Door County in Dallas

Sean Kenneavy

With the Packers first trip to the Super Bowl in 13 years just days away, many Door Countians are packing for their own trips to Dallas to go to the game or, in many cases, just soak in the atmosphere. But those looking for a great place to eat will find one of their own if they make it to one of the city’s hot new restaurants, Bolsa, in Oak Cliff.

Running the front of the house there is Sean Kenneavy, a Sister Bay native and Inn at Kristofer’s alum who moved to the city just over a year ago after several years in New York.

“I told my fiance that if she needed to move for her job, I would do it. I can work restaurants wherever we have to go,” he says. “Three weeks later she called my bluff and we were moving to Texas.”

Now he’s sitting at the epicenter of the biggest show in the world as it descends on Dallas.

“I can’t complain,” he says. “It’s super hyped up here. What most people don’t see is that every corporation in America needs to be at the Super Bowl. Every huge center that can be rented is booked for the next eight days. There’s no way locals [of which Kenneavy doesn’t count himself yet] can get anywhere at this point, but they’re all trying to be part of the scene. There’s this feeling of ‘we deserve this.’”

In pre-season the always over-rated Dallas Cowboys were favorites to play in this game, a hometown Super Bowl, but Kenneavy says it’s fortunate they’re not in it. “It means twice as many people are in town. It would have cost the city a ton of money.”

Money is what Bolsa figures to make a lot of this week. The restaurant has been touted in D magazine (Best New Restaurant), the New York Times, and hyped on websites for those whose “personality is more Austin,” than Dallas.

“We’re a relaxed, comfortable restaurant,” Kenneavy says. The farm-to-table menu features fresh, local fare, including a killer pork chop and an antelope Osso Bucco (“the cool thing of late”) from a ranch in Ingram, Texas. The cocktail menu, created by some of the most-lauded bartenders in the city, includes originals like the Oswald’s Corridor (Absinthe wash with Makers Mark, orange essence, cherry heering, and punt e Mes), but Kenneavy assured me that Wisconsinites can get a great brandy old-fashioned as well (one wonders if the Wisconsin Tourism Department had the foresight to warn Dallas about the brandy thing).

Kenneavy’s been working on his bosses to get some cheese curds on the menu this week, going so far as to batter his own and fry them up. If you’re heading to Dallas this weekend, you can find out if the curds made the menu by stopping by Bolsa at 614 W. Davis Street, Dallas. Ask for Sean from Door County.