Chef Samir Dhurandhar elevates Dos Jefes with a menu of simple stunners

<img class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-17138″ src=”http://escapehatchdallas.com/wp-content/uploads/dos-jefes-5.jpg” alt=”dos-jefes-5″ width=”1500″ height=”1000″/> The menu at Dos Jefes, a tequila-focused bar that recently debuted in Dallas’s Uptown neighborhood, is a simple, one-page affair. But as the plates arrive, you quickly realize that chef Samir Dhurandhar has bent the typical cocktail lounge menu in new ways.

“We get very crowded as the night progresses, and people started asking” for a broader menu, said Dhurandhar, who is also the chef and partner of Nick and Sam’s Steakhouse. “So I’ve developed a menu for Dos Jefes that’s as much restaurant as lounge.”

Chilean sea bass ceviche, tuna tiradito, even excellent sushi rolls populate a small-plate menu that arrives in portions generous enough for actually sharing. Dhurandhar’s take on Spain’s patatas bravas — a stack of crisp-fried potato disks served with a bowl of spicy tomato sauce — is a terrific place to start. Pick up a potato with your fingers, then run it through the sauce as if it were chips and dip. Follow with a grilled chicken skewer, a cocktail or two, and maybe a plate of salmon dressed up for the evening with chopped tomatillos, toasted quinoa and avocados. 

Me? I’m there for Dhurandhar’s milk-braised Berkshire pork shoulder, a caramelized brick of tender pork atop rice and beans and enlivened with saffron aoli. Priced at $14, it’s the best meal deal in Uptown, a delicious celebration of porky goodness and just one of a half-dozen dishes that will have me returning to Dos Jefes — not for tequila, but for dinner.

Here’s the menu: