Venerable Dallas Seafood Restaurant Reinvents Itself to Fight Off Spunky Newcomers

In the years I’ve lived in Dallas, Ocean Prime has been one of my go-to spots for post-work cocktails and the restaurant’s to-die-for truffle popcorn and truffle mac & cheese. (Once you start eating the popcorn, I dare you to find the will power to stop.)

Otherwise, I’d thought of it as a destination for lavish birthdays, anniversary celebrations, and other family get-togethers. But following an influx of seafood restaurants to Dallas, Ocean Prime is reintroducing itself to the city as a hot destination not only for special events but also for a hearty lunch, happy hour, live music, and dinner on the wrap-around patio with an expansive view of bustling Uptown.

On a recent visit to its location at Rosewood Court, I started dinner with a margarita and appetizers of tuna tartar, white-truffle deviled eggs, and calamari. There’s also jump lump crab cakes, various sushi, a lobster roll, and a spectacular smoking shellfish tower that billows with dry ice upon arrival to the table.

I then sampled the Chop Chop salad, which was packed with more flavor than other Cobb salad iterations I’ve had in a while. The restaurant also offers an extensive wine list, including a few of my favorite Pinot Noirs from Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

Where Ocean Prime’s executive chef Sonny Pache really shines is in the fish and steak entrées. The blackened Texas redfish features jalapeño-corn tartare and lemon jus; the Florida grouper is served with lobster, creamy gnocchi, and spring peas; and the Duroc pork chop comes with rubbed fennel, buttered Brussels sprouts (so good), and an apricot sherry jus.

Of course, I also enjoyed the truffle mac & cheese, plus creamed spinach and jalapeño au gratin potatoes. For dessert? Although very rich, the chocolate peanut butter pie was the cherry on top of the meal. (I am not a carrot cake fan, but I’m also told Ocean Prime’s carrot cake is perhaps the best in Dallas.)

Happy hour is every Monday through Friday, 4 to 7 pm. On Sundays, the restaurant offers a surf & turf special for $55 a person: There’s a first course of either French onion soup, a Caesar salad, or house salad, followed by an 8-ounce filet to pair with either shrimp scampi, a crab cake, or sea scallops.

As for that aforementioned live music? It begins Thursdays and Fridays in the piano bar at 6:30 pm, and Saturdays at 7 pm.

Ocean Prime, 2101 Cedar Springs Road, 214.965.0440.