Situated on newly revitalized Lowest Greenville is the standout tasting menu-only restaurant, Carte Blanche, owned and operated by husband-and-wife team Chefs Casey and Amy La Rue, who officially joined the dynamic Dallas dining scene in 2020 after pandemic pop-up success. In that time, they worked passionately to create an exciting and complex dining experience. Propelled by their individual talents and industry knowledge, they gutted the space and transformed it from a coffee house and bar to an atmosphere supporting Dallas’ newest unique culinary journey in a warm and inviting space featuring wood beams, live-edge tables and fresh flower arrangements.
The food-first approach and focus on stellar service allowed Carte Blanche to become 1 of 23 restaurants in the country to be awarded both Forbes 5-Star and AAA 5-Diamond and the only restaurant in Texas to hold either award.
Carte Blanche’s culinary voice can be heard in the signature 15-course Full Chef’s Tour menu, providing the diner with a cohesive narrative through the garden, ocean, wild boar, Texas game, and dessert courses. For the less adventurous, there are also the 6-Course Tasting menu and the Four-Course Prix Fixe.
For patrons interested in expanding their knowledge of what Texas has to offer, Carte Blanche delves into the other side of Texas ranches. Eschewing from traditional offerings of beef, chicken, and pork, the restaurant serves imaginative wild Texas game dishes focusing on native elk, venison, wild boar and antelope.
Diverse offerings are centered around a pecan wood-fired grill in the open concept kitchen and your entire dinner is touched by fire in some way beginning with vegetables cooked in the ashes and shaved into delicate petals with intense flavor accentuated by toasted pumpkin seed oil. Then comes the Gulf amberjack, cold smoked and finished with cucumber, puma peppers, finger lime and mint. The boar belly burnt ends are dusted with a delightfully intense pepper mix with the fragrance of green Szechuan, timut pepper and grains of paradise, instead of the traditional salt and pepper, making it a delightful play on Texas barbecue and an incredible bite.
Beef and farmed animals often come with an abundance of fat, which can result in tough or chewy braises. Not so with the restaurant’s wild game dishes, notably the antelope rib, expertly smoked low and slow over cherrywood for hours and finished in a traditional jus spiced with canela, allspice, cloves and ancho chilis and topped with a sharply acidic foam of butternut squash and kumquat that cuts through the richness.
Desserts keep with the Texas spirit and start off with a whimsical eggshell filled with lemongrass custard, citrus granita, Texas grapefruit sorbet and topped with a drizzle of smoked maple syrup, adding depth and complexity. After desserts comes a stunning golden tower of mignardises. Bonbons filled with white chocolate and yuzu, salted caramels, lime marshmallows, and a shot of rum spiced eggnog are an extravagant ending to an extraordinary meal.
The menu changes frequently with the seasons and what happens to be available from local farmers and fisherman and using as much bycatch as possible. There may be scorpion fish one day and triggerfish the next. The selections are always changing and evolving.
Tasting menus can often leave you overly full or still hungry. Carte Blanche is a rare exception in that every detail is so meticulously thought out you leave perfectly sated every time. The courses change often but are consistently balanced perfectly.
Sharply dressed servers and sommeliers offer a well-crafted list of wines and pairing options. Classic and reserve wine pairings offer an eclectic selection of hard-to-find wines and enlightened combinations. For the non-drinker, there is also an exceptional rare tea pairing that will make you forget about wine all together. The Lapsang Souchong from the Forbidden Forest, with the smokey depth of a fine scotch, pairs beautifully with the wood fire char on the elk loin and foie gras main course.
All reservations are made through Tock and are fully prepaid before coming to dinner. Menus and additional details can be found at www.CarteBlancheDallas.com.
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