Tasty Notes: Michelle Carpenter announces new restaurant; Resource Center’s first chili cook-off
The chefs of Restaurant Beatrice with chef and founder Michelle Carpenter, center. (Courtesy photo) Tasty Notes is a roundup of food and restaurant news including specials, local food news, dining events and more around the area. Restaurant Beatrice to open in March Michelle Carpenter, chef/owner of Zen Sushi in the Bishop Arts has announced her second concept, Restaurant Beatrice, opening at 1111 N.
Beckley Road in North Oak Cliff . The projected opening date is March 2022. The new concept is rooted in Louisiana cuisine and culture in homage to her Cajun roots through her father.
Named after Carpenter’s “Mammaw” or grandmother, Beatrice will include a sampling of contemporary classics that embraces Louisiana hospitality and the Oak Cliff inclusive vibe. “Everyone knows that special feeling we get seeing the big blue highway sign as we cross the Texas border into swamp country: ‘Bienvenue en Louisiane,’” Carpenter said in a press release. “That welcoming embrace is unique to where I spent a large part of my childhood, and that’s the experience I want my customers to have. ” Beatrice leadership includes consulting Executive Chef Terance Jenkins, a New Orleans native who began his career nearly 20 years ago making gumbo at Commander’s Palace.
Carpenter tapped service-industry veteran Tina Bentley as general manager. Carpenter and Jenkins conceptualized a menu that includes duck and housemade andouille gumbo made with smoked aromatics, her Mammaw’s fried chicken with pepper jelly along with a vegan interpretation of the late, great Leah Chase’s Green Gumbo made with an assortment of leafy greens in an earthy base.
