Boom Boom

Dallas scores solid spot on new list of America’s dream cities

Dallas' growth has made it the No. 7 boomtown in the U.S.

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News alert: Dallas is growing. In a new report released on August 6, personal finance website MagnifyMoney ranked America's biggest boomtowns. Dallas snagged a spot at No. 7. In Texas, only first-place Austin ranked higher.

Using data from 2011-2016 (the most recently available), the website ranked the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S., looking for the newest cities of opportunity. "We wanted to find out where Americans are gathering now to take advantage of growing prosperity and improved lifestyles to achieve the American dream," the report notes.

To determine the rankings, MagnifyMoney defined the three key "boom" factors as:

Business growth — Analyzing the creation of new business, but also understanding how established businesses fare in the wake of the boom.
Population and housing — Matching the number of people moving to an area to the availability of housing in the market.
Workforce and earnings — Comparing the number of residents to the availability of jobs in the city.

Dallas scored an overall 58.2 — including 61.4 in population and housing; 48.7 in workforce and earnings; and 64.4 in business growth — to earn the No. 7 place. Confirming they city's boomtown status, Dallas has seen a 9.8 percent population increase, 6.1 percent growth in total housing units, 9.2 percent growth in civilian labor force, and a 19.7 percent drop in unemployment.

To earn the top spot, Austin scored an overall 87.8, including a perfect 100 in population and housing.

In total, Texas cities dominated the boomtown list, claiming four of the top 10 spots. Besides Austin and Dallas, San Antonio (No. 9) and McAllen (No. 10) made the grade. At No. 11, Houston just barely missed getting a top spot.

Where else are people pursuing the American dream? Rounding out the top five cities is Provo, Utah (2); Raleigh, North Carolina (3); Charleston, South Carolina (4); and good ol' Nashville, Tennessee (5).

America's least boom-iest city? That honor goes to Scranton, Pennsylvania. Syracuse, New York; New Haven, Connecticut; Cleveland; and Hartford, Connecticut make up the remaining bottom five.

Taco News

Urban Taco closes at Dallas' Mockingbird Station, but its tacos live on

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Tacos from Urban Taco.

A trailblazing taqueria concept has shuttered its last brick-and-mortar location: Urban Taco, a Mexico City-style restaurant concept founded in 2007, closed its location in Mockingbird Station in early March.

However, according to founder Markus Pineyro, the closure does not signify the end of Urban Taco. Instead, its menu will be available through Pineyro's newly launched digital food hall startup, Oomi Digital Kitchen.

Pineyro says that the shift reflects changes wrought by the pandemic in the way people are eating these days.

“Starting during the early months of the pandemic, and to date, we've seeing our business model evolve and move more towards delivery and carry out," Pineyro says. "We've loved serving Dallas in person for last 16 years, but we see this as a way to bring Urban Taco to more diners through OOMI in this new chapter."

Urban Taco was a restaurant inspired by Pineyro's roots in Mexico, far ahead of the "taco revolution" and predating chains like Rusty Taco and Velvet Taco.

Originally from Mexico City, and a graduate of SMU, Pineyro went on to found Del Sur Restaurant Group in 2010, opening more restaurants including an Urban Taco on McKinney Avenue. In 2018, that was taken over by, and has been a location of, Velvet Taco ever since.

The year before, he relocated the Mockingbird Station restaurant to a bigger storefront in front of the Angelika Theater after the restaurant had reached the end of its original 10-year lease.

A spokesperson for Mockingbird Station says they are in talks with potential tenants for Urban Tacos's space, and will share news of a replacement in the coming months.

Always ahead of the curve, Pineyro founded Oomi, his digital food hall, on Ross Avenue in November 2022. It allows customers to order from multiple different restaurants from one place — including Earth Burger, the buzzy vegan concept from San Antonio, as well as Which Wich Superior Sandwiches, FlyRite chicken, and Bowlrito healthy bowls.

"The entire Urban Taco team is grateful to Dallas and Mockingbird Station for the amazing 16 years we were able to welcome people into their restaurant and hope that Dallas diners will follow us to our new outlet," Pineyro says.

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