This Riviera-Inspired Restaurant Has a Stylish Grandmother as Its Muse
Bryan O’Sullivan Studio orchestrates an old-world dining room for Dallas newcomer Mamani that exquisitely captures decades of French culinary traditions and poignant family history
It’s not easy to impress Brandon and Henry Cohanim, the prodigious restaurateurs behind the beloved Dallas sushi bar Namo and the James Beard Award–nominated Bar Colette next door. But the brothers behind hospitality group Feels Like Home were rightfully captivated upon visiting the restaurant at Claridge’s Hotel in London and the Maybourne Riviera hotel in Monte Carlo, both of which were deftly transformed at the hands of Bryan O’Sullivan Studio. Since launching his firm twelve years ago, the Galerie Creative Mind designer has secured a coveted place among maestros such as Martin Brudnizki and Ken Fulk for orchestrating lavish hotels and restaurants that balance historical references with a confident wield of modernism. His interiors favor considered proportions, expressive materials, and an atmosphere that recalls classic European dining rooms while remaining firmly of the present moment.
When plans unfolded for Mamani, the Cohanim siblings’ most ambitious restaurant to date, they naturally turned to O’Sullivan, whose studio operates between New York and London. The commission carried personal significance from the outset, drawing on their childhood experiences dining at French and Italian restaurants with their grandmother, who was born in Paris and frequently summered in the Riviera. “Those were the types of experiences we loved the most, and we still go to those same restaurants in Los Angeles and France,” the Cohanims tell Galerie. That reference guided their earliest conversations with O’Sullivan as the brothers sought to conceive a dining room that eschews trends and evokes the warm hospitality they felt at meals around her table.
The restaurant they created, located in Dallas’s burgeoning Uptown neighborhood, fulfills that ambition exquisitely. O’Sullivan realized transportive interiors that engender an atmosphere of effortless opulence awash with sumptuous materials and personal ephemera that summon the generous spirit of Mamani herself. “We imagined translating Mamani’s life in France into our references, emulating a time gone by but not trying to recreate it,” O’Sullivan tells Galerie, pointing to soaring ceilings and expansive rooms that flow gracefully from one to the next. “It all ties back to more traditional French restaurants, but done in a more contemporary way.”
That sequence begins in the jewel-toned cocktail bar positioned to the side of the main dining room. Burl-paneled walls frame jaunty sketches by artist Sam Wood, adapted from Mamani’s own photographs and presented with the casual spirit of doodles on bar napkins. The lustrous onyx niche for bottles and glassware dials up the grandeur, deliberately contrasting an enclosed patio conceived with the breezy atmosphere of a Mediterranean veranda or a French-style treillage garden.
Beyond, O’Sullivan clad the main dining room in peachy Provençal-inspired plaster punctuated by stately marble architraves and stained glass panels that establish gentle thresholds. Furniture and lighting are largely bespoke, from the compact tailored dining chairs and pyrolave tables perched under branching bronze chandeliers affixed with cascades of bell-shaped glass shades. Carpets, also custom, reference a floral motif sourced from a 1960s fabric. “Our bespoke designs were crucial in bridging that gap between old-world influences and the contemporary setting,” O’Sullivan says, citing subtle details like metal rope motifs and ribbed leather banquettes that “subconsciously reference historical precedents.” Select vintage pieces, meanwhile, appear sparingly.
Much like the Cohanims trusted their grandmother’s cooking, they placed full confidence in Christopher De Lellis, the Paris-born chef who previously ran a restaurant for Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas and earned a Michelin star for Mamani within eight weeks of opening. Guests encounter the kitchen immediately upon entry, the showstopping spectacle unfolding behind a Pyrolave-clad, marble-topped pass that announces the culinary program as the restaurant’s “organizing force,” explains O’Sullivan. From that view, De Lellis delivers a menu rooted in French technique with Riviera flavors, ranging from Benton’s ham croquettes and foie gras torchon to scallop and caviar, grilled whole branzino with pil pil sauce, and a vol-au-vent finished with foie gras and truffle sauce.
But the hidden gem may be the private dining room, which O’Sullivan subtly set apart from the main floor behind brass-and-glass sliding doors. “It’s always nice for private dining rooms to feel different and to be moodier,” he says, further describing its vibe as “clubby and cozy.” Olive-toned walls darken the peachier palette outside while an eye-catching painting of an animated chef caught mid-stride lends spark softened by a cluster of vintage glass pendants whose smooth gradient casts a languorous glow.
For the Cohanim brothers, the arrival of Mamani heralds a defining chapter they directly link to their collaboration with O’Sullivan, who immediately registered how passionate they were. “From the start, we felt very aligned and we trusted their decisions,” the brothers reflect. They describe Mamani as a dream restaurant and point to its role within their broader ambitions of building on the culinary and hospitality scene in Dallas. “It’s the restaurant that’s going to propel us into the future, and accomplishing such a strong opening made us feel confident and excited about that future,” they say. “And there’s so much more we want to do at Mamani to create a beloved landmark in our adopted city.”