Nine months after opening its doors, Restaurant Beatrice was named a 2023 James Beard Award semifinalist in the Best New Restaurant category. Dallas foodies heralded the restaurant as an instant success.
For Restaurant Beatrice’s owner, restaurateur Michelle Carpenter, nothing about the Cajun and Creole restaurant feels instant.
“This has always been in the back of my mind, and front of mind as well. But I was just waiting for the right time, the right moment in the right location,” Carpenter says.
Carpenter made her name in the Dallas culinary scene as the owner and chef of Zen Sushi in Bishop Arts, but she always knew she wanted to open a restaurant that would pay homage to her Cajun roots.
After COVID-19, Carpenter says she sensed a new excitement for food throughout the city, and when a little spot on North Beckley Avenue opened up, Carpenter says “everything just fell into place like it was supposed to.”
Executive Chef Terrance Jenkins (right), pictured with Michelle Carpenter (left), is a New Orleans native, previously serving as a gumbo chef at the world famous restaurant Commander’s Palace.
When Carpenter set out to develop a menu for the restaurant, she says she wanted to show Cajun food in a new light.
“Cajun and Creole food outside of New Orleans is expected to be average at best, but all foods of all people can be in fine dining settings,” Carpenter says.
Restaurant Beatrice has brunch, lunch and dinner menus that put a Beatrice twist on traditional Cajun and Creole dishes.
The menu changes frequently based on season and what is available from seafood distributors who bring fish and shellfish into North Texas from the gulf, but there are several menu staples that have cemented their place as a constant offering at Beatrice.
For dinner, crowd favorites include the vegan red beans and rice, shrimp and grits, fried chicken, oysters and the fresh catch, which changes as many as three times a week.
Red beans and rice, a dish that traditionally would have meat such as andouille sausage or chicken in it, was developed in response to Carpenter’s desire to have intentional options for people of all dietary restrictions, she says.
“We didn’t want to do the average vegetable plate,” Carpenter says. “We wanted to make sure that we spent time and we put intent in that dish.”
There is also the Oysters Beatrice, which is a twist on Oysters Rockefeller. Topped with a creamed green trio of collards, mustard and turnips, bacon and absinthe, executive chef Terrance Jenkins says it’s a crowd favorite.
Chicken and waffles is a staple of the brunch menu, and for dessert, the restaurant sells more bread pudding than Jenkins thought possible.
Jenkins grew up in New Orleans and was a gumbo chef at Commander’s Palace, one of the most famous restaurants in a city known for its famous restaurants. He bounced all around the Dallas restaurant scene, logging time at Rex’s Seafood & Market, Cedars Social and Amberjacks.
When Carpenter started developing Restaurant Beatrice, she brought on Jenkins as a consultant for a four-month period where they designed the restaurant menu. But Jenkins never left, and now, he and Carpenter work in tandem, constantly developing new dishes.
“I think Michelle and I have awesome communication with each other. It’s one of the first times I feel like an actual partner in a situation instead of just someone coming up with food,” Jenkins says.
According to Carpenter, creating a collaborative and healthy environment was one of her top priorities when opening Restaurant Beatrice. The restaurant motto is “bienvenue to all,” Carpenter says.
Most of the staff at Beatrice live in Oak Cliff, and Carpenter says it was important to her that the restaurant be a community-oriented space.
“A lot of our produce is grown in South Dallas by farmers who live in South Dallas. We want to invest in a neighborhood and people that have been historically under-resourced,” Carpenter says. “The Beard nomination just proves that excellence can come from and be made by Oak Cliff, not just located here.”
Restaurant Beatrice works with four local farms — Joppy Momma’s, Unity Community Garden, Restorative Farms and Profound Foods — to source their produce.
The kitchen at Restaurant Beatrice composts all of their waste, and Carpenter says a pilot program is in development with three of those farms who can use the compost to add nutrients to their soil.
That’s farm-to-table-back-to-farm.
“It feels good every time I put an eggshell in that bucket. I know my next round of vegetables, they’re going to have some good calcium. It’s a good thing to know, and no one’s doing it,” Jenkins says.
Carpenter says she hopes to scale the composting program to a point where other restaurants can join in and create a model for sustainable restaurant practices throughout Dallas.
For Carpenter, Restaurant Beatrice will never be about the acclaim it has garnered. Instead, it will represent what she thinks a restaurant should look like, feel like and function like, all while embodying the culture of her Cajun family from Louisiana.
“My grandmother Beatrice first taught me how to make roux, and I think grandmothers all over the world have contributed more to the culinary industry than any school or program,” Carpenter says. “Most chefs credit their grandmothers for their interest, their love and their knowledge of food.”
Restaurant Beatrice, 1111 N. Beckley Ave., restaurantbeatrice.com
