New Eats

Restaurant with patio and wings debuts in Dallas' new Maple Avenue District

Duck wings. They may not be pretty but surely they are tasty.

Photo courtesy of Merchant House

There's a fun and casual new restaurant opening in the newly emerging Maple Avenue District and it's opening ASAP.

Called Merchant House, it's the latest concept from Apheleia Restaurant Group, which owns Oak Dallas, Pakpao Thai, El Bolero, and Royale Burgers. According to a release, Merchant House opens on September 17 at 5 pm for dinner at 4040 Maple Ave.

If you hurry, you could be first.

Viewed as two concepts in one, Merchant House has a restaurant on the bottom floor and a separate upstairs bar that is a concept in and of itself, with cocktails, local beer, and cocktails-on-tap. The upstairs bar offers views of downtown with an intimate lounge atmosphere.

At the restaurant, the menu is new American and globally inspired, with shared items and entrees designed to create a fully social dining experience.

The menu also has cuteness: You can choose from sections labeled as "selfish" and "selfless."

Pricing is described as approachable. The food ranges from decadent to healthy. It features local ingredients and focus on house-made, high-quality offerings.

Apheleia Restaurant Group (ARG) owner Richard Ellman calls Merchant House a "fantastic complement" to the ARG family, and says he is hoping to attract not only diners in the area but also from the suburbs. Plano, Frisco, come on down.

"We designed Merchant House to be a weekly staple in the lives of locals," he says in a statement. "We believe that our global menu will attract people from all over the city, including the suburbs."

Merchant House also has "plenty of TVs," music, and an upstairs lounge and patio.

The space itself boasts 30-foot ceilings, with a light, airy setting and a touch of Wes Anderson. It's been described as a "dollhouse on the outside, and an apothecary on the inside," which is hard to imagine, with many black and white photos on the wall.

The location is steps away from the Trammell Crow campus, in the heart of the growing Maple Avenue District, with proximity to major traffic arteries like the Dallas North Tollway and I-35. For those suburbanites.

Merchant House will open for dinner, with lunch and then breakfast soon to follow.

openings

Soul Food News

Dallas celebs are flocking to Soul Shack, new restaurant in Cedar Hill

Soul Shack

Fried chicken, mac & cheese, collards at Soul Shack.

Dallas has a new upscale soul food restaurant that originally hails from Chicago: Called Soul Shack, it’s in the former Turkey Leg King space at 305 W. FM 1382 #502, in the Hillside Village shopping center in Cedar Hill where it opened in late January.

Soul Shack was founded by owner Erik “Rico” Nance, an entrepreneur and veteran restaurateur, and is led by his business partners Theous Griffin and Ronald Edwards III, who serves as general manager. The original was a fast-casual concept in Chicago called Soul Shack Express, which is still open.

The Dallas location is a more ambitious effort, with a full-service restaurant, full bar, and swanky nightlife atmosphere. Nance had previously opened Mikkey's Retro Grill, a hip-hop themed burger restaurant, in Cedar Hill, which closed in late 2024.

"I felt like the city needed a cocktail lounge," he says.

The space boasts a 1920's jazz club atmosphere, with marble floors, circular black booths, chandeliers, crystal bead curtains, and tables topped with a newsprint design. There's a "Soul Shack" sign in white neon, and an Insta-friendly wall with flowers and photo collage of iconic Black artists and performers like Eddie Murphy and Diahann Carroll. They also host live music and DJs at night.

The menu is mostly Southern but with fusion twists: soul rolls (fried egg rolls) filled with jerk chicken, which is their signature dish; plus gumbo, collard greens, sweet potatoes, mac & cheese, lamb chops with a parmesan crust, oxtails, and beef short ribs in gravy.

Tranelle and Ron Edwards with Shaq O'Neal Shaq O'Neal (right) drops into Soul Shack.Soul Shack

"Soul Shack has been an offspring of the things that we've learned from our other restaurants," Nance says. "We're still in soft opening mode, but we've already taken off. We'll have a beautiful nightlife and older crowd."

They've quickly earned notice from celebrities including TikTok phenomenon Keith Lee, who touted them with a review in their first week open (giving it a high rating of 8 out of 10 on his scale); and more recently celebrity Shaquille "Shaq" O'Neal, who dropped in for a surprise visit, posing for a photo with Edwards and his wife, Tranelle.

"We had no idea, he just came in, made a reservation and said he'd heard the food was amazing," Nance says. "When he came in the door, we said, 'We're turning this into Soul Shaq.' We accommodated everything he wanted. I love that man and what he stands for, his philanthropy."

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