Ever since Mamani opened two months before the Texas Michelin Guide ceremony and accomplished the near-impossible feat of earning a star, the question on everyone’s mind is: How does an eight-week-old restaurant manage to score such a distinction? This blessedly unpretentious French spot in Uptown Dallas is now one of only two Michelin-starred restaurants in all of North Texas.
The short answer to the question is: The chef. Thirty-seven-year-old executive chef Christophe De Lellis had already proven his brilliance during his 13 years at Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas. Michelin inspectors likely had their eye on Mamani and rushed in as soon as the doors opened.
For a more in depth answer, one must consider the Guide’s five criteria for awarding stars: “the quality of the ingredients, the harmony of flavors, the mastery of techniques,” the way the chef expresses personality through his food, and consistency.
“Every dish starts with sourcing,” says De Lellis, who relies on a wide variety of vendors, including some he worked with at Joël Robuchon. He’s not just looking for the freshest, most high-quality ingredients; he’s focused on granular details.
For the deep-fried prawns with basil, for example, he wanted prawns that were sweet, but not too sweet, and tried 15 kinds before settling on Blue Crystal—prawns whose plankton diet gives them a blue tint. For his Veal Cordon Bleu, to complement the gruyere and parmesan, he sought a veal with a milky flavor. “I wanted the veal and cheese to talk to each other,” he says. In other words, for De Lellis, the first two criteria, ingredients and harmony, are inextricable.
As for the third criterion, mastery, De Lellis takes “cooking from scratch” to new heights. He processes everything in house. He buys lobsters live. He pounds the veal. He dry-ages his duck for two weeks or more. “We always have 80 to 100 ducks,” he says.
De Lelli’s mastery also lies in his sauces, starting with his three “mother sauces”, chicken stock, chicken jus, and veal jus, all of which take days to make. “Sauce is the most important part of a dish,” he says. “Period.”
One of the sauces he’s most excited by is the rabbit ragù that he and his chef de cuisine are currently working on. In keeping with the Michelin Guide’s fourth criterion, the sauce expresses his personality. While he grew up in Paris, De Lellis’ grandparents are Italian, and he has fond memories of big Sunday meals at their house. His grandfather would shoot rabbits, but only he and De Lellis liked to eat them. The rabbit ragù lets him honor his grandfather, just as his Arrabbiata sauce lets him honor his grandmother. The Cordon Bleu is a highly technical, elevated version of the Cordon Bleu he ate in his school cafeteria (imagine an American school serving Cordon Bleu in the cafeteria). “I cook from the heart,” De Lellis says. “It’s comfort food, but it’s elevated.”
That’s where “consistency”, the Guide’s final criterion comes in. Everything on Mamani’s menu has De Lellis’ signature. There is no tweezer food coming out of that bright, open kitchen, nor is there a tasting menu. The menu is a la carte, so diners can eat five courses with wine pairings if they choose to, or simply enjoy a cocktail and croquettes if they’d rather.
Mamani conjures the feeling of being in the home of an old friend. It’s cozy. The servers seem thrilled to be there, and they know the menu, including the wine list, in grand detail. After a four-hour dinner, you’ll feel like sleeping over. You’ll wish the chef would make you eggs in the morning.
“This is just the beginning,” De Lellis says. “We’re going to keep exploring. We’ll keep getting better. We’ll make mistakes, I’m sure, but that’s ok. This is a job made by humans. That’s the beauty of it.”
Mamani, 2681 Howell St. BU4, Dallas, mamanirestaurant.com
