04.10.2024
COMING-SOON JAPANESE RESTAURANT DOCENT TO OFFER ‘MUSEUM-LIKE’ DINNER IN DALLAS
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS I BY SARAH BLASKOVICH I 04.10.24
Adding to Dallas’ growing list of high-end restaurants, Docent Steak & Lounge is expected to open in the Harwood District in summer 2024.
The restaurant will be located above NDA Brasserie, a new breakfast and lunch spot in Dallas. Its upstairs neighbor will look fancier and stay open later.
Docent is described as a “Japanese-inspired vibe dining restaurant” in a press release.
How might it compare to the $165-per-person dinners at new Dallas restaurants Sushi by Scratch or Sushi Bar, both also billed as Japanese? How about the $200-per-person yakitori restaurant Mābo that just opened in Dallas’ Preston Center? Perhaps very little: Docent is expected to have a “sultry energy with a live DJ.” It is also a two-story place with room for many, whereas the three other Japanese restaurants seat a dozen people or less.
But, similar to the above restaurants, Docent will also have an omakase menu. Omakase is a Japanese word that means “I leave it up to you,” and it gives a chef the authority to create a multi-course meal, often for a fixed price.
We don’t have Docent’s menu yet. It’s a steakhouse, and the restaurant is expected to serve Kobe beef, cut in 4-ounce increments, as well as sushi, sake and wine. It will also have bigger-in-Texas cuts like a 40-ounce rib-eye, Vice President of Culinary for Harwood Hospitality Taylor Kearney said in a press release.
A rendering shows a dimly-lit restaurant with samurai museum pieces inside. The art comes from Harwood International owners Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller, who have an expansive collection of samurai art and armor. Nearly 100 pieces from the collection will be displayed inside Docent.
And the name, Docent: That’s a word for guide. Dinner will be a “museum-like experience,” the press release states, with diners surrounded by five armor-wearing samurai and a sixth riding a horse.
Docent Steak & Lounge is expected to open at 2801 N. Harwood St., Dallas, in summer 2024.