Arts District Eats

Chef team for new Dallas Arts District restaurant comes fully loaded with cred

Flora Street Cafe team includes (from left) Peter Barlow, Stephan Pyles, and Ricardo Sanchez.

Photo courtesy of Stephan Pyles

Chef Stephan Pyles has named two new chefs for his latest concept, Flora Street Cafe, which will open in the Dallas Arts District in late May.

Peter Barlow is the new chef de cuisine, and Ricardo "Ricchi" Sanchez is pastry chef. Barlow will join chef J Chastain in opening the restaurant, and then Chastain will depart to focus on upcoming personal and business projects.

Pyles closed his long-standing eponymous restaurant at the end of April. Flora Street Cafe, an homage to his '80s restaurant Routh Street Cafe, will be a more formal venue offering a very personal experience and what Chef Pyles describes as "elevated Texas cuisine."

Barlow comes from Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he worked most recently at Easy Bistro and Bar for Erik Niel, a semifinalist for a James Beard award this year. While at Easy Bistro, Barlow took a year off to stage across the country with top chefs and restaurants, including Douglas Keene at Cyrus Restaurant, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo of Animal, and Ludo Lefebvre at Trois Mec. He worked for nine months as a line cook for Curtis Duffy at Grace in Chicago and spent time with John Shields at Riverstead Inn in Virginia. Barlow was raised in Sewanee, Tennessee, where he worked his parents' farm.

Pyles flew to Chattanooga to see Barlow in action. "He prepared a brilliant 17-course tasting menu for me, and I offered him the job the next day," Pyles says in a release.

Sanchez is a native of Beaumont and a former pastry chef at Nobu Las Vegas and at Twist by Pierre Gagnaire, also in Las Vegas; he trained in Paris.

Pyles became acquainted with him when he was pastry chef at Nobu Dallas when it first opened. "Then I had his desserts at Twist in Las Vegas some years later and was blown away," Pyles says. "Sanchez is someone who is not only creative but highly technical in both classic and modern techniques."

Chastain wanted to be able to remain at least two years after the opening of Stephan Pyles Flora Street Cafe, but his growing family and projects related to the next phase of his career were coming more quickly than anticipated.

Flora Street Cafe will open in Hall Arts, a 5-acre, mixed-use, three-phase development on two full city blocks in the Dallas Arts District developed by Hall Group. The first phase of the development includes KPMG Plaza, an 18-story office building with 20,000 square feet of restaurant space; an adjacent public Texas Sculpture Walk featuring Texas artists; the Hall Collection of commissions and installations of international works of art; and a seven-level underground parking facility.

The second phase of the development will include an exclusive luxury condo high-rise with 44 residences and an adjacent boutique hotel.

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Bar News

Rodeo Dallas bar takes party to Uptown Dallas at new location

Rodeo

Rodeo bar is open in Uptown

A bar with Deep Ellum roots is expanding to Uptown Dallas: Called Rodeo Dallas, it'll open at 2922 N. Hall St. in the space previously occupied by Palms Bar. According to co-owner Joseph "JD" Ybanez, it'll open on November 28.

The first Rodeo location in Dallas opened in 2023 at 2724 Elm St. from Ybanez and partner Josh Reagan, a pair of hospitality veterans whose prior venues include Longshots in Dallas, plus two locations of Varsity Tavern, in Fort Worth and in Tempe.

Ybanez' first bar was Trophy Ranch in Fort Worth which had a mechanical bull. "That's where I learned how popular it was," he says. (He also became familiar with Fort Worth's bar scene and went on to open a Rodeo spinoff in 2024.)

In August 2025, the Deep Ellum location became the focal point of neighborhood concerns about crime and was closed via an order from the Dallas city attorney. Ybanez says the city is scapegoating Rodeo for other problems in the neighborhood, and that the Deep Ellum location isn't going anywhere.

“This is not a relocation,” he says. “We maintain an ongoing legal dispute with our landlord Asana Partners regarding the re-opening of our Deep Ellum establishment. The Uptown location represents an expansion of the brand.”

Prior to opening Rodeo in Deep Ellum, they opened a bar in Tempe in 2018 called Rodeo Ranch which served as a template for the concept, featuring an "adult playground" with mechanical bull, bottle service, girls in bikinis, DJs, dancing, and light show.

According to Ybanez, visitors to the Uptown location can expect to take these factors to the next level.

“The Uptown space offers an expansive back patio,” Ybanez says. “This area will feature a massive video wall, optimizing it for communal sports viewing. Furthermore, we have executed a comprehensive refinement of our food menu, which we are confident will elevate the guest experience."

The menu is rendered by Donde Los Tacos, the highly regarded Mexican taqueria in Oak Clifff, with $3 and $4 tacos, like trompo, barbacoa, and suadero. The Uptown location will also serve brunch with dishes such as chilaquiles.

"We have meticulously preserved the core of the Rodeo experience: the unparalleled atmosphere and vibes, our commitment to genuine hospitality, the homegrown character of the brand, and the inclusive spirit that welcomes every member of the community," Ybanez says.

uptown openings