Town Hearth Menu — 64 Chandeliers and an Open Fire
Nick Badovinus’s Design District steakhouse: a windowless room with a submarine in a fish tank, a 1961 MG parked by the kitchen, and wet- and dry-aged steaks cooked over live flame. The full menu, and how to choose your cut.
You will not be able to stop looking around
Most steakhouses sell restraint — dark wood, low light, whispered service. Town Hearth sells the opposite. It’s a 6,000-square-foot windowless dining room in the Design District, and Badovinus filled it with the contents of his own imagination.
The centrepiece is a yellow submarine submerged in an aquarium between the bar and the dining room. It isn’t a prop: it’s a real remote-controlled submersible, decommissioned in 1991, once used to sweep for mines on the ocean floor. Badovinus first saw it in a Dallas furniture showroom, and bought it when the store closed.
Then there’s the silver 1961 MG Roadster facing the open kitchen, a pair of Ducati motorcycles including a ’74 Sport, motorcycle trophies from a family friend in Missouri, framed flags, vintage motorsport photography, and Elvis-themed works by Dallas artist Jeff Scott in the private dining room.
A collision of roughness and opulence. Nick Badovinus, on the design
Wet-aged or dry-aged: what’s the difference?
Town Hearth splits its steak list into three groups, and the wet/dry distinction is the one that actually changes what arrives at your table. Worth two minutes before you order.
Wet-aged
Fresh-cut · $59–$101 hereBeef aged in vacuum-sealed packaging in its own juices. No moisture is lost, so the flavour stays clean and beef-forward rather than concentrated.
- Tastes: fresh, juicy, straightforwardly beefy
- Texture: tender, softer bite
- Best for: first-timers, and anyone who wants the meat rather than the ageing to be the point
- On this menu: Mignon, NY Strip, Delmonico, Baseball Cut, Côte de Boeuf
Dry-aged
Aged uncovered · $126–$186 hereBeef hung in controlled cold air for weeks. Moisture evaporates and enzymes break down the muscle, so flavour concentrates and turns nutty and faintly funky. The trimming loss is why it costs more.
- Tastes: deep, nutty, almost cheesy at the edges
- Texture: firmer, denser chew
- Best for: people who already like steak and want intensity
- On this menu: Brick Strip, Battle Axe Ribeye, Bistecca
The third group, Specialty Steaks, is about the cattle rather than the ageing — Texas Wagyu, Mishima Wagyu and grass-fed tenderloin. Wagyu is prized for dense intramuscular marbling, which makes it richer per bite; grass-fed runs leaner and more mineral. Both are usually served in smaller portions for that reason.
Which cut should you order?
Twelve steaks across three categories is a lot to parse at the table. Tell it what matters most to you tonight.
Tenderloin is the least-worked muscle on the animal, which is exactly why it’s the softest thing on any steak menu. Wet-aged keeps it clean and juicy rather than funky, so nothing competes with the texture.
Choose this if you want a steak that cuts like butter, or you’re ordering for someone who doesn’t eat steak often.
A strip loin has more fat and more work in the muscle than a tenderloin, so it carries flavour better — and dry-ageing concentrates that into something nutty and deep. This is the cut for people who order steak for the taste of the beef.
Choose this if you’ve had plenty of steak and want the version with the most going on.
A 42-ounce short-loin porterhouse — which means you get strip on one side of the bone and tenderloin on the other, so two people who want different things can both be happy off one cut.
Choose this if there are two of you and you’d rather order one great thing than two good ones. The Côte de Boeuf at $101 is the wet-aged alternative, and The Lenox at $119, a bone-in prime rib carved to order, is the other sharing option.
A richer step up from the entry-level cuts. You’re getting Texas Wagyu — dense marbling and seriously rich eating — for less than the large dry-aged showpieces, while the portion stays more compact.
Choose this if you want the Wagyu experience without jumping to the large-format dry-aged cuts. The Grassfed Tenderloin remains $59 if you’d rather go leaner and spend less. Cheaper still: sit at the bar and order starters.
The long-bone dry-aged ribeye, and the reason half the phones in the room come out when it lands. Ribeye is the fattiest of the premium cuts, so dry-ageing gives you both the richness and the concentrated flavour.
Choose this if the night is an occasion and you want the plate everyone at the table turns to look at.
The kitchen is built around live fire, and that applies to the seafood too — the wood-roasted Maine lobster is the non-steak dish people actually cross town for, basted in butter throughout the roast.
Choose this if you want the full occasion without the beef. Lighter alternatives: Ahi à la Plancha at $48 or the Hokkaido Scallops at $38, and there’s a substantial raw bar and starter list.
Recommendations are our own, based on the restaurant’s published cuts and standard butchery. Prices reflect the current menu and change with the market.
How Town Hearth prices have moved
These bars compare official Town Hearth menu snapshots, not estimates. The left bar is the restaurant’s Fall 2025 official menu; the right bar is the latest official 2026 menu snapshot that remains publicly retrievable. Dollar labels are exact.
Large-format steaks
Soup & salads
Price-history source snapshots: Town Hearth’s official Fall 2025 menu and official February 11, 2026 menu. The restaurant’s website now links a newer May 21, 2026 PDF; because that file is not publicly retrievable through the current index, the graph does not invent a later point.
The most recognisable restaurateur in Dallas, building a monument to everything he’d done before.
Nick Badovinus had already spent decades in Dallas kitchens when Town Hearth opened in 2017. His earlier restaurants — Neighborhood Services, Montlake Cut and Off-Site Kitchen — built the following that let him take a swing this big.
What’s unusual is how hands-on he is with everything that isn’t food. Badovinus concepts and curates the interiors himself, down to sourcing the submarine and specifying 64 chandeliers. D Magazine described the result as a restaurateur at the peak of his career building “a monument to everything that’s come before.”
The cooking underneath the spectacle is deliberately simple. Open-hearth, live-fire cooking is the whole kitchen: steaks, seafood and vegetables all pass over wood flame. As Badovinus put it, there’s nothing more primitive than cooking meat over an open fire — people have been doing it that way for a while.
Four things worth knowing
Practical notes, because this is a restaurant where the details matter.
Dinner only — there is no lunch
Doors open at 5pm every day and that’s the only service. It catches people out, particularly on a Monday when the kitchen also closes earliest.
Reserve, and reserve early
This has been one of the harder tables in Dallas since it opened. Book ahead for weekends — walk-in waits can run 30 to 60 minutes, and reviewers note that even a reservation can involve a short wait at peak times.
The bar is the workaround
If you can’t get a table, the bar takes walk-ins and gets you the same room, the same chandeliers and the full starter list. It’s also the cheaper way to experience the place.
Mr. Presley’s for private dining
The private dining room is named for Elvis and hung with Elvis-themed works by Dallas artist Jeff Scott. It’s an intimate space rather than a banquet hall — contact the restaurant for current capacity and event details.
Town Hearth, answered
What is Town Hearth known for?
Two things at once: live-fire cooking — steaks, seafood and vegetables all cooked over open flame — and one of the most extravagant dining rooms in Texas, with 64 crystal chandeliers, a decommissioned yellow submarine in an aquarium, a 1961 MG Roadster and vintage Ducati motorcycles. It’s chef Nick Badovinus’s Design District steakhouse, open since 2017.
How many chandeliers does Town Hearth have?
Sixty-four — one for every table in the restaurant. They were assembled by the staff, crystal by crystal, and Badovinus has said there were even chandeliers left over.
What should I order at Town Hearth?
Start with the Tot Oscar, the tater-tot dish under crab and hollandaise that’s become the restaurant’s calling card. For a main, the Battle Axe Ribeye is the showpiece and the wood-roasted Maine lobster is the non-steak equivalent. If you want the tenderest cut, order the Mignon; for the biggest flavour, the dry-aged Brick Strip. Use the steak finder above to narrow it down.
What is the difference between the wet-aged and dry-aged steaks?
Wet-aged beef is aged sealed in its own juices, so it stays juicy and cleanly beefy — the Mignon, NY Strip, Delmonico, Baseball Cut and Côte de Boeuf. Dry-aged beef is aged uncovered in cold air, losing moisture and concentrating into something nuttier and firmer — the Brick Strip, Battle Axe Ribeye and Bistecca. Dry-aged costs more because of the moisture and trimming loss.
Is Town Hearth open for lunch?
No — dinner only, seven days a week from 5pm. Monday and Sunday close at 9pm, Tuesday to Thursday at 10pm, and Friday and Saturday at 11pm. Hours can shift on holidays, so call ahead.
Does Town Hearth take reservations, and is there parking?
Yes to both. Reservations are strongly recommended, especially at weekends — call (214) 761-1617. There’s complimentary valet parking at the door, plus street parking and a nearby lot if you’d rather self-park.
How expensive is Town Hearth?
It’s a premium steakhouse. Starters on the latest accessible official menu run roughly $14–$38; salads range from smaller $10 portions up to $22, and core sides run about $9–$15, with the BLT Mac at $34. Steaks start at $59 and climb to $186 for the 42 oz Bistecca. Seafood spans $38 for scallops to $149 for the lobster à l’Orange. Sitting at the bar with starters and a cocktail is the affordable way in.
Where is Town Hearth in Dallas?
1617 Market Center Blvd, Dallas, TX 75207, in the Design District just northwest of downtown, near the Stemmons Freeway corridor. It’s a short drive from Uptown.
Find it in the Design District
1617 Market Center Blvd, Dallas, TX 75207
Design District · (214) 761-1617
Steakhouse · dinner only from 5pm · complimentary valet
Reservations strongly recommended. The bar takes walk-ins if the dining room is full.
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