Word on the street has Hotel Belmont's Cliff Cafe shuttering its doors for a couple of months while Bolsa partners Chris Zielke and Christopher Jeffers renovate the space.Their plan? Turn Cliff Cafe (or whatever they end up calling it) into a semi-upscale barbecue joint, adhering loosely to Bolsa's local and seasonal mantra. To run the kitchen and help with the restaurant's development, Zielke and Jeffers have teamed up with Tim Byres, until very recently the executive chef for Stephan Pyles.Byr
It's hard to believe Bolsa has only been open for a year, as it already feels like a Dallas institution for locavores and those who enjoy fascinating food creations at reasonable prices. It's gotta be true, though, as the restaurant will celebrate its first year of business with "Bands, Bruschetta, Burgers, Bottles & Beer" 4 p.m. Sunday at the "Bolsaveursary." OK, so maybe the food isn't overwrought, but that name certainly is. Forgivable offense, though, considering that the event
Best line overheard (well, shouted to our face) at the Smoke grand opening Friday night: "Who cares about resurrecting Deep Ellum when we've got this?!"
The gushing party-goer was referring to the booming Oak Cliff renaissance, of course. Granted, a great big free shindig at a buzz-worthy new restaurant isn't exactly an illustration of solid neighborhood revitalization, but we had to admit he was on to something.
Formerly the Cliff Café, Smoke is the result of a quick turnaround headed by
Sara KerensIn this week's Observer, Dave gets back to barbecue with a visit to Smoke, the Oak Cliff spot alongside the Belmont Hotel, opened in August by Bolsa's Chris Zielke and Chris Jeffers.Beyond the food, the place has style -- Chris Jeffers' snakeskin coat at the grand opening left no doubt about that -- and you can take a look around Smoke in this week's Dish slide show, by Sara Kerens.
