Former Screen Door Chef Takes Reins at Dali Wine Bar & Cellar

After exiting Scott Jones' (Café Italia) Screen Door, chef Joel Harloff (Melrose Hotel, Mi Piaci, Bistro 1401/Joshele) has re-entered the One Arts Plaza dining fray at Paul Pinnell's Dali Wine Bar & Cellar, which copped its name from Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali. You could say Harloff's got a sizable headache ahead, as Pinnell plans to open Dali April 17. "[Pinnell's] got themes and a concept in place," Harloff says. "But we're going to be in the process of fine-tuning it, getting it to where we want it to be now that I'm in the loop, getting my hands around it." He plans on dishing cheeses from California, France and Spain, plus caviars, fish tartars and dishes such as sautéed snapper in a blood orange mignonette and Parmesano zucchini pavé to go with Dali's portfolio of boutique wines. Harloff, who worked with Pinnell at Nana in Anatole Hotel, replaces departed Dali chef Marc Cassel (Green Room, Hotel ZaZa), who has landed at Seventeen Seventeen in the Dallas Museum of Art. Cassel takes over the kitchen of the museum's culinary showcase after it shut down last month for fresh paint and menu freshening with the exit of longtime operator Wynnwood Culinary Art Expressions. Seventeen Seventeen reopened softly April 1 under the direction of Sodexo (formerly Sodexho Alliance), the French food services giant with more than 342,000 employees in 80 countries. Also in the mix is Stephan Pyles, who will consult on Seventeen Seventeen's menu and restaurant development, installing a few signature dishes in preparation for the restaurant's official rollout in early summer. Sodexo partnered with Alan Ducasse last year to rework Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower...After making the cut in a Dallas casting call last December with an arugula salad in a lemon coriander vinaigrette, Lisa Garza—wife of chef Gilbert Garza (Suze)—will do culinary combat on The Food Network's The Next Food Network Star, making her TV debut Sunday, June 1...Brio Tuscan Grill, the Ohio-based Italian restaurant company with locations in the South and Midwest, opened its second North Texas (and fourth Texas) location this month in Allen after adding a location in Southlake in 2006. Located in the new Watters Creek development, the Allen Brio will have a hefty 8,200 square feet with room for 260.