Every big-city neighborhood needs a good bistro. “Needs” might be a strong word—a bistro is not quite as important as a fire station—but if you’re going to live somewhere, you’d like to know that you can take your date or your friends somewhere a little bit nice, not too fancy, and have a terrific salad, a round of oysters, or a reasonably-priced steak. Dress up for a special night out, or stop in because the fridge is empty; you’ll feel equally welcomed either way.
Dallas is finally starting to enjoy citywide adoption of this Good Bistro Agenda. Uptown has the suave French seafoods and veggies at Knox Bistro and the caviar latkes at Beverley’s. Downtown has refined French food in a bar setting at The Mitchell, plus the suave looks of newcomer Little Daisy. St. Martin’s is back, and Parigi is on a comeback pattern of its own. AT Bistro, in Preston Center, is another relative newcomer to the genre—as is longtime Dallas classic Gemma, which recently remodeled and rehabbed its menu to focus more on casual classics like mussels and duck frites. Speaking of which, steak frites is having a trendy moment all its own at newcomers like Steakyard, charity-minded Medium Rare, and Wicked Butcher.
But the original Dallas bistro, the one to rule them all, closed this weekend. As a more casual vision of French food catches on around town, we’re now gathering to remember the sheer loveliness of Boulevardier.
Boulevardier opened in summer 2012, and closed last weekend just short of its twelfth birthday. It was a Bishop Arts mainstay, one of the neighborhood’s main attractions as well as a refuge for Oak Cliff locals. Everyone had a different reason for liking Boulevardier. One of the first times I visited was for its famous brunch, with a basket of muffins and scones so generous that, even sharing around the table, you were likely to blow out your appetite. Many people were in the know about its flawless Friday happy hour: until 6:30, oysters were $1 off and every bottle of wine in the house was half price. Burger connoisseurs knew about the classic simplicity of its Gruyère-topped brunch burger. And if you were single in the last 12 years and didn’t know to take your dates to Boulevardier’s front bar for cocktails and oysters, then I apologize.
This is where I have to get personal, because I took my partner to Boulevardier on one of our earliest dates. That was almost eight years ago now, so it worked. We really covered Bishop Arts from end to end in those first few weeks: The Wild Detectives, then Neighborhood Cellar, then Boulevardier.
On seemingly every visit to Boulevardier since that time, we’ve seen somebody we know from the neighborhood. Many of them were other restaurant owners, popping in for crawfish beignets on their nights off. Fellow Bishop Arts restaurateurs dropped in because of the friendly hospitality, the lively bar, the unpretentious food, and owners Bradley and Brooks Anderson’s impeccable taste in wine. The wall right behind the host stand was always filled with top-notch French wines, and the Andersons perfectly matched their bottles to their concept. They didn’t shoot for ultra-glamorous prestige bottles in perfect vintages, cellared for years to reach the right age. They also didn’t scrounge the bargain bin for $10 plonk. Like the restaurant itself, the wine list was reliable good stuff that wouldn’t break the bank.
Especially if you caught that Friday happy hour. I got to visit on back-to-back Fridays last month, before Boulevardier closed for good. Two farewell visits may be an indulgent send-off, but I had a sentimental attachment and an inability to decide on just one bottle of wine. One Friday, we sipped on pink Champagne with a round of oysters and beef tartare. The next Friday, we came back for Volnay, grilled octopus, and steak frites.
The Anderson brothers plan to keep their last remaining restaurant, Hillside Tavern—which, by the way, also pairs a stupendous wine program with its bar food. (If you’d like to order a patty melt, onion rings, and a 2015 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, I dare you to find anywhere else on the planet better suited for that occasion.)
Boulevardier is the brothers’ third recent closure, after Rapscallion and Veritas Wine Room. They tell me that this is a shift in priorities; the Andersons want to focus their future energy on helping to navigate commercial leases for other restaurateurs. In addition to being restaurant owners, they’re also both Realtors and attorneys, which gives them a unique ability to help the next generation of entrepreneurs navigate an increasingly hostile real estate market. Maybe, in a few years and in a behind-the-scenes way, the Anderson brothers will be responsible for Dallas’ next favorite restaurant.
In the meantime, we have Hillside Tavern. But I live south of Bishop Arts, so maybe the brothers will forgive me for mourning my neighborhood spot. They’re getting into a new business at just the right time, which is what they did with Boulevardier, too. Dallas’ bistro class is healthier than it’s ever been. We have more casual, approachable French fare than ever before. But now Oak Cliff’s dining scene is a few Champagne bottles and fry cones away from being complete.
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