The Buzz at the Fairmont

Two stories above Akard Street, on the roof of the Fairmont Dallas, a dozen honeybees danced on a lavender shrub. They’d eventually make their way to the chocolate mint, the peeking, early-season strawberries, and the pepper sprouts, but for the moment they focused on the lavender. Thirty feet away, two bee earrings dangled from Susan Pollard’s ears, swinging as she extolled the virtues of her apiological friends, their benefit to the community, and what humans need to do to ensure their survival. “You can’t sit down at a restaurant and keep your blinders on,” she said. “You’ve got to support the farmers, the ranchers, the beekeepers, and the soil and the air and the water that allow those platters to come to us, to continue to come.” Pollard, who, along with her husband, Brandon, founded the Texas Honeybee Guild, regularly checks on the Fairmont’s rooftop beehives. After harvest, the honey and honeycomb are brought downstairs into the hotel’s kitchen, where they transform into glazes for salmon and pork belly, dressings for spring greens, and drizzles for breakfast parfaits. And if you ever find yourself at the pool deck adjacent to the beehives, fear not. As long as you don’t cause a ruckus, you won’t get stung.