Greenville Ave Grub
California’s Laurel not Yanny Tavern opens on Dallas’ Greenville Ave
California-based Laurel Tavern has chosen a fine time to open a location in Dallas. The restaurant will open on May 23 at 1920 Greenville Ave., as a casual but elevated modern American bar and restaurant with high-quality but approachable food, cocktails, and hospitality.
The timing seems right given modern society's current dilemma over whether an obscure recording of a robot says "Laurel" or "Yanny." The internet needed something to obsess over, and this is the topic du jour.
But this dilemma should in no way overshadow Laurel Tavern's arrival. (And it's definitely Laurel Tavern, not Yanny Tavern.) Nor should it overshadow Laurel Tavern's menu of items, which a release says are mostly made fresh daily onsite and from scratch. Whatever they don't make, they source from the highest quality purveyors possible.
This seems not unlike what most restaurants do: They make it themselves or try to find good sources. But this should in no way overshadow Laurel Tavern's efforts to do all of the above.
The menu includes pork belly skewers with maple glaze, and a duck club with duck confit, smoked bacon, pickled green tomato, and cherry mustard which is made in-house, like so much (but not all) of what Laurel Tavern serves.
The decor has tin walls, low ceilings, an L- shaped bar made of black walnut, and banquettes with diamond-tufted leather. A patio features a bar with an inside/outside seating element.
Laurel Tavern was created by William Shamlian and Mark Leddy who have been joined by current partners Michael Leko, Jonny Valenti, and Hardy Edwards.
The group came to Dallas on a social visit and decided to stay. Leko, who moved to Dallas, says in a release that he fell in love with Lower Greenville and East Dallas in particular.
The team describes the concept as the fusing of a contemporary gastropub with an elevated food and cocktail program — and one where you can eat multiple times a week, Leko says. They'll be open nightly for dinner, from 5 pm to midnight.
"We are consistent," Leko says. "We aren't reinventing the wheel here, just doing it the right way and hopefully doing it well."
The shop offers an assortment of kulfi sticks.Photo courtesy of Kesar Creamery