Review: Motorcycles and Yoo-hoo at National Anthem
With Nick Badovinus’ knack for remodeling eating rooms into feasts for the eyes, we had been anxious to see what was in retailer at Nationwide Anthem, his latest enterprise in Dallas’ East Quarter, town’s new title for the east facet of downtown. Inside nonetheless, the boisterous and enjoyable perspective of different Badovinus ventures is changed with one thing that feels slightly extra grown-up at first look. City Fireside has a eating room that sports activities a pair of bikes, an MG sports activities automobile and 64 chandeliers. Desert Racer has its personal assortment of automobiles and bikes whereas it channels an outdoorsy desert southwest really feel.
At Nationwide Anthem, vegetation and greenery abound in home windows and cabinets, which contribute to a cultured however informal vibe. However maintain trying, and the playful touches begin to register. After all, it is tough to overlook the neon signage over the bar asserting chilly beer and liquor, which patrons of the now-shuttered Off-Web site Kitchen will rapidly acknowledge. Classic vehicle commercials are framed and displayed in a nod to the constructing’s historical past. And there it’s, a Nineteen Seventies Honda dust bike perched on a partial wall separating the bar from the eating room, surrounded by vegetation and straddling busts of Abraham Lincoln and JFK.
Nationwide Anthem on the slender finish of the Magnolia Oil constructing within the burgeoning East Quarter.
Alison McLean
Nationwide Anthem occupies the trapezoid Magnolia Oil constructing, the place Commerce Road, Jackson Road and Cesar Chavez Boulevard come collectively. 100 years in the past, this a part of downtown was the epicenter of Dallas’ Car Row. The constructing arches swept over automobiles that drove right into a full service fueling station. The service station was the bottom flooring, with Magnolia Oil’s workplaces on the second flooring (the famed Magnolia Constructing on Akard wouldn’t open for an additional two, and the long-lasting neon Pegasus wouldn’t take its place on the roof till 1934). Within the years because the constructing served because the longtime dwelling of KLIF radio, and for some time, the workplaces of the Dallas Observer.
At this time, over a century later, these sleek arches have been enclosed in glass to surround Nationwide Anthem’s eating room. Shiny gentle abounds through the day and early night. Inside, white oak flooring and white painted partitions workforce up with the large arched home windows to make the area really feel open and ethereal, even on the slender finish of the area that’s dwelling to Nationwide Anthem’s wedge-shaped bar. It is a area that brightens your spirits, and you’ll’t assist however really feel {that a} enjoyable go to awaits. Enjoyable is the secret at Nationwide Anthem, and because the area places you within the temper for merriment, the menu performs together with influences from Badovinus’ different institutions.
Recent seafood pops up usually on the menu; Badovinus hails from Washington state, and his Montlake Minimize restaurant within the Park Cities pays homage to his Seattle upbringing, which is simple to see right here too. For openers, there’s a each day ceviche or crudo, lightheartedly described on the menu as “wyd? simply retaining it chill and attractive.” On one in all our visits, the each day was a salmon stomach from Alaska, and one other go to featured oysters from Prince Edward Island. You can too discover half-shelled oysters or chilled shrimp below the Rawish Bar part of the menu, however if you happen to like your seafood appetizers cooked, then Bar Harbor Mussels Diablo ($19) shall be proper up your alley.
An order is available in a heaping bowl (we counted 19 steamed shells in ours) and will simply make a meal by itself. The mussels are served in a buttery white wine broth with simply sufficient purple pepper to present a contact of warmth, and a fist-sized wedge of buttered bread that you simply’ll be utilizing to absorb additional broth. Do you have to run out of the sunshine and buttery bread, you may order a bread service ($5) with two extra massive chunks of bread, together with whipped and flippantly salted butter. The bread is incredible by itself, even if you happen to didn’t order the mussels.
On one other go to, we began our meal with an order of Meaty Smalls ($13), that are the bottom chuck meatballs served in voodoo sauce from one other one in all Badovinus’ eating places, Neighborhood Companies. The goodness from the NS standby carries over right here, and an order of six savory globes of beef is ideal to share. The bread service pairs properly right here, too, if you happen to’ve any leftover voodoo sauce in want of a superb sopping up.
Entrées proceed the combination tape of Badovinus’ best hits. There are a trio of steak frites dishes that might really feel at dwelling at City Fireside, besides Nationwide Anthem brings them to a extra reasonably priced realm. The most costly right here, a 14-ounce Delmonico rib-eye for $54, is the bottom value of admission for one thing related at City Fireside.
The remainder of the principle plates lean extra informal. Naturally, the person who introduced us Off-Web site Kitchen features a burger on Nationwide Anthem’s menu. As a lot as we miss Off-Web site, which closed in 2020 on the peak of the pandemic, we yearned to strive the Reuben Riff ($21), stacked with thick slices of pastrami, sauerkraut and a Russian-dressed slaw, together with white cheddar cheese and Creole mustard between two slabs of toasted sourdough. It’s a scrumptious if messy interpretation and the one factor that would make the sandwich higher is the inclusion of an additional serviette. The skinny shoestring fries overflow from a ramekin subsequent to the sandwich and are tossed with truffle oil and topped with grated Parmesan; nothing groundbreaking, however addictive nonetheless.
On the identical go to, our eating companion ordered the vodka rigatoni ($27). The thick-ribbed pasta was an enticing entrée, and our solely actual grievance is that the vodka tomato sauce erred on the facet of warning moderately than taste, though we had been happy to see one other slab of that scrumptious buttery home bread got here on prime of the dish. It’s not listed on the menu, however it’s attainable so as to add a protein to your pasta; our waiter steered we add rooster or shrimp, and we went with the fowl. It was a choice that was wholly pointless; a skinny seasoned breast was sliced and laid on prime of our dish virtually as an afterthought. For an additional $10, we anticipated rooster that wasn’t fairly so rubbery, and it’s maybe becoming that rooster breast seems nowhere else on NA’s menu.
We fared significantly better with the opposite proteins. The low nation pork chop ($34) is a visible and gustatory stunner, sliced and served with a tangy honey mustard slaw and a sweet-corn succotash that might make your meemaw proud.
On each nights we visited, a duo of contemporary fish dishes had been specials (the menu guarantees “flown in earlier / cooked proper now / applicable sauce”). We picked a halibut almondine ($36) on one go to, with the halibut fillet sourced from Newfoundland. The flaky fish was delicately fried to a golden hue and topped with simply the correct quantity of buttery almondine sauce. Bonavidus’ ability with seafood through Montlake Minimize is a boon to the ocean-based fare on Nationwide Anthem’s menu.
A trio of choices wraps up the dessert menu. Your internal 8-year-old could also be tempted to order the chocolate chip sea salt cookies with a glass of Yoo-hoo, and there’s a pineapple upside-down bundt cake for extra mature palettes. We opted for the butterscotch creme brûlée ($15); it’s described on the menu as sufficient to share (and likewise, not obtainable to go), so we seized our second. The creme brûlée sported an ideal crunchy prime of caramelized sugar, and the dollop of cinnamon whipped cream alongside tart raspberries made it a perfect finish to our meal.
It feels all however inconceivable to go away Nationwide Anthem in a nasty temper. The cheery decor brightens your outlook as quickly as you step in, and whereas the playlist of different and rock hits was noticeable, the music wasn’t so loud as to interrupt our conversations over our meals. The employees of chambray- and denim-clad servers (all carrying the identical inexperienced and white Stan Smith sneakers) supplied pleasant and attentive service and had been useful with recommendations throughout the expansive menu.
Below a extra crucial eye, one may fault Nationwide Anthem as a restaurant with no single focus, as if Tom Hank’s man-child character from Massive opened a restaurant styled after the loft residence from the film, with chocolate chip cookies and bikes rather than trampolines and pinball machines. However to take Nationwide Anthem significantly is to overlook the purpose. The meals is significantly good, and Badovinus’ latest enterprise is a hodgepodge of best hits from all of his eating places. However Nationwide Anthem serves them up with a playful smirk for individuals who are in on the joke. Sure, the menu affords each steak and Yoo-hoo. So what? Nationwide Anthem is a reminder of the enjoyment that we’re presupposed to really feel once we eat our favourite dishes, and that’s a reminder we will all use every now and then.
Nationwide Anthem, 2130 Commerce St. 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. Monday – Thursday; 11 a.m.- 11 p.m, Friday; 4 – 11 p.m. Saturday, 4 – 9 p.m. Sunday.
