You’ll want to get a taste of Âme, an upscale Indian restaurant opening April 9 in Oak Cliff

Growing up, Sabrina Nayeb was raised to treat guests like “kings and queens.” And that’s the plan once she and her mom open their upscale Indian restaurant Âme on April 9, 2021 in the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff, in place of Hattie’s.

“My mother always said, ‘Keep your doors and your heart open,’” says executive chef Afifa Nayeb, Sabrina’s mom.

The Nayebs are from Afghanistan, but Afifa Nayeb lived in India for two years before emigrating to the United States as a teenager. She fell in love with Indian food and now runs modern Indian restaurant 8 Cloves in the Dallas Farmers Market. The family also operates Laili, a shawarma bar with Afghan influence, and Juicebabe, a juice bar.

“Food is the soul of our family,” Sabrina Nayeb says.

Âme means “soul” in French, and the restaurant serves Indian dishes made with French technique. Diners will be encouraged to share plates, like the cashew chicken tikka, Sabrina Nayeb’s favorite. The menu also includes lamb vindaloo and shrimp curry. Vegetarian and vegan dishes are also available, like the meat- and dairy-free emerald pilaf, a dome of rice spiced with five greens.

Afifa Nayeb’s dishes are carefully plated and bursting with color. The anari chicken is dyed scarlet from pomegranates, served with artful dots of yogurt.

Sabrina Nayeb took on the branding and design for the restaurant, which preserves a few decorative elements from Hattie’s like the white and black mosaic tile floors near the front door. But Âme is much funkier, with forest green paint and wild wallpapers.

We called Âme one of the most exciting new restaurants opening in Dallas in 2021.

A tale of two bars, with French and Indian influences

Whereas customers would have entered Hattie’s on N. Bishop Avenue, the front door of Âme has been moved around the corner, to W. 7th Street. Entering there, diners can drink or dine at the bar, or walk up a few steps to the main dining room.

Some cocktails are colorful, like the bright purple Âme G&T, made with Empress 1908 Gin. Another is the Viejo Fashion: a play on an Old Fashioned, but made with añejo tequila instead of whiskey, plus grapefruit-sage syrup, orange bitters and grapefruit bitters.

The back bar, termed the Elephant Bar, has its own cocktail menu and no food. Sabrina Nayeb designed this room in emerald green and black velvet.

She wants the Elephant Bar to “feel like an escape to Paris,” with cocktails that have French ingredients. The Boulevard de Clichy, for example, is a rye cocktail with cognac, dry curaçao and bitters.

The Nayebs say that it was tough to find the right location for Âme because some landlords considered high-end Indian food a gamble. The mother-daughter duo weren’t willing to budge on their vision, to open a soulful Indian restaurant in an upscale dining room.

Now that they’ve landed in the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff, Sabrina Nayeb says the neighborhood feels like a fit, especially with a diversity of cuisines like Argentinian food, Italian, barbecue and Mexican a short walk away.

Afifa Nayeb says she’s excited to open the restaurant, finally. “The community is very supportive,” she says.

Âme is at 418 N. Bishop Ave., Dallas. It is expected to open April 9, 2021. Reservations via Resy become available on April 1, 2021.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.