Dallas guerrilla restaurant 48 Nights — who is next week’s chef?

by Teresa Gubbins

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Join us as we use the menu to divine the mystery chef's identity.

Sherlock

After a successful opening week, "guerrilla restaurant" 48 Nights -- the hottest foodie sensation in Dallas since the frozen margarita -- has announced its new menu. As is its wont, the identity of the chef is kept secret. (Because, you know, this is for charity, so it's not about the celebrity-chef aspect, OK?)

Anyway, using the two clues provided to us -- the menu and the list of chefs -- I thought it would be fun to put on a sleuth cap and try to figure out who next week's chef will be.

1. The Menu

2. The Chefs

The list: Tim Byres of Smoke, Marc Cassel of PARK, Pedro Castrejon of Smoke, Nathan Tate & Randall Copeland of Restaurant Ava, Bruno Davaillon of The Mansion on Turtle Creek, Graham Dodds of Bolsa, Tony Gardizi of Capriccio, Scott Gottlich of Bijoux, Sharon Hage of York Street, Stephan Pyles, and Abraham Salum of Salum. Plus, a new person on the list that was not on the list yesterday: Daniele Puleo from Daniele Osteria.

Let's start by process of elimination. We know it's not Nathan Tate & Randall Copeland of Restaurant Ava, because they did the first pre-party whatever it was. And we know it's not Marc Cassel of PARK, because he did it this week.

Scrutinizing the menu more carefully, "smoked salmon and goat cheese" is a dish a few chefs might could do. Abraham Salum, for example, has salmon on his menu, but oh -- it's a "grilled Scottish salmon" entree. Bruno Davaillon's menu has salmon as well but again, his "pan seared wild salmon" is an entree. Oh look here, Sharon Hage has a smoked-fish appetizer! But darn, it's smoked trout. :(

Bijoux has no smoked salmon app (although its "sugar pumpkin agnolotti" appetizer sounds pretty good. But I digress.) Capriccio's starters include oysters and calamari; no smoked salmon. Daniele Osteria's menu has no smoked salmon appetizer, BUT: Brix, Puleo's pizza place in Fort Worth, does have a "smoked salmon platter" with smoked Norwegian salmon, capers, & red onions.

Interesting.

Second course is pasta. Specifically, "GNOCCHI GORGONZOLA. Potato dumplings in gorgonzola sauce." What kind of restaurants do pasta courses? You are correct: Italian. Among the remaining chefs, that leaves, let's see, Tony Gardizi of Capriccio and Daniele Puleo of Daniele Osteria. Capriccio's pasta is mostly old-school stick-to-your-ribs stuff like "rigatoni pasta tossed with Italian sausage" and "pasta Bolognese served with earthy meat tomato sauce."

Daniele Osteria's list of pastas includes -- well, let's cut and paste:

Hmmmmmmm.

The third course, pan-seared scallops, well who isn't doing pan-seared scallops. It's the accompaniments you want to look at. ... "fresh oranges & braised fennel" ... sounds so very ... Italian.

As does the dessert: panna cotta. Capriccio has a big commitment to desserts with 10 items on their "Dolce" menu and even a dedicated pastry chef, Juan Sanchez. And bingo! They do have a panna cotta -- "simple yet mouthwatering vanilla eggless flan 'Italian style' served with a caramel sauce and fresh strawberry'." Daniele Osteria does not. Complicating!

The question becomes: Would it be relatively easy for an Italian chef such as Daniele Puleo to improvise a panna cotta dessert that is not on his menu? Or do you pin the identity of next week's chef on whether or not he already has panna cotta on his menu?

If it IS Puleo, that represents some kind of crazy planning from the 48 Nights team -- to have added him as recently as yesterday and expect him to go up to bat next week. Maybe Bruno was busy?