When Consilient Hospitality—the hotel and restaurant management company owned by Tim Headington and Tristan Simon—wants to do something right, believe me when I say everything goes according to plan.
Its newest project, CBD Provisions, opened its glossy doors in the old Charlie Palmer space to the public this morning at 7 a.m. It’s at 1530 Main Street. Executive chef Mike Sindoni (who you can see chowing down on his own Texas grass-fed burger here) worked tirelessly to make sure today went off without a glitch by hosting a bunch of VIP dinners in the week leading up to today. I was lucky enough to be invited to one of them.
CBD, which stands for “Central Business District,” is a restaurant worth your wallet and your time. If Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence had a baby together, it’d be CBD. It’s perfect, but not snooty-perfect, and it has just the right amount of down-to-earth dining to feel comfortable wearing jeans OR a fancy schmancy dress. (Go with the dress. You’ll need something stretchy for post-meal comfort.)
Frankly, this is Texas dining at its best.
Almost all the food is sourced from our great state, too. Sindoni has taken special care to make sure he’s working with seasonal ingredients you can trust.
Everything I tasted from the preview dinner was spot-on. The crispy pig tails with a spicy guajillo barbecue sauce were so tenderly cooked on the inside, I had to fight my barbaric urges to chop off my friends’ hands because I wanted the tails all to myself. Is that wrong?
The meal could’ve ended there, and I would’ve been happy. But then came the strozzapreti with soffritto, fresh cheese, and a soft farm egg that created a yolky sauce over the pasta dish. The roasted snapper on top of the parsley pureed tabouleh tasted like the antithesis of the State Fair. If you told me the fish had flown straight out of the Gulf and right onto my plate, I would’ve believed it.
I’ve heard rumors (from former skeptics) that the family style pig head carnitas are a must-try. Apparently an entire hog’s head arrives—teeth and all—to the table. Yum.
Put CBD Provisions on your list of places to visit. It belongs there.
