Famous Dallas restaurant family unfurls rainbow-themed bar on Cedar Springs

There's a fun new bar lined up to open in Dallas' Cedar Springs district in early 2020. Called Roy G's, it's from the legendary Street family and will open at 4001 Cedar Springs Rd., on the corner of Throckmorton Street in the space previously occupied by Zephyr Cafe, which closed in June.

Roy G's will be a family enterprise run by Mariel Street, founder of Liberty Burger, and her brother Marco Street, who co-founded Street's Fine Chicken.

"We've got a fun little bar opening up!" Mariel says. "It'll be good-quality bar food that's wildly affordable, with lots of booze, in a laid-back environment."

The menu isn't finalized, but Mariel says that Marco is "working on it." They hope to be open by Valentine's Day.

"We’ll have a few burgers but in a more old-school vein than Liberty Burger: thin patties, sesame seed buns, special sauce," Mariel says. "There'll be tacos and a few other handhelds, and freshly baked pub pretzels with a house IPA mustard and white cheddar Mornay dipping sauces."

One fun element of the menu will incorporate an homage of sorts to Snookie's, the neighborhood bar and grill concept founded in 1989 by their father Gene Street, whose father's nickname was Snookie. At one point, it grew to five branches but the chain eventually came to an end when the last location closed in 2015.

"We're bringing back Snookie's favorites like the OG cheese fries, fried mushrooms, and the Hickory burger," Mariel says. "Oh, and the Frozen Electric Lemonade."

Snookie's fried mushrooms, served with horseradish sauce and ranch dressing, were a cult favorite, and the electric lemonade was considered to be one of the prettiest drinks in its day, thanks to the beachy tint of its blue curaçao.

Roy G's will be open late, until 2 or even 3 am on weekends and midnight on weekdays.

Prior to Zephyr Cafe, that location was a Zini's Pizzeria but has cycled through many concepts over the years and was even home, way back in the day, to a honky-tonk bar that Gene Street owned called Faces. "Funny how the world turns like that," Mariel says.

She and her brother are still doing Liberty Burger, including franchises around Colorado, Montana, and Utah, similar to their highly successful location in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. But they're also enjoying a creative spell.

"Marco and I have had a lot of fun developing some new brands and concepts over the last year so that, when the right location opens up, we can jump on it," she says. "This corner was it: It has a fantastic patio that's always gone underutilized, with a heavy bar scene to dip our toe in the boozy side of the industry."

Roy G's is cleverly named for ROY G BIV, the acronym for the colors of a rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

"This is our chance to branch out after eight years of Liberty Burger and three years doing Street's Fine Chicken, to let loose and unbutton the collar a bit," she says.

"We hope Roy G’s feels like it's been there for years," she says. "We're not trying to change the strip or stand out. We want to blend in, fill a gap, and be a part of the colorful, fun fabric that is Cedar Springs."