When I first moved to Dallas, I made a list of all the canonical restaurants I absolutely had to visit if I wanted to get a handle on the city's food scene. Unfortunately, my list amounted to what politicians would call an unfunded mandate, which is why crossing off every name on it has been slow-going.
I've cheated a bit: I've counted happy hour bar snacks and Restaurant Week dinners as visits, rationalizing I've at least read the menu and could identify the dining room in a photo line-up. And I most recently stretched my definition of a meal to include a Friday Night Flight at Nana, a monthly event that includes three glasses of wine and three tiny bites for $20, or about half the price of the cheapest entrée on Nana's regular menu.
So I still haven't really dined at Nana. But I found my experience utterly charming, and can't imagine why City of Ate hasn't saluted it sooner.
As the name says, the Flight's held on Fridays, and it makes for a lovely weekend starter. It somehow feels right to leave the work week behind by rising 27 stories above the city.
There isn't much to the tasting plate: A good number of deep-pocketed guests immediately asked for a bar menu after demolishing the miniature snacks Nana served last week. Yet the flavors - designed to pair with the featured wines -- are exquisite: I was especially struck by a savory blue cheese candied olive.
And if the food portions aren't impressive, the wine pours are generous: The Michael David rep who was working the room happily refilled emptied glasses. That might be reason enough to halfway-dine at Nana again.
