The French Room
Let me save everyone sometime. The French Room is awesome, and I think most people would enjoy dinner there, as long as they were willing to try something different. There is no need to pretend, the wait staff is very friendly and rather laid back, and the menu consists of mostly thing that everyone has heard of with some sort of twist.
Getting to the French Room is fairly painless as far as downtown Dallas goes. It is on the left hand side of Commerce, which is, of course, one way. The drop off is fully enclosed, so it could be easy to miss. An awning is really the only thing to look for, as the valet is almost inside a parking garage type entrance. I lucked out, as we were driving by the first place it might be, I said, “I think this might be it”, pulled in, and I was in the right spot.
The valet is a little different. Phillip took our car, gave me a handshake and said, “I just need your first name and if you are here for X, Y, or The French Room.” I told him my name and told him I was here to have dinner at the French Room. No claim ticket, nothing. I wasn’t too worried, as the car in front of mine was an Escalade and the car behind was a Mercedes S class. If my car was off to the chop shop, it was going last!
Phillip, the guy who might be chopping our car during dinner, told us to head up the escalator and I missed the rest. Not one to ask for directions, I head up the escalator, and after being asked 3 times where to go in thirty seconds, I pointed straight ahead to the big sign that said French Room in large gold font.
From my visit to Lola, I learned that you are expected to announce yourself, they don’t ask. So we walked up to the three people waiting at the maitre’d podium, announced who we were, and without checking anything, they showed us to our table. Our reservation was for 6:30pm, which for the French Room’s single seating is rather early. The couples tables are off in a slightly separated alcove at one end of the room, tables 1 through 4. We were told, in jest, that we had the alcove to ourselves. For the first 30 minutes, we did have the alcove to ourselves, but by the time dinner was over, ever table was seated. If you go as a couple, and you want to people watch during dinner, tables 2 and 3 are the best in the house. If you are going as a couple and you want to maximize privacy, tables 1 and 4 are the tables to ask for.
It is dinner, and what is the first question? What do you want to drink? There was only two of us, and one of us was unlikely to drink half a bottle of wine, nor drive home, so the question should have been, what do you want to drink that will still allow you to make it home alive. Alas, I didn’t know how laid back Caesar was yet, so there was no jocularity at this point. I asked for a wine list, which was promptly furnished, after a quick review, he returned asking if we wanted to speak with the sommelier? Ah, no, just wine by the glass, which I am smart enough to order. I had a glass of Hangtime Pinot Noir and Brook had a glass of Dr. Loosen Riesling, both excellent and worthy of a review of their own.
The French Room is housed in the Adolphus Hotel, which has an option to dine at the French Room, stay overnight, and eat breakfast in the bistro. I strongly considered this option just so I could make use of the sommelier, but the other hassles of dealing with the pets made me pass. I consider not having to drive after dinner at the French Room a good idea. First, the excellent wine has to be consumed in limited quantity. Second, downtown Dallas can suck. Third, the excellent wine has to be consume in limited quantity. If you don’t have pets, get the room.
Dinner is served Prix Fix, either a three course meal, where you choose from half a dozen options, or the six course chef’s menu, where you are subjected to the chef’s favorites. I am a BIG fan of chef’s menus, but chef’s menu was not an option at this visit to the French Room. Two reasons prohibited me from partaking that evening, first was the mismatch between six courses and three, and second was the six wine pairs that would have gone along with dinner. Another time.
Dinner itself was excellent and my wife had no problem finding gluten free options straight off the menu. A sample menu is available on the Aldophus Hotel website, and a perusal will give you an idea of the options. Being a high end gourmet restaurant, the menu changes nightly, so I will not go into detail about what I had.
I was happy with dinner, and it was definitely one of the best dinners I have ever had, but it was not THE best. Maybe the tasting menu would have made the difference, but I doubt it. For example, I had the lamb as my main course, and I am well versed in lamb. I was unimpressed, it just was not fantastic as I had expected. It wasn’t even in the top five lamb meals I have had. I wanted to be dazzled with what they could do with lamb, and I was mildly impressed, but by no means dazzled.
Now my wife on the other hand, I believe puts this as her favorite meal ever. Her fish was excellent. But she has also told me that her favorite meal has been the last several restaurants we have been to. I am positive I heard that statement at the Pineapple Room, Alan Wong’s, Morton’s and Grill on the Alley.
Now that I am done complaining, I would definitely eat at the French Room again. It is definitely worth the price, which was a little over $250 for two, and it really was the best service I have ever experienced. Hawaii, which is known for their service in general, didn’t have a restaurant that could compete.
Just in case you are leery of fancy restaurants, and fear not recognizing anything on the menu, the French Room uses the basics for the main components of half their dishes. There will be a popular cut of steak, lamb, veal, fish and shellfish all done up nice and fancy. I like to experiment, but you can still find a fancy steak and potatoes on the menu.