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Eater
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
A Tale of Three Dallas Tasting Menus at Michelin-Recognized Restaurants in DFW
A trio of Michelin-recommended Dallas restaurants — the Heritage Table in Frisco, Monarch, and Quarter Acre — launched tasting menus in 2025. Coincidence? Maybe not. Tasting menus have long been a staple at Michelin-starred restaurants, signifying a higher level of service, food curation, and creativity that seems to appeal to the secret Michelin inspectors who award its coveted stars. Fitting into the fine dining category is not a requirement, however. Michelin, the tire company and international dining guide publisher, remains notoriously mum about its rating process and contends that its awards are based only on food and not on service or decor. In Dallas, tasting menus have long been the playground of a certain kind of restaurant — an expensive one. Dean Fearing has served one at Fearing's in the Ritz-Carlton since it opened in 2007. The Mansion Restaurant, with its parade of well-known chefs, has long offered a tasting menu experience as well. Local in Deep Ellum was, for years, the only smaller, less pedigreed restaurant in town offering a tasting. But in the past few years, that has changed. A vegan tasting menu popped up at Maiden in Fort Worth, of all places. El Carlo Elegante created what it calls an 'experience menu' to highlight its best dishes. Rye in Lower Greenville launched an experimental tasting menu on which it somehow put kangaroo, buckle, and Trinidadian green curry together in one meal. Monarch, Quarter Acre, and the Heritage Table also threw their hats into the tasting menu ring. As D magazine dining critic Brian Reinhart wrote in a March 2025 column, tasting menus in DFW seem more popular than ever, and all wildly different. Diners and people in the restaurant industry were stunned, then, when Michelin only awarded a star to one restaurant in Dallas, Fort Worth, and the entire North Texas region: the omakase restaurant Tatsu. It led many commenters to examine why more places didn't measure up to its standards. The uptick in tasting menus now could be the Michelin boomerang effect, which has inspired some goal-driven chefs to go for a star. It could be an omakase effect, where owners are seeing seasonally shifting, chef-driven menus as their chance to take the reins and get diners to try things outside of their comfort zones. Or it could be a sign of changing appetites in Dallas diners, who may feel that a flat fee for a meal that says everything you need to know about the restaurant sounds just right. The last time a chef created a new genre of food in North Texas was probably in the 1980s, when Dean Fearing and Stephan Pyles became driving forces behind Southwestern cuisine. Chef Rich Vana at the Heritage Table in Frisco, Texas, decided to give coining a new genre of food a go when he curated a tasting menu around what he calls 'Blackland Prairie' cuisine — food from the Blackland Prairie of Texas, a strip that stretches down from North to Central Texas and is full of cropland and grazing land for animals. On Heritage's winter tasting menu from February 2025, Vana featured sourdough crackers and bread alongside butter infused with the extremely long green stems of the Greer Farms carrots and roasted garlic. (Two other butters feature beef tallow and salted sorghum with caramel.) Nearly every ingredient on the menu has a farm or ranch designation next to it: Diners know the red kuri squash in the soup served with Texas redfish comes from Comeback Creek Farm, the greens in another course come from Jubilant Fields, and the beets are from Stout Creek. The only things Vana doesn't source locally are onions and garlic, which do not grow abundantly in this region. 'What I want to do is take these nearby ingredients and apply some fundamental tenets,' Vana says. 'What are my farmers bringing me? How can I make it delicious now? And how do I make it delicious later?' Chef Rich Vana at the Heritage Table decided to give coining a new genre of food a go when he curated a tasting menu around what he calls 'Blackland Prairie' cuisine. For Vana, adding a tasting menu at the Heritage Table wasn't about appealing to Michelin, although it certainly couldn't hurt, he says. It was about sharpening his focus and further honing the type of food his restaurant has always served. 'What we wanted to do was figure out what it means to be 'Blackland Prairie cuisine,' and that name wasn't there when we started,' Vana says. The idea goes back to the restaurant's opening in 2017, when Vana wanted to create parameters around his menu. Sustainability is a priority for the restaurant, in which processes like pickling, fermenting, and using every part of the vegetable are vital. Sourcing local food was another hallmark. The fourth course — Windy Meadows duck pot pie served atop sweet potato mash with marinated chestnut mushrooms — represents what Vana wants to achieve: a dish that combines simple ingredients from a specific Texas region to add up to a complex, satisfying whole. The menu ends with some substantial proteins, including a pork chop from Knob Hill and a small wagyu strip from River Creek. Monarch, meanwhile, rolled out its new winter tasting menu in January 2025. Maple Hospitality Group's managing partner and chef Danny Grant and Monarch's executive chef Jason Rohan had their eye on a Michelin star this time around. 'Getting recommended last year gave us something to push toward,' Rohan says. Of the three tasting menus, Monarch subscribes to a more classical school of thought about food and service — and to that of chef Grant, the youngest chef to run a restaurant awarded two Michelin stars (at Chicago's now-closed French restaurant Ria, which was awarded stars in 2011 and 2012). Monarch's spring tasting menu follows a similar ethos, staying within traditional fine dining expectations, except for a few dishes that Rohan and the kitchen developed that color outside the lines. The first selection of bites feel emblematic of Grant's approach. Bruschetta gets topped with fava bean hummus and whipped feta that has a hint of Meyer lemon juice and zest. The idea originated when Monarch's pastry chef, Mariella Bueza, suggested making mini-briochettes with truffles baked inside. After Rohan tried to simplify the process, Bueza suggested baking the one-bite-sized toast with garlic butter. Rohan thought a single grilled lamb chop, which accompanies the bread, would pair well with fava beans as a Mediterranean-style combination. 'We make it with basil and olive oil, to keep in mind that we are an Italian restaurant, and add spinach to brighten it up, plus a little avocado to make it creamier,' Rohan says. The rest of the six-course meal veers toward classic choices — steak, branzino, scallops, foie gras, an on-menu rigatoni that Monarch diners know and love. Dishes are executed with precision and service is immaculate; its decor and sweeping views of Dallas from high in a Downtown skyscraper are predictably breathtaking. Other than a playful dessert called the Pearl (a Madagascar vanilla mousse, raspberry puree, and hazelnut sponge cake served atop a foam cloud that the diner cracks open), the food itself feels somewhat prescriptive. This is a tasting menu informed by an old-school set of rules that dictate what fine dining is, and it doesn't quite fit the mold-breaking format that many chefs in DFW are playing into. Down at Quarter Acre, chef Toby Archibald uses his new tasting menu to explore his personal history, touching on Texas favorites while showcasing family recipes and ingredients he grew up eating in New Zealand and the Asian influences on the cuisines there. According to Archibald, the team had already planned to launch a tasting menu in 2025, well before the restaurant landed a Michelin guide designation, but it took longer than he expected. 'Year one, opening the restaurant, was manic,' he says. 'Year two was solidifying and making sure we came up for a breather, to be honest. The goal for year three was to get better... This gives longtime guests something to be excited about. It is the next evolution.' The Quarter Acre tasting is a mix of long-running menu items, dishes Archibald is developing to serve as daily specials, and dishes that let him be himself on the plate, even when that means being a little maximalist. From the diner's point of view, there is no 'set' menu, and no two nights are guaranteed to be the same. Interestingly, there is no printed menu for the tasting, either. Instead, staff ask diners to trust the chef. 'It's taking things and perhaps pushing the boundaries a little on what guests are used to. Saying, 'Hey, you might not have ordered this on the a la carte menu, but try it for us,'' Archibald says. Diners won't leave this meal overfilled. It features appetizer-sized dishes like oysters with a passionfruit foam, smoked beef tartare that has been on the menu since opening day, cabbage served three ways (one is liquified), the debut of a carrot dish with scallops, and wagyu beef served alongside sweet potato and charred lemon. 'If we get to the end of the year and we don't win a Michelin star, I'm not going to say [the tasting menu] was a waste of time. It wasn't,' Archibald says. 'We already think we're really good, and we like the level we're at.' 'But if it leads to Michelin, awesome,' he adds. Sign up for our newsletter.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Packsize enhances automated packaging solutions with new collaborations
Packaging company Packsize has revealed a strategic alliance with Sitma and Paccurate to expand its market presence and capabilities in automated packaging. Sitma specialises in paper-based envelopes and bagging technologies. In contrast, Paccurate will act as Packsize's partner for 'cartonisation'. These alliances enable Packsize to broaden its range of eco-friendly packaging options. Packsize CRO Brian Reinhart said: 'Our partnership with Sitma represents the next step in Packsize's mission to bring sustainable, eco-friendly packaging solutions to a greater number of application needs. 'By providing paper bagging and cardboard enveloping, we are able to reduce the damaging carbon footprint of plastic options. 'With Sitma's innovative automated bagging machines, we can now offer a truly comprehensive range of packaging solutions, enabling us to serve more markets and address a broader variety of customer challenges.' Sitma's automated bagging systems include the e-Wrap, Fast Pack, and Fast Pack Plus. These systems employ heat-sealable or kraft paper, providing a sustainable alternative to conventional poly bags. They are designed to suit various products while minimising environmental impact. Additionally, Packsize will exclusively market Paccurate's automated packaging solutions. This partnership enhances the efficiency of Packsize's offerings through cartonisation technology. Paccurate co-founder and CEO James Malley said: 'We couldn't be more thrilled to further strengthen Paccurate's partnership with Packsize. 'Our companies share a perfectly aligned mission, and after over a year of successful collaboration on major projects, it's clear the partnership delivers exceptional value. 'When it comes to right-sizing, you really can't get much better than best-in-class hardware and software working in tandem." Last month, Packsize entered into an agreement to acquire Sparck Technologies for an undisclosed sum. "Packsize enhances automated packaging solutions with new collaborations" was originally created and published by Packaging Gateway, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Packsize enhances automated packaging solutions with new collaborations
Packaging company Packsize has revealed a strategic alliance with Sitma and Paccurate to expand its market presence and capabilities in automated packaging. Sitma specialises in paper-based envelopes and bagging technologies. In contrast, Paccurate will act as Packsize's partner for 'cartonisation'. These alliances enable Packsize to broaden its range of eco-friendly packaging options. Packsize CRO Brian Reinhart said: 'Our partnership with Sitma represents the next step in Packsize's mission to bring sustainable, eco-friendly packaging solutions to a greater number of application needs. 'By providing paper bagging and cardboard enveloping, we are able to reduce the damaging carbon footprint of plastic options. 'With Sitma's innovative automated bagging machines, we can now offer a truly comprehensive range of packaging solutions, enabling us to serve more markets and address a broader variety of customer challenges.' Sitma's automated bagging systems include the e-Wrap, Fast Pack, and Fast Pack Plus. These systems employ heat-sealable or kraft paper, providing a sustainable alternative to conventional poly bags. They are designed to suit various products while minimising environmental impact. Additionally, Packsize will exclusively market Paccurate's automated packaging solutions. This partnership enhances the efficiency of Packsize's offerings through cartonisation technology. Paccurate co-founder and CEO James Malley said: 'We couldn't be more thrilled to further strengthen Paccurate's partnership with Packsize. 'Our companies share a perfectly aligned mission, and after over a year of successful collaboration on major projects, it's clear the partnership delivers exceptional value. 'When it comes to right-sizing, you really can't get much better than best-in-class hardware and software working in tandem." Last month, Packsize entered into an agreement to acquire Sparck Technologies for an undisclosed sum. "Packsize enhances automated packaging solutions with new collaborations" was originally created and published by Packaging Gateway, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
