The Landmark Restaurant
The Landmark Restaurant
The Warwick Melrose Hotel
3015 Oak Lawn Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75219, 214-224-3152
http://www.landmarkrestodallas.com/
The Landmark Restaurant has been around in various incarnations since the hotel opened in the 1920’s. My first forays into the restaurant began in the early 1990’s when I would stay at the hotel on business trips. The hotel has been significantly remodeled since those days and while the shape of the Library Bar has changed over time the footprint of the restaurant has changed very little. Not so the menu.
I always approach hotel restaurants with a bit of trepidation. They are always trying to attract local diners. Their main business is of course feeding the traveling public. This can often lead to an uninspiring menu. In this case the Landmark can be a bit predictable. On the other hand there is a desire to stretch the boundaries of the hotel menu a bit and offer some more inspiring choices.
The menu has variety without being overly long. I always wonder how they can cook 50 menu items in one small kitchen. In this case there is a nice mix of appetizers and entrees. The salad selection is not even worth the trouble unless you feel the need for some roughage. Although they try to put an interesting spin on the presentation of the salads I would opt for a soup instead. We ordered a grilled flat bread topped with prosciutto, goat cheese, figs and honey to go with our cocktail. The mix of sweet and savory went well with char on the bread. The attempt at something a bit different went well here. If you are having a cocktail one of these flat bread will serve four easily.
The salads were not really worth the effort. It came as part of our three course offering so I ate the caesar salad. All I can say is ho hum.
The entree selections are all over the map. Of the eight offerings three were fish or shellfish. The poultry offering was a duck breast, and the others were a mix of lamb, pork and of course the ever-present hunk of beef. I opted for the scallops, which were served with a side of quinoa, in a puree of peas, leeks and celeriac. Will opted for the grouper in a curry sauce service with sauteed bok choy, green beans, and trumpet mushrooms. The scallops were perfectly cooked. The searing went well with the lightly flavored vegetable puree. The quinoa was a very welcome accompaniment. The grouper was very tasty, with a very clear Asian flavor. The curry was not at all spicy but more savory. The fish was a bit overcooked, but not to the point where you could not enjoy it. The entrees were a welcome surprise.
As with most restaurants in Dallas you have to get to the part where you talk about service. Why oh why can a person not realize that when an appetizer is served to two people, it would be helpful if each person would be given a plate on which to rest their portion of the appetizer? I realize that Dallas is a trendy place. Perhaps we can put this mistaken trend to an end. And while I find servers in Dallas to be especially friendly and helpful this does not mean you can reach over the table to serve food, or forget how to pour a bottle of wine without spilling it all over the table. I suppose training in these establishments has gone out the window.
I really enjoyed our evening. The wine list is extensive and fairly priced. As long as you skip the salads the offerings are varied enough to work for just about any appetite. And if you can work around the pleasant but not so professional service, you can really feel happy and satisfied when you are leaving. For those of you who know the Landmark it is worth another try. And for those of you thinking about a night out in the Oak Lawn area it is worthy of a first try.