Does Dallas have too many new Mediterranean restaurants? We asked that question to Onur Akan, who recently opened Alára Modern Mediterranean in the Dallas Design District. He was born and raised in a port city in Turkey, one of the nearly two dozen countries that borders the Mediterranean Sea. If anyone would have opinions on Mediterranean food, it’s Akan.
“They’re all the same,” he said of Dallas Mediterranean restaurants which serve dips, skewers and seafood entrees.
To be clear, Alára has all of those dishes on its menu, too. But Akan believes his new restaurant has two differentiators.
One, he made his career as a chef cooking at luxury retail events and making prepared meals for health-conscious families. He believes his menu is made of digestion-friendly dishes featuring ideas from popular books Glucose Goddess and The Defined Dish.
“You know when you eat a lot and the next day you feel horrible?” he asked. Alára’s food is designed to make you feel good after you eat it, he said.
Two, he’s leaning on his Turkish heritage for hospitality.
“In Turkish culture, table culture is everything,” he said. “We call it sofra. Some of the best memories I have are around the table.” He wants to push back on the “aggressive energy in the Dallas dining scene,” he said, where customers feel like they have to dress up for performative dinners.
Chef-owner Onur Akan at Alara in Dallas wants his Mediterranean restaurant to feel comfortable, like his living room. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)
The “luxury” at Alara is not “fancy ingredients like lobster and caviar,” he said. “Our luxury is warm hospitality.”
“My idea is, you’re eating and you’re filling your soul.”
Deconstructed Baklava is made with mille-feuille crust, pistachio crêmeux, lemon curd, honey creme fraiche and a za’atar pistachio crumble at Alara in Dallas. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)
The menu — noticeably shorter than some similar restaurants — starts with six mezze, including caramelized onion hummus, marinated olives and whipped feta with sun-dried tomatoes. Customers should order several, then dive in with veggies or ripped strips of pita.
The next section, “little loves” are other shareable bites. Halloumi en croute ($18) is a rectangle of warm cheese in a handmade hot pocket drizzled with honey. It’s more indulgent than many of the options here, and delicious. Other “little loves” include charred broccolini ($18) and grilled romano beans ($16).
Salads could be entrées, like the green goddess Caesar ($18) topped with fried anchovies instead of croutons.
The Green Goddess Caesar Salad is made with Gem lettuce, parmigiano, crispy anchovies, pistachio and pickled red onion at Alara in Dallas. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)
Akan’s signature dish is Turkish coffee-crusted Wagyu hangar steak ($55) served with potato pavé, a French-inspired side of thinly sliced potatoes. The menu also includes pan-seared fish with rose petal-saffron beurre blanc (sold for “market price”) and a vegan dish of “steak” made with lion’s mane mushrooms ($32).
All dishes can be modified for vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and other dietary restrictions.
One restaurant wall is covered in family photos welcoming customers into Akan’s life. There’s his parents’ wedding in 1981 in Turkey, a gaggle of childhood friends and even Akan’s 2-year-old circumcision party, where family friends gathered in his hospital room.
Photos from chef-owner Onur Akan’s life are displayed on a wall of his new Mediterranean restaurant Alara in the Dallas Design District. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)
Akan moved to the United States in 2009 with ambitions of studying IT. When he wasn’t taking community college courses, he made a little money selling remote-control helicopters inside Town East Mall. He took a culinary class as he did some “soul-searching” in those early years. Then he watched the movie Julie & Julia and decided to become a chef.
His dad, a doctor who still lives in Turkey, didn’t speak to Akan for six months when he learned he’d changed his career path. Dad came around, and today, he likes to brag about the food his son is making in the States.
The restaurant is named Alára after the popular female name in Turkey. “It means light,” Akan said: “something that brings you joy.”
Alára Modern Mediterranean is at 1628 Oak Lawn Ave., Dallas. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Open for dinner only, for now. Lunch coming soon.
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Dining and Cooking