Bittersweet Goodbyes and Sweet New Restaurants: Openings and Closings Around Dallas

With beautiful fall weather on the way and the busy holiday season barreling down on us, new restaurant openings are happening faster than a dancing gorilla goes viral on TikTok. Popular restaurant neighborhoods and complexes including The Village, The Exchange Food Hall and The Boardwalk at Granite Park are filling up as the East Quarter in downtown starts to blossom and part of Deep Ellum takes on a whole new identity.

Amid all this activity, we paused to say final farewells to a few foodie favorites. Community Impact News reports that Reno Red’s Frontier Cooking and Catering in Roanoke has closed after 33 years. Now there’s one less unique destination in the quaint tiny town that calls itself the Unique Dining Capital of Texas.

Mot Hai Ba closed its Victory Park location and Tacos La Gloria has departed Tyler Station in Oak Cliff; but they're looking for a new space and should have news on that soon.

Thankfully, we got some advance notice to grab some Instagrammable treats before Sweet Daze closed last month, but longtime gathering place Trinity Hall Pub didn’t say they were closing until the deed was done; Sara Blaskovitch shared the story of the intentional Irish goodbye in The Dallas Morning News.

Still, there’s no time for sadness if you want to enjoy all the new spots that have opened recently.

Apothecary took off like a rocket this summer, and now their sister restaurant, Rye (1920 Greenville Ave.), has opened next door on Lower Greenville. While Rye offers innovative small plates, both offer creative takes on cocktails, and both will require advance planning to get a reservation.

Over in The Village, La Mina opened last month in The Drey Hotel with modern Mexican, mezcal cocktails and margaritas. Soon after, Angie Quebedeaux gave us a first look at Anise (5630 Village Glen Drive), a Mediterranean dining destination also located in the hotel. The menu here is both adventurous and delightful with hawaij-spiced short rib, matbucha, shakshuka, crispy octopus and lamb shoulder tagine among the dinner and brunch options.

Dakota’s reopened in downtown Dallas with a new owner bringing back a refurbished version of the beloved steakhouse. Alex Gonzalez gave us a look at the renovation plus a taste of the extraordinary steaks that are back on the menu along with new hors d’oeuvres, appetizers and sides.

A few blocks over, The Exchange Hall (211 S. Akard St.) food hall got some new goodies with two exciting new tenants. Saturday Morning Ice Cream is the brainchild of Katherine Clapner of Dude, Sweet Chocolate and Brian McCullough, founder of Standard Pour. The much-loved Dallas pizza chain Zalat also opened in the food hall, and unlike its other locations, this one serves pizza by the slice.

On the triple underpass end of downtown, an upscale nightclub, Rokwood (2600 Jackson St.) opened with an Instagrammable interior and resident DJs. (Yes, we’ve been known to scoff at “Instagrammable” things, but this venue in a historic Dallas building really does come off as a work of art.)

More late-night fun has arrived in Deep Ellum with craft cocktails and dim sum at Neon Kitten (2805 Main St.) in the former Beauty Bar space. We’re looking forward to Blackbird Society (the reservations-only speakeasy in the restaurant) opening later this month.

In the Fair Park neighborhood, Parry Ave BBQ Co. (4300 Parry Ave.) has launched lunch service, and they’re bringing ribs that promise to be the best in Texas.

The Niku Bar is opening this weekend on Lower Greenville as part of Manpuku. This patio spot will serve Japanese tapas.

In Uptown, owners David Taylor and Tim Summers and executive chef Ben Smallman fired things up at Firebird Fowl (2816 Fairmount St.) without a single beef item on the menu. Emu fajitas, orange pepper duck tacos, Cornish game hen tikka masala and the requisite hot chicken sandwich are at least as entertaining as the abundant fowl puns.

Paper City had the story on Firebird Fowl, as well as the scoop on new restaurant Tango Room (1617 Hi Line Drive) in the Dallas Design District. Writer Megan Ziots reports that Tango Room from Headington Cos. (The Joule) will offer elegant steaks and foie gras as well as everyman extravagances like lobster corn dogs and Peking duck.

Things are happening in West Dallas too, with the (soft) reopening of The Foundry (2303 Pittman St.) expected this week. The mac-n-cheese, Southern-fried okra and fried chicken we grew to love will once again be available from the kitchen, although it won’t be called Chicken Scratch.

At Sylvan Thirty, the folks from Bryan Street Tavern have launched Sylvan Avenue Tavern (1888 Sylvan Ave Suite F250) with the pizza regulars rave over and a few other promising menu items.
Angie Quebedeaux gave us the first look at the long-awaited Thunderbird Pies (7328 Gaston Ave., #110) plus Cow Tipping Creamery in East Dallas. Their gotta-have-’em Detroit pies are just part of the impressive menu, and Dallas Observer writer Chris Wolfgang is lovin’ on their Thunderburger.

Our food editor Lauren Drewes Daniels was hot on the heels of Hot Chicks and Texas Republic Bar (5609 SMU Blvd., Suite 101); they opened this week in the old Twisted Root space near SMU. We’re going to need a new word for "hot" since it doesn’t do justice to the intense popularity of hot chicken these days.

Del Sur Tacos (19059 Marsh Lane, #100) opened a third location, this one in North Dallas, and our departing restaurant critic Brian Reinhart handed us a bucket list of what to order there.

The Boardwalk at Granite Park in Plano has a new spot from 33 Restaurant Group with Brian Luscher (owner and chef of former Dallas favorite The Grape) leading the food program. Luscher’s tongue-in-cheek humor and mad kitchen skills are readily apparent in the appealing menu at Suburban Yacht Club (5872 Highway 121, Suite 104), and we have a first look at its laid-back vibe.

The Cityline area in Richardson has seen some changes with Ace’s Sports Hanger opening in mid-August and Super Chix shuttering. Also in Richardson, a restaurant called The Fifth: Fireside Patio and Bar has opened in Canyon Creek. The space it occupies has been four different restaurants over the years — now it’s The Fifth, and Community Impact has the story.

Mutt’s Canine Cantina (1070 Watters Creek Blvd.) is hosting a huge “pawty” on Oct. 13 in Allen for the grand opening of its third North Texas location. Mutt’s original chicken sandwiches and Barkaritas will be on the menu as well as food and services for pups.

The big news in McKinney is that Hutchins BBQ (1301 N. Tennessee St.) has reopened after being closed for eight months after a fire. Also in McKinney, The Stix Icehouse (301 Eldorado Parkway, #100) officially opened this week after a few days of soft opening. They’re serving wiffle ball, disc golf, live music and lots of fun along with a fun food menu and plenty of cocktails and beers on tap at their 14-acre beer garden.

In other ‘burb restaurant news, Copeland’s of New Orleans (1400 Plaza Place in Southlake) has reopened after extensive remodeling, and Grand Prairie got a Longhorn Steak house (3134 Highway 161). Irving got its own Zalat Pizza (4835 N. O’Connor Road, Suite 136) takeout and delivery location in Las Colinas. Clean Eatz (2201 Long Prairie Road, Suite 101) opened its first Texas location in Flower Mound.

Detroit pizza lovers in the burbs don’t have to trek to Thunderbird Pies (although they may want to). Another Community Impact story tells us Motor City Pizza in Lewisville “is relocating from a pop-up location to a permanent storefront at 1425 FM 407 (Justin Road), Suite 600, Lewisville” near the Rusty Beagle.