After flying into Dallas late afternoon, I had the rest of the evening free, so of course I was trying to figure out where to eat. Michelin guide showed two restaurants, Tatsu and Mamani, with stars. Neither showed any availability, but I called Mamani. At first they said they only had an opening at 9:00, but then said unless I could come in at 5:30, which I promptly accepted.
As you want into the restaurant, the open kitchen is right in front of you. I was seated in the corner seat in this salon section. There was also a main dining area off to the left and it sounded like off to the right was where the bar area was. This suited me just fine and I had a nice view of the kitchen and was protected well enough from the blast of cold outside air every time the door was opened (had read about some complaints about that on OpenTable).
The three main things I knew about the restaurant – one, was that it was French; two, it was quite new having only opened in September and earned it’s star in the October (only 48 days later!?) Michelin guide for Dallas; and three, Chef Christophe de Lellis was executive chef at Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas (my favorite restaurant there) for 7 years.
Most of the people who arrived were better dressed than I was with most of the older (even older than me, haha) men were in suits and tie and in general, it definitely seemed like people dressed up more than to which I was accustomed back home in SF.
I started with a cocktail. I went with the Verspetina which was made with a blanco which I assume is a play on the vespertine martini made with a mix of gin and vodka.
I asked my waitperson about the menu including how many dishes to order and what he recommended. The menu was broken up into the following sections – Bites, Starters, Pasta, Meat & Seafood, To Share, Dessert. I was going to be limited on some of the entrees since they were meant for two or more (boohoo). He recommended to go with 3 dishes (e.g. Bites, Starter, and a Pasta or Meat/Seafood). I ordered the bread (which they fortunately had a half order available). I was trying to go a bit lighter so I went with the Blue Crystal Prawns and the Artichoke starters he recommended. For proteins, he had recommended the Amish Chicken, the 6oz Filet Mignon, and the Main Lobster. I was tempted by the preparation of the Filet because of the Bordelaise sauce and bone marrow and black trumpet mushrooms, but I decided to go lighter and went with the Maine Lobster which was served with Sauce Au Poivre, which was an interesting choice, and some pomme frites.
The house made and butter came quickly. The bread came as a trio of focaccia, wheat, and I don’t recall the third. You can see the large round block of Rodolphe Le Meunier butter on the front right of the kitchen counter where they carve off the curls of butter. Bread was house made and was good, quite light and airy. Butter was excellent.
The prawn dish was ok. The prawns were wrapped and deep fried and served with a pesto sauce. They hadn’t given me any utensils so I asked someone and she explained that they were meant to be eaten with your fingers and they would provide a wet finger towel to clean. Of course, they should have mentioned this when dropping off the dish. There was mention of espelette as one of the ingredients in the listing in the menu, but I didn’t find much pepper/heat to the dish. It was slightly on the greasy side. Prawn flavor was good.
Next up was the artichoke which was served with za’atar yogurt (which is what interested me), tomato confit, and mint. The dish was presented with flat artichoke hearts making up the based with a mound of frisée on top and the yogurt within. It light (which I wanted) and was essentially a mini salad. Again, it was good although not super memorable.
My lobster dish arrived. The lobster was arrangely nicely atop the sauce au povire. I did find this an interesting dish and a lighter take on steak au poivre. The pomme frites were thick cut and were not as crisp or warm (I did see them dying on the pass in advance of the lobster) so they were disappointing. Since I had mentioned earlier when ordering that I was a big fan of Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas, he had told me then that he a treat for me and that treat came in the form a bonus side dish of some whipped potatoes à la Joël Robuchon topped with some white truffle (fresh and fragrant), which was great to eat with the lobster and to help mop up some of the au povire sauce. The whipped potatoes though were not as creamy as at Joël Robuchon.
At some point Chef Christophe came by to talk to me. I told him I was a fan of Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas and was glad to be able to make it into the restaurant and was enjoying the view of the kitchen. He said it was his favorite seat in the kitchen. I thank him for the whipped potatoes and asked him if the truffles were from Alba, but he said they were from Umbria since he didn’t think any real truffles from Alba made it to the USA.
I was definitely full by this point even though I had left about half the bread uneaten, as well as almost all of the pomme frites, and about half the whipped potatoes. Still intrepid readers, I had to try dessert. Three of the four options looked very pedestrian (chocolate mousse, gelato, parfait), but the Paris-Brest was the obvious choice. It is made with a pâte à choux pastry ring sandwiching a praline mousseline cream, topped with some toasted hazelnuts. This is a bit of a show stopper dessert (through the course of my meal, I saw several pass by me on their way to the dining room). It’s so light and airy in the both the pastry and the filling with a creamy nutty flavor. Even though I was full, I did eat half of it and asked to take the rest to go (which I would enjoy with my coffee the next morning).
Considering I had just landed and immediately went to dinner, this was a great option. That being said, the best things were the butter, the white truffle, and the Paris Brest dessert and everything else was good, but not amazing. If I ate here again, I would probably pick dishes that are more typical of what I would order and ideally with someone else so I could try some of the larger shareable mains.
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