Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

La Tarte Tropézienne, 1604 Main St., Suite 110 (downtown). Planned to open in February.
https://www.dallasobserver.com/restaura ... s-11845918

Yet another addition to the Downtown area. I've never heard of the place, but it's pretty big that their first location outside of France ends up in Downtown.

Apparently Headington loves them and helped bring them here. Still awesome though. And agree with your earlier post DPatel on another thread...Downtown isn't something until it is. It's already come a very long way from 10 years ago.

So what space are they taking? Traffic? Headington is trying so hard to make Retail work near Neiman Marcus but his customers are still staying at Highland Park Village and NorthPark.

I think Headington is going too upscale, attracting brands that 99% of people have never heard of. They have minimalistic storefronts that seem to be cold and uninviting. DT would be better served if Headington would go after the Patagonia and The North Face's of the world. Patagonia is a huge get for Deep Ellum, but could have possibly started a big movement for cool, hip, quality retail had they picked DT.

DPatel304 wrote:La Tarte Tropézienne, 1604 Main St., Suite 110 (downtown). Planned to open in February.
https://www.dallasobserver.com/restaura ... s-11845918

Yet another addition to the Downtown area. I've never heard of the place, but it's pretty big that their first location outside of France ends up in Downtown.

Seems like lots of firsts hitting Dallas these days......

Lots of firsts but not all are sticking around so its always a wait and see what works.

Today I noticed the following were on the TABC dinq list which can be indicative of changing of hands/bankruptcy/etc. Or, just a big temporary oops. Anyhow:

-City Tavern (after a few messages, apparently they are changing hands)
-The Mitchell (next door to the following establishment)
-The Scarlet Pumpernickel (old City Tavern slot on Main)

The Scarlet pumpernickel? What is that?!

A bar where City Tavern used to be on Main. I never went.

Such a shame of what happened to the OG City Tavern. They had been consistently successful for so many years, even when downtown was the last place anybody wanted to be. Seeing them get kicked out was a bummer. The new location isn't the same. And now seeing that what replaced them didn't work out, it's just such a downer. Oh, well.

Loosing O-Bar was nearly as bad. But not quite.

Jeez, I just looked at some of the pictures of the scarlet pumpernickle on Yelp. Looks like it was never fully built out. Feel bad for whoever was developing it, it looks like they clearly ran out of funds half way through.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/ye-olde-scarle ... ern-dallas

They're taking down the patio in the old Chipotle space, at least the portion facing Pacific. Hopefully it's being replaced with something better and a sign that a new tenant is coming soon.

Hope they took care of the vermin

https://www.dmagazine.com/food-drink/20 ... wing-down/

Dude Sweet will only be open until March. I don't see the point of all that work for 3 months. Oh well. Wonder what's next.

Rotating pop ups are a good idea though. The space is small so it's not for everyone.

hjkll wrote:https://www.dmagazine.com/food-drink/2020/01/dude-sweet-chocolate-has-no-plans-for-slowing-down/

Dude Sweet will only be open until March. I don't see the point of all that work for 3 months. Oh well. Wonder what's next.

Rotating pop ups are a good idea though. The space is small so it's not for everyone.

I always just assumed the space was permanent, and I don't think they said anything which would have made me believe otherwise.

It's a shame they are closing in a couple months, but I guess the demand still isn't there in Downtown to support it just yet.

I actually asked them whether it was a permanent space and the clerk told me yes. Maybe she didn't even know. I don't get these "pop-ups." Like the Savannah Bee Company at NP. That place was built out super nice for only 3 months.

The way I read it is that it can be permanent if sales are good. I think Headington is just partnering with brands he thinks have potential and if they can turn a profit then they can sign a proper lease and stay. If they don't show any success then on to the next popup. In general, he hasn't been very successful at retail downtown so he is trying to see what sticks.

What would stick in downtown is an urban Target like the one in Preston Center.

trueicon wrote:

tamtagon wrote:ATT should host walk-in movies with the Time-Warner collection.

I do hope AT&T does something with its entertainment library. There are lots of potential projects would definitely put the discovery district on the map. A true Game of Thrones or West World themed saloon. A Sopranos italian restaurant. A Friends -- which AT&T now owns the rights to -- coffee shop. Etc.

I posted that a few months ago on this thread so I'm bumping this to say.... AT&T, I expect to receive my consulting fee.

Friends TV show:


Discovery District coffee shop (not my pic):


From another pic posted to facebook, it appears that the famous orange couch is there.

Whoa thats awesome, reopening a central perk coffee shop should be a big draw.

The newbie is an Italian-American restaurant called Sfereco and it will open in the former Ramen & Bao space adjacent to the Statler. This is a brand new entity from Refined Hospitality Concepts, the company food & beverage entity from developer and Statler owner Mehrdad Moayedi.

Primo’s MX Kitchen & Lounge will go into the spot at the Statler currently occupied by Fine China. A release says that redoing Fine China had been in the works, and Primo’s was deemed the perfect fit "for the festive atmosphere at the Statler."

http://dallas.culturemap.com/news/resta ... ine-china/

I'm very surprised by the fact that Primo's will be going into the Statler. I have not made it out to the Uptown location yet, but it seems like they are feeling pretty optimistic about new and improved restaurant.

^ It's a cool, fun place and the food isn't bad.

It's an obvious choice considering The Statlers owners are the people who relaunched the Uptown Primos. It's obvious the first round of completely unique eateries they put in the Statler didn't all take off. What's one kind of food that people expect in Dallas, Tex Mex so why not put in a relatively upper middle-priced Tex Mex restaurant in a tourist and locals destination. If it doesn't work we know they will try something else in that spot.

I didn't realize it was the same owners, that certainly makes sense.

It is interesting that they're going to seemingly more reliable cuisines in Italian and Tex-Mex. I don't know why bao hasn't caught on fully just yet, but it seems like a trend that some people just can't quite get on board with.

I think it speaks for more of Downtown than it does the actual concept itself. Downtown, as we have discussed, is a hard sell and even though the Statler definitely has carried a lot of weight I think the concepts they opened with could have done better in other areas but dragging people Downtown is hard. Not that residents wouldn't go occasionally cause I am sure some do but we are talking more unique destination places not the kind of thing Downtownies will frequent daily right after work necessarily.

There's a reason Fine China was always slow while the rest of the concepts on the interior of the building remain popular. The problem is neither the location nor the concept.

Fine China was a higher price point and specialty cuisine. Execution was merely good, at best. But more importantly, it was not great--which is problematic with high prices and specialty cuisine. If the restaurant was great, it would have been successful, as there is a dearth of great Asian restaurants in Dallas proper (not including sushi restaurants).

Sadly, it was not great and the competition among 'good' restaurants in Downtown, Uptown and Deep Ellum made Fine China an afterthought.

I haven't been to the new Primo's in Uptown, but the initial Yelp reviews are terrible. 2.5 stars rating right now. The space looks nice, but the food looks ho-hum.

I know this means nothing during this quarantine, but I hadn't noticed this before. It would be awesome to have something in this building in the future.

My best reading says True Kitchen & K....... I know what True Kitchen is up in North Dallas but is this of the same variety or similar name?

Seems like it might say True Kitchen & Kocktail / Flair Cocktail. Hmm.

I was downtown this morning and it looks like the CVS at Lamar and Ross is gone.

It closed around the beginning of the year I think. I wonder if it wasn't turning enough business or it was an issue of shrinkage.

Yeah being that and that they removed the pharmacy its customer base just kind of eroded. 7 ELeven took their convenience store business from the DART transit crowd. Add to that 1001 Ross retail has never really returned after its initial lease-up when it comes to the ground floor leasing spaces. Ross and Lamar in the West End area are pass through thoroughfares, not retail corridors.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:Yeah being that and that they removed the pharmacy its customer base just kind of eroded. 7 ELeven took their convenience store business from the DART transit crowd. Add to that 1001 Ross retail has never really returned after its initial lease-up when it comes to the ground floor leasing spaces. Ross and Lamar in the West End area are pass through thoroughfares, not retail corridors.

There's actually been an uptick in leases at 1001 Ross over the last year. Empanda CookHouse, Ifrateli pizza, Hair solutions, a popcorn place that somehow is in business. The locale is not a problem as there's lots of traffic from Businesses nearby. IMO the problem with CVS was that they took out the pharmacy and abandoned some store hours. Doesn't help they added more space to the store prior to that.
But traffic they certainly had otherwise they wouldn't have been in Business for
Over 7 yrs in that same spot.

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:

cowboyeagle05 wrote:Yeah being that and that they removed the pharmacy its customer base just kind of eroded. 7 ELeven took their convenience store business from the DART transit crowd. Add to that 1001 Ross retail has never really returned after its initial lease-up when it comes to the ground floor leasing spaces. Ross and Lamar in the West End area are pass through thoroughfares, not retail corridors.

There's actually been an uptick in leases at 1001 Ross over the last year. Empanda CookHouse, Ifrateli pizza, Hair solutions, a popcorn place that somehow is in business. The locale is not a problem as there's lots of traffic from Businesses nearby. IMO the problem with CVS was that they took out the pharmacy and abandoned some store hours. Doesn't help they added more space to the store prior to that.
But traffic they certainly had otherwise they wouldn't have been in Business for
Over 7 yrs in that same spot.

Good to hear every time I pass through that area lately everything just seems so dead.

Yeah, I've noticed all the new retail there too this past year. I really hope they can make it through this quarantine (hopefully by end of May?). I wonder how the Indian restaurant is doing on the other end.

mdg109 wrote:Yeah, I've noticed all the new retail there too this past year. I really hope they can make it through this quarantine (hopefully by end of May?). I wonder how the Indian restaurant is doing on the other end.

Shiva's was open last month. I haven't been back since. But they certainly are struggling I bet. As the lunch crowd has virtually disappeared

Wonder how many won't be there when we go back?

I just went by last night, and all the restaurants were still open for take-out: Shiva's, iFratteli, Tiff's Treats, and a new empanada place I didn't even know had open-end there. The only one closed, besides the CVS was a hair salon.

La Tarte Tropizienne got some new signage on Main, as did Modern Vintage on Elm.

Birguesa next to Which Which:

I don’t get the it, they are open with that paper covering the windows?

Birdguesa...what a horrible name for anything

Yes, awful name. The "We're Open" sign is for Which Which next door. They're still working on the interior. I was surprised this place was still moving forward.

mdg109 wrote:Yes, awful name. The "We're Open" sign is for Which Which next door. They're still working on the interior. I was surprised this place was still moving forward.

The name seems to be a play on words, hamburguesa is Spanish for hamburger. But I still don’t get it.

Downtown is just nailing it with the awful names here. Birdguesa and Modern Vintage?!?!

Looks like many of the retailers and restaurants in the Main Street and deep ellum area have been damaged/looted.

It's everywhere in downtown along EMC corridor. Downtown is a mess. Dumpster fires, blown out/still steaming cars, glass piles every block, moveable furniture all over, etcetera. Just lovely.

The eyeball has a new addition as well.