It’s kind of comforting to know that thinking big in the restaurant business now occurs by thinking smaller. It’s all about local products, organic ingredients, seducing the discerning citizens of Dallas with the ability to cater to large crowds in the personal manner of a small town cafe. Asador may be the newest in a line of “farm to fire” restaurants created by Chef/Restaurateur Dean Max, but that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t cut a deep niche in the art of southern cuisine.

Now open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Asador is a Latin and Texan-inspired eatery fueled by the concept of grilling their dishes over an open flame of mesquite wood. Asador, the Spanish word for grill, plays the part aesthetically, featuring bar chairs wrapped in cowhide and an impressive wall of tequila (they offer 100+ kinds of tequila, as well as specialty margaritas with elderflower and agave nectar), as well as a slanted wall made from Austin stone and floors of Brazilian wood.

The focus here however is, of course, the food, which you can watch being made in the exhibition kitchen, open to the dining room and bar. Start with a light snack, perhaps a jar of pickled vegetables, Beer Fat Fries or Tamarind Grilled Texas Quail on a stick. Head to the market portion of the menu, and try their Smoked Brisket Sandwich, Winter Pear Salad or Tortilla Soup with crispy pork, all for $10 and under. But bring your appetite for large plates, featuring a Niman Ranch Pork Chop with white corn grits and red pepper chutney, and a Free Range Veal Chop Plancha with charred fennel and Anjou pear. Save some of your ravenous Texan hunger, however. There’s plenty of indulgences on the menu to entice you.

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