Clubby Restaurant
New Dallas global restaurant nabs Deep Ellum location with clubby past
A modern American restaurant with a globally influenced menu will open in Deep Ellum, in a space that has been home to many a bar over the years. Called IdleRye, it will open in the spring at 2826 Elm St., most recently 2826 Arnetic, but previously Club 2826, Club Envy, and many other clubs with either "club" or "2826" in their names.
IdleRye, which come on really needs a space between the "Idle" and the "Rye," comes from the restaurant group Smoke & Mortar, led by Bruce Wills, Daniel Wills, and Ray Skradzinski, owners of The Table in Flower Mound, and Tim Porter, CFO.
IdleRye’s cuisine will pull from each of the owners’ backgrounds — Skradzinski has Polish roots, and the Wills brothers are from Louisiana — to create colorful dishes with a global flair. There'll be a focus on small bites, house-made pastas, and sausages, not unlike what's on the menu at sibling restaurant The Table. The menu will include appetizers, salads, sandwiches, entrees, sides, and desserts — pretty much every category you can find on a menu — plus brunch and late night menus, too.
The drink menu will feature cocktails inspired by the prohibition era, wine by the glass or bottle, and beer on tap.
Ray Skradzinski, Bruce Wills, and Daniel Wills are veterans of Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group. Skradzinski will serve as chef; Bruce and Daniel Wills will serve as operators. IdleRye marks a return to Dallas for Bruce Wills and Skradzinski, who worked for several years at Wolfgang Puck’s Five Sixty in Reunion Tower.
According to a release, the meaning behind the name IdleRye comes from a combination of idle, to spend time relaxing, not engaged in work or activity; and rye, the grain used to make whiskey. This is good that they explained this. If only there were more explanation about the name in a quotation form.
"As the name suggests, we want our guests to sit back and enjoy our food and drinks without a worry in the world," says Bruce Wills, not to be confused with actor Bruce Willis, who was involved in a Dallas restaurant back in the '90s when he was part of the ownership group of Planet Hollywood, which opened in the West End, then closed. But he has nothing to do with this place.
IdleRye will be part of the block that's being redone by Westdale; it'll take up 3,400 square feet, with a 900-square-foot of patio. Patio is a must. There'll also be a courtyard behind the restaurant with cafe-style seating.
Bruce Wills worked with Kuzuu Design, who designed local restaurants FT33 and Tei-An, among others. IdleRye's design is inspired by rustic and steampunk influences with raw metals, wood, Edison-style lighting, and pipe fittings. The building will feature original brick from the ‘80s.
Hours will be Monday-Friday, 11 am-midnight, and Saturdays and Sundays, 10 am-midnight.
The new Walk-On's is at 906 FM 544, Wylie.Photo courtesy of Walk-On's