Culinary art school students who have traveled to Dallas in the past to sample the local fare may notice a recent change in the fine dining scene downtown. Belly & Trumpet, a restaurant that gained notoriety for both it’s innovative take on seafood-driven cuisine and its shake ups in upper kitchen management, recently turned off its lights. According to Dallas Culture Map, the restaurant closed unexpectedly following the Labor Day holiday weekend, much to the chagrin of it’s customers.
Belly & Trumpet first burst onto the Dallas restaurant scene as a replacement to a failed hot dog place in the same location known as The Bowery. Located in the 3400 block of McKinney Avenue in Dallas’ Uptown neighborhood, many have speculated that the restaurant’s undoing was it’s geographic setting. Uptown is populated predominantly with casual fare establishments, which set Belly & Trumpet apart as a fine dining restaurant. Given its closing, this may not have been the best distinction.
The restaurant was owned by Richard and Tiffanee Ellman. While the couple first indicated to Culture Map that they would be “reconcepting” the space, the Dallas News reports otherwise. In speaking with the newspaper, a spokesperson for Apheleia Restaurant Group indicated that the space would not be re-leased and would instead be taken over by a new proprietor.
While this news may come as a disappointment to fans of the casually-decorated fine dining establishment, it’s worth noting that head chef Brian Zenner’s cuisine can still be enjoyed nearby. Zenner also works at Oak, a sister restaurant of Belly & Trumpet that recently promoted him from chef de cuisine to head chef following the departure of Richard Gras.
