One Of The Best Steakhouses On Earth Brings South Korean Flavor To Texas

Is there a more classic combination than Texas and steak? Even the simple mention of those two words together is enough to get the taste buds tingling in anticipation. For those who love top-shelf meats and innovative flavor combinations, a new steakhouse on the Dallas scene has hit the ground running after being named number 84 on the official list of the top 101 World's Best Steaks. Its name: Nuri.

Nuri, a word meaning "whole world" in Korean, is a rare triple-cuisine fusion that draws from owner Wan Kim's personal journey and that of chefs Menji Kim and Mario Hernandez. It seamlessly melds flavors from South Korea and New Orleans while hitting the familiar benchmarks of the steakhouses you know and love. This mashup impresses from the first glance at the menu, with starters like truffle wagyu dumplings or Taste of Two Gumbos, which features a classic bayou gumbo (different than an étouffée) alongside a kimchi-based Korean version.

The meat sourcing is top-tier. A bone-in ribeye — the best cut to order at a steakhouse, according to chefs — comes from the acclaimed 44 Farms in Texas. There are also 36-ounce tomahawk Texan Akaushi steaks (priced at $299) and wagyu from Japan, Australia, and the United States (Japanese snow-aged wagyu goes for $120 per three-ounce strip). If you're not in the mood for steak, where else can you choose between a 14-day dry-aged Australian lamb rack with garlic cumin butter worth its weight in gold, and a Korean chili lobster with soy butter rice?

Sides, sauces, and wine are all great ways to judge a steakhouse — and Nuri passes the test with flying colors. Boasting one of Texas's 14 Master Sommeliers, the wine selection is both exquisite and extensive. And by extensive, we mean borderline overwhelming: the wine list clocks in at a cool 92 pages, with Champagnes ranging from around $100 to $9,500 per bottle. If flipping through all those pages fills you with order anxiety, just remember — that's what the sommelier is there for.

On the sauce side, ssamjang and kimchi butter add untraditional but beautifully complementary flavor notes to the meat, and the tasting menu includes the Korean barbecue staple banchan. Oh, and did we mention there's caviar service?

While the food is, of course, the star of the show, one of the most striking aspects of the Nuri experience is the restaurant's immaculate aesthetic. Wan Kim, operating as the restaurant's sole investor, ended up putting around $20 million into building what he intended to be the top restaurant in Texas. The design is meant to evoke both the art deco movement and an Asian-hued cyberpunk sensibility — a tricky feat that appears to have been pulled off. Kim also stated that, in his opinion, the restaurant doesn't need to make money; it only needs to be the best it can be. That's good news, considering how long it could take a restaurant to earn back a $20 million investment.