Deep Ellum News

New bar in Dallas' Deep Ellum brings back good old Hot Topic days

Mom, it was never a phase.

Courtesy photo

A new bar in Dallas is championing an era that should never be forgotten. Called Shot Topic, it's a small Deep Ellum spot that celebrates punk rock, with a particular homage to Hot Topic, the mall chain that specializes in plaid kilts, rad hair color, and other punk and counterculture clothing and accessories.

Located at 108 South Crowdus St., in a small, long-vacant storefront next to Buzzbrews, the bar actually feels like a Hot Topic store: black light, vivid patches of neon, ska-style black & white checks, black walls with white graffiti band names, and a focus on punk and emo bands from the 2005-2012 era.

One wall features a display of band T-shirts, a total Hot Topic knockoff. Lights hanging from the ceiling are made from drums. Music is a major component, with massive video screens broadcasting vintage videos as well as DJs and karaoke nights. There is one concession to the present: a selfie wall with music instruments.

Shot Topic is from some of the same folks behind concepts such as Select Start including Corey Good, Danny Wilson, Jacob Cox, and Colton Kirby.

"I felt like Deep Ellum was missing a punk rock or a sing-along bar," Good says. "It's like Warp tour meets Hot Topic but it's a bar. It's a throwback to early 2000s rock and emo, where you can sing along and have drinks."

It's also very specifically a shot bar, with the drinks boasting punk rocky names: Taste of Ink with limoncello, the First Punch with Jim Beam & peach schnapps, What's My Age Again? — a skrewball topped with Red Bull — and Rich & Famous with 1942, Grand Marnier, and gold leaf.

"Everything in Deep Ellum is craft cocktails these days," Good says. "This is a shot-based menu, with custom drinks that get an extra edge from ingredients like edible glitter."

They also plan to offer a food component, which will be supplied by Will Call Bar (a 2022 Tastemaker Awards nominee for Bar of the Year and Rising Star Chef).

The bar even has a slogan: "It was never a phase," a droll reference to the 2020 viral video by pop-punk band All Time Low, in which singer says, "Mom, it was never a phase. It's a lifestyle."

drinks deep-ellum

Pizza News

Yonx Pizza seduces north Dallas suburbs with New York-style pies

Yonx

Yonx Pizza, by the slice.

A pizzeria with a dedicated following has debuted in Melissa: Yonx Pizza Bar & Co., an indie spot that does New York-style pizzas as well as pizza by the slice, has opened a location at 1521 McKinney St. #700 — an address that had pizza history as it was home for nearly a decade to a Palio's Pizza, which closed in 2025.

Yonx is from Robert Hede, a restaurant veteran who was previously involved with the Village Burger Bar chain, where he was a partner. He switched from burgers to pizza in 2022 when he connected with NY Pizza and Pints, a small local pizzeria chain, opening a location in Wylie at 1125 FM 544 #800. After two years, he broke off from the chain to found Yonx at the same address.

Yonx does the kind of New York-style thin-crust pizza that Dallas-Fort Worth loves, in a standard 14-inch, as well as a massive 24-inch "Kong" size. They also do slices, which can be ordered as a lunch with a Caesar salad for $9.99.

Varieties include familiar favorites like pepperoni, as well as slightly gourmet options with New York-inspired names such as:

Balsamic on Bleeker St., with garlic sauce, mushrooms, shaved ribeye, mozzarella cheese, arugula, and balsamic drizzle
Bronx Bomb, with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, meatballs, mushrooms, and ricotta cheese
Brooklyn, basically a meat-lovers with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, sliced ham, chopped meatball, beef, & pepperoni
Greenwich Garden, a vegetarian with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, red & green bell peppers, white onions, mushrooms, spinach, & black olives

Prices range from $16 for a 14-inch cheese pizza to $46 for a NY Giant Supreme Soho with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, beef, red & green bell peppers, white onions, sliced mushrooms, & black olives.

Yonx Pizza soup in a bread bowl.Photo courtesy of Yonx

There are also sandwiches on house-made toasted focaccia such as the Italian tower with melted provolone cheese, sliced ham, salami, lettuce, red onion, pepperoncinis, & sundried tomato aioli.

Appetizers include comforting soups served in a bread bowl including tomato basil and jalapeno cream soup with charred jalapenos. Plus wings, garlic knots, and "Brooklyn Ballers" — their signature meatballs in marinara, made in-house. topped with whipped ricotta and Parmesan, served with pesto and focaccia ends.

A full bar features frozen margaritas and frozen mojitos made with agave gold tequila. The best day to order those is "Frozen Fridays" from 11 am-10:30 pm when the blueberry mojitos are $6 and the margaritas are $5.

The Melissa location opened in January, with the same menu as the Wylie original, and has been met with an unprecedented wave of positive reviews on Facebook: one comment after another raving over how great the pizza is, and what a godsend it is — positive reviews that began to stack up even before the place had officially opened, the likes of which have been rarely seen.

This location boasts almost double the size of the original in Wylie, with a covered patio where they'll host live music on the weekends outside.

Hede, who has been hands-on at the Melissa location since it opened, says he's all-in on these northernmost suburbs of Dallas.

"I like this area — I feel like all the growth is heading out in this direction, there's just a lot of activity up here," he says.

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