RADAR DALLAS
By Michael Hiller
ON THE MOVE
New address, new attitude
Lucia, the charming Italianesque restaurant in Dallas’ Bishop Arts District, couldn’t survive COVID. Neither could its nearby sister restaurants, Macellaio and Salaryman, which also closed last year. But owners David and Jennifer Uygur aren’t giving up. The husband-and-wife team say they’ll combine the three restaurants into a reincarnated Lucia, refashioning the former Macellaio space as the main restaurant, then utilizing Salaryman’s square footage to stage Lucia’s to-go operations. “There are simply too many unknowns in the world of COVID-19 for us to renew a lease for an 1,100-square-foot space with no patio,” Jennifer told customers in a recent email and social media post. Look for Lucia To Go to open soon, followed by Lucia’s dining room and outdoor patio sometime in March.
287 N. Bishop Ave., Dallas, 214-948-4998, luciadallas.com
IN THE WORKS
Haywire
for Klyde Warren Park FB Society, the team behind concepts such as Sixty Vines, Ida Claire, Whiskey Cake Kitchen & Bar and Velvet Taco, plans to expand its Texas-themed Haywire restaurant concept to Uptown Dallas this summer. FB Society operations vice president Judd Fruia says his team is refashioning the former Water Grill near Klyde Warren Park into a steak-and-whiskey powerhouse similar to Haywire in Plano and its sister restaurant, The Ranch in Las Colinas. Expect a focus on high-end wines and whiskeys, live music on the patio and a menu of what Fruia calls “big Texas flavors” such as smoked fried chicken, cinnamon roll pecan pie, grilled redfish and prime steaks sourced from A Bar N Ranch in Celina.
1920 McKinney Ave., Dallas, haywirerestaurant.com
Look for dishes such as Texas pecan pie with a cinnamon roll crust. Photo by Michael Hiller
OPENINGS
Sky-high dining
Oprah’s former personal chef has a new downtown gig with a view. Eric Dreyer, whose resume also includes top chef roles at Fearing’s Restaurant in the Dallas Ritz-Carlton and Ellie’s Restaurant inside the Hall Arts Hotel, has been tapped to be the executive chef of Monarch, a modern Italian restaurant on the 49th floor of The National, a 51-story downtown building that houses Thompson Dallas, a luxury hotel. Dreyer says the restaurant’s from-scratch menu revolves around seasonal ingredients and wood-fired cooking, all guided by Chicago chef Danny Grant, a Michelin-starred chef. Grant and his Chicago-based restaurant group will also oversee a Japanese-inspired sushi restaurant called Kessaku on The National’s 50th floor. Both restaurants are slated to open in March.
1401 Elm St., Dallas, thenationaldallas.com