Courtney E. Smith is the editor of Eater Dallas. She's a journalist of 20 years who was born and raised in Texas, with bylines in Pitchfork, Wired, Esquire, Yahoo!, Salon, Refinery29, and more. When she's not writing about food, she co-hosts the podcast Songs My Ex Ruined.
It's been a quiet year for restaurant openings, with fewer blockbuster places and more great neighborhood spots. That trend looks to continue through the rest of 2024 as the final restaurants of the year plot openings.
Here is a look forward to the places we're highly anticipating and a little list at the bottom of spots that moved off the calendar and into next year.
4205 Buena Vista St.
The long-awaited opening of the French and Asian restaurant from Travis Street Hospitality, with a kitchen helmed by Bruno Davaillon with chef Dickey Fung (former executive chef of the celebrity-studded Mr Chow, with locations in L.A. and NYC). For those not already in the know, the formatting of the name Le PasSage, with that stray capital S, is a reference to a French phrase one would use with a child, owner Stephan Courseau tells Eater Dallas: "Tu n'es pas sage, which means 'you're being naughty.'"
Rose Cafe, next door, will be a three squares a day affair, open seven days a week. There, Davaillon will oversee chef and Dallas-native Sotear Kuy. Both restaurants and Georgie share pastry chef Dyan Ng, who relocated to Dallas from California. Ng has a history with Davaillon, whom she worked with at the beginning of her career at Mix Las Vegas. From there, she went on to work for Guy Savoy at his eponymous restaurant in Las Vegas (which throughout its time has been awarded two Michelin stars, an AAA Five Diamond Award, a Forbes Five Star Award, and the Wine Spectator Grand Award), Micahel Mina's now-closed Wit & Wisdom at the Four Seasons Baltimore (Mina's other restaurants have multiple Michelin stars), and the now-closed Auburn in Los Angeles.
Duro Hospitality, the Dallas-based hospitality group behind the Charles, Mister Charles, Eater Dallas award-winning El Carlos Elegante, and Sister will open a first restaurant in Cowtown. While its PR agent was tight-lipped about what the menu and decor look like, they revealed the spot's name, which we've been Googling furiously to figure out the meaning of to no avail. It will be on a prime piece of real estate across the street from the newish Crescent Hotel and right in the middle of the city's excellent museums.
Fort Worth lands another forthcoming restaurant that has our taste antennas up. From Cousin's BBQ owner Jeff Payne, his partner Jason Cross, and chef Michael Duff (formerly of Eddie V's), the spot will be a seasonally-driven fine dining restaurant. What exactly does that mean? No menu preview was available at press time, but in a statement, the chef committed to it being "truly be based on what produce, meat and seafood is in-season and available at that time so it will constantly be evolving." The interiors, designed by Maven, were inspired by the Mad Men era, which is undoubtedly a vibe.
A food hall (although owners Hospitality Alliance would prefer it be called a "modern community eatery") is coming to Victory Park, helmed by executive chef Josh Harmon and including the return of his critically lauded Birdie. It sounds like a play on the Exchange Food Hall in Downtown, where Birdie used to be located, with fast casual options for everyday as well as full-service and private dining spaces. It is also expected to house Rise & Thyme (coffee, breakfast and grab-n-go bites by chef Patrick Byerly), Park Bistro (salads, soups, and sammies), Itza Cocina (Tex-Mex), Victory Grill (burgers and such), and D'oro Italiano (pizza and pasta).
There are very few imports from out of town that Eater Dallas is excited about, but this NYC restaurant is one of them. It feels like a slam-dunk here, with its focus on classic seafood dishes with a modern twist, steaks, and sushi -- literally all the dishes this town can't get enough of. This location will be a whopping 16,000 square feet, with a two-level outdoor patio. It can be a bit of a scene, but we'll take it for a Catch roll and some Japanese wagyu.
The Katz brothers of Beverly's, Clifton Club, and Green Point Seafood are opening another spot, this one in the location that used to house Suze. While the menu is under wraps, we do know that the space is being designed by Wallace Johnson Studio, the firm behind Green Point, the Barsotti's redesign, Tiny Victories, Alice, Sachet and many more of the city's most appealing restaurants.
Mot Hai Ba owner and chef Peja Krstic will open a second restaurant, which feels like a long time coming given the popularity, great reviews, and relatively small size of his current spot. Details are still scant, other than that it will serve French food.
There are a lot of restaurants slated to open in the Quad in Uptown this year and into next. This Michelin Bib Gourmand sushi spot from Jae Park and chef Brian Kim is among them, although information on the Dallas iteration of their lauded restaurant is still scarce.
Pizza lovers, this one is for you. Fox Restaurant Concepts, which some of you already know and love for North Italia, Flower Child, The Henry, and Culinary Dropout, invest further in its Dallas profile. In addition to slinging pies, it will offer Italian-American favorites like chicken parm, a classic bistro fare like steak frites, and a prime rib dip sammie that sounds like a home run.
Target opening date: September 6, 2024
Hospitality Alliance will also open a trio of restaurants at this concert venue before year's end. It will see the re-opening of Jaxon Texas Kitchen after its abrupt shuttering Downtown, Shoals Smokehouse (which is inspired by Muscle Shoals Sound Studio), and Pistil Cocktail Lounge.
Target opening date: moving target
Mamani, the fine dining restaurant from Namo and Bar Colette owners Brandon and Henry Cohanim, in collaboration with chef Christophe de Lellis of the Michelin-starred Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas.
Caffe Luca, the latest from prolific Dallas restaurateur Julian Barsotti (Barsotti's, Nonna, and more) and former Cowboys coach Jason Garrett promises to have an Italian bent.
Delilah, the clubstaurant with a roaring '20s theme coming to the Design District with locations in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Miami, may not be our thing but is likely to be a thing.
Docent Steak & Lounge, the Harwood Hospitality Japanese steakhouse, was expected in summer 2024 but won't emerge until next year.
Night Rooster, a Chinese spot from the group behind the Saint, has faced permitting issues but is now on track for a 2025 opening in the Design District. A little preview: it's going to have a sprawling rooftop deck that the owners intend to have strictly grown-up vibes.
Royal Bastard, at this point we're starting to doubt this Nick Badavonis endeavor is going to open.