The business, located in the heart of Midtown, is owned by Heather White and Amante Domingo. The pair are also the creators and owners of The Russell Restaurant.
Heather says her goal with TAILLEUR is to hit all of the customers’ senses, starting with the business’s look. While the outside is under construction, the business’s unique interior is something Heather takes pride in.
“When people walk in, they are like ‘oh wow, what was this before?’” Heather says.
Heather and Amante spent 18 months transforming the building at 3933 Main Street into their vision for TAILLEUR, which has an equestrian theme.
The inspiration for TAILLEUR came during the COVID-19 pandemic when The Russell became curbside pickup-only, and Heather noticed a large demand for dinner. The pair had also been wanting to expand on The Russell’s bakery.
“We wanted to create another spot that was bakery-centric and had a lot of different items that we had at The Russell,” Heather says.
The business originally opened in early mornings and offered pastry items such as muffins and scones. However, Heather noticed more customers came in around lunch time and there was an even larger demand for dinner.
“We have a simple menu, but it really covers a lot of areas like seafood, share plates, and it started to feel more like a date spot than a bakery-centric style restaurant,” Heather says.
Heather says TAILLEUR offers a menu of European comfort food. One of the most popular items is the mussels.
“The dish is done in a really beautiful, aromatic, white wine, garlic herb sauce that tastes so good, and we also make all of our own bread in house, so we do a French baguette with beautiful French sea salt that you then dip in the remaining mussel juice and it’s the most popular thing,” Heather says.
Heather says her team works hard to make sure every dish is perfectly executed before being served. Chefs make everything in house, such as dressings, bread crumbs and other ingredients.
“It’s one of those boutique-style, small, locally owned restaurants that you can feel, and I love when we get people’s reactions when they come in and dine here,” Heather says.
After opening, Heather says the response from the community was overwhelming.
“It went from 0 to 1,000 in a day,” Heather says. “It was just crazy.” The business has since had to develop an online reservation system due to getting so many phone calls.
Inside, customers will also notice an equestrian theme throughout the restaurant, which comes from Heather’s love for show jumping horses throughout her life.
“We had our painter do everything in a really dark, navy blue, and we pop it with a bit of brass in the chandeliers and then of course complement that with a hunter green and dark woods so that made it feel very equestrian-esque, and I just naturally started to do the decor that way,” Heather says.
Heather says all the detail and hard work on the interior pays off when guests step inside. “I was so excited to do it because of all the rich, dark woods and mixing the old with the new and just getting that feeling that when people walked in they knew it was something special.”
