For those willing to try, this type of culinary experience is advantageous to both diner and chef alike. The diner does not have to wade through a large menu of choices settling upon one but wishing they could have tried another. Instead, they get to experience several smaller courses that offer much more variety. They also know exactly what the price of the meal will be. The restaurant gets a more streamlined and efficient workflow, with a better knowledge of what ingredients to have on hand and which to prepare daily, and a platform for the chef to show off their culinary expertise and creativity.
While North Texas isn’t in Michelin Guide territory, we do have several fine chef tasting menu options available, ranging from tasting menu only restaurants to places that offer a traditional menu with a multi-course tasting option. There are also several omakase services, which are themselves a specialized category of this multi-course experience. While it can be expensive, it’s an experience that is worth consideration for your next special occasion or if your Bitcoin investment portfolio takes an unexpected upturn.
Carte Blanche
2114 Greenville Ave.214-434-1538, carteblanchedallas.comCarte Blanche is a more old-school tasting menu experience, offering either 6- or 14-course options for $145 and $225, respectively, along with an optional wine pairing or caviar add-on. The menu usually features several proteins such as antelope, elk and wild boar and uses locally sourced ingredients. Very good food is presented in an interesting manner, but those presentations can sometimes overpower the food. Reservations are required, along with a prepayment for the meal plus an additional 20% service charge.
Wagyu beef tagliata is one of the highlights of chef Akira's Japanese-Italian fusion tasting menu at MoonGlow.
Hank Vaughn
MoonGlow
2540 King Arthur Blvd., No. 130, Lewisville moonglowdallas.comThe newest offering from Chef Akira Imamura, this small reservation-only spot in Lewisville offers two different six-course menus at either $80 or $100, with an optional wine pairing (or a $15/bottle corkage fee). Both menus start with the same palate cleanser and end with the same dessert, but differ a bit in the other courses. This is described as Japanese-Italian fusion, so you can expect to see house-smoked Norwegian salmon and in-house cured pork cheek, pasta dishes such as kimchi carbonara and pasta puttanesca, and churtoro tuna carpaccio and wagyu tagliata-style steak. The menu changes every two weeks, but if you can’t wait that long, try out his ramen spot right next door.
Petra and the Beast
1901 Abrams Road 214-484-2326, petraandthebeast.comMisti Norris’ Petra and the Beast has recently moved to this larger location, providing a bit of breathing room, but still offering up a wonderful menu of thoughtful and creative dishes using local fare to encompass and represent the full gamut of flavor profiles. On Friday and Saturday nights she offers a six-course tasting menu by reservation for $135 and 20% service fee (these seem to be pretty common as of late). The lineup emphasizes local vegetables such as green beans and fermented turnips, along with proteins like brined pork loin and usually includes an amuse bouche, intermezzo and small final bite in addition to the other courses.
At Monarch, the spectacular view from the 49th floor helps cushion the blow to your pocketbook.
Hank Vaughn
Monarch
1401 Elm St., 49th Floor (The Thompson) 214-945-2222, monarchrestaurants.comIf you’re sitting on the 49th floor overlooking downtown Dallas for that special occasion, why not try Monarch’s tasting menu option? Called “The Royale,” it clocks in at $290 per person. This option is kind of vague in its description: “Sit back and experience the best our menu has to offer. Besides, isn't it more exciting when you don't know what's to come?” Well, that’s easy for them to say when they’re not the ones paying the equivalent of a high car payment so two people can eat. However, you almost always get some caviar, an Alaskan king crab leg and a wagyu strip steak. YOLO, eat like a king. Or at least a monarch.
Local
2936 Elm St.214-752-7500, localdallas.comLocal is chef and owner Tracy Miller’s take on the growing trend of using seasonal and local ingredients from cheesemakers, wineries and ranchers in the surrounding area. Inside the Boyd Hotel in Deep Ellum, Local offers a nine-course tasting menu for $125 with an optional wine pairing. An amuse bouche, soup, salad, proteins such as short rib, scallop and tenderloin, and a dessert such as honey spice cake can be expected, along with a mid-meal intermezzo.
Meridian
5650 Village Glen Dr.69-659-6382, thevillagedallas.com/meridianLocated in The Village, Meridian offers Brazilian cuisine with a modern touch from chef Junior Borges. In addition to the à la carte menu, there's a $115, six-course tasting menu option; for $62 more you get a wine pairing. Currently, the first course consists of three snacks of foie gras, oyster and Texas cantaloupe with ham, followed by cured halibut, hearts of palm salad, a veal pasta dish and a wagyu strip.
Georgie
4514 Travis St., No. 132 469-466-8263, georgiedallas.comGeorgie and Curtis Stone may have recently parted ways, but the elegant interior, seasonal menu and attached butcher shop remain. The foray into the tasting menu scene is called “A Taste of Georgie,” a six-course experience for $135 (along with optional standard and premium wine pairings). The lineup changes, but one can expect selections from the menu proper that includes pasta, roasted duck, Berkshire pork chop, grilled octopus, bluefin tuna tartare and potato churros.
Sample each of your tasting menu courses in style and elegance at the Mansion on Turtle Creek.
Courtesy of Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek
The Mansion on Turtle Creek
2821 Turtle Creek Blvd. 214-443-4747, rosewoodhotels.com/en/mansion-on-turtle-creek-dallas/dining/mansion-restaurantAt the Mansion, there’s a smaller lunch tasting menu for $44 that actually allows some options for those who don’t like being told what to eat. Or you could just give in and let the chef decide with the two tasting options of either five or seven courses for $135 or $165, respectively. Go crazy and add a $75 or $100 wine pairing while you’re at it. You deserve it, right? Once you surrender to desire you can expect dishes such as Peruvian ceviche, lobster risotto, duck foie gras, scallops, lamb chop, wagyu strip, sorbet and cheesecake. Plus, you’ll be doing so in that elegant Mansion dining room.
Revolver Taco Lounge provides a separate room in the back in which to enjoy the seven-course tasting menu.
Kathy Tran
Purepecha at the Revolver Taco Lounge
2701 Main St., No. 120 214-272-7163, revolvertacolounge.com/purepechaAt one time Revolver Taco Lounge offered a less expensive tasting menu consisting of different tacos, which sounds great. Currently, however, chef Regino Rojas offers a seven-course tasting menu that will run you $180, a price that the website says is subject to change without notice. The reservation-only experience is available Thursday through Saturday with seatings at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. The menu showcases the dishes of Michoacan, Mexico, and changes due to seasonal availability. Recent courses have included pescado with amberjack and trout roe, taquito with grilled mushrooms and gazpacho with snow crab.
Omakase Restaurants
Omakase, from the Japanese for “to entrust,” is a specific type of tasting menu that is predominately sushi- and sashimi-based but also usually incorporates grilling, simmering and other techniques. It can be intimidating, because you really give up your choice here, surrendering to the chef, but you typically receive higher-quality fish at a lower average cost than if you ordered à la carte. They often consist of more courses, too, than the typical tasting menu, with 20 courses not being unheard of and usually starting with the lighter dishes and progressing to the heavier ones. Shoyo
1916 Greenville Ave.shoyodallas.comShoyo offers two seatings per day in an intimate 13-seat dining room. Guests are seated at the sushi counter and receive 20 courses for $195 from executive chef Shinchiro Kondo and Jimmy Park. The menu varies (it is, after all, chef’s choice) but can include hirame (fluke) with lime, ikura (salmon roe) or tempura soft-shell crab.
Tatsu
3309 Elm St., Ste. 120469-271-7710, tatsu-dallas.comFrom his restaurant in the Continental Gin Building, executive chef and owner Tatsuya Sekiguchi offers a $185 seasonal tasting menu of edomae-style sushi at two seatings, five days per week. Each seating at Tatsu consists of a couple of appetizers, thirteen to fifteen pieces of nigiri sushi, a hand roll, miso soup and dessert, all in an intimate and relaxing atmosphere with a 10-seat sushi bar. Unagi, uni, incredibly thin shima-aji are just some of the extremely fresh and beautifully prepared pieces you’ll enjoy at Tatsu.
Uchi
2817 Maple Ave. 214-855-5454, uchi.uchirestaurants.com
Uchi offers three choices under its omakase menu heading: a 10-course chef’s selection tasting menu for two, a somakase (another curated tasting menu) and a six-course vegetarian tasting menu. All are listed at the dreaded “market price,” but Yelp and Google research reveal that the 10-course version, at least, averaged around $200, but remember that’s for two people, not per person. The vegetarian option is a welcome addition that one doesn’t see on most of these tasting menus.
Tei-An
1722 Routh St., No. 110 214-220-2828, tei-an.comTei-An has wonderful à la carte options, but the omakase is probably the star of the show. It costs $145, and in a welcome divergence from wine pairings the menu offers either an optional sake or whiskey pairing for an additional $120 or $200, respectively. Tei-An’s description gives a bit more info than many omakase while still remaining a bit vague, the better to entrust yourself to the chef: “Book our omakase that often includes A5 BMS12 Miyazaki beef and ultra-seasonal fish. Soba, our house specialty, is always the finale.”
Yūjō
12835 Preston Road, No. 216214-238-6716, yujodallas.comYūjō, the newest spot on this list, opened just this month, offering a 13- or 16-course omakase for $75 and $175, respectively. No, that’s not a misprint: the three additional courses will set you back an extra $100. There is also an optional sake pairing affordably priced at $25. Dishes from executive chef Eric Bui might include wagyu steamed beef, dry-aged salmon (the house specialty), tuna collar with uni, amaebi fois gras and kanpachi chili, all served at the simple yet elegant sushi bar in a dining area with warm earth tones of wood and brick. The service is attentive but not intrusive.
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For those willing to cede the decision-making to the chef and have the bank account to do so, or for those important milestones, celebrations and life-defining moments that justify this higher-than-average financial outlay, a gastronomic experience like no other awaits. Give up control, entrust yourself to your chef and forget the cost, at least for one night. Of course, there’s something to be said for a simple meal of grilled cheese and tomato soup at home (which will cost you less than the valet parking at many of these restaurants), but that can wait for another night.
