{"id":438999,"date":"2026-09-17T17:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T17:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/438999\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T17:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T17:14:10","slug":"dallas-chefs-the-prep-qa-with-mamani-chef-christophe-de-lellis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/438999\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Chefs: The Prep Q&#038;A with Mamani chef Christophe De Lellis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"3500\" height=\"2625\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Christophe-De-Lellis-photo-by-Lauren-Drewes-Daniels.jpg\" class=\"article-thumbnail-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"Christophe De Lellis at Mamani\"  decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tChef Christophe De Lellis at Mamani\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Photo by Lauren Drewes Daniels<\/p>\n<p>The Dallas dining scene is on fire. Restaurants from around the world are opening shop here to be a part of the high-flying restaurant scene. In the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasobserver.com\/food-drink\/dallas-chef-qa-with-eduardo-osorio-at-meridian-in-the-village-40635041\/\">Chef Prep Q&amp;A<\/a>, we chat with Dallas chefs about the local scene, their favorite late-night snack and their worst kitchen disasters. <\/p>\n<p>This time we track down <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasobserver.com\/food-drink\/michelin-restaurant-dallas-texas-21151294\/\">Mamani<\/a> chef Christophe De Lellis. The native Parisian attended France\u2019s celebrated culinary program Ferrandi Paris, where he graduated first in his class. His career began at a Parisian restaurant, Le Cardinal, before he moved to La Brasserie Renaissance at the Paris Marriott. De Lellis was then scooped up by chef Jo\u00ebl Robuchon\u2019s eponymous three-star Michelin restaurant. He became executive chef at the young age of 27. He moved to Dallas in 2024 to open Mamani in Uptown, which earned a Michelin star just two months after opening in 2025. <\/p>\n<p>We caught up with him this summer. Here\u2019s our chat: <\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s your favorite guilty pleasure meal?<br \/>Cr\u00eapes with Nutella. They remind me of my childhood, and once I start eating them, I can\u2019t stop!<\/p>\n<p>Sign up for the Food &amp; Drink newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n<p>THANK YOU!<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re all set.<\/p>\n<p>CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s one food trend that you\u2019re tired of?<br \/>Caviar and truffles on everything. I love both, but they should have a purpose on the plate.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the one thing you always have in your kitchen at home?<br \/>Eggs\u2026we eat them for breakfast every day. And fresh pasta on the weekends.<\/p>\n<p>Who is a Dallas maker (farmer, pastry chef, barkeep) you wish more people knew about?<br \/>John Kilburn and Aliza Kilburn from Comeback Creek Farm.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the single best meal you\u2019ve ever had?<br \/>It\u2019s hard to choose just one because meals can be great for so many different reasons. But if I had to choose, it would be Pl\u00e9nitude in Paris.<\/p>\n<p>What are some of your favorite restaurants in Dallas right now?<br \/>Ngon Vietnamese Kitchen, Jinsol Gukbap and Resident Taqueria.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the craziest order you\u2019ve ever received at one of your restaurants?<br \/>At Jo\u00ebl Robuchon in Las Vegas, someone once ordered our 18-course tasting menu \u2014\u00a0to go!<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s uniquely challenging about the Dallas restaurant scene?<br \/>I\u2019m still relatively new to the Dallas market, so I\u2019m learning every day. One challenge for me has been finding and building relationships with more local farmers and producers.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the worst thing that\u2019s ever happened in your kitchen \u2014 that you can speak of?<br \/>I\u2019ve been fortunate not to experience too much major drama. The worst is always seeing someone get seriously injured during service, whether it\u2019s a bad cut or burn.<\/p>\n<p>What food or dish from your childhood do you miss the most?<br \/>Definitely my grandmother\u2019s cooking. Nothing can really replace it.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the toughest challenge facing the restaurant industry right now?<br \/>The rising cost of everything. Sometimes ingredients become so expensive that, no matter how much you love them, it just doesn\u2019t make sense to put them on the menu.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s an often overlooked part of running a restaurant that can ultimately sink it?<br \/>Financial discipline. You can have a full dining room and still have an unhealthy business. Understanding your costs and managing them without compromising the guest experience is essential.<\/p>\n<p>Which chef would you like me to send this questionnaire to next? <br \/>Chef Eduardo Osorio from Meridian. (We actually <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasobserver.com\/food-drink\/dallas-chef-qa-with-eduardo-osorio-at-meridian-in-the-village-40635041\/\">already talked to him<\/a>!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chef Christophe De Lellis at Mamani Photo by Lauren Drewes Daniels The Dallas dining scene is on fire.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2808,102,104,103],"class_list":["post-438999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-chefs","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438999","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=438999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}