Meridian has a new fall and winter menu, and Executive Chef Eduardo Osorio built most of it around the hearth at the center of the restaurant at The Village Dallas.
The menu went live this week. It leans on cold-weather produce, a handful of North Texas farms and the live-fire cooking that has defined the place since Osorio reopened it last fall after a yearlong renovation. The backbone is still modern American cooking with Italian and Mediterranean influences, but the new dishes run richer and warmer, which is exactly what you want once patio season starts winding down.
Osorio has had a full year. On top of running Meridian’s kitchen, he was named culinary director for The Village, putting him over the food at Over Under, Village Beach Club, Anise and Buzz & Bustle. His Chef Collective dinner series has also brought chefs from around Dallas and out of town into his kitchen for one-night collaborations.
The “One-Hitters” section of the menu picks up a new addition, Caviar served with ham hock egg custard, sunchoke foam and croutons.
Two vegetable dishes carry a lot of the season. The Autumn Chicory Salad pulls castelfranco, endive and frisée together with fire-roasted beets, goat cheese, a shallot crumble and rosé vinaigrette. The Honeynut Squash comes with stracciatella, brown butter, toasted pepitas and golden raisins.
The pasta to know is the Braised Short Rib Cappelletti, made with pecorino, ricotta and parsnip and finished with parmesan foam, truffled Madeira jus and pickled onions.
From the hearth, the new Coal-Roasted Dorade is built for sharing. It’s served with red kuri curry, turnips, coconut basmati rice, coriander, fennel and garden herbs. Red kuri is a winter squash, so the dish manages to work one more fall vegetable onto a seafood plate.
Several returning dishes got seasonal updates. The Texas Wagyu Chef’s Cut now comes with chanterelles, pickled black trumpet mushrooms, leeks and au poivre. The 35-Day Dry-Aged Ribeye gets escargot and tarragon butter along with bordelaise. The Wood-Fired Half Chicken is plated with cannellini beans, Swiss chard, pearl onions, guindilla peppers and chicken jus.
The new side is Hearth-Grilled Sunchokes with sunchoke purée, warm spices, toasted cashews and brown butter vinaigrette. Between this and the caviar, Osorio is clearly having a sunchoke season.
A good share of what lands on the plate comes from close to home. Meridian works with Millbrook Mushrooms in Rockwall, Southern Sunny Acres in Winona, Rae Lili Farms in Cooper and Rosewood Wagyu, and what those growers bring in helps steer how the menu changes as the weather does.
The fall and winter menu is available now. Meridian is at 5650 Village Glen Drive inside The Village, and reservations can be made through OpenTable.
