TheRegulaRs The True believers

Tammie Kleinmann ate the first meal Hattie’s ever served more than a decade ago. Their soft opening was a fundraiser for the Kessler School, and people from all over Dallas packed into the new restaurant at the corner of Bishop and Seventh.

The Bishop Arts District back then was not the Bishop Arts of today. Many storefronts were boarded up. Kleinmann remembers an architectural salvage store across the street from Hattie’s, a hair salon “and a dog grooming place one week that was selling rugs the next.”

“I mean, it was rough. Retail didn’t exist down there, and Hattie’s just boldly went right on the corner,” she says. “Hal [Gantzler] and Tony [Alvarez] spent a ton of money creating this upscale restaurant that would make it anywhere in Dallas. They took a risk, and they were pioneers.”

Kleinmann lived in Kessler Park and was a neighbor of Alvarez and Gantzler, so she watched the planning phases up close. After the restaurant opened, it was such a hit that “people started proverbially coming across the river,” she says. She believes that Hattie’s kickstarted the Bishop Arts revival.

Order like a regular Tammie Kleinmann’s two favorite dishes are the salmon and the Caeser salad with oysters. Her daughter, Sydney, opts for the four-cheddar mac and cheese, and her husband, Brian Nadurak, chooses quail. During lunch, Kleinmann prefers the tomato soup. And for brunch, well, “brunch will give you anxiety. We have to get one of everything, and then we have to share because we can’t decide.” Usually she and her husband order the chicken and waffles, and an egg dish, and her daughter orders sourdough French toast.

Brian Lauten loves the New Zealand lambchop. Most lambchops are made with Colorado lamb, he says, but lamb from New Zealand is “bigger, juicier and more flavorful.” Another dish, the bacon-and-jalapeñowrapped quail, “is just absolutely di-vaine,” Lauten drawls. His wife, Amy, loves the shrimp and grits, and they both enjoy the same appetizer — a fried oyster wrapped in bacon topped with horseradish sauce.

For the Witherites, “ it’s always the chicken-fried chicken” for brunch, Barb Witherite says. They also like the crab cakes topped with poached eggs, and “everybody eats off stuff,” she says.

A decade later, “I’m in such awe that everything they planned is executed every single day the doors are open,” Kleinmann says. “Everybody has bad days — everybody but Hattie’s. I know it sounds corny, but you can’t catch them on a bad day.”

Though she has moved to North Dallas, Kleinmann still dines at the restaurant three or four times a month, either with her husband and 14-year-old daughter or for girls’ night out.

“Of course, when you get six or seven girls together, we get very loud, and Tony is so sweet. He’ll even join us — pour a glass of wine, belly up to the table and chat,” Klein- mann says. “Most people would be saying, ‘Ladies, you need to keep it down.’ ”

That’s the distinction of Hattie’s, says Brian Lauten: Alvarez and the staff develop relationships with their customers.

Lauten and his wife, Amy, live in Forest Hills, and dine at Hattie’s at least once a week, usually a Tuesday or Thursday night. On the way, they sometimes pick up their good friends Amy and Barb Witherite, former Cliffites who recently moved to Lakewood.

The valet never gives a ticket to the Lautens or the Witherites. Their cars are well known. And as soon as they pull up, the bartender starts making watermelon martinis for the Lautens and Texas cosmos for the Witherites.

“That’s pretty bad,” Barb Witherite says with a laugh.

Brian Lauten is from a small town in Alabama, and when he first dined at the restaurant years ago, he immediately recognized that “Hattie’s has a real small-town feel to it.” The Lautens have favorite servers, Vann and Ross, and almost always sit in their sections. The chefs often come out to say hello during the meal. Every Thanksgiving, they prepare a soufflé that the Lautens take home and cook.

“I’m not just saying this — the people that work there are extremely genuine and sincere, and I think they really, really love their jobs,” Lauten says. “Vann has been our server for years. I won’t even look at the menu and just say, ‘What’s good tonight, man?’ Whatever he recommends is always good. I’ve never had a meal there that wasn’t outstanding.”

Recently, when Hattie’s celebrated its 10-year anniversary, Alvarez invited 250 longtime customers to the restaurant on a Monday night, when it’s normally closed.

“He personally called all of us, had all of the staff there, brought out food, had an open bar, wouldn’t let anyone pay for anything, and gave a speech to thank everyone for coming to Hattie’s,” Lauten says.

It was characteristic of the type of hospitality Alvarez has shown them over the years, he says.

“And we’re not an anomaly,” he says. “They have that kind of connection with a large following of people. I’m sure that’s a large part of why they’ve been successful.”

A friend in Oak Cliff called me and told me about a house for sale. Turned out that wasn’t the right house for me, but the very next one I looked at was. I literally said, ‘This is my next home and neighborhood’ within 30 seconds of walking in the door.”