Monarch Puts Wood-Fired Italian Over the Dallas Skyline

Forty-nine floors up, a two-Michelin-star chef is running a wood fire over the best skyline view in Dallas.

Most restaurants with a view coast on the view. Monarch does not. It sits on the 49th floor of The National downtown, the glassy tower that used to be First National Bank, and the floor-to-ceiling windows do their job. But the reason to book is what is happening at the open kitchen, not just the one outside the window.

That kitchen belongs to Danny Grant, a chef who earned two Michelin stars in Chicago before he was 30. The cooking is modern Italian built around live fire, and the room runs big, loud and dressed up in the best way. This is a special-occasion restaurant that actually earns the occasion.

Monarch is operated by Maple Hospitality Group, the Chicago group behind Grant’s acclaimed Maple & Ash. That lineage matters, because the wood-fired, steakhouse-meets-Italian playbook that made Maple & Ash a hit is the same one running here, recalibrated for a Dallas skyline.

Who’s In the Kitchen

Grant is the name on the door, and the resume is real. Two Michelin stars in Chicago, a James Beard nomination, and a cooking style that treats a hearth like the center of the room rather than a gimmick. The menu leans into char, smoke and the kind of pasta that justifies a 49-story elevator ride.

The format is modern Italian with a hard steakhouse streak. Think handmade pastas and wood-fired seafood on one side, dry-aged beef and a 50 oz porterhouse on the other. You can pull the full current menu and hours on the official Monarch site before you go.

What to Order

Start at the fire. The wood-fired tiger prawns and the charred Spanish octopus are the dishes that tell you what this kitchen is about, smoke and acid and a hard sear. The wood-fired meatballs are the sleeper order, rich and built for sharing while the table settles in.

For the centerpiece, the choice is the whole live Alaskan King Crab or the 50 oz porterhouse, both designed to anchor a table of four. If it is just two of you, run a pasta and a single wood-fired cut instead. The pastas hold their own against the steaks, which is not something you can say at most rooms with a view this good.

The Room and the View

The space is theatrical on purpose. Dark, warm, gold-trimmed, with the open kitchen glowing at the center and downtown Dallas glittering on every side. Sunset is the move if you can land it, because you get the city in daylight and then watch it light up over the course of dinner.

Dress for it. This is not a shorts-and-sneakers room, and you will feel underdressed if you treat it like one. Smart casual at minimum, and nobody is overdoing it in a blazer or a real dress. The crowd skews celebration, date night, closed-deal dinners and out-of-town guests you are trying to impress.

How to Get a Table

Monarch takes reservations and you want one, especially for weekend nights and anything sunset-adjacent. The bar and lounge area is the play if you could not land a table or you want a lighter night, since you can order off the menu, work the cocktail list, and still get the full 49th-floor view without committing to the whole production.

The wine and cocktail program is deep, and the bartenders know the list cold, so ask. Valet at The National is the simplest way in, and you will want it, because parking a tower downtown on a Saturday is its own adventure. Call ahead at (214) 945-2222 for large parties.

Worth the Climb

Monarch is a splurge, full stop, and it is one of the few view restaurants in Dallas where the food is the reason you stay rather than the thing you tolerate for the photos. Come for a real occasion, start at the fire, and let a two-Michelin-star kitchen run the night. If you want another rooftop angle on the skyline before or after, the views from Trinity Groves, the Dallas food district with skyline views, make a strong opening or closing act. Either way, book the sunset.