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New Mansion Chef Bruno Davaillon Dishes on Dallas

He’s heeerrrreee…new Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek restaurant chef Bruno Davaillon is officially in ‘da house. We got to ask him a few questions this afternoon after he finished serving lunch to the Hunts. (All in a day’s work.) He’s French, he’s got a great accent, and most importantly, he’s got Dallas’ first Michelin star. Jump for it.

Was last night your first night in the kitchen? No, it’s really tonight. Last night I just debuted a couple of menu items, but tonight is my official first night. I’ve been here for a few days. Tonight I introduce six new dishes. I started to roll a few dishes out each day and have a full menu out later. Some of the dishes on the menu right now are very good, so I will work with them and try to make them more my way.

How did the job in Dallas happen? I was contacted by Gert Kopera (VP of Food and Bev for Rosewood) and Bob Boulogne (COO of Rosewood). He called me about the job. We know some of the same people. A few months ago, five or six months ago. I had been to Dallas once before, but of course, I knew about the Mansion. When you’re in the culinary business you know the Mansion. It’s a landmark in all of Texas.

You had a pretty great job in Vegas, too. It was interesting. I had five years there. Mix is the biggest operation for (Alain) Ducasse. 240 seats. It’s Vegas. I had 38 people working for me, including pastry, and this was only for dinner. We didn’t do lunch.

The challenge I faced there was the volume and the pace. With that many people, I couldn’t touch the tables or the people. There was frustration about that. When I got the phone call from Bob Boulogne I was excited to see what the Mansion had to offer.

I heard that schools in Dallas were very important to you. I am not going to say schools in Vegas were bad, but his school wasn’t that great. My wife was here this past weekend to look for a school. I want to be 15 minutes maximum drive. My son is going to be eight in December.

Were you looking for more of a community than you had before? Exactly. More like a real city. In Vegas, you have the strip and everyone lives around it. There are some nice neighborhoods but no city feel. I like the city feel here. I can see that people are loyal to the Mansion, and everyone is happy to see a new face in the kitchen.

Did you bring any menu items from Mix? I did a few from Mix but I tweaked them to use ingredients I can find here. I’m going to evolve on that when I get a feel for what people like. For me the Mansion isn’t just a restaurant, it’s an experience, from in-room dining to breakfast. My first goal is dinner, then lunch, then I wan to put my print on breakfast, lunch, and in-room dining. 15 years ago I worked at the Relais & Chateaux in France and it is about the same size and Mansion. When you order room service you should have the same experience, not the same as the restaurant, but a very good experience.

Will you keep the tortilla soup? I have no problem with that staying. It’s very popular for 20 plus years. When something works and is good and people like it…what I want is to fill up the restaurant. If the food is good and consistent, then people will come back to the Mansion. We want to bring them back.

Have you eaten anywhere in town yet? No not yet. I did a little tour with Duncan (Graham, Managing Director of the Mansion) but I haven’t eaten anywhere yet. I want to get in with other chefs in town. I met Dean Fearing and Stephan Pyles at the Los Angeles Food and Wine Festival, and they were very nice to me.

What was it like when you got your Michelin star at Mix? I got one in France too (ed note: oops). We weren’t expecting it. Mix is a fun place, it was L-shaped with an ultra lounge. It’s very open, the restaurant. The first four years we did around 100,000 covers a year. So to do this kind of volume and do it well, I guess we did a good job.

Were you much of a gambler? In five years, I think I put four quarters into a slot machine. I won’t miss it.

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