Downtown Bar News

Anticipated downtown Dallas watering hole The Mitchell spills opening date

With all the scrutiny on keeping the history in our downtown core intact, it's one for the good guys with The Mitchell, the bar opening this week in the old Chesterfield (and, briefly, Prohibition) space in downtown Dallas.

Mostly a bar, but partly a restaurant, The Mitchell opens on February 13. It comes from bar veterans Chris Beardon and Adam Salazar, who've been involved in projects such as PM Lounge and Truth & Alibi. But this is their first all-in project together, as part of their Buffalo and Hare Restaurant Development Group, which also includes the concept they're opening in the old Lemongrass space in Deep Ellum, with former Oak chef Brian Zenner.

The Mitchell came with what Salazar calls a "terrific kitchen," where chef Rudy Mendoza (formerly of Belly & Trumpet) will oversee a menu of about a dozen items geared toward drinking but still with some elegant foodie touches. They include fried duck roulettes with applesauce; oysters; and caviar at four price levels, starting with an American Tennessee spoonbill at $45 an ounce.

"We did caviar when I was at Nikita, and it was a hit," Salazar says. "And that's even with all of the options priced at $250. This gives people who've wanted to try it a chance."

But their main emphasis is on having a lively, bustling bar. "What they're doing at Nick & Sam's is pretty darn close, but it's still geared toward being a restaurant, not a volume bar. If you go to San Francisco or Chicago or even Denver for that matter, you walk down the street and hit a busy bar."

Bar staffers include Patrick Gorman, formerly of Dee Lincoln's Restaurant & Bubble Bar, and Marco Boraz, with whom Salazar worked while at the Joule. They'll do a limited menu of cocktails and "a lot of gin." They're spotlighting champagne, with at least 30 bottles and four by the glass, featuring Laurent Perrier as the house champagne for $16 a glass, plus two sparkling roses, including one by Scharffenberger.

Doing something cool in downtown was a top priority. Salazar says they lucked out with the space following a renovation executed by former owners Eddie "Lucky" Campbell and Ed Bailey.

"Lucky did such a great job with it," Salazar says. "We did do updates on the furniture, couches and wallpaper. We found a very cool blue alligator print for the couches and that established our direction. I love the burgundies that Lucky did, but I wanted to make sure when you walked in that you knew it was a different place."

At one point, it was a barbecue joint, and it also used to be a Greek restaurant called Zodiac Greek Grill. "Eddie put the kitchen in, he broke it down to the brick," Salazar says. "He was our first call, when the deal was done."

The Mitchell opens February 13 in downtown Dallas.

The Mitchell Facebook

The Mitchell opens February 13 in downtown Dallas.

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Taco News

Tacos and tequila restaurant takes over historic blue house in Rowlett

Ollie's

Tacos from Ollie's Azul House

The city of Rowlett has a fine new place for tacos and tequila: Called Ollie's Azul House, it just opened inside the historic Oliver House at 3410 Main St., taking over the space most recently occupied by Brick & Bones (which closed in January), where it's doing "elevated tacos" and "curated tequila."

Ollie's is from some of Rowlett's finest, including Michael Gallops, president of the Metrocrest Area Chamber, former Mayor Pro Tem, and six-year city council member; and Chris Kizziar, founder of hunger organization Life Message, located two doors down from the restaurant.

"I've lived in Rowlett for 22 years and Chris has lived here for 35," Gallops says. "We saw this as another opportunity to give back and do something fun."

That "something fun" includes tequila, a longtime passion and hobby for Gallops, who is a bonafide tequila connoisseur. The bar is stocked with 100 kinds, many of which come from high-end boutique distilleries.

"These are different from the shots you drank in college," Gallops says. "We felt like this was a new idea for Rowlett. We have a full bar and can mix anything you want. But on the tequila side, we have several specific tequila cocktails and we also do flights. The goal is to make it educational — to give people an opportunity to learn about tequila and how it's made."

Gallops' favorite tequilas are additive-free and use a natural process in distillation — El Tesoro, for instance. The focus on tequila also helped shape the direction of the menu, with an eye on affordability, as well.

"We have a couple of entrees and some shareable dishes like nachos, but it's primarily tacos — no enchiladas, no fajitas," he says. "We hoped to provide a place where someone can come in and get a couple tacos and a drink for less than $25."

Facade of Ollie's Azul HouseOllie's

Tacos can be ordered on soft corn, hard corn, or flour tortillas, and include:

Oliver — ground beef, lettuce
Miller — steak, onions, peppers, and chimichurri
Carnitas — slow-cooked pork with crisp edges
Elote chicken
Mushroom — a vegan option

They encourage diners to mix and match, adding whatever ingredients they want. They recently added breakfast tacos with eggs, chorizo, potatoes, and more, which can be ordered from 7-10 am from the back window and taken to-go or enjoyed on their expansive patio — a legacy left from the Brick and Bones days.

Beyond providing great food and drink, the restaurant afforded them an opportunity to give something back to Rowlett and celebrate its history, one in which the "azul" blue house — built in the early 1920s for early Rowlett residents Dee and Maggie Oliver — played a central role.

They've filled the walls with photos of Rowlett's founding families, old homesteads, churches, an old cotton gin, almost like a museum.

"It's all about the history of Rowlett," Gallops says. "We're big history buffs and are proud of our city."

tacos openings