The ancient kings of Siam loved gifting things to people they didn\u2019t like. Their favorite gift? A majestic, rare white elephant, so sacred that caring for one could bankrupt its new owner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wish You Were Here Group, a California-based hospitality company, does the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Aug. 27, the hospitality group hosted a VIP grand opening for \u00c9lephante Dallas<\/a>, a sprawling, two-story coastal Italian restaurant. The guest list looked like SMU Chi Omega rush.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00c9lephante\u2019s opening was that certain sort of party where everybody looks suspiciously alike. As such, it was a snapshot of Dallas hospitality culture that still conflates wealth with influence and exclusivity with good business. In a city as diverse and food-obsessed as Dallas, \u00c9lephante made it impossible to miss who is deemed worthy.<\/p>\n Sign up for the This Week\u2019s Top Stories newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n THANK YOU!<\/p>\n You’re all set.<\/p>\n CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Hey, I didn\u2019t say it first.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I was at the opening. Yes, it was fabulous, and at one point I looked around the room and wondered if it was a sorority recruitment with better appetizers,\u201d influencer Hannah Hohman said on TikTok<\/a>. \u201cThe diversity was blonde, brunette, and balayage.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs one of the blonde women personally contributing to \u00c9lephante\u2019s diversity problem,\u201d Hohman went on, echoing what many creators of color have said since the overpriced PR crisis: \u201cDiversity only becomes a priority when reservations start slowing down.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Well, as the only Mexican, double-digit pant size, non-Ozempic-shooting, curly-haired brunette woman in the room, I have something to say, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n Welcome to Dallas, baby.<\/p>\n But umm\u2026 \u00c9lephante, in this city we usually make our classism, with a dash of racial favoritism, a little less blatant.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bless your heart!\u00a0<\/p>\n The in crowd<\/p>\n My invite arrived just three days before the party. My flabbers were gasted.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a freelance writer, I get to preview restaurants, attend media dinners and occasionally find myself at these over-the-top blowouts. Lately, though, restaurant openings seem to favor influencers.<\/p>\n I get it. Exposure over everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n I arrived at 7:37 p.m., palms damp with anxiety, to a sea of Dyson-blown bleach-blonde hair and overpriced Shein cosplaying as designer. A veritable mob was lined up for foam-topped pink Bellinis.\u00a0<\/p>\n I snapped a picture and sent it to my plus-one.\u00a0A wordless warning: Assimilate accordingly.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As I settled in, I overheard a trio of women thanking a friend for inviting them. V-V-V-I-P\u2019s get plus-threes, seemingly.\u00a0<\/p>\n Inside, the space was packed like sardines in a can. Celine Triomphe bags rubbed shoulders with Chanel flaps. The air smelled of old money, new money and sugar babies.\u00a0<\/p>\n A gaggle of finance bros reliving their frat heyday swarmed the bar. So I flowed freely from the first floor to the second, outpacing the jitters.\u00a0<\/p>\n My plus-one, a successful Mexican entrepreneur with more than a dozen businesses, arrived.\u00a0In lieu of a hello, he said: \u201cI am so uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n Ditto. Even more awkward? The folks who plainly weren\u2019t here had strong theories on why they were left out. And it wasn\u2019t long before they made a stormy forecast for this white elephant.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not that us Black people, it\u2019s not that we feel left out,\u201d Keandre Dre Hopkins, a food influencer known as Dre in Dallas<\/a>, later told his 1.6 million followers on TikTok. \u201cIt\u2019s not that we feel like we were hurt because we didn\u2019t get an invite. We feel disrespected. We need to call a thing a thing. Just say that you don\u2019t want us there, which is fine. But also leave us the fuck alone when you start running out of money.\u201d<\/p>\n Chasing Leon<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Delilah opened <\/a>with a star-studded spectacle. Everyone remembers Machine Gun Kelly\u2019s surprise performance. Not to be outshone, \u00c9lephante also had something up its sleeve.\u00a0<\/p>\n Around 9 p.m., my guest and I decided to go upstairs. This time, it was roped off.\u00a0<\/p>\n We waited at the front of the crowd for our turn to go upstairs, behind influencer Chris Kahle<\/a>, as the hostess stood on the staircase like Effie Trinket, hand-picking those worthy of the second floor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Kahle eventually made it in after a lengthy wait.\u00a0My guest and I kept watching people go by. Ten minutes passed. Then 15. The straps of my heels dug into my feet as Dallasified Regina Georges swept on by.\u00a0<\/p>\n Finally, my guest said something.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been waiting here for a minute,\u201d he told the hostess. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of favoritism. You\u2019re just letting everyone pass by while we all wait.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Ten minutes later, we made the cut. Upstairs \u2014 surprise! \u2014 Leon Bridges was about to take the stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n His presence stood out later to food-scene influencers like Hopkins.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can invite whoever you want to,\u201d Hopkins continued in his impassioned TikTok. \u201cThat\u2019s not a problem. But to see the list and to see it\u2019s 600 white people in there and one [censored] sitting up there performing? Come on, bro. It\u2019s 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n Elephant Stampede<\/p>\n This is nothing new for Dallas.\u00a0<\/p>\n I wish I were surprised by the party or the guest list. Ultimately, I wasn\u2019t. What has impressed me is the aftermath. As the week has unfolded, countless influencers of all backgrounds have called out Dallas\u2019 long-cherished practice of classism.\u00a0<\/p>\n Exclusivity is not a new trend. We\u2019ve seen it time and time again, post after post, opening after opening. But the scale and spectacle of \u00c9lephante brought this conversation into long-overdue public light. Dallas has gotten too comfortable rewarding a narrow vision of what a successful customer \u2014 what a desirable customer \u2014 looks like.<\/p>\n In hindsight, I would estimate 15 or 20 people of color were at the \u00c9lephante opening. That\u2019s generous. I hope I\u2019m undercounting. Especially in a city that\u2019s only 35% white, according to the City of Dallas.<\/p>\n The Observer reached out to a PR agency that issued a press release for the event but, which\u00a0did not produce or manage this event. \u201cLists are a collaborative effort,\u201d they told us, \u201ccombining lists from a number of different sources.\u201d The result was monochromatic.<\/p>\n As a person in the room, do I think this was intentional?\u00a0<\/p>\n No.\u00a0<\/p>\n Do I think it was, to put it charitably, the height of laziness?\u00a0<\/p>\n Yes.\u00a0<\/p>\n The room was filled with white, presumably affluent people. The diversity was in pairing fresh-out-of-college debutantes alongside well-past-retirement guests. These people were picked for their tax bracket.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dallas assumes that wealth, influence, and appreciation are concentrated in one race, at one income level. But reality says otherwise.<\/p>\n \u00c9lephante sunk $6 million into build-out without investing six minutes in researching the city it was entering.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the real numbers you need to know if you\u2019re opening an opulent space in this city. Stephanie Camillee<\/a> has more than 5.6 million likes on TikTok. Hopkins<\/a> has those aforementioned 1.6 million TikTok followers \u2014 and 107.5 million likes. Tim vs. Food is among Dallas\u2019 OG food influencers, with 122,000 Instagram followers. Dubb\u2019s Grubs has more than 80,100 TikTok followers and 217,000 Instagram followers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Instead, the room was filled with friends of friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n Look around.\u00a0<\/p>\n Why are your friends carbon cutouts of each other?\u00a0<\/p>\n Decision-makers, event organizers, PR agencies and hospitality leaders have a responsibility to step out of their bubbles and introduce themselves to the communities they\u2019re serving.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hospitality work goes beyond an algorithm-based For You Page. It requires seeking out those who drive impact.\u00a0<\/p>\n Does that mean that you only invite people of color? Hardly. Dallas\u2019 creator community is booming with people of all backgrounds, cultures and heritages. Dallasites101 has grown into a full-blown media company. Co-founder Lily Smith urges diners to try different cuisines and visit different neighborhoods. BlondesWhoEat has led me to some of the best breakfast burritos in town.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dallas brims with successful people from a spectrum of backgrounds. Its diners deserve respect.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s time for the room to reflect the city we love.\u00a0If you want our money, don\u2019t push us out.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t