Expo Park Bar

New biker-friendly bar in Exposition Park plays up neighborhood’s history

Expo Park is getting a new bar.

Photo by Justin Terveen

A Dallas address with loads of punk rock history will get a new tenant this spring. The new tenant is a casual bar-restaurant called The Vault Expo Park, and it'll take over the former Bar of Soap location in Exposition Park.

The Vault comes from Nanci Smith and Steven Wagner, who also own a bar in Forney called Fat Dawg's. This one will have a theme that plays up on the history of the building.

"The building is over 100 years old, and it has so much history," Smith says. "We're doing a theme of old Texas bank robbers. We have a couple artists who've done some murals for us of characters like Bonnie and Clyde, and a tenant in the building has several pictures of what it was before us; we're very excited about that."

Exposition Park has been dubbed "the last cool neighborhood in Dallas," and Bar of Soap was a treasured and unique spot, a combination bar-laundromat that hosted underground punk rock and rockabilly bands in the '90s and early '00s. Neighbors and bar patrons would bring their laundry while having a night at the club. The washing machines are all gone now.

"It was briefly the bicycle shop Switching Gears, but when we got it, it was empty," Smith says. "We are putting in two bars. In front, we're installing a 19-foot bar, and there'll be another in back that's more private, which people can lease out. We also put a kitchen in the back side."

The menu will be bar food, "but upscale," she says, inspired by the lessons they've learned at their bar in Forney.

"We have an amazing burger at Fat Dawg's, and we'll do nachos and tacos," she says. "We're adding a couple things at The Vault, because the kitchen's bigger, including a crawfish stew you can have with pasta or on your nachos."

Given the historical focus, they'll do a few Prohibition-style cocktails, and just as Bar of Soap once was, they'll be "bike-friendly," as in motorcycle. "Steve and I both ride," she says.

Getting the space is a full-circle thing.

"Before we purchased Fat Dawg's, we were looking for space in Deep Ellum, but there wasn't anything available at the time," Smith says. "Now there are lofts coming in, they're doing quite a bit to bring people. We're thankful to have the chance to be there, and hope we add to it."

cocktails openings

Ice Cream News

Global gourmet ice cream chain debuts in U.S. with 2 Dallas-area shops

Dumont Ice Cream

An ice cream concept from India has made its U.S. debut, right here in Texas: Called Dumont Creamery & Cafe, it's a ice cream chain founded in Hyderabad that now has two locations in the Dallas area.

Their first location was Frisco, which opened at 1951 FM 423 at the end of 2023; a second location opened in late October in Coppell at 1535 S. Belt Line Rd. #160.

Dumont was founded in 1999 by brothers Vivek and Bhashkaar, and currently has 23 locations in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Vijayawada listed on their website.

Bringing the concept to Texas are local franchisees and friends Sai Sashank and Tarang Tirumala, who moved to the U.S. in 2005 to attend college.

Both have successful consulting careers, but craved a taste of home.

Ice cream is the centerpiece at Dumont with more than two dozen flavors, ranging from gourmet to classics to flavors boasting global influences: from Italian-inspired sorbet to a New Zealand-inspired honey ice cream called "hokey pokey."

There is vanilla, chocolate, and mint chocolate chip — but also unique options such as cake and jam, an ice cream with a vanilla base, bites of cake, and spiced jam; and kheer, a coconut ice cream studded with dried fruits and nuts — a nod to the kheer rice pudding that's one of India's favorite desserts.

A single scoop is $4. They have cups and a cute version of waffle cones: shorter and fatter than usual, to provide a greater ratio of ice cream-to-cone.

In addition to ice cream, they have a beverage program with coffee and espresso drinks such as lattes, plus boba tea. There are also special drinks like falooda — an exotic Indian milkshake with rose syrup and vermicelli — as well as limited-edition drinks like iced kheer, a cool beverage version of that same popular rice pudding dessert.

Both locations are spacious, bright, and clean, with pale green banquettes at Frisco, and pale blue chairs and tables at Coppell. Both feature an astronaut theme with statues and framed photos and cartoons on the wall. The Coppell location also has a mural dedicated to great moments in Coppell history.