First Look: Standard Pour

by Steven Doyle

Standard Pour  is set to open its doors officially April 1, 2012. Until then they will host a series of soft openings and friends-and-family nights so small crowds will be able to stop in and check out the crafty cocktails  produced by bar manager Brian McCullough and the dining options from chef Peja Krstic.

The main dining room and bar area has been totally reworked erasing all traces of the former tenant, Lotus Bar.  In its place you are thrown back into a rough hewn era of undeterminable age.  Along with the iron work and rustic bar, there are furnishings that melds with the red plum exterior.            

Behind the bar McCullough has managed to created dozens of infusions captured in mason jars, eking out flavor combinations that might otherwise seem impossible. These drinks are not sissified plays on standards, but instead powerful concoctions that are not gender specific. A welcome change on the cocktail landscape where cotton candy can be construed as potable ingredient.

Behind the kitchen walls chef Krstic is masterfully playing with his food to develop a sense of gentility for that particular stretch of McKinney Avenue. Krstic’s efforts run in the molecular strain and he enjoys witty versions of his creations, using spheres and powders to fortify his dishes. But not in an obvious manner, those techniques are merely there for his use when necessary.

They seem necessary in his version of a mozzarella gnudi that swims in a warm bath of bacon consommé and adorned with more bacon, this time a foam. It is at once breath taking as it is delicious.

Other fun dishes include the chefs house-made tuna tartare sausage  that is wrapped in a casing and slightly colored on a la plancha, then served with dollops of sriacha, whole grain mustard and onion jam.

Chef plans on making more of his fare in-house such as the corned beef he uses in the man-sized Reuben that will rival the massive sandwiches in any New York deli. Easily shared by a party of four.

Standard Pour has a playful character that will set it apart from any restaurant or bar on McKinney Avenue in uptown Dallas.