An upscale restaurant chain from Canada is coming to Uptown Dallas. Joey, the chain known for its global food and art-lined walls, is opening a location at 2508 Maple Ave., next door to the Old Warsaw.
According to a spokesperson, the restaurant will open in September. If all goes according to plan, they will soft-open with limited hours over Labor Day weekend, then celebrate a grand opening on September 10.
"Joey Maple will offer a unique culinary journey and exceptional mixology, led by Executive Chef and Top Chef Canada winner Matthew Stowe; Bar Development Leader Jay Jones, a Restaurant Hall of Fame inductee; and Group Sommelier Jason Yamasaki," their statement says.
Joey Restaurants is a "premium casual" restaurant group founded in 1992 in Calgary by Jeff Fuller, who came from a restaurant family. He started Joey out as a pasta place but the concept has since evolved into a globally-themed concept with fusion dishes such as truffle udon carbonara.
There are now 36 locations in various Canadian cities plus Seattle, California, Miami, and Houston, where it opened at the Galleria in 2021. Joey Restaurant Group also encompasses a sports bar-gastropub concept called Local Public Eatery, which opened a location in Dallas at 2323 Henderson Ave. in 2024.
Food
The menu at Joey features "a fusion of flavors," including fire-torched sushi, steak, bowls, tacos, and burgers. Signature dishes include top sirloin steak with their "famous" fully loaded crispy mashed potatoes (which are actually mashed potatoes with garlic, cheese, and green onions wrapped in a spring roll and fried); plus hummus, seared salmon sushi, and sake-glazed sea bass.
Crispy mashed potatoes at Joey.Photo courtesy of Joey
There are: Japanese pork dumplings, Korean fried cauliflower, fajitas, and lobster spaghetti with prawns, shallots, and cherry tomatoes in a lobster-lemon butter sauce. There's a tuna poke bowl and a tofu bowl with Korean chili spiced tofu, wontons, coconut jasmine rice, and green papaya slaw in carrot miso dressing. There's sushi including a sushi cone with tempura shrimp.
The bar menu has beer on tap and a wine list featuring notable by-the-glass selections such as Taittinger Champagne and Pahlmeyer Chardonnay from Napa Valley ($50 per glass, but it's an iconic wine). Cocktails include not one but three spritzes — Aperol, Rosé, and Hugo with St. Germain — plus martinis, margaritas, and slush cocktails like frozen Irish coffee.
Location
This will be the second Joey in Dallas and will be a stand-alone location; the first opened at NorthPark Center, in the former Seasons 52 space, in January 2024. According to their statement, the warm reception they've received in Dallas convinced them to expand.
Every Joey is custom built to match its surroundings, often from the ground up, and no two restaurants are alike. The restaurant is going into a space that was previously home to a restaurant called Crab House, and before that Sisu, a bar with the pool, and before that, Matthew Trent Jewelry. It'll feature a "thoughtfully curated" art collection — a Joey trademark — as well as a private dining space. Other details on the space are still to come.
Is it deliberate or merely kismet that they landed on Maple Avenue, given the fact that the maple is Canada's national tree, and that Canada is frequently called "The Land of Maple," and the maple leaf is their national symbol as well as the central image on their national flag?
It'll be neighbors with another Canadian import: Moxie's, the casual concept founded in Canada and co-owned by Dallas Stars proprietor Tom Gaglardi, which opened across the street at 100 Crescent Court in 2016.
Maple Avenue is becoming Dallas' buzziest street, with openings such as Elephanté, the Italian restaurant opening at the 23Springs office tower in September, joining already-buzzy restaurants such as Catch Dallas, the Houston seafood chain which opened at the Maple Terrace development in 2024, and Uchi Dallas, a Maple Avenue pioneer that opened in 2015 — all teed up to feed the traders at The New York Stock Exchange Texas opening at 3819 Maple Ave. just a mile down the road.
Crispy mashed potatoes at Joey.Photo courtesy of Joey