The Fancy Chainification of Dallas Continues With Catch, But It Has Silver Linings | Eater Dallas
"From the first announcements and the co-owner conversations, the opening carried the inevitable chain questions — I even asked the pointed, “Why open in Dallas?” — and co-owner Eugene Remm leaned on the Aspen steakhouse iteration as the style this location would emulate, noting that a number of customers in Aspen are folks from Dallas with second homes; his answers “weren’t great,” and when pressed he offered: “For me personally, when you can look in a market and see restaurants full in the early days of the week and not just Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with affluent individuals, people who [work in] business, sports, and fashion — all different types of industries — that’s exciting to me,” Remm says. The room itself blends elements of a nightlife party spot, the more sophisticated steakhouse iterations, and a family-friendly dining scene (there was a table with a toddler celebrating a birthday and a professional athlete dining with a posse), and a manager who has opened locations in NYC, Miami, Aspen, and Dallas described this iteration as a wine-forward, more adult, chill “3.0” that reflects how leadership has matured since 2011. The menu is straightforward — steaks, seafood, and pasta — solid, comforting fine-dining food with few surprises; the standout savory dish for me was a last-minute chopped wedge salad that abandons the usual steakhouse approach and arrived fragrant from a dressing with sesame seed oil, still-crackling bacon, and freshly cooked crispy shallots. Drinks skew most individual here: the wine vault holds between 600 and 700 bottles with “loads and loads of nerdy options,” assembled by head sommelier Ben Reynolds (whose résumé includes Pappas Brothers and Nick & Sam’s), and there is even an entire page of Napa Valley Cabernets because that is what many diners here prefer. There are some careful naming choices — a gin cooler listed as “makrut” rather than the better-known kaffir (kaffir being an ethnic slur in South Africa) — but also missteps, such as a pornstar martini remaining on the list despite that cocktail’s development in the early 2000s and the industry’s well-documented history of sexism and abuse. Desserts are a true highlight: tables ordered the “Hit Me” Chocolate Cake — a house-made Klondike bar you tap until it splits open atop three layers of chocolate cake — and the Carnival, a ferris wheel of ricotta-stuffed beignets with an array of dipping sauces; I chose the Kakigori that night, made with frozen and shaved strawberries, mascarpone, and drops of graham cracker atop crushed ice to emulate a strawberry shortcake, and it acted as a spectacular moment on the table. Ultimately, the restaurant offers high-touch service and a reliable, wine-forward experience that feels good value for money, with clear opportunities to be adventurous and splurge if you want to." - Courtney E. Smith
