Downtown News
AT&T Discovery District gives a big shakeup to downtown Dallas food hall
The Exchange at the AT&T Discovery District has stirred things up in its restaurant mix, adding three new concepts to its downtown food hall, and closing or relocating three others.
Closings
Second Floor at the Exchange, an umbrella concept that was home to Ounce, a Texas brasserie, and Ichi Ni San, an Asian place, will be retired.
The Second Floor space will be home to a new rotating chef concept called Attalie, and will debut in June with acclaimed Dallas chef Misti Norris, owner of Petra & the Beast. She'll preside over the space from June to July with a concept called Stepchild, which will serve dinner Thursday-Sunday.
Ichi Ni San, previously located on the second floor, will now be called Ichi, serving up poke bowls and sushi, and will re-open on the first floor.
Ounce closes on May 28.
Bobber's Burgers is closed. Its sandwiches, hot dogs, and Dole Whip will now be sold at "The Shack at Jaxon," an outdoor kiosk at the beer garden at Jaxon Texas Kitchen & Beer Garden.
Newcomers
The Bobber's Burgers space will be taken over by Easy Slider, the slider-centric concept from Caroline Perini and Miley Holmes.
The Ichi Ni San space will be taken over by Birdie, a new fried chicken concept featuring chef Joshua Harmon.
Birdie, which will open May 23, will do chicken tenders, fried chicken sandwiches, and sides, with Southern, Korean, and Japanese influences. Menu items include chicken steam buns, Korean spiked hot honey chicken, Hawaiian-style mac salad which the release says is inspired by Harmon's grandmother, and a warm potato salad featured on the Food Network. That is quite the range of influences.
Harmon says they're trying to raise the bar in terms of what a chicken tender place can be. How about skipping the idea of a chicken tender place altogether? That would really raise the bar.
"We'll offer unique items such as different flavors of Kool-Aid slushies and a chicken biscuit we only do on Sundays," Harmon says.
Harmon's last appearance in the Dallas restaurant scene was in 2018 at an ill-fated restaurant in Deep Ellum called Junction Craft Kitchen. Previously, he worked at Petra & The Beast as well as restaurants in New York, and competed in a Food Network show called Restaurant Rivals where he won first place.
Easy Slider debuted in 2011 as a food truck and has since grown to four food trucks, a restaurant in Deep Ellum, and an eatery in Harvest Hall in Grapevine.
The menu consists of inventive sliders such as The Sweet & Lowdown with Angus beef, goat cheese, strawberry jam, and bacon.