First Look: The Nest Craft, A New Brunch and Dinner Spot in North Dallas

The Nest Café, a breakfast/brunch spot in Frisco, opened a spinoff in November called The Nest Craft, on Alpha Road across from the Galleria Mall in North Dallas. It still provides your breakfast fix including waffles, omelets, Benedicts, acai bowls and the ever-popular avocado toast, but adds a dinner service (one night a week) as well as a full bar with several craft cocktails. It takes a lot to get us to drive anywhere near The Galleria during the holiday shopping season, but croffles and the chance to give pickle beer a try were just enough to push us into action.

It’s an open space, airy and full of light and nestled within an upscale shopping plaza that they’re calling “The Muse at Midtown” (Midtown? North of 635? Whatever …). There are high-end apartment buildings along with boutiques such as Rug Studio, Z Gallerie and Natuzzi Editions. It looks promising once it fills up a bit more.

We started off with a couple of cocktails as one does at 11 a.m. on a Tuesday: a banana old fashioned and a Best Maid bloody mary. The old fashioned was made with Bulleit bourbon, light rum and creme de banana. The banana flavor was subtle, really more aroma than taste, which was a bit disappointing. The bloody Mary consisted of Tito’s vodka and a house Mary mix that was garnished with a lime, olives and a decently sized piece of bacon on a skewer. But the real attraction here is that it comes with a sidecar of Best Maid Pickle beer.

We’ve always wanted to try this, but would never spend money on a six-pack or anything, so this was kismet. We were sort of expecting a lager that tasted slightly of pickle juice, but what we received was more akin to a glass of pickle juice with a splash of beer. It was … pretty pickly. Definitely nothing we’d ever drink again, at least on its own, but it worked surprisingly well as a chaser to the bloody Mary.

Next up was the croffle, that croissant and waffle hybrid, the cronut’s more sophisticated cousin. This came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and was garnished with what the menu describes as “brown cheese,” whatever that is. The croffle itself was light and fluffy; it tasted and had a mouthfeel that was sort of like a cross between a croissant and a waffle. Huh. It was very good; we’d order it again. Now, will someone just invent the crenidict and be done with it?

We also ordered a farmer’s omelet that was prepared with leeks, mushrooms and ham, and came with a half piece of toast with jam as well as a serving of country potatoes. The omelet did not skimp on the leeks, an unusual occurrence in a world full of restaurants that usually skimp on the leeks. Thumbs up.

Finally, we tried the Simple Nest breakfast, consisting of a poached egg, house-made potato puree with garlic, sumac and parsley, all placed in a mason jar and served with toast and tomato. The sumac brought an interesting flavor to the breakfast jar party. Interesting in a good way.

The dinner menu, served once a week on Fridays from 5 p..m. to 9 p.m., promises such items as street tacos, clams and mussels, seared ahi tuna, a pepper tenderloin and a charcuterie board, among other tapas items. It’s probably worth a try given the appeal of the brunch items we tried.

5217 Alpha Road, No. 155. Brunch 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday – Sunday; Dinner 5 – 9 p.m. Friday – Saturday