Several Mediterranean restaurants have opened in Dallas over the past year, including buzzy debuts by Babel and fine dining chain Avra, and more to come. Alára isn’t just one in the wave, however, thanks to some principled takes by its owner and chef, Onur Akan.
Akan has strong feelings about what goes in the dishes he serves. He’s a fan of using minimal butter, a curated collection of cooking oils, and a restrained approach to ingredients so that, on the plate of broccolini, the broccolini itself can shine. But before he even talks about the food, Akan talks about making his restaurant a great place for employees.
“[For] some parts of my career, personally, I was not in good kitchens and was abused in a lot of different ways. Verbally, but not physically—there is always that stress and the masculine culture in the kitchen, where people didn’t know how to regulate their emotions and communication,” Akan says.
In response, Akan wanted to make a place like Alara, where the value is “on the plate, not on the walls.” Somewhere that the staff feels comfortable and empowered, and where he doesn’t have to compete with big, splashy restaurants, but offers food that is just as good.
The menu starts with mezze, where the muhammara, made with Aleppo peppers and pomegranate molasses, and the whipped feta with sundried tomato are stunners served with freshly made pita bread using Greek yogurt and organic flour. There’s a halloumi cheese dish served en croute, which marries the Greek cheese with the French cooking technique of wrapping a food in a crust to seal the flavor.
The charred broccolini is a memorable bite, thanks to the crispness of the vegetable and the mustard and maple vinaigrette it’s dressed with, which brings out an earthiness that’s often cooked right out. “Every dish here is around six or less ingredients, very simplistic,” Akan says. “This is our way to show what luxury is.”
The mains, a section called “the heart of the table,” offers many delights, but the must-order item is the Adana kebab, named for the Turkish city, of lamb with seared Savoy cabbage atop a tomato fondue. The skewer itself is a Turkish artifact that looks like a sword, evocative of the way Ottoman soldiers used weapons to skewer their meats at banquets. The lamb is not shaped into bite-sized balls, rather two large meatballs that can be pushed or picked off and cut into bite-sized bits.
The Turkish coffee crusted wagyu hanger steak is also outstanding. It’s sliced like a skirt steak and the dark, hefty coffee sauce on it is reduced down so that the taste of coffee is nearly imperceptible—it’s much more like an au jus. That comes with a 26-layer potato, the item that likely uses the most butter of anything in the restaurant (and the most ingredients), mostly for structural purposes.
For dessert, there’s a panna cotta that eats more like a pudding, topped with strawberries diced into tiny cubes and toasted coconut flakes and a baklava that is that in name only. Practically speaking, it’s a French pastry filled with lemon curd, pistachio creme, and three flaky layers of baklava-esque pastry. Then, there’s the chocolate lava cake, heavy with raspberry sauce and dark chocolate flavors.
Previously, Akan was a private chef doing events for Highland Park residents and luxury brands. During that time, he had to cook for clientele with a variety of health issues, who couldn’t eat some foods, which got him researching and thinking about how to make that into a restaurant. Before that, he worked at now Michelin-recognized Nonna, and at Perry’s Steakhouse. He credits Nonna for his education in Italian food, which shows up on the menu at Alara in a few dishes, and he draws from his Turkish heritage for much of it.
There are cookbooks on the open shelving outside the kitchen, creating a homey feel. “We designed this to be like a living room,” Akan says, noting that the large, 12-person table in front of the open kitchen window was formerly his dining room table. “I wanted it to be soft, so it doesn’t feel like a restaurant when you come in.”
Alára, 1628 Oak Lawn Ave. #120, Dallas, alaradtx.com
