Anchor Sushi Bar now open in Dallas

Anchor replaces Preston Hollow’s longtime Cantina Laredo. A second Anchor opens soon.

Martinis and sushi: That’s the simple structure at Anchor Sushi Bar in Dallas.

The first Anchor opens Aug. 14, 2023 at Preston Road and Royal Lane, in the former Cantina Laredo space. A second Anchor is expected to follow in September 2023 on Dallas’ Knox Street.

The restaurant at Preston-Royal has “I’m on a boat” vibes, with dark-wood floors and walls and circular nautical windows. Dining here feels like you’re at a yacht club in land-locked Dallas.

CEO Hunter Pond says he’s been thinking about opening an Asian fusion restaurant for at least five years. “Really, I was waiting for the right space,” he says. Tex-Mex restaurant Cantina Laredo was open for more than 20 years at that address. It was damaged in a tornado in 2019, then reopened right before a fitful COVID-pandemic shut it back down. The restaurant ultimately closed in early 2021.

Anchor Sushi Bar has an Asian-influenced menu with starters like truffle salmon sliced thin, sitting in a citrus bath. Diners will naturally then look to the 10 signature sushi rolls like Pond’s favorite, The Miyazaki ($23): a shrimp tempura roll with truffle, togarashi and chili mayo that comes topped with marbled pieces of Wagyu. Or the Chef’s Pressed ($21), which features spicy tuna, salmon and wasabi cream with caviar on top.

Several of the riceless rolls read like bikini-season options, and Pond is surely keeping the carb-conscious eater in mind. The Lupton Roll ($21) has crab, avocado, hamachi, yuzu, truffle and lots of zesty lemon. No rice.

All the dishes are shareable, including the fried shishito peppers ($12) and a wasabi veggie fried rice ($15) that Pond describes as “sneaky-amazing.” But there’s one you won’t want to share. The miso sea bass ($32) is marinated for four days in miso ume (plum) paste that caramelizes as it bakes. The sea bass is sweet and light, served in a shallow pool of white miso sauce.

Chief culinary officer James Douglas thinks it’s the best dish on the menu. He could be right.

Parent company Vandelay Hospitality is churning out restaurants, and already operates 22 in Texas and California. American restaurant Hudson House is the most prolific, with restaurants in Park Cities, North Dallas, Lakewood, Las Colinas and Beverly Hills. Houston, Fort Worth and Preston Hollow are coming soon.

None of the menu items at Anchor can be found at Vandelay’s nearly two-dozen other restaurants. But Pond is following one rule: “I want to have a cheeseburger on every one of my menus,” he says. For a Dallas-born company that mostly specializes in American food, it makes sense.

The Tokyo burger ($18) at Anchor has wasabi-gochujang aioli and thick-sliced pickles, with two tempura onion rings sitting on top of the bun.

He envisions Anchor as “a place for adults to come out and party” — maybe grab a seat at the long bar anchored in the back of the restaurant for a martini. They also added a frozen margarita, which wouldn’t be a typical addition at an Asian fusion restaurant, but Pond believes the neighborhood might still want it.

The walls are decorated with 20 signed James Bond photos, which Pond says gives Anchor a “sexy Hollywood” look.

“There are a lot of interesting, new restaurants in this neighborhood,” he says. “What I think is missing is a sexy vibe.”