Uptown News

Uptown Dallas' beloved neighborhood bar The Loon finds new home

The drinks are strong, just the way we like them.

Photo by Trevor Korbin

One of Uptown Dallas' oldest watering holes is moving to a sweet new location. The Loon, which has been hanging around McKinney Avenue for more than 25 years, will move from its current address at 3403 McKinney Ave. to a larger space.

Fortunately, the new space is hardly a block away: It'll open in a building at 3028 N. Hall St., just behind Breadwinners, that was most recently occupied by Mimi's Pizza.

Linda Criswell, who has owned the bar since 2017, says she hopes to have it open in December.

"The building we were is an old house built in the 1920s, but we got an opportunity for a larger space with cheaper rent, and great parking that includes 40 spots in the garage," Criswell says. "To have that much parking is a big deal in that neighborhood."

The location was previously broken into three separate storefronts and has been home to numerous businesses in the past decade.

"The space will now be more cohesive," she says. "We're taking down a wall and they're letting us put tables outside, and there are trees there which make it shady and pleasant."

"We'll have our Italian food for sure, and our strong drinks, which is what we're known for," she says. "We're adding beer on tap. That's a big thing, we never had that at the old space. That's what people ask when they come in: 'What do you have on tap?'"

The Loon has had an eventful history. Cliff Gonzalez bought the bar from a widow who passed away in 1992 and changed the name to The Loon. It was a treasure in Uptown with cheap drinks, a laid-back atmosphere, and a family vibe with regulars that's rare in the gentrified neighborhood.

In 2014, it was shuttered when the strip mall it had been in was razed to build a CVS, but then re-opened, initially under the name Cliff's Bar & Grill before re-adopting the Loon as the name.

Criswell, who has an entrepreneurial background and also worked in real estate, bought the bar from Gonzalez after he retired.

"I was a regular," she says. "I always liked what it is, and what it stands for, with all of the regulars that give it that neighborhood feel. I bought it because I wanted to carry the name on."

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Heirloom Pizza in Plano dishes up New York and Detroit-style pies

Heirloom Pizza

Heirloom Pizza in Plano

A pizzeria in Plano is slinging both New York-style and Detroit deep dish pizza: Called Heirloom Pizza, it’s a small shop at 2225 W. 15th St., where it's enjoying a second wind of sorts.

The shop first opened in 2022 under a different owner, then reopened in 2024 under new owner Justin Horton, a first-time restaurant owner and native of the area who'd worked in restauants, mostly as a waiter, for more than a decade.

“I saved up because I always wanted to own my own business and found this little place for sale,” Horton says. “A month later, I had my own pizza shop."

He had no previous pizza-making experience when he took over the place, but it didn't take him long to delve into a mastery of pizza — "it's like a work of art," he says. It helps that he's a quick study who researched pizza types and ingredients before arriving at his own recipe and style.

"Our classic is like a cross between a New York-style and New Haven, noted for its thin crust," he says. "But the one that has put us on the map lately is our Detroit deep-dish style. It's one I've been doing for the past few months. It has an airy, crunchy, crispy crust that people love. It's made in a trademark rectangular pan and I do them in limited quantity because I only have 15 pans, so we usually sell out."

His pizza hews carefully to the Detroit deep-dish style, with sharp squared-off edges that have a crispy caramelized "wall" of melted cheese while super soft and airy inside. For cheese, he uses the genre's standard, Wisconsin brick cheese, and makes his own tangy tomato sauce.

Heritage Pizza Detroit deep dish Detroit style deep dish pizza at Heritage PizzaHeritage Pizza

He's a true enthusiast, ready to talk about geeky pizza guy stuff like fermentation of the dough and the sourcing on his tomatoes.

Pizza options include creative options like an all-white pizza with white sauce, garlic, and three cheeses: mozzarella, ricotta, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Another called Fred's Steakhouse Special is a collaboration, using and cheesesteak from the Fred's Downtown Philly next door.

"All the dough is fermented from 48-72 hours," he says. "We use the same dough, but it gets proofed differently depending on what we're making."

Prices are affordable, ranging from $12 for a 12-inch cheese pizza to $22 for a 16-inch specialty pizza.

They also have four salads including a Caprese and a Greek; and desserts, like tiramisu, cannolis, and cheesecake. Horton emphasizes that he makes the cannolis with specialty ingredients.

"I get the shells shipped in from Sicily, then I make the cream myself," he says. "I try to put a lot of love and passion behind everything I do."

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