Bolsa Celebrates 10 Years As One of Dallas’ First Farm to Table Restaurants

Bolsa, one of Oak Cliff’s longtime upscale restaurants and a pioneer in the local farm-to-table movement, is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this Sunday evening.

To that end, it’s gathering the whole gang back together as executive chef Matt Balke will be joined in the kitchen by former chefs Graham Dodds (now overseeing the Statler Hotel’s restaurant concepts), Jeffrey Harris (Americano), Andrew Bell (Saint Ann Restaurant), Erik Wolf, Joel Harrington (Deacon’s New South in Nashville), and “Chuy” (the long-time line cook who has worked with every Bolsa exec chef) to create the evening’s food. Behind the bar, previous head bartenders Jason Kosmos, Eddie “Lucky” Campbell, “Dub” Davis, Kyle Hilla, Joni Long, and Spencer Shelton will craft specialty cocktails.

Bolsa’s first chef Graham Dodds launched the restaurant in 2008 without a walk-in refrigerator, which he had to work around the entire first year and a half in business. “I changed the menu daily based on what we got in from the farms every day.... there’s not much you can’t do if you made it through some of those Saturday nights at Bolsa,” Dodds said in a statement. “Bolsa was really the restaurant where I made my name in Dallas. I became synonymous with the farm-to-table movement, developed my reputation for responsible sourcing and honed my style of cooking.” Now he’s leading the Statler’s Over Easy and Scout and overseeing operations at its just-launched concepts Fine China and R&B where Chef Angela Hernandez helms the kitchens.

“[Bolsa] has been an important restaurant for our city’s dining culture and everybody who’s worked here has gone on to have stellar careers,” co-owner Chris Zielke said in a statement. “Bolsa was at the forefront of the farm-to-table movement in our city when the regular consumer didn’t quite know what those words meant yet.”

No word yet on what exactly will be served on Sunday, but a $10 ticket gains entry into the event with complimentary food all night and $5 cocktails until the booze runs out. Seems a small price to pay to celebrate a piece of Dallas dining history.

Bolsa is located at 614 West Davis Street; festivities will begin at 6 p.m. on Sunday, September 23.

• Eater’s Bolsa coverage [EDFW]