One month after opening, Walkers\u2019 is Lower Greenville\u2019s newest obsession, and one that didn\u2019t compromise. Part market, sandwich shop, wine bar and restaurant, siblings Rosemary Walker-Greene and Russell Greene wanted it all, then filled the space with memories of their childhood, world travels and family history.<\/p>\n
The Observer stopped by on July 15 and 16 for a peek at the new kid on the block.<\/p>\n
The restaurant is imbued with the love of their grandmother M\u00e9re and mother Lulu, who passed away just two weeks before opening. Every night, the siblings set a fully dressed table lit with Lulu\u2019s personal candelabras.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe grew up literally around the dinner table, and every night my mother would set the table and light the candles with her candelabras, even if it was Chinese takeout,\u201d Rosemary says. \u201cShe was the ultimate host. That\u2019s why we did this because we wanted this space to feel like an extension of our living room.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When to go (it\u2019s complicated, but worth it)<\/p>\n
Walkers\u2019 hours are complicated. It\u2019s open Wednesday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. The market is always open, while sandwiches are only available til 3 p.m. There\u2019s also a cafe with the basics.<\/p>\n
The wine bar opens at 4 p.m. with a snacky menu available 3 to 5 p.m. During this time, half the space is shut down. At 5 p.m., dinner service begins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Walking in on a weekday late afternoon, the lunch rush has passed and ladies in Lululemon sets stroll in for a vibrant green matcha. Others sit at the bar, baby in hand, catching up with girlfriends.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The space<\/p>\n
The space is designed by Kevin Klein Design and is a well-dressed kaleidoscope of the Walkers: taxidermy for Russell\u2019s love of hunting; an anchoring curved stone bar; and extensive millwork in various shades of wood filled with glassware and wine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bar is accentuated with a large mural. It\u2019s built around a woman with a green apple head, inspired by Belgian artist Ren\u00e9 Magritte. It\u2019s a snapshot of the Walkers\u2019 childhood, from European summers to chickens running around with their heads cut off.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The chef<\/p>\n
Chef Aldon Reyes, who runs the kitchen, has an affinity for adventure. Dallas knows the San Diego native from Cry Wolf, Georgie, the former Le PasSage and Mot Hai Ba. Before that, he spent seven years at the former Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant Juniper & Ivy, where the menu changed every two to three days at the nearly 300-seat restaurant.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was always exciting, so I wanted to recreate that for my team to get as stoked as I used to get back in the day, and it still stokes me out,\u201d he says. \u201cWe get to go play with food all day and get paid to do it. It doesn\u2019t get much better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Walkers\u2019, the menu is printed each day. The food program is heavily seasonal, giving the kitchen ample creativity and the agency to pivot. Reyes steers clear of the Dallas chicken tendy and steak pigeonhole, running two menus through the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t your stereotypical menu here in Dallas,\u201d Reyes says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lunch tackles the \u201cDallas isn\u2019t a sandwich city\u201d myth. More on that later. It\u2019s offered from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. On the menu, diners will find sandwiches built atop housemade sourdough focaccia. Jack and Sally, the restaurant\u2019s sourdough starters, are named after Russell\u2019s son\u2019s favorite movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nonna\u2019s Webb is a massive protein-packed sandwich \u2013 made with sustainably raised Lady Edison Country Pork salumi, salame rosa, provolone, lettuce, tomato and an addictive hot giardiniera mayo \u2013 named after Russell\u2019s grandmother-in-law.<\/p>\n
For beverages, Rosemary, an advanced sommelier, curates a venturesome wine list. Bar lead Adam Stein complements it with polished classics like The Hotel Nacional, a $16 sip with El Dorado, apricot, pineapple, Demerara and citrus.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The main event<\/p>\n
Dinner reservations are a hot commodity. Prime time serves buzzes with old- school hip-hop and shoulder-to-shoulder conversation. After 9 p.m., the vibe settles into a slower rhythm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Start with the beef tartare topped with halved cherries. Every bite demands a piece of cherry, adding sweetness and whimsy to balance the richness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cherry Tomato is the number one seller. The dish is made with San Diego\u2019s Girl & Dug Farm\u2019s tomatoes. They arrive perfectly ripe, requiring very little pomp and circumstance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSimplicity is honestly one of my favorite things,\u201d says Reyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
None is simpler than Bonny Melon. The dish features the rare sweet-and-sour specialty melon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t do anything to that except let the melon really be the star,\u201d Reyes adds. The melon swims in a pool of coriander and lime. It\u2019s proof restraint can be as memorable as complexity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Corn Carbonara is a new feature, replacing the sourdough gnocchi. Jack and Sally contribute to the sourdough tagliatelle that tangles with snappy sweet corn kernels and bacon. It\u2019s topped with a satisfying egg, slow-cooked until it\u2019s precisely 63 degrees Celsius.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Claws Out<\/p>\n
Chicken is having a moment in Dallas. Walkers\u2019 has a foot situation going.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe leave the foot on because people are disconnected from what food actually is nowadays,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to try and show people your chicken has legs. It\u2019s not always that nice little kneecap that you see that comes out when you order half chicken.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After a 24-hour brine, the chicken is grilled, gently finished in the oven and returned to the fire for one last char. Ours arrived with a little extra char that we\u2019re not complaining about. A Jimmy Nardello peperonata with Swiss chard is poured atop.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The chef is enthusiastically awaiting fall and winter. He\u2019s ready to have fun with figs. Then comes the citrus season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Save room for Bruce<\/p>\n
There\u2019s only one dessert to concern yourself with here: Bruce. Named after the infamous Matilda scene, Bruce is a \u201990s crash course in gluttony: a giant slab of rich dark chocolate cake, fluffy icing, and a silky ganache arrives topped with flaky French fleur de sel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The heavenly slice will have you wishing you\u2019d be punished with an entire cake. Unfortunately, we don\u2019t have an elementary-school metabolism anymore, but what we do have is an ID that surpasses the legal drinking age. Enter: Amaro Montenegro.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Amaro is a staff favorite, beloved by Rosemary. Trust the team. A sip cuts through the chocolate, forever changing the way you indulge in chocolate cake.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have so much opportunity to just continue to pull things and add and subtract and make a unique menu every night,\u201d Reyes says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Walkers\u2019, 3016 Greenville Ave., Wednesday \u2013 Sunday 11 a.m. \u2013 11 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One month after opening, Walkers\u2019 is Lower Greenville\u2019s newest obsession, and one that didn\u2019t compromise. Part market, sandwich…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,5440],"class_list":["post-381042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-first-look"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}