Speakeasy News

Downtown Dallas boutique hotel reveals speakeasy bar with secret entry

You need to know the 411 to get into this space.

Sova Hotel

Pssst, a downtown Dallas hotel has a secret. Sova, a boutique hotel with mini-rooms that opened in 2021, has debuted a new bar that embraces one of the buzziest trends in bars right now: the speakeasy.

Called Room 520, it's a secret bar tucked between hotel rooms, open limited hours with a small menu of specialty cocktails boasting Japanese flavors.

Not unlike the hotel rooms, Room 520 is small, with a capacity of about 25 guests, which creates a total "party with your friends" vibe.

And being a speakeasy, it has the essential element every speakeasy needs: A secret procedure to enter. Speakeasies can't just be available to anyone who walks in off the street. You need to be in the know regarding the particulars of how to find it and how to get in. (You'll have to keep reading this story to find out how. In that regard, this story is identical to a speakeasy in that it's making you jump through hoops to get what you want.)

Speakeasy bars have been the buzz in Dallas-Fort Worth, with at least a dozen speakeasies emerging in the past couple years, especially post-pandemic, with operators seeking creative ways to do business and keep patrons on premise. If your location has an extra room, you can designate it as a speakeasy and give restless customers two experiences in one.

The concept at the Sova was devised by Morgan Shirk, sister to Brandon and Blake Shirk, who founded the hotel after being inspired by their international travels to create a sophisticated yet inexpensive-by-conventional-standards place to stay. Sova features "micro-rooms" from 120 to 220 square feet, whose petite size is compensated for with luxe elements such as Japanese robotic toilets with wash-and-dry options.

Room 520 follows that model, both in size and theme. It's a small bar, with Japanese inspiration for both decor and cocktails, created by in-house mixologist Andres Martinez, including one with matcha green tea, another with ginger liqueur, and another called a Cherry Blossom.

"It's modeled after a hotel room experience, with an entry that relies on a room key card," Shirk says. "This was a room we weren't using and wanted to add another offering."

Shield your screen right now because we're about to reveal the super-secret procedure to get in:

You must "check in" to Room 520 at the front desk, where you are given a room key card with a code that grants you entry. The bar is on the third floor — but unless you're in the know, you'd just pass it by, since it has ordinary room signage on the door.

"We think it is super fun and unique since guests have to use an actual pin pad for the room after following 'room' signs to the third floor," Shirk says.

The bar is open limited hours — Thursday-Friday-Saturday from 6-10 pm — although it can be rented for private parties at other times. And since it's small, there's a chance that not everyone can get in, which surely makes it yet more alluring.

For those unable to gain entrance, there's a bar in the lobby serving cocktails from 11 am-2 am, and that one is open to everyone.

hotels trends downtown

Spring Arrival

West Dallas gets new Spanish-Peruvian restaurant with big-name chef

Photo courtesy of Ulloa's

Paella will be on the menu.

A new restaurant with a high-profile culinary director will bring Spanish and Peruvian flavors to West Dallas: Called Ulloa’s, it is coming to 727 Fort Worth Ave., with a projected opening in March 2027.

The concept is from philanthropists Susan and Woodrow Gandy, who were previously investors in the historic Belmont Hotel just around the corner. They've teamed up with Dallas celebrity chef Kent Rathbun as culinary director, along with Christopher Tunnell as general manager to lead the front of the house.

Rathbun is a name Dallas diners know well, with a resume that includes The Mansion on Turtle Creek, the Landmark Restaurant at the historic Melrose Hotel, Seventeen Seventeen at the Dallas Museum of Art, Abacus, Jasper's, Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen, and more. He's won numerous awards and made multiple appearances on Food Network. He was most recently behind the launch of On The Rocks, an Italian bistro in Burleson.

Chef Kent Rathbun will be the culinary director of Ulloa's. Photo courtesy of Kent Rathbun

Tunnell’s background spans both culinary direction and front-of-house operations. He worked at Los Angeles hot spots Ketchup, Geisha House, and Les Deux, as well as the Mandalay Bay and The Mirage in Las Vegas, before moving to Dallas to open The Mexican, the upscale restaurant in the Design District.

“I am truly excited to partner with Chef Kent Rathbun, whose reputation is amazing — not only in the DFW Metroplex, but in the culinary world,” Tunnell says. “He has been with this project since the beginning, helping develop it; this will be a very chef-driven, culinary-forward restaurant.”

The team's vision for Ulloa’s is both culinary and urban, with hopes of anchoring the corridor and attracting other businesses to Fort Worth Avenue — a stretch connecting downtown Dallas with Oak Cliff that remains somewhat underdeveloped despite its panoramic skyline views.

The restaurant is named for Spanish explorer, astronomer, and scientist Antonio de Ulloa, who spent extensive time in the Mexican peninsula before becoming Louisiana’s first governor. During his travels, Ulloa documented a fogbow — a circular rainbow formed when sunlight meets mist that causes silhouettes standing between the sun and fog to appear ringed in light, a phenomenon known today as “Ulloa’s Rings.”

That vibrant phenomenon inspired both the restaurant's identity and logo. The concept promises "bold, worldly flavors in a welcoming neighborhood setting inspired by exploration and discovery,” the owners say.

Ulloa's Rendering of Ulloa's.Rendering courtesy of Ulloa's

While the menu remains in development, Tunnell describes the culinary direction as “Spanish soul with a Peruvian heart.” The kitchen will merge the coastal flavors of both traditions — ranging from paellas and ceviches to crafted cocktails and signature adaptations by Rathbun.

The 200-seat, two-story space will feature a downstairs dining room, a large bar, and an outdoor patio. Upstairs, plans call for a secondary bar, a private dining room, a patio, and an expansive balcony patio, offering views of the city's skyline and of the Margaret Hunt Hill and Margaret McDermott bridges.

While the upstairs space will be available for private events, the owners intend for it to operate primarily as an organic extension of the main restaurant. The buildout will include a guest elevator along with ample parking, including both self-parking and valet options.

The team says the restaurant will have have an aesthetic that's “warm, theatrical, generous, elegant but alive, with the energy of a great Spanish tapas bar and the soul of Peruvian hospitality.”

Ulloa’s plans to launch with dinner service first, followed by lunch and weekend brunch.

restaurants bars peruvian flavors west dallas oak cliff kent rathbun