Tatsu Dallas, one of the city’s best restaurants, has debuted a cocktail bar next to its dining room in the Continental Gin Building, and it’s been quietly operating since May.
Kirameki is a sleek, elegant bar with only six seats for public guests. Just like its sister concept, a seat at Kirameki is only available via reservations—which means no walk-ins are allowed. About four other seats at the bar are reserved solely for Tatsu diners who want a pre- or post-dinner cocktail.
The bar is located inside Tatsu Dallas, to the right of the dining room. (If you’ve been to Tatsu Dallas, it’s the smaller room that was originally used for private parties.) The space is small and cozy, but it’s good enough for sole mixologist Crystal Dirdon-Cooper.
Dirdon-Cooper arrived at Kirameki by way of The Adolphus Hotel, where she was a bartender at the French Room Bar. Her resume spans the likes of Yard House, Catbird at the Thompson Hotel, Hillstone, and more. She heard about the job at Kirameki through a friend, and she said she found herself slightly intimidated by the opportunity to work with the team. Before arriving at Tatsu, she hadn’t worked in-depth with Japanese flavors or spirits.
“I wanted to make sure that I was being as authentic to the space as possible,” Dirdon-Cooper says. “That’s been a really interesting part of my journey. It’s opened up this world of flavors and things that I can use and profiles that I didn’t focus on.”
If you snag a reservation at Tatsu or Kirameki, you’ll gain access to a full range of those Japanese-inspired flavors in Dirdon-Cooper’s cocktails. Kirameki has five signature cocktails and a list of classics with a “Kirameki twist.”
A signature cocktail called the Umami After Dark ($28) uses Iwai wine cask whiskey infused with soba cha (a buckwheat tea), soba brown sugar, umami bitters, and soy sauce from chef Tatsuya Sekiguchi’s kitchen. Dirdon-Cooper created this drink while she was in the interview process and didn’t realize Sekiguchi was a “whiskey kind of guy.”
“He took a sip and he looked at Hiroko [his wife and chief service manager at the restaurant]; Janice [the beverage director] had a sip,” she says. “We all kind of looked at each other, and I was like, ‘OK, all right. This feels good.'”
Also on the signature list is the Cloudy with a Chance of Ube ($27), which uses roku gin, toasted coconut orgeat syrup, dairy-free heavy cream, licor 43, lemon, and Topo Chico. It’s a pretty, purple, frothy drink that feels like a fancy ice cream float.
The classic cocktails have a neat Tatsu twist to them, too. The Negroni 2.0, for example, uses Ki No Bi dry gin, Miyashita sake, Carpano vermouth, and Campari shaken together. It’s poured over a giant ice cube made with rice water that Sekiguchi uses for his sushi rice. (He’s spent years perfecting his rice, so this is a very cool touch.) As the ice melts, the rice water rounds out the bitterness of the cocktail.
Dirdon-Cooper gushes over beverage director Janice Brown, who she says has given her plenty of creative freedom in creating cocktails. So far, she’s been experimenting with cocktails that work well with the tasting menus. In October, the team collaborated with New York City’s Secchu Yokota to host a dinner that combined sushi with traditional tempura. During that dinner, she created a cocktail that also used sushi rice water to soften the strong brandy flavors to complement the meal. Working alongside a master sushi chef has also given Dirdon-Cooper a bit of a push to be more creative.
“I feel like he’s perfected his craft, but he’s very humble,” she says. “He’s always looking for ways to improve. It’s inspiring to be right next to that, and so, it kind of bleeds over into my space.”
Speaking of, there will be bar snacks available at Kirameki. It won’t be a full omakase tasting, but Dirdon-Cooper says small bites—meki rolls made by Tatsu’s sous chef Yoji Ishii—will be available for guests that will serve as a good introduction to Tatsu Dallas. That being said, don’t expect to come into Kirameki to get a seat at Tatsu. They’re two separate concepts that work in tandem with each other. The goal for Kirameki is to be beverage forward.
“The last thing I want to do is mislead people to think they can come in and have a full dinner experience right in the bar,” Dirdon-Cooper says. “That’s not quite what that’s for.”
Kirameki, 3309 Elm St., Ste. 120.
Reservations for Kirameki are released at 8 a.m. on the 1st and the 15th of every month on Tock, just like Tatsu Dallas. Right now, only one seating is available at 8:30 p.m., with earlier seatings to be added later. The $5 reservation fee will go towards service fees.
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