is $120 for three-to-four people. 214-261-4500.

Cru Wine Bar
Three-course menu with gnocchi fonduta, lobster and crab scampi, lobster bisque, tuna tartare, rack of lamb, scallops with spinach parmesan risotto, filet mignon, sea bass, and braised short rib with mascarpone parmesan polenta. Desserts include molten chocolate lava cake, egg nog crème brûlée, and white chocolate mousse. Early seating 5:30–8 pm early seating, $50; gala seating is 8:30–10 pm for $65. 214-526-9463.

Dallas Chop House
Special menu includes smoked salmon and caviar, oysters, clam chowder, beef tartare, heirloom beets, surf and turf, pork chop, duck confit, redfish, and choice of blackberry crumble, chocolate tart, or sour cherry cheesecake. $70. 214-736-7300.

Dallas Fish Market
Four-course dinner includes options such as hamachi sashimi, smoked salmon and caviar sandwich, cioppino, caviar, beet salad, swordfish with basmati rice, striped bass, duck confit with French green lentils, porcini-crusted filet, and Arctic char. Dessert options include olive oil cake, chocolate soufflé, or sour cherry custard pie. $65, plus wine. 214-744-3474.

Fearing’s Restaurant
Three- or four-course dinner with champagne toast and choices such as scallops, porcini mushroom carpaccio with Swiss chard, Dover sole and lobster Thermidor, lamb osso buco on Pecorino polenta, beef Wellington, and squab en croûte with brioche on celery root purée. Dessert trio includes double chocolate cake with chocolate-covered strawberry, mimosa shooter with orange champagne sorbet, and apple almond tart. Following the second seating, there's a midnight balloon drop, plus live music by saxophonist Johnny Reno and his band and a special performance by chef Dean Fearing. Three-course meal 5:30-7 pm, $95. Four-course meal 7:30-10 pm, $195. Add white Alba truffle to any dish for $30. 214-922-4848.

Five Sixty by Wolfgang Puck
Five-course menu includes steak and eggs nigiri-caviar duo, scallop, Maine Lobster tail, sautéed duck breast, koji cured A5 Miyazaki strip steak, and chocolate passion fruit cake. 5-10:30 pm. $175, plus $75 for optional wine pairing. 214-741-5560.

Grill on the Alley
New Year’s Eve dinner includes kale salad, butternut squash soup, shrimp cocktail, seafood trio with crab cake, scallop, and jumbo shrimp, salmon over spinach, 18-ounce bone-In New York steak, filet Oscar, rack of lamb, hazelnut Kahlua crème brulee, and New York cheesecake. $75. 214-459-1601.

Kabuki Japanese Restaurant
Galleria Dallas spot will offer New Year’s Eve special plum champagne cocktail for $5.95. Full menu will be available on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, with light bites, appetizers, and sushi rolls.

Kitchen LTO
Five-course menu with complimentary champagne includes oyster amuse, sweet potato ravioli, scallop with roasted duck heart, quail roulade with hoppin jon, and beef tenderloin, espresso milk foam, pickled+roasted mushroom, celery root, squid ink $75 – Five Course Tasting menu with complimentary champagne 5:30, 7:30, or 9:30 pm. $75, plus $30 for wine pairings. 214-377-0757.

Knife Dallas
Three-course dinner with entertainment from Ricki Derek and 16-piece band, complimentary bar, champagne toast, and countdown to the New Year. Cocktails 8-9 pm, dinner 9:30-10:45 pm, live music 10:45-12:15 pm. $225 for general seating, $1000 for VIP table of four.

Meddlesome Moth
Four-course menu includes choices from vegetable frito, rabbit rillettes, crudo, lobster bisque, bok choy salad with Asian pear, chicken with parsnips, pork short rib, and monkfish. Dessert choices include huckleberry cobbler, hummingbird cake, and chocolate-peanut butter tart with marshmallow and lingonberry jam. 5 pm, $55. 7 and 9:30 pm, $65. Final seating includes party favors and complimentary champagne toast at midnight. 214-628-7900.

Pappas Bros. Steakhouse
Four-course meal with choices such as lobster deviled eggs, crabcakes, salad, New York strip, salmon, lamb chops, wild mushrooms, and au gratin potatoes. Choice of desserts includes New York cheesecake and chocolate turtle pie. 4-6 pm, $100. After 6 pm, $110. 214-366-2000.

Princi Italia
Regular menu at 11 am, followed by four-course dinner with live music, dancing, and dishes that include tortellini fonduta, spaghetti Bolognese, saffron fettuccini with Maine lobster, Caesar salad, Brussel sprouts salad, arugula salad, short rib, branzino Siciliano, four-ounce filet and lobster tail, lemon curd torte, chocolate molten lave cake, tiramisu, white chocolate and mascarpone mousse cannoli. 8:30 pm until midnight. $50. 214-739-5959.

Pyramid Restaurant
Winemaker Emilio Ramos will be in attendance to feature his Texas wines from the San Martino Winery. Four-course menu at 5:30 pm includes choices of entrée and dessert ($69, plus $25 for wine pairings). Six-course menu at 8 pm includes entrée and dessert ($125, plus wine pairings for $35). Late seating includes live entertainment by Tyra Taylor, dancing, photo booth, champagne toast at midnight, and party favors. 214-750-5249.

Stirr
Deep Ellum spot has five-course menu with complimentary glass of champagne, plus optional wine pairing. Diners will also be invited to the rooftop after their meal. Dishes include roasted mushrooms, scallops, pork belly, Texas flatiron with oxtail ragout, and salted caramel apple pie with cinnamon ice cream. Seatings at 6, 8, or 10 pm. $95, plus $30 for wine pairing. 214-983-1222.

III Forks
Downstairs features dinner highlighted by specials such as filet mignon with lobster tail for $80. Upstairs is a party with bottle of Schramsburg Brut Rose, party favors, five-piece band Safira and dishes such as shrimp cocktail, lobster bisque, wedge salad,filet mignon, New York strip, boneless ribeye, sea bass, lobster tail, and choice of desserts including carrot cake, chocolate ganache cake, bread and butter pudding, tiramisù, and ice cream bomb. $125. 972-267-1776.

Uchi Dallas
Special New Year’s Eve omakase menu featuring a seven-course feast, with complimentary champagne at midnight. $175 for two. 214-855-5454.

Victory Tavern
The Dallas Stars will be playing the Florida Panthers at the American Airlines Center. Pre-game with a special New Year’s Eve three-course menu or celebrate the Stars’ win afterwards with an extended special menu. Options include brisket tamale, wedge salad, lobster bisque, crab cake, tuna tacos, pork loin, lemon sole, chile-rubbed filet mignon, scallops with butternut squash risotto, flat iron steak, and prime rib with loaded baked potato. Desserts include Key lime pie, chocolate-Kahlua bead pudding, and cheesecake brownie. 5:30 –11 pm. 214-432-1900.

holidays where-to-eat

Spring Arrival

West Dallas gets new Spanish-Peruvian restaurant with big-name chef

Photo courtesy of Ulloa's

Paella will be on the menu.

A new restaurant with a high-profile culinary director will bring Spanish and Peruvian flavors to West Dallas: Called Ulloa’s, it is coming to 727 Fort Worth Ave., with a projected opening in March 2027.

The concept is from philanthropists Susan and Woodrow Gandy, who were previously investors in the historic Belmont Hotel just around the corner. They've teamed up with Dallas celebrity chef Kent Rathbun as culinary director, along with Christopher Tunnell as general manager to lead the front of the house.

Rathbun is a name Dallas diners know well, with a resume that includes The Mansion on Turtle Creek, the Landmark Restaurant at the historic Melrose Hotel, Seventeen Seventeen at the Dallas Museum of Art, Abacus, Jasper's, Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen, and more. He's won numerous awards and made multiple appearances on Food Network. He was most recently behind the launch of On The Rocks, an Italian bistro in Burleson.

Chef Kent Rathbun will be the culinary director of Ulloa's. Photo courtesy of Kent Rathbun

Tunnell’s background spans both culinary direction and front-of-house operations. He worked at Los Angeles hot spots Ketchup, Geisha House, and Les Deux, as well as the Mandalay Bay and The Mirage in Las Vegas, before moving to Dallas to open The Mexican, the upscale restaurant in the Design District.

“I am truly excited to partner with Chef Kent Rathbun, whose reputation is amazing — not only in the DFW Metroplex, but in the culinary world,” Tunnell says. “He has been with this project since the beginning, helping develop it; this will be a very chef-driven, culinary-forward restaurant.”

The team's vision for Ulloa’s is both culinary and urban, with hopes of anchoring the corridor and attracting other businesses to Fort Worth Avenue — a stretch connecting downtown Dallas with Oak Cliff that remains somewhat underdeveloped despite its panoramic skyline views.

The restaurant is named for Spanish explorer, astronomer, and scientist Antonio de Ulloa, who spent extensive time in the Mexican peninsula before becoming Louisiana’s first governor. During his travels, Ulloa documented a fogbow — a circular rainbow formed when sunlight meets mist that causes silhouettes standing between the sun and fog to appear ringed in light, a phenomenon known today as “Ulloa’s Rings.”

That vibrant phenomenon inspired both the restaurant's identity and logo. The concept promises "bold, worldly flavors in a welcoming neighborhood setting inspired by exploration and discovery,” the owners say.

Ulloa's Rendering of Ulloa's.Rendering courtesy of Ulloa's

While the menu remains in development, Tunnell describes the culinary direction as “Spanish soul with a Peruvian heart.” The kitchen will merge the coastal flavors of both traditions — ranging from paellas and ceviches to crafted cocktails and signature adaptations by Rathbun.

The 200-seat, two-story space will feature a downstairs dining room, a large bar, and an outdoor patio. Upstairs, plans call for a secondary bar, a private dining room, a patio, and an expansive balcony patio, offering views of the city's skyline and of the Margaret Hunt Hill and Margaret McDermott bridges.

While the upstairs space will be available for private events, the owners intend for it to operate primarily as an organic extension of the main restaurant. The buildout will include a guest elevator along with ample parking, including both self-parking and valet options.

The team says the restaurant will have have an aesthetic that's “warm, theatrical, generous, elegant but alive, with the energy of a great Spanish tapas bar and the soul of Peruvian hospitality.”

Ulloa’s plans to launch with dinner service first, followed by lunch and weekend brunch.

restaurants bars peruvian flavors west dallas oak cliff kent rathbun