A meaty new restaurant is opening on Dallas' Greenville Avenue: Called Las Brasas, it'll open at 1424 Greenville Ave., next door to Palapas, the seafood restaurant from partners Tim Goza and Gustavo De Los Rios (owner of Mami Coco), who are also opening this new venture.
Goza says the concept is inspired by the cuisine found north of Monterrey and Mexico. It'll open in mid-March.
Goza first opened Palapas Seafood Bar in the former home of Dallas Tortilla and Tamale Factory in 2014, and has survived more than a decade on Greenville Avenue — no small feat. Las Brasas will be like a companion concept to Palapas.
"Palapas is very much about seafood while this will be primarily steaks and chicken, cooked over a wood grill we had made in Monterey," Goza says. "It's pulled from the style they do there — the way they cook meat over charcoal and wood. We had a grill custom-made, which helps you control your cooking by providing a way to pull your chicken and steaks off the heat cook it a little bit slower."
Las Brasas entrees will be brought to the table in portable little grills made of cast iron, almost like the plate used to deliver sizzling fajitas.
Everything is a la carte, whether its sliced rib eye, pork, or chicken cooked butterflied half or whole on the same grill. There are also Mexican dishes like Los Piratas — blue corn tortilla with Oaxaca cheese and choice of pork, chicken, steak, or sweetbreads, topped with pico and molcajete sauce. There are dishes to share like the Brasero for two, featuring a half grilled chicken, arrachera, half rack of pork ribs, and sausage, with corn, onions, charro beans, queso fundido, molcajete sauce, and tortillas.
They'll also be open for brunch with chilaquiles and huevos rancheros. And of course, there will be tequila from a brand with which Goza is involved.
"We'll also showcase Dos Perros tequila — the only tequila we'll serve," Goza says.
The space was recently home to a weekend brunch pop-up, but they've added decorative features, recycled from found objects such as a gas firepit that Goza had made out of an old wind pump from his ranch in Alvarado, and an old rail car that came from Cleburne rail yard, which will serve as a party table on patio.
"We feel like that will be a big hit for us," he says.