Fond is the creation of husband and wife team, Chefs Jennie Kelley and Brandon Moore, who were part of the group that brought FRANK, an underground restaurant to the Deep Ellum area.  Most recently, they ran Better Half Bistro – a pop-up of French-inspired dishes and Detroit-style pizzas.  The restaurant is named for “fond” – the savory browned bits in the bottom of the pan, but in addition because they are “fond” of Dallas, each other and their customers.  The space is on the first floor of the Santander building in downtown.  They are open for lunch Mon. to Fri. and for Aperitivo Tues to Fri. where they offer shared plates.  They have wine but it is of the natural variety.  Opening in Sept 2023, they now have a tasting menu dinner one Sat. a month, focusing on local and seasonal ingredients and each month features a different theme.  The idea is to offer 40 seats split between 2 times at $175 per person and optional wine pairings at $50 or non-alcoholic pairings at $25.  What we attended was a tad different with guests being at individual tables for the six-course tasting at $125, same pairing options.  Not sure I understand how to tell what you’re going for but a friend had secured a reservation for 3 and we wanted to try it.  Parking is in the garage under the building and they will validate for 2 hours.  This meal was mixed in success with light portioning but I do love the Beatles and the theme was “The Beatles Love Menu.”

Set Up

Food

Amuse Bouche – “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – was created from “smoked beef heart tartare with Szechuan peppercorn aioli, quail egg and chive chips.  This was served as a share for the 3 of us.  It was nice not to overwhelm the plate with the chips and instead put the extras in a bag.  The small quail egg added moisture to the basically fine tartare.  I didn’t detect that much smokiness.

 

The first course, “Glass Onion/While My Guitar Gently Weeps/Back in the U.S.S.R.” consisted of a caramelized onion tart topped with créme Fraiche and Rare Kaluga caviar.  The onion was nicely cooked and in a thick slice inside the crust which was buttery but tough.  Overall, it was good.

 

“Octopus’s Garden became salad with charred pulpo mixed with chorizo, artichokes, Peruvian Pearls (peppers), green olives, arugula and Agrumato lemon vin.  The chorizo had a nice spice to it as did the little peppers.  The arugula was in fairly small leaves and lightly dressed.  The octopus was slightly overcooked making it a tad tough but this was fine.

 

“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was presented as a Wild mushroom soup with an LSD swirl of chive oil, basil oil and chili oil.  It was as ugly as the picture but had an okay flavor and good consistency.  The swirls were lost in the mix.

 

A house baguette and cultured butter was served to the table.  It was almost like a New Orleans style baguette – very light.  The butter was dusted with salt.  It was fine but nothing extraordinary.

 

“Blackbird” became a Duo of duck containing mole Negro and Cotija mash.  It was a larger portion and the mole was very flavorful.  In fact, it dwarfed the other ingredients and the wine pairing.  The duck meat in the mole was tastier than the slices on top.

 

“Strawberry Fields Forever” was dessert – a strawberry mousse on chocolate Feuilletine crunch topped with mirror glaze, mint and basil.  It was odd.  The bottom chocolate layer again was tough and hard to cut and the gelatin topping was slimy.   The middle portion was like a nice cheescake and the whole seemed better when eaten as separate parts.