Montlake Cut, new Dallas seafood restaurant from chef Nick Badovinus, excels

<img class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-16228″ src=”http://escapehatchdallas.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/montlake-cut-copyright-Michael-Hiller.jpg” alt=”montlake cut copyright Michael Hiller” width=”1200″ height=”900″/> Nick Badovinus follows up his wildly popular Neighborhood Services and Off-Site Kitchen restaurants with Montlake Cut, his nod to the Seattle restaurants of his boyhood.

East and west coast oysters, sashimi (sliced red snapper with yuzu, aji amarillo and garlic; yellow tail with charred scallions, watercress and trout roe; tuna tartare with chopped avocado) and simply prepared fresh fish  form the heart of the menu, which includes crisp-fried Ipswich clams that seem to have been been plucked from the sea at their tastiest moment. Better still: Mt. Lassen trout, raised in the Pacific Northwest, served almandine style with dry-roasted Marcona almonds and brown butter.

With excellent acoustic baffling, a glassed-in kitchen in the back and nautical touches everywhere, you’d never suspect that this long, narrow restaurant once housed John Tesar’s Spoon restaurant. For a chef best known for comfort classics and burgers, though, one gets the eery sense that Tesar’s spirit hasn’t yet left building.