A first look at the Charlotte on Henderson Avenue might lead one to believe it is influencer bait. That is due, in large part, to the oversized teddy bears that populate its three dining rooms. The bears move around as diners come and go; some may experience a jump scare moment when a massive stuffed bear appears seemingly out of nowhere. How the staff does this without attracting attention is a mystery.
The Charlotte’s mix of mid-century and modern design lends a feel similar to the famous but now-closed 101 Coffee Shop in Hollywood. The menu is full of comfort-food favorites and a few bistro-style dishes that have a French flare and feature ingredients and spices from Middle Eastern, African, and Southern Black culture. It includes spaghetti and catfish, suya-spiced rib-eye skewers, and seared cabbage dressed in a Dijon sauce that is nothing like a Savoy-style dish. Behind it all is culinary director Wyl Lima.
Lima was born in Angola, spend his early childhood in Zimbabwe, and, after returning to Angola, his family left the country as refugees in 1999 when he was 9 years old during the third period of fighting in a 27-year civil war. The family settled in a small town outside of Fort Worth called King, Texas while he was still a child. Lima got his start in fast food, working at a number of places there. Dallasites first became more aware of Lima when he was working as executive chef at Le Margot in Fort Worth, which was named one of the state’s best new restaurants of the year by Texas Monthly at the beginning of 2024. He tells Eater Dallas that Le Margot’s Graham Elliot hired him to develop the menu just three days before its opening. At the time, Elliot sang Lima’s praises, going so far as to pull him into Eater’s photo shoot.
Before that, Lima opened the Mediterranean-inspired Sister as executive chef, and, under his direction, the restaurant landed on the New York Times list of 2022’s best restaurants in America.
It was impressive recognition that, while deserved, wasn’t necessarily predicted by local media. “Wyl was always destined to have his own place to showcase himself to the world,” says J. Chastain, Duro Hospitality’s operating partner. “We are excited to see what he has created for the Charlotte.”
That’s a pretty heavy impact to have on the Metroplex without everyone knowing your name. Before Lima returned to DFW to be near his family following the birth of his first child, he had already built a diverse resume. A few years after he attended Austin’s Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, Lima worked in some of the top kitchens in Chicago. He was chef de cuisine at Michelin-starred Temporis and at the esteemed three-starred Grace, where he started his fine dining career thanks to a James Beard Foundation scholarship he earned after graduating from culinary school. His school asked him if he would do his externship with Grace to help build a relationship with then-chef Curtis Duffy. For Lima, the position came with a lot of sacrifices — he had to use half of his $20,000 scholarship to pay for his living expenses.
At first, Lima wasn’t sure he would tap into his scholarship money, but it quickly became necessary when he was unable to find a place to live. “I was homeless there, just trying to figure it out,” Lima says. He struggled to manage a higher cost of living in Chicago versus Texas, and because he had been convinced by friends to not move with his car, he relied on expensive Ubers until he could figure out how to navigate the city’s public transportation system. Finding a permanent place to live while working for free racked up steep Airbnb bills. He had no allies or friends until he met chef Troy Jorge. “He was always an hour early to clock in… After about a week, he approached me and was like, ‘What are you doing? Do you want it, or don’t you want it?’” Lima says. “From that point on, everything changed.”
Jorge tells Eater that conversation with Lima was guidance for how to “succeed and stay out of trouble.” He notes that working in a Michelin kitchen is a different world, not unlike the kitchen in Ever, Duffy’s current Michelin-starred restaurant that is depicted in The Bear, where doors are shut gently, no one yells, and everyone says, “Oui, chef.” “In order to succeed, you shouldn’t have tunnel vision,” Jorge says. “When you come into a Michelin kitchen with no experience and get stuck doing the bullshit jobs no one wants to do, you have to keep your eyes open and watch what the guy next to you is doing.” Jorge became a mentor of sorts to Lima, and one of the folks Lima suggests helped shape his approach to running a kitchen.
During that time, Lima met his wife, and they had their first child. Coming back to Texas was a practical decision for the family — they needed to be closer to family to help with their kids (they welcomed a second child after returning). With his experience, Lima fit right into the kitchens of several great DFW restaurants, including Le Margot and Sister. Then, this opportunity at the Charlotte came around.
If there was one dish he wants everyone to try, it’s his specialty: crispy duck with burnt-orange harissa sauce and potato pave that the duck leg sits atop — the whole thing sprinkled with verdant herbs.
Early ideas for the Charlotte revolved around upscale Southern food, Lima says, but when he heard where it would be located, he pushed back. Over the course of several conversations and tastings with operating partner Kimberly O’Neal, the restaurant evolved into an American bistro that brings numerous cuisines onto the menu. Lima felt the bistro vibe mandated having certain dishes, including filet au poivre, roast chicken, and a smash burger. Cajun-Creole influences appear on the menu in a bowl of crab “fingers” (split claws) served with garlic-butter or Cajun sauce; shrimp and grits pocked with Andouille sausage; and a good-for-sharing crispy whole snapper, which runs for $59, served with Andouille ragout, harissa, and plantains.
If there was one dish he wants everyone to try, it’s his specialty: crispy duck with burnt-orange harissa sauce and potato pave that the duck leg sits atop — the whole thing sprinkled with verdant herbs. It’s a compelling combination of the confit duck; harissa that Lima reverse-engineered from a staff research trip to Spain; and delicately layered, ultra buttery potatoes. “The owners wanted a signature dish that the crowd wasn’t used to, something a little different,” Lima says. “Once they tried it, everyone agreed it had to be on.”
And by the way, not to be weird about it, but in addition to a great duck dish, you can take one of those teddy bears home for $300.
2025-02-04T14:14:47Z