Pillar combines humble ingredients together with a twist

In Bishop Arts, there’s a menu with Nashville hot oysters ($5), chile relleno ($18) and ricotta cavatelli ($29) all in one place. The combination of cultures may fit what some call New American. That’s how Pillar’s Chef Peja Krstic described the initial concept, though he doesn’t love the term anymore.

With the closure of Boulevardier in 2024, Pillar became a reality. A concept in mind for two or three years, he was ready to fill the big shoes left behind.

He wanted New American, but with more of the American food that people here grew up with, such as black-eyed peas and pork of Hoppin’ John.

“We take all these traditional kinds of dishes, we take from parts of the U.S.,” he says, “and take those classic executed dishes, and then put them in a twist up.”

The first dish that he ever made for the menu speaks to that: the fried chicken ($35). With his version, the plate includes the entree laid over braised collard greens covered in the sausage and spices combination of ‘Nduja cream and served with a side of cornbread brioche and honey butter.

Krstic’s other meal favorites are the grilled leeks served with poached crab, orange supremes and hazelnuts in brown butter vinaigrette ($19) and the fried oyster po’boy ($24). Each section of the menu (brunch, lunch, dinner and happy hour) also includes a specialized drink menu with more champagne and juices in the morning to boozy, spirit options in the evening. Krstic says that these are not binding options and, “If you like something, we can always make it.”

For dessert, everything is made in house, with his favorite being the cranberry parfait ($14).

Cooking throughout high school and college as a side gig wasn’t what Krstic expected to lead to his career. He started out doing it for the money, but he developed a love for food.

Krstic began his restaurant journey to Dallas from Belgrade, Serbia (what was once Yugoslavia before “we all fell apart,” he says). Marrying in his early 20s, his brother-in-law came to the Lone Star State in the ’90s. The couple then began traveling “back and forth, back and forth” to visit when Krstic began helping out in our local restaurants.

“It was at that time I kind of realized this is what I want to do,” he says. “And the rest is history. I just dived into studying and learning and getting myself more acclimated and educated in this business, and 20 years later, here we are.”

Working as a corporate chef with La Reve Company, he transitioned in 2015 to Một Hai Ba, a Vietnamese fusion restaurant in Lakewood.

“They couldn’t find their niche at the time. So they needed somebody to bring in a little modern flair to it,” he says. “So I came in, I jumped on board with that. About four or five months later, we had a really great kind of review that just propelled it.”

Krstic bought Một Hai Ba with the original partner, Chris Panatier, and has owned the restaurant since 2016. He describes adding in French and Italian touches to the backbone of Vietnaemese flavors to make Một Hai Ba his own over the last decade, later earning a Michelin Bib Gourmand Award.

With Pillar opening in 2024, he had another canvas to make something his own.

Krstic says he has a love of tradition and vintage, something clear in the portraits of the politicians and scientists hanging by the front entrance who he calls pillars of our society. Design is key in his overall look of Pillar, along with the presentation of the food.

“I believe that with the food, we should take the humble ingredients and things that are very simple and familiar to us, and train ourselves a technique in certain things like reading a magazine that is filled with photos and pictures and stuff like that,” he says. “Because then you see the shapes, then you see the colors. … you go and combine those things, and you picture those ingredients as a piece of art on a plate, not as an ingredient.”

The elevated look of the presentation is part of what Krstic hopes to add to the community aspect of the space.

“You can come here and be casual, or you can be dressed up nice for a date night,” he says. “But you’re going to feel welcome any way.”

“Pillar can be a lot of things. It’s a beam. It’s a community. We wanted to have something that is like a pillar, it’s a beam. Something that would really mean what this restaurant is.”

Pillar, 408 N. Bishop Ave., 972.803.3274, pillardallas.com