Deep Ellum News

Restaurant-bar to bring big wave surfing to Dallas' landlocked Deep Ellum

Goodsurf will bring surfing to a landlocked town.

mma.prnewswire.com

Dallas has never been much of a surfing town, what with its lack of ocean or coast, but maybe that will change, thanks to a surf-themed concept coming to town. Called Goodsurf, it combines surfing with a restaurant, bar, and beer garden, and will open a location on the eastern edge of Deep Ellum at 317 S. 2nd Ave.

It's going into the space previously occupied by Sandbar Cantina, a not-dissimilar concept that combined restaurant and bar with volleyball courts, which closed in May after their lease ended.

According to a release, Goodsurf Dallas will open in early 2024.

Founded by Zach Shor, who previously worked with Topgolf, Goodsurf will feature a surf wave technology called Citywave, described as an "endless deep water stationary wave" that can get up to six feet tall.

"Surfing is one of the most inaccessible sports in the world, and Citywave breaks that barrier down for everyone in a fun and authentic way," Shor says. "The wave creates an energy that flows into the rest of the facility — it's a blast to surf and great to watch, especially with a cold drink in your hand."

Citywave was founded in Germany in 2010 by two skiing champions, and has a dozen locations in international cities such as Munich, Berlin, Madrid, Tel Aviv, Moscow, and Tokyo. This will be the second location in the U.S.; a location opened in Chelan, Washington, about three hours east of Seattle, in 2020.

Beyond the big wave, Goodsurf will offer food and beverage designed by Ring on Hook, a hospitality consultancy group behind concepts like Home Run Dugout in Katy, 12:30 Club in Nashville; and Sofia's Roman in Denver.

The menu will pull inspiration from global surf destinations, but in a down-to-earth and accessible way.

Dallas is on a huge water kick, with a big wave of lagoons and waterparks that have opened recently or are about to. If you don't have the natural geography, make it yourself.

One big question not addressed in the press release: What will happen to the sand at Sandbar Cantina? They had the whitest, softest, most finely pulverized sand out there, so cool and silky on your feet. It's hard to tell from Goodsurf's renderings whether they'll keep the sand. Keep the sand, Goodsurf! It's good sand.

Shor says that the neighborhood's history and unique culture played a role in their decision to open there.

"Deep Ellum is already the heart and soul of Dallas' entertainment scene," he says.

deep-ellum openings

Movie Review

Cillian Murphy takes on church in Irish film Small Things Like These

Photo by Enda Bowe/Lionsgate

Cillian Murphy in Small Things Like These.

Last we saw actor Cillian Murphy, he was starring in the titular role of Oppenheimer, a role that would go on to earn him a Best Actor Oscar, not to mention many awards for the film itself. Instead of a big, flashy follow-up to build on that momentum, Murphy has gone in the opposite direction with the small and personal Small Things Like These.

Set in the 1980s in Murphy’s native Ireland, the film centers on Bill (Murphy), who owns a coal delivery company. One of his clients is the local convent, and during a delivery he witnesses a young pregnant woman being forced into the convent against her will by her mother. The scene triggers memories from his own childhood when he was raised by a single mother.

Every subsequent delivery to the convent has him questioning his own morality, although his taciturn nature doesn’t allow him to share his misgivings with his wife, Eileen (Eileen Walsh). With the Catholic Church an all-encompassing entity in Ireland, even if Bill wanted to help the girls who are trapped and mistreated at the convent, he’s not sure of any way to go about it.

Directed by Tim Mielants and written by Enda Walsh, the film has a slow build to it, so slow that it is a little difficult to ascertain the point of the story. The filmmakers go back and forth between scenes showing Bill as an adult and Bill as a child, and even though they each contain elements of trauma for the characters, the connection between the two timelines is not as strong as they might want it to be.

Even when it’s not part of a scene, the power of the church is the driving force of the film. Bill is clearly having a crisis of faith given his history and what he sees, but his wife seems to be willfully ignorant of any faults of the church and remains a true believer. The few segments that take the audience inside the convent are full of unforgiving nuns, with Sister Mary (Emily Watson) as their ultra-stern leader.

Given that this is an Irish film featuring all Irish actors, heavy accents accompany the majority of the dialogue, making it difficult to understand at times. This is clearly not an issue with the filmmaking and it helps with the verisimilitude of the story, but anyone who doesn’t have a lot of experience with the Irish accent may find themselves a little lost and/or disengaged with the emotions of the story.

Murphy’s role in Oppenheimer and this one don’t share much in common save for the fact that he clearly put his whole self into each of them. This is a testament to Murphy’s skills and dedication that he cares as much about an inherently local story as he did about a world-changing one. Walsh and Watson are also great as two women who have a huge influence on Bill’s outlook on life.

Small Things Like These, based on the book by Claire Keegan, is not as huge a takedown of the Catholic Church as some other films, but it’s still a searing indictment of its arcane practices. It’s one made even more effective by using a smaller story of one man’s lonely fight against injustice.

---

Small Things Like These opens in theaters on November 8.

movies