When God gives you a balmy summer night in Dallas, you sit on the patio, order a platter of oysters and a glass of bubbles, and give thanks. But at Homewood, Matt McCallister's thrilling second-act restaurant on Oak Lawn Avenue, even such a simple indulgence has moments of revelation.
Those crisp, pristine bivalves from Maine, North Carolina and the Gulf of Mexico really needed nothing more than a little lemon. But I couldn't stop dousing them with McCallister's brilliant garnishes: a graceful mignonette made with tomato-vine vinegar and an infinitesimal dice of pickled pink turnip and persimmon, in place of the usual red wine vinegar and shallots, and his sultry, barrel-aged version of hot sauce. There is subtle genius to both, and they are perhaps the least remarkable things on the menu.
After closing his influential restaurant FT33 a year ago, McCallister has returned to the Dallas dining scene with a progressive, world-class restaurant that pushes boundaries on the menu while maintaining an atmosphere so comfortable that you can imagine eating here every week.
What a luxury it would be. Each dish is a masterwork of layered flavor, electrified with fermentation and wisps of wood smoke, and the menu is constantly evolving as local ingredients fall out of season and tiny quantities of house-cured meats, pickles and preserves, and fermented potions run out and are replaced.
There's no keeping up with it, though that's not necessarily a bad thing. Some of my favorites have already disappeared: embered Monterey squid, gemelli with chorizo and razor clams, gazpacho with mussels in escabeche, pastry chef Maggie Huff's smoked strawberry sorbet and beet froyo dessert, bar manager Lauren Festa's Petit Pois cocktail made with freshly pressed pea juice, génépy, tarragon and Chartreuse.
But over the course of five visits, I never had a dish that disappointed, including on Homewood's opening night in April, when every seat in the airy dining room was taken and the restaurant was instantly at full tilt. Or on that June evening when a storm stranded thousands of Dallasites without power and swamped Homewood with people looking for dinner. Forget the storm warnings: They even packed the pretty patio, planted with bay laurel and hoja santa, basil, arugula and more.
Or even on the night when Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki slipped into a seat back-to-back with Top Chef's Tiffany Derry, while a high-spirited crowd stood around the burnished brass bar, hoping for a spot to open up. The room felt like the electrified center of the city.
Like a conductor, McCallister oversees it all, stationed at the border of the open kitchen and the dining room, giving the go sign on dish after dish: Four snowy, flash-cured bites of Spanish mackerel balancing dabs of smoked corn aioli, pickled ramps and demure disks of fresh hoja santa leaf. Buttery, smoky Rose Finn potatoes tumbled with peanut miso aioli and a crumble of dehydrated, crisp-fried potato and benne seeds. Prosciutto transformed into velvety, nutty deliciousness after a 26-month cure, the thin slices dotted with piquant peach mostarda, pickled rhubarb, peppery arugula and a dusting of rosy powder made from dried peach skin.
A dish called simply tomatoes and plums is cupped in a blue earthenware bowl, the jewel-like main ingredients tossed with basil leaves, garlic croutons and sherry vinaigrette, and a fluffy aerated olive oil napping them like a blanket. The umami sleight of hand here? The dark red paste painted on the inside of the bowl, made from dried tomato skins, green garlic and spring onion.
Ricotta gnocchi, from the FT33 menu, is the kind of dish that will haunt you with its goodness: Pillowy gnocchi, barely scented with nutmeg, are lightly seared and dressed with wilted kale, chanterelles and crisp chicken skin. A bowl of fusilli is nearly as luscious, bathed in a light lamb ragu with strands of radicchio and fresh mint.
The intensity continues with the main courses. A slab of steelhead trout is roasted over the embers until the skin becomes a crisp shield over the tender flesh.Its rosy color makes a beautiful contrast to the grassy green sauce on the potatoes, which are cooked over the fire and tossed with a purée of nasturtium leaves, and served over a swoosh of tahini that, naturally, McCallister makes from roasted and puréed sesame seeds ("It's kind of a pain!" he says, for some reason referring only to the tahini). A savory praline of toasted pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds and chiles finishes the dish.
Though it sounds conventional, skewered 2S Ranch grass-fed sirloin was the most surprising main course, with thin strips of North Texas beef folded into exactly bite-size packets, threaded onto a skewer, brushed with fermented honey and finished over the fire. It looks like an accordion of meat, each toothsome bite complemented by creamy borracho beans crowned with radish matchsticks, pickled onion, cilantro and mint — and an emerald swirl of oil infused with huacatay, the vaguely dank Peruvian herb.
Sommelier Cameron Cronin has put together a tight but expansive list of wines perfectly in sync with the menu. In a little more than 100 bottles, it covers the globe (Austria to Australia), the grape (chenin blanc to zweigelt) and styles from Old World classics to woolly naturals. There are plenty of choices under $60, and Cronin makes an excellent, if opinionated, guide.
When our first-choice bottle was sold out one night, he made a command decision on a substitute: 2017 Wenzel Wild and Free Gelber Muskateller from Austria, delivered already open and decanted. I liked the suggestion, but my boss took a sip and politely commented that the thing she hates about some natural wines is that they taste like kombucha. It tasted a lot like kombucha.
McCallister's local, seasonal commitment carries over into the bar, where Festa's compelling cocktails are changed up as fast as the kitchen changes dishes, and even her focused, classic margarita is bolstered with house-made orange liqueur.
Huff's desserts may have the most fleeting lifespan of all, given the short Texas fruit season and the vagaries of the weather. Strawberries are long gone, and so is her fabulously eccentric smoked strawberry sorbet and beet frozen yogurt dessert, a bold fuschia swirl set atop beet poppy seed cake and garnished with shredded raw beet and strawberries prickling with vinegar and cracked black pepper.
Other desserts I tried didn't shake me up the way that one did, but they were delicious even so, particularly the dark chocolate cake, its bitter edges rounded out by a smooth popcorn-flavored buttercream and dots of milk chocolate-caramel crémeux and popcorn malt tuiles. And the cheese tray, large enough for at least two, is one of the best in the city, with three perfectly ripe selections, toasted sweet potato brioche and razor-thin crackers studded with dried cherries and pecans, spiced nuts and a juicy marmalade.
Great dining cities have restaurants that go back decades, defining the local sensibility while remaining a vital part of it and graduating impressive new chefs from their kitchens. It seemed like FT33 could have been one of those restaurants. Then McCallister called it quits and promised something more "casual" at Homewood.
Of course Homewood is much more than that. This is a restaurant where you can sign up for a full-on, progressive experience on par with something you might have in Los Angeles or Melbourne. Or a more conservative dinner, with a ridiculously good steak and potatoes and a Caesar salad. Or even, for a few dollars, a taste of the excitement with a dish or two at the bar.
I don't remember meals as delicious as these when I ate at FT33 as a civilian, or a room that was half as much fun. I can't wait to see what he does next week.
Homewood
Rating: Four stars
Price: $$$ (starters $6 to $16, pasta $16 to $32, main courses $28 to $90, desserts $9 to $10, cheese plate $21)
Service: Relaxed and casual, in an expert way. No one pummels you with the minutiae of every dish and drink, but if that's what you're into, go ahead and geek out: Servers know all the details — and get the tempo of the meal right, too.
Ambience: Chef Matt McCallister has returned to the Dallas dining scene with a progressive, world-class restaurant that pushes boundaries on the menu while maintaining a vibe that's so comfortable you can imagine eating here every week. What a luxury it would be. Dishes are in constant flux as local ingredients fall out of season and tiny quantities of house-made cured meats, preserved fruits and vegetables, and fermented potions run out and are replaced. We have yet to hit a dish that disappoints. The dining room has the same refined, casual style as the food, and the inviting patio will soon be fitted with a cooling system, we're told.
Noise: Shouty (76 decibels)
Drinks: With a little more than 100 bottles, Cameron Cronin's wine list covers the globe (Austria to Australia) and the grape (chenin blanc to zweigelt). Styles range from Old World classics to woolly naturals, with plenty of hard-to-find hipster delights such as 2018 Trail Marker Carignan Rosé from Mendocino ($48), 2017 Domaine de Villaine Côte Chalonnaise La Digoine from Burgundy ($118, made by the owner of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti) and Château Musar Rosé from Lebanon (at $12 a glass, the best value on the list). Bar manager Lauren Festa's cocktails ($11 to $14) are compelling and fleetingly seasonal, such as the Momo Rai, with Texas peaches, Rittenhouse Rye, Carpano Antica and thyme.
Recommended: 26-month prosciutto, saucisson sec (French dried sausage), tomatoes and plums, chilled tomato gazpacho, ricotta gnocchi, casoncelli, steelhead trout cooked over embers, skewered 2S Ranch grass-fed sirloin, dark chocolate popcorn torte, smoked strawberry sorbet and beet froyo
GPS: Partitions divide the dining room in two zones, and the one in front of the open kitchen (including the counter seats) is the fun zone. The other is more like the dead zone, even when it is full; grab a seat at the lively bar or on the patio instead.
Address: 4002 Oak Lawn Ave., Dallas; 214-434-1244; homewooddallas.com
Hours: Tuesdays through Sundays from 5 to 10 p.m.
Reservations: Accepted. Seats at the bar and on the patio are reserved for walk-ins.
Credit cards: All major
Health department score: Not inspected at publication time
Access: Restaurant and bar are all on one level; ramp down two steps to patio.
Parking: Free valet parking
Ratings Legend
4 stars: Extraordinary (First-rate on every level; a benchmark dining experience)
3 stars: Excellent (A destination restaurant and leader on the DFW food scene)
2 stars: Very Good (Strong concept and generally strong execution)
1 star: Good (Has merit, but limited ambition or spotty execution)
No stars: Poor (Not recommended)
Noise Levels
Below 60: Quiet. Maybe too quiet.
60-69: Easy listening. Normal conversation, with a light background buzz.
70-79: Shouty. Conversation is possible, but only with raised voices.
80-85: Loud. Can you hear me now? Probably not.
86-plus: Deafening.
Prices
Average dinner per person.
$ -- $19 and under
$$ -- $20 to $50
$$$ -- $50 to $99
$$$$ -- $100 and over
