62 Main RestaurantBy DOTTY GRIFFITH / The Dallas Morning News Sometimes the best-laid plans actually turn out. At 62 Main Restaurant, everything works. Eyes wide open, on-top-of-the-world chef David McMillan jumped from Nana, the 27th-floor fine-dining sanctuary of Dallas' Wyndham Anatole, to the hard, go-it-alone ground of Northeast Tarrant County. He landed on his feet. Mr. McMillan's vision turned his bit of the Colleyville Town Center, an urban development that could be a soundstage, into a California wine-country bistro. Since the restaurant's mid-February opening, food, wine, atmosphere and service have achieved laser-quality focus. One dish, delicate yet as intense and balanced as a high-wire walker, exemplifies the best of 62 Main. Seared scallops ($29) taste fresh and clean against a backdrop of broth laden with crumbles of spicy Spanish chorizo, sweet fresh corn, caramelized Vidalia onions, crisped slices of baby okra and grape tomatoes that burst in the mouth. The flavor memory is indelible. The chef, a California transplant, doesn't have his feet rooted at ground level, however. His passionate culinary expression takes flight in a molto cool second-story setting overlooking a growing village of pseudo-Tuscan public buildings, high-end retail and luxury townhouses. Climb a winding staircase or take the elevator to an understated, relaxed and intimate dining room with only about 60 seats. On the ceiling, shiny chrome track lights with cobalt-blue fixtures and exposed copper fire-sprinkler pipes add a dash of color and industrial chic to the serenity of putty-colored, heavily textured stucco walls. One can feel comfortable dining in formalwear before a major event or in golf clothes after 18 holes. Most diners dress more toward the latter. Another Nana veteran, Gregory Sonnenburg, runs the floor with calm precision. Waiters know the wine list as well as the menu, which changes seasonally. Tuesday through Thursday evenings, 62 Main offers a three-course tasting menu with 3-ounce wine pairings for $55 ($42 for food only). This is a dining deal. Portions, as well as the price for three courses with wine, are smaller than a la carte, which many customers might find appealing on a weeknight. Lunch is also available, with another short but concentrated menu: wine country riffs on salads and sandwiches. Example: a wood-oven-roasted tomato, mozzarella and pesto sandwich with a parsley, lemon and couscous salad ($14). One evening the recently inaugurated tasting menu included a halved sea scallop with chewy morel mushrooms and a sweet corn purée. Paired with a light and fruity 2002 Domaine Des Cassagnoles Cotes de Gascogne, this starter rivaled the scallop entree for nuance and grace. The wine list, like the menu, is compact and fine-tuned. Vintages are selected for their food-friendly natures; $100 is top of the range, while most are about half that. At least three-fourths of the list is available by the glass ($8 to $16). That makes it simple to ask the server to do a by-the-glass pairing for each course. Many dishes come from the wood-burning oven, such as a pair of roasted quail stuffed with yams and seasoned with duck bacon and sweet onions (on the tasting menu). Brimming with flinty terroir (the French term for a combination of grape qualities and soil and climate conditions; it has no exact English translation), a 2001 Labouré-Roi Burgundy contrasted lovingly with the sweet characteristics of the tasting menu entree. On an earlier visit, another quail dish was even more exquisite, stuffed with smoked sausage and served on a bed of French lentils with a not-too-sweet cherry sauce ($27). On that visit, ramps, seasonal wild green onions that look like tiny leeks, showed up in a couple of dishes, including roasted tomato soup ($8). Brick red and almost as thick as tomato paste, the soup imparted a concentrated flavor that appealed more than the dense consistency. There's at least one showstopper in every category. Don't miss the appetizer of wood-roasted shrimp ($13), a trio of succulent, sweet shrimp lightly accented with a smoked pepper coulis and a dollop of crème fraîche accented by horseradish. For dessert, leave room for a feathery lemon pudding ($7), perfectly souffled, airy and sweet-tart, perhaps the ultimate citrus finale. Many dishes are cooked over wood (a "wood of the day," such as cured Texas oak, is posted on the blackboard alongside the day's seasonal offerings, such as halibut). But nothing tasted too smoky. A world-class ventilation system means there's no smell of smoke in the dining room even though the oven burns hot in a back corner. A solo diner might find the back bar convenient and entertaining, since it's near the kitchen action. The cocktail bar is near the entrance. After three visits, only one dish showed even a minor flaw. A roasted artichoke stuffed with garlic breadcrumbs ($8) wasn't heated through. When the dining room is full, as it was early on a Thursday evening, the noise level can be intrusive. Later, when the early rush is over and darkness has fallen, the dining room is a romantic, softly lighted, subdued oasis. The leap from running a hotel restaurant with a corporate financial commitment to acting as independent operator is a big one. So far Mr. McMillan has made it work with the same self-assured flair that made him a star at Nana. Published in The Dallas Morning News: 04.29.05 |
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62 Main Street, #200
Colleyville, TX 76034
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