Patio Time

Ivy Tavern greens up Lemmon Avenue with ripping patio and chef-blessed menu

Ivy Tavern will open on Lemmon Avenue in the old Kitty's space.

Photo courtesy of Ivy Tavern

Gregarious couple Lisa and Elia "Tom" Georgalis have moved their mojo to a new spot on Lemmon Avenue called Ivy Tavern. With a trademark wall of green ivy and a deluxe patio, this new bar-restaurant is slated to open by early June, with a grand opening party on June 7.

When we last heard from Lisa and Tom, they were holding court at Inwood Tavern, which they bought in 2010 and then sold four years later. It was enough to develop a loyal following, which you can tell by hitting the Ivy's Facebook page. For how else to explain a bar that has not even opened yet already earning 30 five-star reviews, typified by comments such as "Sounds awesome. Ya open yet?"

A press release brags that the Ivy "is sure to boast one of the best patio experiences in Dallas," which is a very big gauntlet to throw down.

The Ivy takes over what used to be Kitty's Bar & Grill, which billed itself as the home to the "BBW," which you surely know stands for "Big Beautiful Woman" (who have since decamped to a bar on Northwest Highway called Northwest Point).

A press release brags that the Ivy "is sure to boast one of the best patio experiences in Dallas," which is a very big gauntlet to throw down. The patio is said to be beautifully landscaped, with features such as seating for 50, a fire pit and 40-foot trees that act as a canopy. Gone but not forgotten from its BBW days is a volcano waterfall.

On the drink front, the Ivy enlisted Greenbar Craft Distillery to create a majority of the cocktails using Greenbar liquors. According to the release, Greenbar makes the world's largest collection of artisan, organic spirits.

As for the food, all menu items are Georgalis family recipes, selected and consulted on by Randall Warder, former chef de cuisine of the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek and currently at Clark Food and Wine Co., which opens this summer. Randall Warder! Okay, now we are talking.

The menu includes chili cheese fries; hummus and tzatziki; cheeseburgers and brisket grilled cheese with pickled jalapeños; and grilled chicken, pork or spiced ground beef on pita bread. All of it will be available during all operating hours.

"Lemmon Avenue is the meeting spot of a lot of great neighborhoods, and we wanted to be central to all of them," said Tom in a release. "Devonshire, Highland Park, Oak Lawn, Love Field and Uptown all overlap in this area. We wanted to create a bar where everyone can come together, share ideas, have good conversation over a drink and stay a while."

unspecified

Coming attraction

Dallas hospitality pros team up for new restaurant in Inwood Village

Rendering courtesy of

undefined

Dallas restaurateur Bob Sambol, who brought Bob's Steak & Chop House to the city in the 1990s, is partnering with a prolific Dallas hospitality group to open an intimate new eatery called Charlie’s in Inwood Village.

Planned for spring or summer of 2027, Charlie's - a partnership between Sambol and Vandelay Companies - will take over the space at 5450 W. Lovers Ln. #225 formerly occupied by longtime Dallas favorite Adelmo's.

The restaurant will be small, with about 30 tables, and will serve dinner only. It will also take reservations the old-fashioned way: by landline phone in the restaurant.

Specifics about the menu, chef, and exact opening timeline will be announced closer to the restaurant's debut. But a rendering included with the press release shows a white brick exterior with black shutters, and text beneath the restaurant name that suggests the involvement of "steak," "chop," and "seafood."

Sambol describes Charlie's as "low-key" and "quietly sophisticated," with a "warm palette" and calls this a "very personal" project, which will be built in the spirit of small East Coast neighborhood dining rooms of the past, such as a place his father once owned called The Continental in New Jersey.

“After 30 years, I wanted to create something that feels humble and familiar with great hospitality, a beautiful room, people you know and a restaurant you want to return to again and again," Sambol says in the release. "Nothing overly complicated. Just a really special place for the neighborhood.”

Charlie's restaurant owners Vandalay Companies' Hunter Pond and Rick Dunlap flank Bob Sambol.Photo by Samantha Marie Photography

Sambol says he's had a longtime friendship with the Vandelay Companies' Hunter Pond and Rick Dunlap, whose restaurants include Hudson House, Anchor Sushi, Drake’s, and a variety of other brands. He says he’s watched the restaurant development investors grow up and make a name for themselves in Dallas hospitality.

“I’ve known Hunter and Rick since they were in grade school, and seeing what they have built is truly remarkable. It’s a surreal moment to partner with them on such a personal project” Sambol says.

Pond calls the partnership with Sambol a "fun and unique project ... that no one in Dallas has done in quite some time."

Charlie’s will be "deliberately different" from many of the big city's large-scale "highly produced" restaurants, the owners say, adding that it "will embrace an understated, old-school elegance."

“Charlie’s isn’t about trying to make the biggest restaurant or the loudest statement. It’s about creating a timeless one," Pond says. "That restraint is what makes the project so exciting to us.”

As for Charlie's predecessor at the coveted Inwood Village address, Adelmo's — known for its Italian food "with accents" of French and Mediterranean — occupied the space for 10 years before closing in December 2025 and reopening this year in the Preston Valley Shopping Center, at the southwest corner of Preston Road.

restaurants openings dining news inwood village