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The French Room, one of Dallas’ most grandiose dining rooms, is expected to return for dinner service. But be patient: The team at the Adolphus plans to redo the menu in 2028.<\/p>\n
Carly Geraci\/Special Contributor<\/p>\n
The French Room inside Dallas\u2019 113-year-old Adolphus hotel<\/a> has been closed for regular dinner service since 2020, making it one of the most iconic North Texas restaurants<\/a> that hasn\u2019t fully reopened<\/a> since the COVID-19 pandemic<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Customers continue coming for afternoon tea, but for more than six years, this chic dining room has mostly been empty after dark.\u00a0<\/p>\n Will we ever eat dinner here again?<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n That\u2019s according to Sam Tucker, area director of sales and marketing for Texas for Makeready, the company that manages the Adolphus. The French Room and the Adolphus will get a refresh in 2028.<\/p>\n The French Room will be transformed into a brasserie, not the fanciest restaurant in town, Tucker said. He has worked at the Adolphus for nine years.<\/p>\n Related: A historical look at the Adolphus hotel, in photos<\/a><\/p>\n Tucker was in the building when Taylor Sheridan\u2019s show Lioness filmed<\/a> inside the French Room\u2019s white-walled dining room. For decades, the formal French restaurant was a place for anniversaries and birthdays \u2014 and a classic setting for Nicole Kidman\u2019s character to meet with a Russian diplomat on the Paramount+ show.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Adolphus team hesitated to reopen the French Room fully, opting instead to use it for afternoon tea, guest chef dinners and buyout events like wedding receptions.\u00a0<\/p>\n The stakes were too high to bring back the historic restaurant and get it wrong, Tucker said.<\/p>\n More directly: \u201cNo one wants to see it fail.\u201d<\/p>\n For decades, the French Room has been considered one of the most romantic dinner spots in Dallas. The Dallas Morning News caught an engagement between\u00a0Michlind Wilson, left, and Troy Wierman at the restaurant in 2019.<\/p>\n Carly Geraci\/Special Contributor<\/p>\n Tucker thought back to the last major renovation<\/a> at the French Room and the Adolphus, when it closed for construction between 2015 and 2017<\/a>. The dining room\u2019s beloved cherubs<\/a> were removed from the ceilings, a pearl-clutching surprise when regulars revisited. What many didn\u2019t know is the aging building needed major infrastructure work. (Before the reno, Tucker said, \u201cThere were so many leaks in the ceiling in the French Room that they had a plaster guy repair them every week.\u201d)<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n When the restaurant reopened, the team was surprised to find it didn\u2019t offer the experience diners desired, Tucker said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFine dining had already changed again,\u201d he said. It wasn\u2019t all bad: A 2017 Dallas Morning News restaurant review said chef Michael Ehlert\u2019s food was \u201clight, imaginative and new.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n For the French Room\u2019s latest act, the Adolphus team is focused on serving a different Dallas diner. Its neighbor, AT&T, plans to move its global headquarters to Plano in 2028<\/a>, one of several changes that could affect the culture of downtown. Meanwhile, the number of downtown residents<\/a> has more than doubled since 2010, according to Census data.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe legacy diner at the French Room is dying off,\u201d Tucker said. The plan is to honor the restaurant\u2019s name for \u201ca new generation,\u201d not just those driving across town to celebrate a milestone, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that’s a real challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In this 2019 photo, then-General Manager Victor\u00a0Rojas serves customers at the French Room in Dallas. When the French Room returns for regular dinner service, service will be quicker than it was pre-COVID.<\/p>\n Carly Geraci\/Special Contributor<\/p>\n Neither the French Room nor the hotel is expected to close during 2028 renovations. The restaurant will have snappier service but retain its elegant look, Tucker said.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s too early to know what will be on the menu. The timeline could change.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever we do just has to be really thoughtful,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it has to work.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The French Room is inside the Adolphus hotel at 1321 Commerce St., Dallas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The French Room, one of Dallas’ most grandiose dining rooms, is expected to return for dinner service. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[98133,102,104,103,88574,95928,87998,92693,92527,89276,89307,122417],"class_list":["post-421741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-business-real-estate","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-tp-downtown-dallas","tag-tp-chefs","tag-tp-dallas","tag-tp-french-food","tag-tp-hotels","tag-tp-restaurant-openings","tag-tp-restaurants","tag-tp-texas-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421741","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=421741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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