Dallas’s $20 Million Nuri Steakhouse Blends Korean Flavors With Texas Beef

A huge part of the conversation around the opening of Nuri Steakhouse, brought to life by Smoothie King magnate Wan Kim, is the fact that it cost $20 million to complete. There’s also the fact that he’s said to have built it because there were no steakhouses in Dallas where he enjoyed taking business partners — major shade for a city that prides itself in its fancy steak dinners.

In speaking to executive chef Mario Hernandez, we found out that there’s another part to the story at Nuri — one about using the best meats and produce from local sources, with a focus on values of sustainability and how the animals are treated and sourced.

While the interiors are remarkable, Nuri’s menu also has a lot to offer, according to Hernandez.

Steak Tartare

“This is one of the first dishes [South Korea’s Michelin-recognized chef] Minji Kim and I did together. We probably tasted 12 different steak tartares. She did some in traditional Korean-style, which involves a julienne-style beef, sweet soy sauce, and egg yolk. On the the [Western] side you have the classic anchovies, pickle, and horseradish. The idea was to have one steak tartare and figure out how to put it together. Eventually we got down to two, and it was an East and West version. We decided to put them together on a plate. The West version is that traditional steakhouse tartare. The East has Asian pear, a sweet soy sauce that’s almost like ponzu but without the citrus-forward note, a small quail egg yolk on top for the umami flavor, and fresh vibrant greens top both.

For a lot of the garnishes, we utilize Profound Farms, which is great with hydroponic farming. Sustainability means a ton to us. We’re able to utilize just about every piece that comes in, and in our butcher room, we’re breaking down and are able to use smaller pieces [of meat] for things like this steak tartare.

Nuri Tasting Board

“This is a wonderful way to express everything we’re doing in the restaurant in one dish. It tells the story of all of our sourcing. For example, 44 Farms is hand-selecting meat for us and we’re getting the top 1 or 2 percent. We’ve partnered with a company to do our dry aging, who are working with 44 Farms to dry age for at least 40 days. It will always have our 44 Farms short rib as a mainstay, which is marinated Korean-style with a soy base and sugar to caramelize in our Jade broiler at 1,600 degrees — it creates the perfect crust.

Our filet is from Blue Branch Ranch in Oklahoma, which is a single-source farm. The other two pieces of meat will alternate, but we’re utilizing Heartbrand Reserve Texas Akaushi, and we’re the first restaurant in the world to offer it. It is, again, the top 1 or 2 percent of their meat, and the marbling is incredible. We all agreed, hands down, when we tried it that this was the best steak we’d ever had. We’ve also got pork belly, which we sous vide for 24-hours. You could see a seafood item, like Georges Bank wild scallops. It also has traditional ssamjang, which is the Korean sauce we use. And kimchi, of course, and banchan to add to that Korean flare. It also has seashell leaves and micro radish, again from Profound Farms.”

K-Mac

“We probably tasted 30 different [versions of mac and cheese]. Every day we were making it, but kept saying that it reminded us of one steakhouse or another. Finally, we added the gochujang and some diced kimchi to it and it was awesome. Then we took it to another level with dehydrated kimchi, so there’s a bit of crunch. We were still missing something, and the easy option was to add bacon. One ingredient we thought was fun from Korean culture to bring it together was spam lardon. We incorporated it and it was awesome because you have this really high-end [restaurant] but we’re able to do this amazing dish that’s still reminds you of the humble beginnings and comfort food that’s elevated to another level. We call the cheese a steakhouse blend — it’s three-year aged white cheddar and a smoked gouda with a classic bachamel and a cavatappi noodle. We tried shells, orecchiette, and penne. The design of the cavatappi with its ridges helped grab that sauce and hang on to the spam when you get a big spoonful.”

Maque Choux Corn Cheese

“This restaurant is an homage to Wan Kim’s life, so we brought little pieces of New Orleans into it. One thing that I really love at Joa Grill [Kim’s Korean barbecue restaurant] is corn cheese, a traditional Korean side dish that is a sweet corn, almost creamed corn without being macerated or blended, and a good amount of cheese. We took a rendition of New Orleans-style maque choux corn with the holy trinity of peppers, cured jalapeño bacon, Cajun spice, and cream-style corn which is a traditional New Orleans side dish, and added our Nuri cheese blend.”

Bananas Foster Cake

“The dobarge layer cake and bananas foster were both created in New Orleans. It has a layer cake, rum frosting, and rum caramel on top. We caramelize a banana in the back and add some dehydrated banana, then add some Balcones Texas rum that gets drizzled on table side. I think we have the last case of it in the state of Texas. We stick to tradition, and the dish gets that slash-and-fire table side with the aroma of the rum. I like two squirts.”