Food Truck Files
Dallas food truck slides out burgers at new restaurant in Deep Ellum
Dallas food truck Easy Slider, which specializes in basic little burgers, has graduated to the restaurant world with a newly opened brick-and-mortar location in Deep Ellum. The new restaurant opened at 2701 Main St. on March 13 with a cool urban vibe, large patio, and slightly expanded menu.
The restaurant comes from Miley Holmes and Caroline Perini, who launched their first food truck in 2011. Food trucks have been very good to them: They now have three Easy Slider trucks, plus two other mobile concepts — one with a bar theme and the other shaved ice.
Making the jump to a restaurant was a dream the team had all along, made even better by the fact that they secured an address in Deep Ellum. They're across from Pecan Lodge, in a renovated vintage brick building complex called the Golden Eagle that also houses Rocket Fizz candy store and High & Tight Barbershop.
Most recently a used clothing store called Vintage Factory, the building is 100 years old. It took Perini and Holmes nearly two years to transform what was a shell into a functioning business. They did the design themselves, adding graphic elements such as murals, filament light-bulb fixtures, a neon "eat sliders" sign, and photographs taken by Perini over the past few years.
Don't miss the murals in the restrooms, including the classic bikini-clad gal on an Easy Rider-style motorcycle in the men's room and Willie Nelson in Texas-flag short shorts in the women's room.
The restaurant holds about 90 inside and 60 on the patio, which is festooned with strings of lights. Inside are tables with shiny aluminum chairs, and three large booths that parents will love, the sort where you have a parent on either side of the oval and you trap the kids inside.
The bar includes 45 different beers with 6 on tap and a full liquor capacity. You’ll find lots of Lone Star, but no chi-chi craft cocktails.
The menu currently features the six sliders sold on the food truck, with seven more for a total of 13. There are burgers with cheese, with bacon and peanut butter, with goat cheese and strawberry jam, with blue cheese slaw, and with jalapeños, French-fried onions, and barbecue sauce. There's also a caprese-style portabella mushoom burger topped with mozzarella, tomato, and pesto.
New menu items include tater tots, onion rings, a fried chicken sandwich, salads, and seasonal fruit soft-serve ice cream.
They'll keep long hours, opening for lunch at 11 am, all day until midnight Sundays-Wednesdays, and until 2 am Thursdays-Saturdays.