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Stephen Montoya
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Stephen Montoya
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Stephen Montoya
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Stephen Montoya
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Stephen Montoya
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Stephen Montoya
A new high-end Japanese inspired restaurant located in the lower level of the Sandman Signature Hotel in downtown Fort Worth, is literally taking its patrons to the bank. No, this isn’t a commentary on the new Musume’s menu pricing, instead it’s on this new locale’s ambiance. That’s right, DFW’s second Musume (pronounced "muh-suh-may") restaurant, is located inside the historic 103-year-old, 20-story W.T. Waggoner Building that originally housed the Continental National Bank in its basement at 810 Houston Street.
Although the bank is no longer there, remnants of its past can still be seen in the form of a series of steel bank vault doors that line Musume’s far west wall. But none of these doors have anything on Musume’s main dining room show piece, the building’s original bank main vault, that includes a huge round vault door that protrudes into the dining area. This space has been transformed into a tatami room, which includes sunken seating beneath the floor and origami cranes dangling overhead.
Now home to the Sandman Signature Hotel above, Musume’s minimalist décor serves as a poignant contrast against the building’s white brick exterior and neo-classical architectural style. Musume’s ambiance includes tranquil Japanese gardens, Zen lighting, Shinto red walls, gilded artwork, intimate izakaya-style seating, “floating” banquettes, multiple private dining rooms, and a 2,000-square-foot black-lacquer bar back-lit in red.
Stephen Montoya
Serving as Musume’s executive chef is Yuzo Toyama, who is a native of Shizuoka, Japan, and has 20 plus years’ experience in traditional Japanese culinary arts, most recently serving as executive chef at Yuzo Sushi Tapas in Oklahoma City.
Musume, which means “daughter” in Japanese, is part of the Rock Libations restaurant group owned by Dallas locals Josh Babb and Sean Clavir. Babb, who owned the Dallas-based Asian restaurant Kenichi for ten years, says the name Musume is meant to represent the offspring of Kenichi. This is why he named his second Asian Fusion restaurant Musume when he opened its first location in Dallas five years ago.
“I had a lot of fans of Kenichi and I wanted to let them know that I wanted to stay true to those roots with Musume,” Babb says. One such fan of this style of cuisine is none other than Tom Gaglardi, owner of the Dallas Stars. Gaglardi, who is also the owner of the Sandman Hotel, where the second Musume resides, already had this restaurant in mind when doing the renovations on this over 100-year-old building a few years ago. A regular at Musume’s Dallas location, Gaglardi presented Babb with this idea when he began renovations on this over 100-year-old Fort Worth hotel.
“This concept has been in the works for about three years,” Babb verifies. “[Gaglardi] showed me the building when it was being redone and I really had no idea what it was going to look like other than the designers stating that they wanted to keep a lot of the integrity of the building, like the old bank vaults intact.”
So, with the aid of two designers the second installment of Musume was created. “The only real ideas I told my designer was that I really wanted to have a tatami room, because there’s really no spot in the DFW area that has a real one like this,” Babb says. “That room has turned out so cool.”
Another idea Babb wanted to try out was offering diners a tableside service that allows the customers to interact with the servers. “A lot of restaurateurs do tableside margaritas or tableside guacamole,” Babb says. “I’ve never seen anyone do tableside ramen.”
Stephen Montoya
To incorporate this concept, Babb says he hired a carpenter to design and create a ramen cart that can be moved around the dining area exclusively for Musume’s dinner service. Babb says with this concept, guests can order ramen for the table that is prepared by a select group of servers dressed up for the occasion. “We’ve only been open for about a week now, but the response on this has been good,” he says. “You know when you prepare to open a restaurant some ideas work, and some don’t. You have to be able to adapt.”
Babb says he’s excited to be in Fort Worth, especially after seeing what he calls the PPA (Per Person Average). “We are still working out the kinks hence the soft opening, but I am encouraged so far by the response of the guests we’ve had,” Babb says. “We were full on our first weekend, so I think we are on to something good here.”
Not a diner person? No problem. Musume also has a breakfast menu, a first for Babb since his years long stint in the Asian Fusion realm. “We plan on putting an Asian style twist on classic breakfast items,” Babb says. “We are in a hotel, so breakfast seemed like a logical offering.”
Maria Diss
Besides breakfast and a tableside ramen, Musume has a six-or-eight course Omakase curated daily by chef Toyama. Other menu highlights include:
- Grilled lamb lollipops rubbed with shoyu gari sauce and a Thai basil reduction
- Black cod misozuke marinated for 72 hours in sweet miso
- Duck leg confit cured in five-spices and plum wine hoisin reduction
- Citrus-seared diver scallops wok-fired with brussels sprouts, blood orange, yuzu, and crispy bacon
- Basil-steamed red snapper marinated in kuromame hakko broth and topped with jumbo lump crab
- Robusuta roll with lobster, pressed avocado, tempura shrimp, hot garlic butter, and cajun dip
- Butcher block with Musume’s finest collection of globally sourced, top-quality steaks and chops
Musume also boasts Fort Worth’s largest selection of premium sake with more than 50 labels, the city’s largest collection of Japanese whisky with more than 60 offerings, an extensive wine list, and an Asian-inspired artisanal crafted cocktail menu. Musume’s on-site cocktail bar–known as ‘The Lounge at Musume’ also offers an abbreviated food menu complete with appetizers and entrees alike.
Musume accepts reservations via OpenTable, and is open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Brunch will soon be offered on Saturday and Sunday.
“Our worldly offerings cannot be found anywhere else in the city,” Babb says. “We hope Fort Worthians young and old will join us for a lavish and unforgettable Japanese culinary experience in the heart of downtown, unrivaled by any other establishment in Fort Worth."
