Arecent extensive renovation of The Mansion on Turtle Creek’s restaurant and bar is the first stage of a nearly $20 million redesign project at the noted Dallas hotel. Three venues will debut this fall, including a more casual restaurant and a 22-seat formal Chef’s Room. In early 2008 a second phase of the redesign will include changes to all 143 guest rooms and suites as well as public areas.
“The signature main dining room, veranda, library and bar will transform into a modern-day reflection of the restaurant’s past,” says Caroline Rose Hunt, founder of The Mansion on Turtle Creek and Rosewood Hotels & Resorts. “In 1925, cotton and oil magnate Sheppard King built this estate for his family, and this redesign project carries the King family tradition of residential warmth and elegant style into the next era.”
Led by San Francisco’s Engstrom Design Group, The Mansion’s key architectural elements, such as the carved grape leaf columns, ornate fireplaces and elaborately carved wooden ceilings are being restored and surrounded by a new color palette including fabrics and materials in cognac, taupe, amber and green.
The dining room will get rid of linens, and the more formal area will now be the Chef’s Room, overseen by chef John Tesar. Tesar joined The Mansion last October as executive chef, taking the reins held for 21 years by Dean Fearing, who will open a restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Dallas, which is under construction. Tesar comes from Rick Moonen’s rm restaurant at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Tesar’s other restaurants include Wild Goose in North Lake Tahoe, Nev., such New York City restaurants as 44 & X, Hell’s Kitchen, Vine, 13 Barrow Street and The Supper Club, and The Inn at Quogue in the Hamptons. He also has served as a personal chef for high-profile clients, such as Giorgio Armani and Mariah Carey.
You cite 13 Barrow Street as a meaningful career step for you. Why?
That was my first foray into the New York dining scene. Even though it was only a four-year run, at the time it was well-received and critically acclaimed and put me in a position to move forward in my career in a way that I’d never envisioned before.
How did you first get interested in cooking?
My mom was the greatest cook. I grew up in a great household. We never had frozen food. My dad walked beach patrol in Montauk [Long Island, N.Y.], and we had a house in the Hamptons. My dad would bring home the freshest lobsters and the freshest seafood. I fell in love with good food at a very early age. We even had local tomatoes that were wonderful.
Was there a special family dish?
My mother made the best Manhattan clam chowder in the world. I always told Rick Moonen, who is a renowned seafood chef, that my mom’s clam chowder will blow his away.
What attracted you to the executive chef’s position at The Mansion?
It’s one of the greatest hotels in the world. And Dean [Fearing] before me left a whole reputation and legacy of The Mansion’s restaurant and the hotel.
What changes have you made in the menu?
We’re moving away from Southwestern food. We have maintained a box on the menu for The Mansion favorites, such as the tortilla soup and the lobster tacos. Those are favorites and The Mansion classics. The rest is contemporary American cuisine.
Do you plan any hallmark menu items?
I’ve never been big on signature dishes. For me, it’s all about the ingredients and the seasonality of it.
What have you brought from your Las Vegas experience at rm?
BIOGRAPHY Title: executive chef, The Mansion on Turtle Creek, DallasBirth date: Nov. 12, 1957Hometown: New YorkEducation: New York University and La Varenne École de Cuisine, ParisCareer highlights: being named executive chef of The Mansion; opening 13 Barrow Street in Manhattan
Working with Rick and the people around Rick has been one of the greatest opportunities in my life. It really put me in a position to take this job. And being the executive chef of the restaurant in Las Vegas was probably the biggest growth experience of my career. I hope to bring all that to The Mansion.
What job had the greatest influence on you?
Working for Rick was probably the most formative. It was more structured than when I worked for myself, working for another chef and taking myself out of the limelight. I could focus on cuisine and making myself the best chef that I could possibly be.
What do you see as the major challenges of The Mansion?
There are the normal challenges of the business, but to fill [Fearing’s] shoes and live up to the legacy of The Mansion are big ones. We also have to take it to the next era.
The staff here is an amazing group of people. I’ve been welcomed like never before in my life. The hospitality is amazing. We’re converting a restaurant to a new way while the operations of the hotel are going on simultaneously.
You’ve served as a personal chef to celebrities. What’s that like?
It’s fun and definitely glamorous in the moment. You meet a lot of great people, but I always preferred being a restaurant chef rather than a private chef.
CHEF’S TIPS Spend some time in a professional kitchen before spending your hard-earned money on a cooking school. Taste the food as you prepare it.
Do you have favored ingredients?
It’s all about the purveyors. They have to have passion for food and quality. I’ve met local farmers here who grow organic produce and lettuces and porcini mushrooms. Those are relationships you want to bring with you and that you want to cultivate. Those are necessary to the success of the menu here.
Are chef traits innate?
I really believe you are born to be a chef or you are not. You have to have passion. It’s in you, or it’s not in you. You have to take risks and go out on your own and learn. You can fall down, but you get up and it makes you stronger. Then, going out to work for other people broadens your view.
What is your culinary philosophy?
Elegance through simplicity. It’s not about architectural or overworked or [menu items with] nine different ingredients. It’s about a great protein complemented with balance such as sweet-sour and sweet-salty.
