Todd Johnson is very upset. It turns out that Craft Dallas – Tom Colicchio’s non-gimmicky restaurant in the W Hotel where Nancy once said she’d pick its chicken dish for her last supper – is closing at the end of this summer to make room for a new restaurant, Cook Hall, that’ll open as early as the fall. Cook Hall is supposed to be a modern take on America’s gastropub and will offer “regional cuisine and handcrafted cocktails…The restaurant will add a new bar and flow more openly into the hotel’s Living Room (W’s take on the traditional hotel lobby) as well as offer shareable small-plates to encourage the social experience. Cook Hall’s pricing will be moderate to upscale.”
This is new direction is headed by Culinary Concepts Hospitality Group (CCHG), and Craft Dallas isn’t the only W destination it’s giving the axe. Ghostbar, the hotel’s 33rd floor nightclub, is also closing later this month. Plans for the space are still being finalized at the moment. Meanwhile, everyone should head to the W and start saying their last goodbyes. First Nana, now Craft Dallas. Is big-league fine dining dying a slow, inevitable death in Dallas? Sure looks like it.
