Source : http://eatsblog.dallasnews.com
Category : San Diego Vacation Hotels
By : Leslie Brenner
Posted By : San Diego Rancho Bernardo CA Hotels
As summer stretches ahead, it’s hard not to dream of being in some glorious hotel somewhere for a luxury vacation. Whether or not that’s in the stars for any of us is a matter of luck (or for the lucky ones, choice, perhaps). But here in Dallas, a number of hotel dining rooms seem to be on their own kind of vacation hotels, or forced hiatus, or not exactly pushing their creative agenda forward full speed ahead. Call it the summer hotel dining room dawdle.
Two hotels are missing executive chefs. Tim Bevins left Rick’s Chophouse, the restaurant at the Grand Hotel in McKinney, more than a month ago; owner Rick Wells still has not announced a replacement. Bevins took over the kitchen at The Front Room: A Park Cities Diner — the restaurant at the Lumen hotel — shortly thereafter, but he doesn’t seem to be in any great hurry to introduce his own menu. “I’m just getting the kitchen clean, getting everything set up, working slowlly, doing a fish special here, figuring out the staff,” he told me in a phone interview two weeks ago. “It’ll be the end of summer before we figure out what what we’re doing.” You’d almost think he was picking up the pieces of a 100-year-old institution that needed a complete redo, not a shiny, chic boutique hotel that was just revamped. The Front Room is not yet ten months old. That’s summer for ya.
Meanwhile, the Pyramid Restaurant has been without an executive chef since Andre Natera left last October; nor has the Fairmont Dallas hotel’s management replaced pastry chef Maggie Huff, who decamped to FT33 in April. The hotel is undergoing major renovations, with plans to have them completed at the end of lazy, languid August.
The Stoneleigh, another important Dallas hotel, changed hands last summer, when it became the Luxe Stoneleigh hotel. The hotel’s dining room, formerly known as Bolla, slowly morphed into T/X — featuring Texas cuisine hotel-style, with few decor changes, but a new chef, Marcelo Vasquez. When I visited in late December, my table was the only one occupied. In January it changed hands again, and now it is Le Meridien Dallas, the Stoneleigh. The restaurant is still T/X. Will Starwood International, the Stoneleigh’s new owner, make any move to put in a destination restaurant? They don’t seem to be in any hurry. (I tried to get updates from both the Stoneleigh and the Pyramid, but publicists were off today. Summer vacay, doncha know?)
And speaking of not in any hurry, there’s the grandest dame of all Dallas hotels: The Adolphus. The downtown landmark, which celebrated its 100th birthday last year, was sold in late December to an investment company, RockBridge Capital LLC. But as Steve Brown reported shortly after the sale, though a makeover has been considered “past due” for the hotel, RockBridge was not in any hurry to shake things up; RockBridge managing director John Rosen told Brown we shouldn’t look for any physical changes for “at least a year.” The magnificent French Room is a Dallas treasure, and I’ve been clamoring for a long time for something more gastronomicallly engaging than what’s been offered there for the last few years. Who knows whether that’s in the stars, or just fantasy. If big changes were to come to pass, I’d bet a bundle that it won’t be anytime this summer.
There is one hotel that’s not taking it easy this summer in terms of changes: the Joule. Weekend Coffee recently opened at the downtown hotel, and there are plans to open CBD Provisions on August 13. Consilient Restaurants, whose Hibiscus just earned four stars in a review, is in charge. So that’s exciting. Meanwhile, it remains to be seen what kind of changes will be happening at Charlie Palmer at the Joule. Last year Charlie Palmer announced that the restaurant would become a foam-free steakhouse, Charlie Palmer Steak, but obviously that never came to pass. Stay tuned on that one — and all the others.
Category : San Diego Vacation Hotels
By : Leslie Brenner
Posted By : San Diego Rancho Bernardo CA Hotels
As summer stretches ahead, it’s hard not to dream of being in some glorious hotel somewhere for a luxury vacation. Whether or not that’s in the stars for any of us is a matter of luck (or for the lucky ones, choice, perhaps). But here in Dallas, a number of hotel dining rooms seem to be on their own kind of vacation hotels, or forced hiatus, or not exactly pushing their creative agenda forward full speed ahead. Call it the summer hotel dining room dawdle.
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| Vacation Hotels |
Meanwhile, the Pyramid Restaurant has been without an executive chef since Andre Natera left last October; nor has the Fairmont Dallas hotel’s management replaced pastry chef Maggie Huff, who decamped to FT33 in April. The hotel is undergoing major renovations, with plans to have them completed at the end of lazy, languid August.
The Stoneleigh, another important Dallas hotel, changed hands last summer, when it became the Luxe Stoneleigh hotel. The hotel’s dining room, formerly known as Bolla, slowly morphed into T/X — featuring Texas cuisine hotel-style, with few decor changes, but a new chef, Marcelo Vasquez. When I visited in late December, my table was the only one occupied. In January it changed hands again, and now it is Le Meridien Dallas, the Stoneleigh. The restaurant is still T/X. Will Starwood International, the Stoneleigh’s new owner, make any move to put in a destination restaurant? They don’t seem to be in any hurry. (I tried to get updates from both the Stoneleigh and the Pyramid, but publicists were off today. Summer vacay, doncha know?)
And speaking of not in any hurry, there’s the grandest dame of all Dallas hotels: The Adolphus. The downtown landmark, which celebrated its 100th birthday last year, was sold in late December to an investment company, RockBridge Capital LLC. But as Steve Brown reported shortly after the sale, though a makeover has been considered “past due” for the hotel, RockBridge was not in any hurry to shake things up; RockBridge managing director John Rosen told Brown we shouldn’t look for any physical changes for “at least a year.” The magnificent French Room is a Dallas treasure, and I’ve been clamoring for a long time for something more gastronomicallly engaging than what’s been offered there for the last few years. Who knows whether that’s in the stars, or just fantasy. If big changes were to come to pass, I’d bet a bundle that it won’t be anytime this summer.
There is one hotel that’s not taking it easy this summer in terms of changes: the Joule. Weekend Coffee recently opened at the downtown hotel, and there are plans to open CBD Provisions on August 13. Consilient Restaurants, whose Hibiscus just earned four stars in a review, is in charge. So that’s exciting. Meanwhile, it remains to be seen what kind of changes will be happening at Charlie Palmer at the Joule. Last year Charlie Palmer announced that the restaurant would become a foam-free steakhouse, Charlie Palmer Steak, but obviously that never came to pass. Stay tuned on that one — and all the others.
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