One of Dallas’s most anticipated restaurants of the year is anticipated no more. As of September 2, Mamani has opened its doors at 2681 Howell Street in Uptown’s Quad development.
At the helm is executive chef and partner Christophe De Lellis, who spent more than a decade cooking at Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas, one of the few restaurants in the world to hold three Michelin stars. With Mamani, De Lellis takes on more approachable cooking with one foot in casual French bistro fare and another in fine dining.
Drawing inspiration from the French and Italian Rivieras, De Lellis describes Mamani’s philosophy as rooted in simplicity. “I wanted to use ingredients that people are really familiar with,” he says. “We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. We’re just trying to do something that is tasty and that will please everyone.”
At Mamani, that translates into plates built around common proteins and vegetables like salmon, chicken, artichokes, and corn. The idea is to enliven dishes many diners might consider boring or basic — how often do you order non-fried chicken at a restaurant, really? De Lellis leans on techniques he honed at Joël Robuchon to deliver food that’s both precise and packed with flavor, including a frequent menu appearance: a three-day chicken jus with a color as deep as soy sauce.
Jidori chicken with turnips, sunchokes, and vin jaune sauce. Kathy Tran
The finishing touch on this dish — and a staple on much of Mamani’s menu — is that aforementioned three-day chicken jus. De Lellis says the team dries 120 pounds of chicken wings overnight, then sears them “for about an hour to get a really dark, golden color. Then we put them in a pot with shallots, thyme, garlic, and water, and cook this for about five to six hours to extract all the flavor.” The next day, the jus is strained, chilled, and skimmed, then the jus is reduced from about 60 quarts down to six. “It takes hours and hours until it’s concentrated,” De Lellis says. The sauce thickens naturally, without starch or salt.
That jus is drizzled over the chicken, served with both thigh and breast. Revered in Japan and California, Jidori is so highly regarded that some dare to eat it raw, sashimi-style. De Lellis chooses it for its clean flavor and smaller size. “It’s like three pounds, so we serve half-a-chicken per person,” he says. This size makes it possible to plate both dark and white meat together. The dish also comes with glazed turnips, a silky sunchoke purée, and a sauce made from vin jaune, a yellow wine out of France’s Jura region.
The agnolotti pasta with chanterelle mushrooms and sweet corn. Kathy Tran
The pasta features chanterelle mushrooms and a simple sauce made with butter and chicken stock. “I don’t put any mascarpone or ricotta inside. We just cook the corn really deep, then we blend it so it’s like the pure essence of the corn,” De Lellis says. The dish is finished with chives and a touch of chicken jus. De Lellis sources the corn from Brentwood, California — he’s drawn to its rich yellow hue and sweetness and the chanterelles come from the Pacific Northwest. “I just think they grow the best mushrooms in America in [that] area,” he says.
Artichoke salad with za’atar yogurt. Kathy Tran
“We can get really good, big artichokes here in Texas, and I wanted to use the artichoke in a different way,” De Lellis says. “I take the heart of the artichoke and poach it, and with all the scraps, I make chips. My idea was to play around with different textures and preparations of the artichoke and link the whole thing together.”
The artichoke salad feature hearts and scraps that are friend into chips. Kathy Tran
The plate starts with a base of za’atar yogurt, seasoned with preserved lemon and garlic. The poached artichoke goes on top, followed by a spoonful of baba ghanoush made with eggplant and smoked paprika. “I poke the chips into that, then finish with confit tomato for sweetness and mint oil for freshness,” he says. “I really like the approach of taking one product and preparing it in different ways, different proportions. That’s the way I like to play with food in general, especially with vegetables.”
The Scottish Salmon sits on a sauce made with a chickpea broth. Kathy Tran
“A lot of times in a fine-dining setup, you don’t see a lot of salmon unless it’s sushi or omakase,” he says. “I was like, why not?”
The preparation starts with a Scottish salmon, lightly cured for about 10 minutes to firm the fish, then cooked medium-rare and seared on one side and brushed slowly on the other. “We serve it with braised fennel that we cook for an hour until it’s super creamy and tender and, on top, I put a raw fennel salad for crunch,” he says. “So you have the contrast between the braise, which is buttery and soft, and the crunch of the raw fennel.”
The sauce is built with a chickpea broth, made in the same spirit as the chicken jus. “We cook it with shallot, garlic, and reduce it with a little cream,” De Lellis says. “We make our own chickpea tamari as well, so it’s like a take on a chickpea and turmeric [stew].” The dish is finished with espelette chili oil and fig-leaf oil.
Thinly sliced veal is feature in this take on the classic vitello tonnato dish. Kathy Tran
For his take on the traditional Italian dish, De Lellis uses veal eye round, cooked medium-rare and sliced very thin. “We make the tonnato dressing pretty classic, with tuna, capers, anchovy, mayo, lemon, and all that,” he says. “The only little tweak that I do is we put it in a siphon to make it more airy and light.” The dish is finished with fried capers and pickled mustard seeds.
Here again, the three-day jus makes another appearance. “We’re really proud of all of the sauces we do in-house,” De Lellis says. “It’s so powerful that we just put a few drops on, and it’s pure flavor.”
This interview has been edited for clarity.