Travis Street Hospitality was founded by Stephan Courseau and Daniele Garcia and debuted its first restaurant, an outpost of New York’s famed Le Bilboquet, in 2013. Since then, they’ve been driving forces behind the city’s modern French scene, opening Knox Bistro, Georgie and the accompanying Georgie Butcher Shop, Rose Café, and Le PasSage. Their latest project is Frenchie, a casual all-day brasserie that opened in late June for lunch and dinner.
It’s situated in a former Corner Bakery space in the upscale Preston Center Plaza, a neighborhood with a high density of restaurants and shops. This mark’s the group’s first restaurant outside the Knox-Henderson area.
“The Preston Center location was offered to us about three years ago, and we knew right away that it could be a natural evolution for Travis Street Hospitality, offering us the possibility to reach a new clientele but also coming in a neighborhood where a lot of our regulars live,” Courseau said. “The challenge was to create a restaurant that would at the same time embody our culture but also embrace the easygoing family spirit of the neighborhood. Frenchie is the fruit of that vision.”
The Travis Street Hospitality concept joins a stable of restaurants including Le Bilboquet, Georgie, and Knox Bistro.
The restaurant is 4,000 square feet inside and seats 150 guests across the dining room, bar, and 1,200-square-foot covered patio, which has its own indoor-outdoor bar. There’s also an al fresco patio with additional tables. Throughout the restaurant, the design is relaxed and representative of a classic French bistro, with rattan chairs, pewter bar tops, brass sconces, and cozy blue banquettes. It’s nice enough for a big night out, but casual enough for a quick weeknight dinner.
The dining room was packed on a recent Tuesday evening, sporting a mix of families, friend groups, and colleagues.
Culinary director Bruno Davaillon’s menu features bistro classics like oysters, gougères, French onion soup, a Provençal tomato tart, and escargots to start, followed by entrée salads, including a Cobb and Niçoise. For mains, diners can choose between options like a twice-baked cheese souffle, steak frites, Cajun chicken, and a burger. A few from-the-grill dishes, including a whole branzino and heritage pork chop, round things out.
The menu begins with bistro classics like oysters, gougères, and this Provençal tomato tart.
The bar is pouring draft beers, more than a dozen cocktails and mocktails, and plenty of French wines. The trend of freezer Martinis is alive and well here, with a frosty version from executive mixologist Mario Martinez that blends two types of gin, dry vermouth, and Lillet Blanc, a French wine-based aperitif.
Later this summer, Frenchie will extend its hours and open for breakfast, serving coffee, croissants, quiches, and other morning staples that can be eaten on-site or picked up to-go.
The Travis Street Hospitality team called Frenchie’s menu a natural evolution for the founders. They built a reputation on refined French restaurants, but they’ve tempered their fine-dining sensibilities a bit at Frenchie to create a more casual and family-friendly concept.
Entrées include steak frites, a burger, and a whole branzino.
“Frenchie is an American French restaurant made by French guys who are now in the American mainstream,” Courseau said. “Frenchie represents the version of the French people we are today. It’s who we became over the years [and is] authentic to who we are today.”
The new restaurant should play a role in Travis Street Hospitality’s future plans. Courseau shared that, ideally, the group will open more Frenchie locations in similar neighborhoods in and around Dallas, where French flair mixes seamlessly with American culture.
