About a year ago, Evandro Caregnato took a trip to Paris with his family. His kids wanted to try Le Relais de l’Entrecôte, a restaurant known for its steak frites. After one plate, waiters will ask if you want a second serving.
The wait was more than an hour long, Caregnato says. When it was finally his turn to sit down, he said the iconic steaks, dripping with secret sauce and flanked by thin crispy fries, were worth the wait.
“[The sauce] was like liquid butter,” he says. “And there was so much flavor in the fries.”
He wanted to create his own version of steak frites in Dallas. In October, Caregnato will open Steakyard in Northeast Dallas and serve plates of steak frites for as low as $22 a plate. The steaks, cooked on an open hearth inside the restaurant, will come topped with a brandy peppercorn sauce and thin fries.
The steaks will be shipped in from Kansas and Nebraska, two of Caregnato’s favorite states for cattle ranches. The menu has several options for steak frites, including an 8 oz. prime bavette for $22, a 10 oz. filet mignon, and a 12 oz. ribeye.
Steakyard will have other options. A full menu features roasted chicken, crab cakes, salmon, and branzino. Appetizers include a pork belly wrap, a seafood platter, and Hamachi sashimi. The restaurant will also have a full bar with a selection of wines, beer, and 11 cocktails.
While the menu is what Caregnato calls “approachable,” the indoor dining room will be sophisticated and formal. When the restaurant debuts in October, the dining room will open first, and then the patio. The indoor and outdoor dining spaces will have a distinct difference.
The patio will be more relaxed and casual. Instead of using servers, diners will be able to order and pick up their food from a window. (Not using servers means gratuity won’t be required for outdoor meals, Caregnato says.) The menu will be a little different, too, but steak frites will be available, he says.
“This is going to be a place where you can bring your family, bring your friends, and have a great steak,” he says. “[Inside] it will be very formal, full service. It will be very, very theatrical.”
Caregnato says he wants to install a water fountain and picnic tables on the patio under the giant live oak tree, which has been in the ground since the 1970s. The tree sits against a green metal leg, and its branches cast a sprawling shadow onto the ground below. Caregnato chose this site because of the tree, but he has to take extra care—the tree is of concern to some Dallasites, including architect Gary “Corky” Cunningham, who told D Magazine he was concerned about gas lines and permanent gas heaters killing the roots of the tree.
Caregnato’s aware of the uneasiness surrounding the tree’s wellbeing, and he hired a botanist early on to check on the tree’s roots. He was recommended to avoid digging as much as possible.
“I have to be really careful,” he says. “Everybody is really concerned that the tree needs to be here.”
Steakyard is Caregnato’s second concept. He came to Texas from Brazil and was the culinary director of upscale all-you-can-eat steakhouse Texas de Brazil for 20 years. He later opened DeLucca Gaucho Pizza & Wine in 2018 with his wife, another all-you-can restaurant that serves pizza at four locations across D-FW and one in Austin. They sold DeLucca last year.
Caregnato says he considered, very briefly, making Steakyard all-you-can-eat. He ultimately decided against it because he wanted to focus his attention on what he plans to do very, very well: steak frites.
“It’s going to be really, really good,” he says.
Steakyard, 6726 Shady Brook Ln.
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