Say Jose

Green Room vets high-five hominy at new Dallas Mexican restaurant

Pozole stew is a signature dish from the Jalisco region of Mexico.

A pair of restaurant vets whose reign dates back to the '90s have a new place in the works. Called José, it's a Mexican restaurant going in a former dry cleaning business near Lovers Lane and Inwood Road.

The street address is 4931 W. Lovers Ln., a rare stand-alone building that was for many years Foster Cleaners. The restaurant comes from WoodHouse, founded by brothers Brady and Brandt Wood, whose current lineup of projects include the Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival and the Coyote Drive-In.

José will serve contemporary Mexican-inspired cuisine with a Guadalajaran focus. The menu will feature Jalisco-inspired dishes celebrating Mexican flavors and traditions, using fresh, seasonal ingredients.

Brady Wood says that the opening is targeted for April, and the menu is still not finalized. But just about every online citation of Jalisco-style food mentions pozole, the hominy soup; goat stew; and tortas ahogadas, the "drowned" pork sandwich stuffed with pork and drenched in salsa that is the signature dish of Guadalajara.

Jalisco is also the home of tequila, so there'll be a mixology program, with artisanal spirits, highlighted by an extensive collection of tequilas and mezcals discovered during multiple trips to Tequila and Oaxaca. If you're thinking regular old frozen margaritas and swirls, think again.

The interior is going to be serious, as nearly every furnishing has been procured from Cerámica Suro, the boutique ceramics factory in Guadalajara owned by José Noe Suro. From hand-painted custom-designed plates to platters, tiles, fixtures, and furniture, all have been specially designed and produced for José in Guadalajara.

There's also a spacious adjoining patio, and nestled in the entryway will be a small market, with goods from Cerámica Suro and Tlaquepaque-area artists for sale.

In the '90s, the Woods owned Deep Ellum clubs Trees and Gypsy Tea Room, plus two highly rated restaurants: Jeroboam, which opened in downtown Dallas when downtown had not yet become populated, and the Green Room, which launched chefs such as Marc Cassel and Suzan Fries of 20 Feet Seafood Joint, and which many diners still pine for to this day.

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Closure News

Sylvan Avenue Tavern in West Dallas closes but a new bar's on the way

They're known for their pizza and chill vibe.

Courtesy of BST

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A West Dallas tavern is closing, but that's not the end of the story: Sylvan Avenue Tavern, located at Sylvan Thirty at at 1888 Sylvan Ave. #F250, closed for good on November 3, after three years at the address.

The restaurant-bar opened in the complex in 2021, a spinoff of Bryan Street Tavern, a longtime bar in East Dallas, serving pizza, beer on tap, and a laid-back atmosphere with pool tables and outdoor space.

The bar had been closed for much of August, which owner Joe Hinkson attributed to issues with the landlord. It reopened in at the end of August, only to close these two months later.

"We reopened for football season, but we didn't get the boost like we hoped," Hinkson says. "It was becoming the definition of insanity.."

"It's official this time," he said. "The shopping center is dying. Coopers gone, Craft & Co. gone, Shayna's gone and there's been nothing new since we moved in."

In a Facebook post, he stated that "the complex is dying and we've lost four other businesses prior to us making our decision to close. And now we’ve become the fifth one to leave. We've enjoyed our time there, but without support from the property owners we had call it a day."

Some of the bar's neighbors said that the bar "trashed" the suite, leaving broken glass as well as one of the gas burners open, requiring the fire department to come out because of complaints about the smell gas.

But Hinkson said that wasn't true. "We removed equipment," he said. "Not sure what the spray paint was. It was just residual trash. No vandalism. We left most of the furniture and the beautiful bartop."

Hinkson's attention is on a new sibling, called Fate Village Tavern, opening in the city of Fate at 4970 East I-30, #130 — a center so new, it barely shows up on the map.

Fate Village is set to open in November, with a similar menu, spirit and beer selection, TVs galore, and a large outdoor patio with a pet-friendly area.

"This has been in the works for about a year — we started construction back in June," he says. "We're excited about it. It's going to be a truly polished version of BST, and we will be the only bar in Fate city limits."

They're finishing up construction with includes touches like a pressed tin ceiling and shiplap on the walls, to give the new build space some lived-in character.

"Adam Navan, my partner in Sylvan Avenue, moved to Fate a few years ago, and that gave us an awareness of the town's growth," Hinkson says. "We watched them build out the retail center, called Fate Village, which was an instant success. We approached the developer and one year later, they reached out to us a year later and we signed up."

It's bigger than Bryan Street and they've given it a huge patio.

"We are soooo close — we're just waiting on last bit of furniture and final inspections," he says.

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