This Downtown Dallas Restaurant Grows Its Menu On The Roof

Each morning at around 6 a.m., chef Vincent Chueng, aka chef Vinnie, makes his way to the Sheraton Hotel's fourth-floor rooftop to tend to his collection of thriving plants in the heart of downtown Dallas.

He's been a chef under Marriott International for decades, and has spent that time traveling around the U.S. opening hotels and reviving others, like the most recent W Hotel Dallas.

When he took on his executive sous chef role at the Sheraton Hotel, the rooftop garden was just a shell of what it once was, and over the last two years, he's nurtured it back into a tiny, thriving microcosm. Fittingly, the space is now the "Herb N' Jungle" and serves as just a fraction of Sheraton's entire focus on promoting local culture and sustainability.

The Herb N' Jungle is a regenerative garden that boasts a diverse array of plants thriving in the brutal Texas heat, including fig trees, rosemary, four different kinds of basil, hibiscus, tomatoes, peach trees, lemon trees, and a variety of peppers, including Carolina Reapers.

The garden features both perennial and annual plants, so while some have been fruiting for years, others are only picked during the harvest season and are either swapped out or replanted.
As one develops a green thumb over the years, experimentation becomes inevitable, and chef Vinnie has slowly started to see what he can introduce into the Sheraton kitchen. This year, he sourced a hybrid pineapple sage from Waxahachie and bought five wasabi plants to see if he could successfully harvest them in two years.

Wasabi is notoriously hard to grow and does not grow naturally in the U.S. It requires consistent temperature, shade and other very specific environmental conditions. Plus, it's very susceptible to disease. He's nearly certain he's the only chef in Dallas attempting to grow his own wasabi (and he's likely right).

If successful, the Sheraton kitchen will be one of Dallas' rare spots you can get true wasabi, and not the dyed horseradish alternative.
Tens of thousands of bees are the newest residents of the fourth-floor garden. Annually, they produce around a gallon of pure, unfiltered honey. The most recent harvest inspired a collaboration with Sheraton and Manhattan Project Beer Co. to create the House Honey Lager. These crisp, clean and subtle honey notes can be tasted on tap at Sheraton Dallas’ restaurants and bars: Draft Sports Bar & Lounge, Open Palette and The Parlor. 
On past menus, the same honey has been used in the hotel's chicken and waffles with chipotle hot honey and a honey cake with rosewater cream. The garden's success gives chef Vinnie a lot of wiggle room to come up with creative recipes when everything is harvested in early summer.

You never know what the harvest will bring to the restaurant menu, but you can guarantee some ingredients will have a spotlight during the Mixology Monday cocktail class inside The Parlor, Sheraton's upscale cocktail lounge.
If it's not being grown upstairs, it's likely sourced from local farms and purveyors like Dallas Mozzerella Co., Starship Bagels, Empire Baking, Cedar Ridge Egg Farm, Brazos Valley Cheese and others across the city and state.

Soon, plans are underway to revamp the entire upstairs garden, spruce up the walkways, and make the pallet boxes deeper. Eventually, they want to add a greenhouse-type protection since the summer's strong winds impact the health of the growing season.

In the coming weeks, a new menu at Open Palette will debut, featuring many ingredients from Herb N' Jungle. The new menu leans heavily into Texas roots with more meat and barbecue served with house-made sauces using the harvested peppers.

And just so you know- he knows exactly how to mute that Carolina Reaper perfectly in a new aioli that may get a little screentime on the next menu.

Open Palette (inside Sheraton Hotel), 400 Olive St., Sunday - Thursday, 6:30 a.m. - 10 p.m., Saturday/Sunday, 7 a.m. - 10 p.m.