First Looks and Final Goodbyes: Hot Summer Openings and a Few Closures

It’s pretty rare for summer to be a hot time for new restaurant openings, but this summer has been different (as you may have noticed). While closures have slowed down from months past, a few have hit hard.

Longtime Knox-Henderson hot dog and custard shop Wild About Harry’s served its last customers on July 4. After 66 years in Dallas, Mac's Bar-B-Que closed on July 26.

Also closing in July were Burguesa Burger in Oak Cliff, Oak in the Design District and Lakewood Smokehouse.

Since we don’t have a choice in the matter, we’ll take the bad with the good. Luckily there’s a whole lot of good happening in the dining scene in Dallas and the surrounding suburbs.

The newest hot spot for cocktails, Apothecary (1922 Greenville Ave.) landed on Lowest Greenville in July. The low-lit cocktail lounge brings clever craft cocktails, and Alex Gonzalez gave us a first look. Later this summer, sister company Rye (111 W. Virginia St., McKinney) will open a Dallas location next door in the spot previously occupied by Laurel Tavern.

In the upper Greenville neighborhood, eateries at The Village have been opening and Meridian (5656 Village Glen Drive) is the latest. Executive chef Junior Borges shines a spotlight on modern Brazilian cuisine, and E. Mayne wrote our first look at this sexy, hot-for-date-night spot.

Long-awaited Loro (1812 N. Haskell Ave.) has finally opened in Old East Dallas. The Asian smokehouse collab from chef Tyson Cole and famed pitmaster Aaron Franklin makes magic with beef and other proteins. Our food editor, Lauren Drewes Daniels, is in love with the brisket jam cheeseburger because who wouldn’t be?

In the Epic development in Deep Ellum, Harper’s (2525 Elm St.) will open for dinner Aug. 6. The spacious, jet-setter-themed restaurant with globally inspired food and drinks is the latest from Milkshake Concepts. Other Deep Ellum restaurants from this group include Serious PIzza, Stirr, Vidora and SkyRocket Burgers. Harper’s promises to be epic. We’ll have a first look soon.

A whiskey bar whose opening D Magazine teased more than two years ago has finally opened in the Expo Park area. After a brief soft opening, Whiskeys (835 Exposition Ave.), a sophisticated bar for whiskey lovers, announced regular operating hours on Instagram. Located in the former Fallout Lounge space and led by Sean Smith and Antonio Everette of Sandaga 13, the bar offers a huge selection of whiskies and touts some very rare offerings.

Downtown hasn’t missed out on new openings with at least two in the last month on the heels of the big opening of The Exchange food hall in June. Zero Gradi (2000 Ross Ave., Ste. 180), an Australian gelateria and dessert bar intended to transport you to the Amalfi Coast, has opened next door to 400 Gradi. That’s a whirlwind of a journey right there.

Uno Mas (1525 Main St.), the Tex-Mex restaurant and bar, has opened in the space that was vacated by Queso Beso. (It’s their second location, so it really is uno mas.)

At Paradiso in Bishop Arts, the recently opened Mermaid Raw Bar (308 N. Bishop Ave.) brings oysters together with Champagne in a delightful, nautical-themed outdoor courtyard. We shared a first look at their cocktails, raw oysters and seafood small plates in mid-July.

In West Dallas, formerly shuttered Tacos Mariachi has reopened as Milagro Taco Cantina (440 Singleton Blvd., #100) just a few blocks down from chef and owner Jesus Carmona’s beloved original taqueria. Our food critic, Brian Reinhart, is thrilled to discover much of the Mariachi menu replicated there as well as some new menu items.

Also in the neighborhood, ArtPark (331 Singleton Blvd #100) is a new outdoor spot for eating, drinking and playing. Part beer garden, part street art gallery, it will function as an extension of the restaurant complex at Trinity Groves with food available from EATS and other eateries in the center. We shared some photos and a first look in July.

Just a few blocks away, Union Hall Kitchen and Furlough Brothers opened as ghost kitchens at (921 W. Commerce St.). Union has burgers, beer and chicken for pick up or delivery orders only. Furlough Bros. has some mean cheesesteaks.

Pie Tap Pizza Workshop + Bar has launched the first of its new PT Neighborhood Pizzeria (5715 Lemmon Ave., #3) concepts near Love Field. Angie Quebedeaux gave us the scoop on their stellar sandwiches, salads and pizzas made with their locally famous dough.

Wok Star Chinese (8041 Walnut Hill Lane) is now open in The Hill shopping center with a music theme and Chinese food, both American style and more traditional. Hand-pulled noodles are the star of the show here, and sometimes, they are the show when chef Charlie Zhang twists and pulls and tosses them around for your entertainment.

Dutch Bros Coffee (2309 W. Park Row Drive, Pantego) is less of a show and more of a vibe, but it’s very entertaining. Lauren Drewes Daniels checked out the newest one in Pantego, but that’s just the beginning of the expansion of their drive-through operation. With stores now open in Plano and Frisco and multiple new stores coming in the near future, you can expect one near you soon.

Dallas-area ‘burbs got their share of new restaurants too. In Irving, What the Biryani (3601 Regent Blvd., Ste 150) opened in the ever-growing Regent Boulevard area off of I-635. Toyota Music Factory got a new restaurant, Claudi B’s (370 West Las Colinas Blvd., Suite 102), a new Nashville hot chicken spot that also serves burgers.
Plano got a new biryani restaurant too with Twist of South (8450 Angels Dr.), and Urban Seafood Company (1104 E. 14th St.) joined sibling restaurants Urban Rio and Urban Crust in downtown.

In The Colony, Ollio Patisserie (The Colony) is baking up cookies, macarons, croissants and more.

Our BBQ Road Trip series by Chris Wolfgang was smoky and succulent. Plus, who needs to get out of town?

Carrollton has a new Mochinut (3052 Old Denton Road, #104) and Lewisville got a new location of Sfereco  (233 W Church St.), the meatball-centric eatery that started in The Statler hotel and has another location in Flower Mound.

On the square in downtown McKinney, the New York City-based Mad for Chicken (216 W. Virginia St., #102) brings Korean fried chicken to Texas with astonishingly crispy wings, kimchi fries and more. If you’re mad for some of that chicken there’s also a newly opened location in Flower Mound (1050 Flower Mound Road, #280).

Friscoites are chowing down on chicken wings at a surprising place. The newest Sharetea (9351 Warren Parkway) has soft opened, and locals are enjoying soy garlic, sweet and spicy or hot flavored wings and other food options with their bubble tea.

Siren Rock Brewing Co. (310 S Goliad St.) in Rockwall hosted their grand opening last weekend, and the new place is a stunner. With multiple beer gardens and a spacious interior, there’s room to roam around while getting to know their beers.

There are surely more openings we haven’t covered here, and still more are coming soon. Check our website daily for new stories about Dallas restaurants and bars, or subscribe to our Food and Drink newsletter to stay in the know.