New restaurants on tap at Hilton Garden Inn hotels

Two Hilton Garden Inn properties are preparing to debut new restaurants.

The HGI in downtown Dallas, which opened last year, will open Grayson Social in mid-August. Returning to run the show is chef Chad Starling, who comes back to Dallas after a stint in Colorado.

Starling moved to Colorado in 2015 to work at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo., the famed resort in the Rocky Mountains. But his fiancée didn’t like the town, so he relocated beck to Dallas.

Starling earned praise during his tenure in Dallas as executive chef at Saint Ann's, sous chef at Bolsa, and executive chef at Dallas Chop House. He's also worked at restaurants in other big cities, such as Tru and Le Lan in Chicago. He also has hotel restaurant experience, having worked at Aria at the Fairmount Hotel in Chicago.

As a hotel restaurant, Grayson Social will be open for all three meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Starling is in the process of creating the menu.

"I'm doing upscale Southern — kind of Sean Brock-style at Husk," he said, referring to the restaurant in Charleston, S.C., called the "mecca for modern Southern cuisine" and noted for dishes such as ham and biscuits and fried catfish.

The Refinery is scheduled to have a grand opening  on Aug. 5.

 

The Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Auburn, N.Y., is about to relaunch the Beauvine Chophouse & Wine Bar as a relaxed and casual dining spot. The Refinery will shed the steakhouse concept for something closer to a gastropub.

The Refinery will continue to be a dining option aimed at a combination of hotel guests, other travelers to the Finger Lakes region and local residents, according to Hilton Garden general manager Drew Clare.

The Refinery is scheduled to have a grand opening  on Aug. 5.

Beauvine closed for renovations on July 11, Clare said. The redesigned bar has reopened, but the dining space work is still in the final stages and should be ready next week. In the meantime, the hotel's Garden Grille, which mostly serves hotel guests, remains open.

Developer Michael Falcone opened Auburn's Hilton Garden Inn and the Beauvine Chophouse in 2012 to serve as a destination for Finger Lakes travelers. The hotel has 92 rooms.

The Refinery, under chef Cory Collins, will include "a mix of traditional pub fare with a new school twist reminiscent of the popular gastropub concept," according to a news release sent out by Jesse Kline, who had a role in the new interior design and serves as assistant director of Auburn's downtown Business Improvement District.

"We source as much of the food locally as we can and are excited to offer a unique mix of eclectic items such as banh mi nachos and duck quesadillas," Collins said in the release. "We tried to elevate the food above your typical perception of pub food. We also have a strong focus on producing as much as we can from scratch making the vast majority of our items in house, even the pickles."

The menu, overall, should be priced at a more affordable level than Beauvine, Clare said.

"Guests of the Hilton Garden Inn will enjoy a modern but relaxed atmosphere at Refinery as part of their stay and area residents are welcomed to experience Refinery for its unique design elements, innovative modern fare, creative cocktails and tempting desserts seven nights a week", said Ed Pavente, Northeast vice president of operations for Emerald Hospitality, which manages the hotel and the restaurant.

"The look of the space, a gastro-lounge, is something new & different from downtown's current offerings," Kline said in the release. "Plus, everything was custom designed and built -- the lighting, the artwork and decorative pieces are one of a kind that really showcases the artists that were involved, and the raw materials that were used to make them."