Encina

Perks

  • Complimentary beverage of your choice any time you dine at the restaurant
About

Opened in 2020, this popular eatery that melds New American with Modern Southern was named to Eater's 2024 List of "15 Essential Restaurants in Bishop Arts” and Dallas Magazine’s 2024 List of “Best Restaurants Right Now.” Uvalde-born Chef/Owner Matt Balke, a former CultureMap Tastemaker Chef of the Year award winner, graduated as the salutatorian of his class at the Culinary Institute of America in 2007. He then apprenticed with James Beard Award-winning chef Sharon Hage of York Street, and went on to spend two and a half years with Bolsa and Bolsa Mercado before his stint as executive chef of The Rustic. He then moved to SMOKE, and then back to Bolsa. Now, at a restaurant of his own, occupying the Bolsa-vacated space, he is turning out dishes like smoked salmon rillettes, pork jowl with cherry mustard, jalapeno, and coconut, blackened redfish with crumbled cornbread, goat guisado tacos, and much more, all focusing on seasonality and fresh ingredients. Dallas Magazine says, “With Balke’s food, there’s always a recognizable farm-to-table touch, but with an infusion of fun that’s all his own.”

Category
  • Restaurants
  • Encina hero