Deep Ellum Dining

Deep Ellum restaurant goes on the lamb with charcuterie and top chef

Chef Ross Demers makes a good fit with On the Lamb in Deep Ellum.

Although it seems like new restaurants open almost daily in Deep Ellum, it's safe to say that few pack the punch of On The Lamb, opening this spring in a brick storefront at 2614 Elm St.

Lodged between Truth & Alibi and Cafe Salsera, it's going into what was previously an artisan shop called Get Reel Goods, which vacated the space in fall 2015.

On the Lamb is a neighborhood brasserie, but what makes it dazzle is the team behind it: restaurateur Anton Uys and chef Ross Demers, a fine-dining veteran most recently at Oak Dallas.

Uys has owned bars in Atlanta and Dallas, which is how he and Demers met.

"He used to own a wine bar on the corner of Monticello and McKinney Avenue that I frequented," says Demers. "We began talking as soon as I left Oak. We were just having drinks; I didn't even mention that I'd left Oak. I wasn't trying to jump into anything."

Uys' original idea was a charcuterie bar. "Anton has a butchery background, he's really into that, and he's purchased some amazing equipment," Demers says. "To do it properly, you have to have a charcuterie closet."

Uys is a native of South Africa, so they'll be doing the charcuterie with a South African twang, Demers says.

"We're doing an item called biltong, which is like an air-dried beef," he says. "We're going to be big on jerky, with different kinds set out on the bar in big candy jars."

Demers, whose resume includes The Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, Mi Piaci, The Commissary, and Ocho Kitchen + Cocktails, has grand capabilities. That said, they're going to try and keep it small.

"We're talking like a nine-item menu and we'll just cook what's right, what we feel like cooking," Demers says.

He describes the place as a "cool little 40-seat spot" with an open kitchen, a massive black walnut bar, a 1920s ceiling, and rustic cement flooring.

"We'll have butcher block tables, it's important that it's not pretentious," he says. "It's almost more of a bar with elevated food."

The menu will be ever-revolving, but Demers says he can see a dish such as house-made pappardelle with lamb neck. "My brain is loaded with ideas," he says. "I'm sure we'll have an opening menu but it will change."

The combination of small but personal, with chef-driven food, in a cool old building is exactly what Demers needs right now, and he says he hasn't been this excited about a project in a while. "I want to bring it back to real food that means something to you," he says.

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Hummus News

New Mediterranean restaurant in McKinney spotlights Greek and Lebanese

Ilio's

Chicken shawarma plate at Ilio's Greek & Lebanese

A new Mediterranean restaurant starring two cuisines has debuted in McKinney: Called Ilio’s Greek & Lebanese Restaurant, it's now open at 210 N. Custer Rd. #130, with a collection of Middle Eastern favorites like gyros, shawarma, kebabs, hummus, falafel, and pita wraps.

The restaurant, which opened in mid-May in a center on the newer west side of McKinney, is from a pair of restauraunt veterans, Anas Abu-Ziad, nicknamed "Ziad," and Talal Hammad, who owned a similarly-themed and similarly-named concept in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Managing the front of the house is Ziad's affable wife Jessica Gardener, whose doting customer service has quickly made her a diner favorite.

"The idea with combining Greek and Lebanese was to make the restaurant inviting to everyone," Gardener says.

Baton Rouge has a reputation for good Greek and Lebanese food, even boasting a few restaurants that feature "Greek & Lebanese" as part of their name. Those two cuisines are slightly less common in Dallas, where the Middle-Eastern restaurant scene has been dominated mostly by Turkish and Syrian places.

Ilio's, which was the ancient Greek name for the city of Troy and is a popular moniker for Greek restaurants across the U.S., specializes in sizzling grilled kebobs, which are available in chicken, beef, shrimp, and kafta, the Lebanese favorite consisting of ground meat — often a combination of beef and lamb, with spices, onions, and herbs — molded into a long cylinder.

Greek dishes include dolmas (stuffed grape leaves with rice), spinach pie, and lamb shank — all dishes that can appear on many Middle Eastern menus but are most closely allied with Greek cuisine. That includes moussaka, the homey casserole dish made with eggplant, meat sauce, and bechamel — although Ilio's version is deconstructed, which is easier for restaurants to execute than the traditional layered version favored by home cooks.

Hummus comes in three options: traditional, Mediterranean, and Sultan, topped with chunks of meat. Other Mediterranean classic dishes include chicken shawarma, gyro plates, falafel, and fried halloumi cheese.

Most dishes come in under $15 and the restaurant is also BYOB.

There are extra-healthy dishes including salads, lentil soup, and pita wraps, made with pita that's a little softer and less doughy than many pitas in town. And there's also a fusion twist that's very Texas: a "Greek quesadilla" with your choice of grilled meat stacked between pita bread.

greek cuisine lebanese cuisine mckinney mediterranean restaurant middle eastern favorites openings