MIRADOR: AFTERNOON TEA, LUNCH, AND EVENTS AS A TOTAL EXPERIENCE

by Andrew Chalk: 

Have you been to Mirador recently? When I last went to the penthouse at the top of the Forty Five Ten luxury store in downtown Dallas it was an evening restaurant. Now, just about everything has changed!

First, the space. It has been opened up and now feels bigger and more airy. A total redecoration in a light livery and trim makes it brighter and more welcoming. 

Second, the concept. Gone is the evening restaurant. In, are afternoon tea on Saturdays, lunch Tuesday to Friday (either à la carte or prix-fixe for three courses at $30), and private events.

MIRADOR FOR EVENTS

It is the latter where Mirador is sui generis. The likes of weddings, showers, graduations, corporate events, and milestone birthdays are often daunting organizational prospects for busy people. Mirador is not just a venue, it is (through Amber Priest, Director of Sales and Events) a complete event-planning service - even down to designing and sending the invitations, providing and setting up the audio-visual facilities, and valet parking.

The scale of your event can be up to:

• Private Dining Room and Bar Lounge: 100 standing | 40 seated

• Main Dining Room: 150 standing | 100 seated

• Full Venue Buyout: 200 standing | 160 seated

and the whole restaurant can be rearranged and every single stick of furniture moved in or out to suit the event. 

Those who choose to serve food and drink at their event at Mirador will also find themselves far removed from the rubber chicken circuit. Executive Chef is Travis Wyatt, who may be the most secret top-tier chef in Dallas. His LinkedIn profile is shorter than those instructions that come with imported computer parts, listing just his current employer (The Headington Companies), and his Facebook profile doesn’t even mention his profession. To correct the record, he worked at Front Room at the Lumen Hotel under Michael Ellert (ex Boulud Café), at Filament in Deep Ellum, under Matt McCallister, Neighborhood Services, and he was sous chef at Meridien, in The Village, under Junior Borges. Now he oversees kitchens at Mirador.

SAMPLING THE MIRADOR EXPERIENCE -- AFTERNOON TEA

I and The Moll had the opportunity to sample Modern Afternoon Tea at a recent media event at Mirador. Rather than the cucumber sandwiches and cakes that backstop the traditional English version of the ceremony, Mirador’s is a presentation of nine small plates, grouped in threes, accompanied by sparkling wine and a carefully chosen selection of teas.

Festivities start with the familiar scone, jam and cream. Scones that had an amazing lightness of being, as though being baked to suit the room. 

Lemon Turbinado Raspberry Scone, Vanilla Berry Jam, Cream

The first flight was a light savory selection: 

Drone shot of the first flight

Garden Tart: Sunchoke, baby root vegetables, black truffle;  

Caviar Tartlet: Crème fraîche, chives, cured egg yolk, caviar;

Mushroom Crisp: Rice paper, egg custard, fermented mushroom;

Tea: The Cultured Cup. Golden Mountain Green Tea

The second flight was a protein-invested savory statement. Its second selection contained, not one, but two of my three favorite foods, foie gras and caviar.

Drone shot of the second course.

Wagyu Sando: Spicy mayo, shiso, milk bread;

Foie Macaron: Black pepper macaron, shallot, marmalade, foie gras     

mousse;

Lavash: Squid ink, avocado, harissa, fennel;

Tea: The Cultured Cup. Assam Margherita Estate Black Tea. 

This tea was cogently tannic and inflected with hibiscus. Although I experimented with adding milk, I thought the subtle flavors were masked. 

The third flight switched to the dessert stage

Drone shot of the dessert flight

Ivoire Maple Truffle: Valhrona white chocolate, maple ganache, turbinado sugar;

Pear Linzer Cookie: Housemade pear jam, linzer cookie, candied violet;

Azalea Tart: Hazelnut chocolate ganache, chocolate pâte brisée, salted caramel crémeux; 

Tea: Mariage Frères Eros Black Tea.

Everything was prepared with that precision that you associate with an experienced hand. The demeanor of the furniture and finish reflects and reinforces the spring Dallas sun that streams through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The lightness and elegance of the room must partly explain why women love this venue (around two-thirds of the patrons were women when we visited). 

Do accept one of the encouraged visits onto the balcony at the end of your meal. The view is worth it.

SERVICE

The service staff are an object lesson in picking high-quality people, giving them the best training, and making sure they have the tools to do their jobs. From the beaming, instantly present valet, handling two arrivals at once with no sweat, to our server, Anna, who knew the dishes as though she had cooked them herself, to GM Tim Carlson, who seemed to smoothly traverse the room as though on a hoverboard, the way managers do in Michelin-starred restaurants.  

THE EXPERIENCE

We really enjoyed Mirador’s Modern Afternoon Tea. After having been to many in London’s, over 50, five-star hotels it was refreshingly novel, but not a rejection of the original concept. Most importantly, it was just as good, and if Tim Headington’s hospitality ambitions ever stretch across the pond, this should be the first concept he should migrate. 

The same staff handle events, and the weekday lunch, so I would expect the same quality and attention to detail there. It is the total experience. 

In Mirador's park, adjacent to the restaurant, security is extremely discreet.