Reunion Tower Finally Welcomes a New Restaurant — Straight Outta Vegas

The restaurant space in Reunion Tower has been empty since Wolfgang Puck’s FiveSixty departed it in May 2020 following a citywide Covid shutdown. For diners who have missed the location’s expansive skyline views, great news: the dining room will open again as Crown Block under the direction of Las Vegas husband and wife team, Elizabeth Blau and chef Kim Canteenwalla.

Canteenwalla and Blau are co-owners of one of Eater Vegas’s 38 essential restaurants, Honey Salt. In his career, Canteenwalla has overseen kitchens at numerous resorts worldwide, including the MGM Grand in Vegas. He is also currently managing partner of Buddy V’s Ristorante at the Venetian. Blau is the founder and CEO of restaurant development company Blau + Associates, with a long culinary resume of her own that includes stints in New York City’s Rainbow Room and developing restaurant concepts for the Bellagio and Wynn in Vegas.

Blau + Associates

“We are so excited with the location and historical significance of the tower, the space, and what it means to the city,” Blau told Eater Dallas of Crown Block’s opening. The duo plan to bring their style of food to Texas while featuring Texas on the menu. It will feature a rare steak program, some of which Blau says will be sourced from local ranchers, with prime beef, Texas wagyu, and Japanese A5 wagyu. They’re also plotting a sushi and chilled seafood display that will include Gulf seafood, which Blau says is reminiscent of the program at The Victor, the duo’s Vancouver restaurant. And the bar program will incorporate Texas wines, beers, and spirits. But, Blau notes, they are only at the beginning of their quest to find local farmers, ranchers, and distillers/brewers to source from, and the menu is far from set.

One dish Blue does tease as a potential menu item: mac and cheese waffles her team developed, inspired by a YouTube video. “They took Kraft macaroni and cheese and made a waffle out of it. I asked, ‘Well what if you used homemade macaroni and cheese?’ And so after many waffle irons and research, they have perfected the macaroni and cheese waffle that we will we’ll be bringing,” Blau says.

If that sounds like a stellar brunch item to you, then you’ll be excited to know that Crown Block is going to be open for brunch as well as dinner. Blau sees it as a way to make the restaurant, which has historically been known as a location for special event nights out, a little more accessible at different price points. “It’s just such a beautiful space, and the most dramatic time is during the day when you can see the 360 degree views,” Blau says. “We are passionate about our brunch, [and will bring a] Bloody Mary bar, a mimosa carts, and things like that. We want to have fun with the menu.”

The interior space is also getting a complete overhaul. “We’ve started from from scratch,” Blau says. “When you walk off the elevators, and you see this dramatic Dallas skyline. We just thought that that was such a wow moment, to be able to come and have a cocktail. So we’ve decided to not have the restaurant rotate.” But not to worry, she adds — patrons who’d like to rent the 17th floor, just below the restaurant, out for events can request that it rotate.

Crown Block will open in the spring of 2023.