“I believe the tower is such an iconic Dallas landmark,” says the renown Wolfgang Puck, “and now people are going to be able to go up there, get great food, great service, and have a great view over Dallas.”

Named this year’s Chef of the Year by the Culinary Institute of America, Puck is a six-time cookbook author and two-time Emmy award-winner for his former Food Network show. He boasts 15 restaurants across the country, with more in the works, and soon will have one in Vegas for each day of the week. Head of Wolfgang Puck Catering and Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, the Austrian’s face appears on grocery store shelves on everything from coffee to organic soup.

Opening in December for private parties and for business in January, his new Dallas restaurant is the pinnacle, literally, of a $25 million top-to-bottom tower remodel. It’s part of Hyatt Regency Dallas’ recent $45 million overhaul of Reunion Tower and Union Station. “I think that they did it the right way,” Puck said in an interview when he was in Dallas at The Nasher Sculpture Center, where he already has Café Nasher by Wolfgang Puck. He says the Regency redo was a total overhaul: “They didn’t say, ‘Ok, we’re going to put just a little paint on it or something.’ From the entrance to the tower, everything is completely reconfigured and redone.”

His new, Asian-influenced restaurant, yet to be named as of press date, features a Japanese grill for skewers and the like at the bar. One of Puck’s veteran sushi chefs made the move to Texas to serve his creations.

Guests choose from a variety of Asian appetizers, and the broader menu includes options such as grilled steak with an Asian-inspired side sauce; lobster with ginger sauce and fried spinach leaves; and lamb chops with mint cilantro vinegar. The chic restaurant isn’t too formal, Puck notes, and offers lighter lunch fare, such as salads.

Though the chef is highly involved in the restaurant planning and menu creation, he won’t be making many treks to Texas once the restaurant is running well. “I have the right people managing and running it, so I’m kind of like the coach,” he explained. “The coach is not shooting the baskets; he has someone who does. I cook more with my head now than in the kitchen.”

Though his menu at the tower is fine dining, Puck’s cooking is not overly complex. “The older I get, the less fancy or fussy I want to make the food. I want to make it really pure,” Puck said. “The center of the plate is the main attraction, and even if you’re blindfolded, you know what you’re eating. So many young chefs today try to make it so complicated with so many ingredients, and then you don’t know any more what you eat.”

His cooking philosophy can be traced to Puck’s greatest culinary inspiration: a man in the South of France named Raymond Thuilier.  Puck studied under him three years, starting when he was 18. “He was the first one who cooked like a painter would paint,” Puck recalled. “He didn’t have exact recipes. He cooked like he felt with what was in season.”

Puck tells of the Frenchman’s expansive gardens. In November when Thuilier’s restaurant wasn’t busy, the duo picked olives to make olive oil. “The flavor of the food was so pure, and each ingredient was so perfect,” Puck recalled. “That’s luxury—to have really small greens beans, just picked, that you cooked very lightly. They have such great flavor. I think that’s really luxury, not some canned caviar or something like that. People always think it has to be something expensive.”

Coming from the chef known for his restaurant Spago’s gourmet pizza with smoked salmon and caviar, his definition of luxury is a bit ironic, albeit refreshing. Puck said that we’ll be seeing as many fresh, local, organic ingredients as possible in the Dallas restaurant, as in all his eateries.

In the ’80s Puck spent a significant amount of time in Dallas consulting for the Mansion and the Crescent. It was this past connection to the city that enticed him to open a restaurant at Reunion Tower. “I think since I came so often already, I always felt in contact with Dallas,” Puck said.

Wolfgang Puck's Recipes

Roast Prime Rib of Beef with Garlic Herb Crust
4- to 5-pound bone-in prime rib of beef, at room temperature
8 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tab. fresh rosemary, minced
2 tsp. dried thyme
4 Tab. freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp. kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. with the rack in the center (if your roast won’t fit with the rack in the center, use the lower rack). Place the roast ribs down on a rack in a large, heavy roasting pan. In a small bowl, stir together the garlic, rosemary, thyme, pepper and salt. Spread the herb mixture all over the surface of the meat, pressing it firmly into the meat. Insert a roasting thermometer into the meat, making sure that its tip reaches the very center of the roast, without touching bone.

Place the roasting pan on the oven’s center rack (if possible). Cook the roast for 25 minutes, then lower the oven setting to 250 degrees F. and continue roasting until the thermometer reads 120 degrees F. for rare or 125 degrees F. for medium-rare, 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Remove the roast from the oven, transfer it to a platter, cover it with aluminum foil, and allow it to rest in a warm spot for 30 minutes. Tip any juices that accumulate on the platter into a sauceboat.

Uncover the prime rib and carve it across the grain into thick or thin slices, as you and your guests prefer. Pass the meat juices at the table for guests to help themselves.

Yield:  Serves 6 to 8. Courtesy Wolfgang Puck, Wolfgang Puck Makes it Easy, Rutledge Hill Press, 2004

Braised Red Cabbage
4 pounds organic red cabbage, cut into julienne
1 medium red onion, sliced
2 organic Granny Smith apples, sliced
1/4 cup peanut oil
1 cinnamon stick
3 tsp. ginger powder
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 cups orange juice
2 cups red wine
Salt and pepper to taste
A few gold leaves for decoration  (optional - available at specialty stores)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat a heavy casserole. Add peanut oil. Sauté red onion until translucent. Sprinkle in brown sugar and cook for a few minutes until it starts to caramelize.

Add sliced apples and deglaze with the red wine vinegar. Bring to a boil. Add red wine and orange juice, cinnamon stick, ginger powder and salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Add red cabbage and continue to cook for about 10 minutes on top of the stove.

Cover cabbage with foil and cook in 350 degree F. oven for about 45 minutes. Remove.  Taste, and adjust seasoning, if necessary.

Yield:  Serves 12. Courtesy Wolfgang Puck, 2000

Upside Down Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake

Caramel:
10 ounces sugar
4 ounces water
1 Tab. lemon juice

In a heavy metal saucepan combine the sugar, water and lemon juice and stir until smooth.

Over high heat cook the sugar to 340 degrees F. The sugar will be a deep caramel color.  Pour out into 9-inch cake pan. (Do not spray or grease the pan).

Carefully turn the pan, tilting it, so as to cover the sides and bottom of the pan with caramel.

Cheesecake Base:
1 pound, 8 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon orange zest, chopped fine
5 eggs, room temperature
15 ounces organic canned pumpkin
1/2 cup sour cream

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, on low speed work the cream cheese until smooth.

Add the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and orange zest. Continue to blend on low speed for 2 minutes until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, and scrape down after each addition. On low speed slowly add the pumpkin and scrape down. Stream in the sour cream and scrape down. Remove from mixer and pour out into prepared cooled caramel pan.

Bake in a hot water bath for 1 hour. Cake will be slightly firm to the touch.

Remove from the oven, cool to room temperature and place in the refrigerator, overnight.  Make sure to cool down for at least 4 hours before flipping over. The cake can be made up to 2 days in advance.

To flip over the cake, place a 12-inch flat plate over the top of the cake pan.  Hold with a firm grip and flip cake upside down.  Let the pan sit on top for a second.  Lift pan off pan and serve own its own or with candied pecans and whipped cream.

Yield:  Makes one 9-inch cake. Courtesy Wolfgang Puck