For the first time since before the pandemic, Dallas’ Reunion Tower will reopen next spring with a new restaurant featuring steak, seafood, and plant-based food.
The restaurant, called Crown Block, will replace Five Sixty by Wolfgang Puck, which operated atop Reunion Tower for 11 years before being forced to close for pandemic-related reasons in 2020. Crown Block will be headed by Elizabeth Blau and chef Kim Canteenwalla of Blau + Associates and Reunion Tower owner Hunt Realty Investments, Inc.
Reunion Tower opened in 1978 with backing from Dallas businessman Ray L. Hunt and became an instant landmark. Crown Block will be overseen by Hunt’s grandson, Tyler Kleinert.
“Dining at Crown Block will be unequivocally as iconic as Reunion Tower itself,” said Hunt Realty CEO Chris Kleinert in a prepared statement.
The restaurant will feature ingredients from regional farms, ranches, and the Gulf of Mexico, according to a press release. It’ll also have a rare steak program, which will include prime beef and Texas and Japanese wagyu.
The menu includes sushi, a chilled seafood display, and a dessert bar. A weighty wine list and special cocktail menu are expected, according to a press release. The restaurant will also have an event space on the 17th floor of the tower for receptions for up to 175 seated guests or 250 standing guests.
Blau and Canteenwalla, who are married, hail from Las Vegas. Blau helped develop the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center in New York City and other restaurants at the Bellagio and Wynn hotels in Vegas. Canteenwalla, former executive chef of the MGM Grand, has experience leading restaurants in Singapore, Dubai, and Toronto, according to a press release.
The couple co-authored “Honey Salt: A Culinary Scrapbook,” which was named the best cookbook of 2018 by Food & Beverage. They also own Honey Salt, a restaurant in Las Vegas.
“Kim and I discovered our love of Dallas and instantly felt welcome with the world-famous Texas hospitality,” Blau said in a prepared statement. “We are excited to bring our longstanding philosophy drawing from the culture, landscape, and culinary traditions of the region to partner with the Hunt family on this exciting new endeavor for the city.”
When it was operating, Five Sixty by Wolfgang Puck was a hotspot for anniversaries, birthdays, and engagements—a place to celebrate with a view to match. Crown Block will certainly be seen as a similar bucket-list item.
Crown Block is slated to open in spring 2023 at 300 E. Reunion Blvd.
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