Aurora

Aurora is owned by chef Avner Samuel, located in the Oaklawn area. He is the former chef of The Mansion on Turtle Creek. After he left The Mansion, and opened his own high-end restaurant concept. That was 6 years ago.

It is one of the most expensive restaurants in Dallas with five star service, high quality classic French cuisine. Because of the recession, the Samuels decided that they would change the concept and go for much less formal dining, and lower their prices. We went last night to check out the changes. Suprisingly, it's not much of a change, still pretty fancy. I noted that the music is more casual, the furniture is less formal, and the price is less, and luckily the service has stayed the same.

Chef Avner must be one of the most talented chefs in America, always improving his cooking, taking trips to Europe to bring home new ideas, and uses seasonal quality products in his kitchen. This time, he brought home some products from Spain and he serves them tapas style. I had to say the food is fancy northern Spain (like San Sebastien region) with a French twist. It is a fragrant, savory, melt-in-your-mouth experience. What a beautiful meal!

King crab on spring garlic puree:

Lopster and duck confit:

Squid with basil , organic olive oil:

Salt cured merluza with raw plum tomatoes:

Champagne, grapefruit sorbet: