Five hundred and sixty feet above the Dallas skyline, Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant in Reunion Tower continues to draw crowds. Champagne corks pop and waiters pass by shuttling oversize plates with “Happy Birthday,” “Happy Anniversary,” or “Congratulations” written across the top in dark chocolate. As the restaurant rotates, the lights of the city twinkle at your feet. On a clear night, you can see Fort Worth. The festive vibe and spectacular views, however, are not the only draw to Five Sixty. The food quality stands above many other upscale spots in town. The sushi/robata bar turns out a California roll dressed up with chunks of glistening Alaskan king crab; a dragon roll filled with tempura shrimp, asparagus, cucumber, and barbecued eel; and a magnificent black cod marinated in miso. Chef Patton Robertson’s dinner menu includes several of Puck’s signature dishes. The Chinois-style chicken salad takes me back to 1983, when I first tasted it at Puck’s Chinois on Main in Santa Monica. Delicate cubes of chicken are tossed with a dry mustard, sesame and peanut oils, and a rice wine vinaigrette and mixed with Napa cabbage and romaine lettuce. The Cantonese-style lacquered duck takes days to prepare, and the result is fragrant, tender duck meat under a crispy, crackling golden skin. You’ll find a roasted chicken and New York strip for picky eaters, and a short but satisfying selection of entrées for the experimental crowd. But the sushi bar will appeal to worldly gastronomes who have a sense of playfulness. I haven’t found too many rotating tower restaurants in the world that deliver gourmet food like this.
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