Loews fuels Dallas expansion with debut of the Anatole Tower

Nation's Restaurant News, July 30, 1984 by Susan Spedalle

DALLAS -- Loews Anatole hotel has become one of the country's largest hotel complexes with the recently completed edition of the Anatole Tower.

President Reagan and his entourage will make their headquarters at the hotel during the Republican National Convention here Aug. 19-23.

The new tower, and extensive landscaping, has turned the 920-room atrium hotel into a megahotel with 1,620 guest rooms, 19 restaurants and total of 165,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.

Host of the 25th annual Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators (MUFSO) conference, sponsored by Nation's Restaurant News, Sept. 30-Oct. 3, the hotel has readied numerous conference rooms in the addition. Also opened are a full-scale health club, two movie theaters and an intimate nightclub which Lowes' hopes will become an "international hot spot."

A lack of convention facilities oriented toward large conventions had cost the hotel business in the past, according to Charlotte St. Martin, regional vice president of sales and marketing. "Many conventions require 1,500-room hotels before they will even consider a city," says St. Martin.

The necessary additions to the hotel included a 30,000-sq.-ft. ballroom and conference rooms which provde projection equipment.

The hotel now offers eight VIP function rooms, three executive board rooms, six theater lecture halls seating from 100 to 1,000 and three smaller ballrooms.

But the significant difference between the old hotel and the new expanded hotel is the "resort type atmosphere" essential to attracting business, according to St. Martin.

Known for its stunning architecture and red brick facade, the hotel will now also be known for its amenities. A seven-acre park featuring formal gardens, trellised walkways, a putting green and a lake have been added. Recreational facilities include six regulation size tennis courts, two squash courts, 10 racquetball courts and three pools. The 72,000-sq.-ft. spa and gymnasium includes a complete indoor running track, full scale basketball court, a coed exercise room, and whirlpool, steam rooms, saunas and cold dip pools. Individual health programs are tailored by the conditioning and grooming consultants; nutritionists and masseuses are also on staff. In addition, the facility includes a pro shop, barbershop and beauty salon, 2,000 spa lockers and a restaurant with special menus for those participating in the spa's numerous health programs.

The 19 restaurants and lounges include the hotel's original concepts: The Plum Blosom, featuring an all-Chinese culinary staff offering multicourse banquets; L'Entrecote, offering French and Continental cuisines and tableside service; La Esquina, a rustic Mexican restaurant featuring northern Mexican lunches and dinners, and Chanticeer, a garden atmosphere coffee shop with all-day service and a loosely based, Danish-style menu. The Mirage Kiosk serves deli-style foods and salads and sports a full bar, and each night the Crocodile Club offers drinks and jazz.

The new concepts in the Tower include a cafe, fine dining restaurant and two bars, as well as a combination restaurant nightclub with live entertainment and disco with recorded music.

The entertainment concept is called Mistral, and features a nightclub setting with live entertainment which later in the evening turns into a disco.

Diners order a fixed price $45 nouvelle cuisine dinner while entertainers such as Elton John, the rock group Toto, or a video of Michael Jackson entertain. The restaurant has 42 seats and is perched above the 500-seat club's dance floor and 15-by-20-ft. video screen. Dinner is served from 7 p.m. to midnight, Tuesday through Saturday.

No expense was spared in Mistral's creation. Neon lights and a 36-speaker system went into the nightclub, while the hotel's executives coaxed chef Takashi Shiramizu to take charge in the kitchen and commissioned Dallas designer Todd Oldham to design uniforms.

Shiramizu was trained in France and Switzerland and worked in London, Paris and Toronto before leaving the Warwick Hotel in Houston to join the Loews Anatole. He will write no menu for the restaurant, but will change the five course dinner each night and prepare complimentary hors d'oeuvres nightly.

After midnight, the room will become a disco and the restaurant closes.

Advertisement for the nightclub do not mention that it is part of the hotel, and a separate entrance is provided.

"When you travel you want to go to the hot places," says Gatenbein.

"When you visit Dallas and want to know where the hot spot is, it's right here."

Atop the new tower is the 185-seat Nana Bar and Grill. The room is named for its centerpiece, a 6-by-9-ft. Victorian painting of a courtesan by Russian artist Gospodin Marcel Suchorowsky. The restaurant features "haute Southwestern food," and the bar offers a panoramic view of Dallas.

Menu items at the Nana Grill include wild turkey pate with pepper jelly, rice salad in miniature tortilla shells, chicken breasts stuffed with east Texas sausage, goat cheese and spinach strudel and veal chops in papaya puree. Gulf fish, Texas steaks, chops and kabobs will be prepared over a copper-domed exhibition grill.