BBQ & Games

New barbecue Ferris wheel restaurant lights up Dallas Design District

A new restaurant in the Design District will spin you 'round.

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An over-the-top new barbecue restaurant will open in Dallas' Design District with a functional Ferris wheel on site. Called Ferris Wheelers, it will combine barbecue from a credentialed chef with craft beer, live music, and a 50-foot running Ferris wheel.

Located at 1950 Market Center Blvd. and easily visible from I-35, Ferris Wheelers will host local and national country-music artists outside on a 7,000-square-foot patio, set on a complex that includes not only the Ferris wheel but also myriad games such as Jenga, bags, washers, hook & ring, oversized Kerplunk, checkers, and chess.

The restaurant comes from This & That Concepts, the group that also owns Parlay, High Fives, Tiny Victories, and Whipper Snapper. Pitmaster is Doug Pickering, who previously worked with NL Group (Dish, Dakota’s Steakhouse, Front Room Tavern), and before that, opened his own restaurant Work Bar & Grill in Deep Ellum.

The menu features brisket, ribs, house-made sausage, honey-brined smoked turkey breast, and Carolina-style pork shoulder. Sides are Southern-influenced and include smoked BBQ beans, smoked green beans, BBQ mac & cheese, jalapeño bacon cole slaw, and Southwestern potato salad.

A native of Dallas and a graduate of Southern Methodist University, Pickering left a career on Wall Street to pursue barbecue. His approach defies categorization, drawing on influences from Kansas City to Memphis to Texas and beyond. He uses post oak wood and an offset wood-fired rotisserie smoker, which is surely meaningful information to people who are into barbecue gear. But he's coming on with a big guarantee.

"I can guarantee that you’ll be served the highest quality, best-tasting meats possible,” he boasts in a release. "I can't think of a more amazing platform for showcasing my own particular style of BBQ than Ferris Wheelers."

Opening is slated for late September, just in time for the State Fair of Texas, whose opening it will surely challenge with its mesmerizing combination of barbecue and games. Look out State Fair! The gauntlet has been thrown down.

state-fair openings

Openings and Closings

8 Dallas restaurants that are either opening or closing right now

Dudley's

Salmon over pasta at Dudley's

As summer 2025 inches closer to its conclusion, there's a rallying round of restaurant activity in Dallas — both upbeat openings and downbeat closings.

With this many mounting up, it's time to round them up into a list: a list of new places to try and a list of closures to decry.

OPENINGS

Dudley’s Sports Bar
Western-inspired sports bar will open at 2927 N. Henderson Ave. on August 28 bringing Texas-influenced dishes, wall-to-wall sports, and ice-cold drinks. This is the second Dudley's, following the original in Rockwall which opened in May 2024 from a team that also owns Boxcar, the cute bar on Greenville Avenue that feels like you're inside a train. Leading the culinary program is executive chef Eric Freidline, who's a managing partner in the Henderson Avenue location. Menu highlights include a Wagyu burger, smoked brisket deviled eggs, and brined smoked half chicken with roasted poblano polenta. The Henderson location also has a wood-fired grill, very trendy right now.

Mamani
New restaurant from Dallas hospitality group Feels Like Home (Namo, Bar Colette) will open at 2828 Routh St. on September 2. The menu by executive chef-partner Christophe De Lellis, a native of Paris who was previously executive chef at Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas, features dishes such as a culotte steak with sauce meurette and hen of the woods mushrooms; Dover sole with brown butter and Meyer lemon; and 22-ounce dry-aged ribeye with potato gratin. The cocktail program by bar director Rubén Rolón skews Italian, spotlighting Negronis.

NADC Burger
Chef-driven cheeseburger concept serving Wagyu burgers is now open at 2908 McKinney Ave. in Uptown Dallas. "Not a Damn Chance," which made its DFW debut in 2025 inside a comedy club in Fort Worth, is a partnership between chef Phillip Frankland Lee (co-founder of Sushi by Scratch Restaurants and Pasta Bar) and professional skateboarder Neen Williams. They keep the menu simple: Cheeseburger with Wagyu beef, American cheese, sauce, onion, and pickle for $16; and fries, double-fried in beef tallow, either plain or in loaded "Beast Mode" with cheese, chopped pickles, jalapeños, sauce, and seasoning.

Paris Baguette
Booming bakery cafe chain opened its first location in Plano at 1201 E. Parker Rd. #100 on August 14. This is on the East Plano side, and it's from franchisee Waleed Liaqat, who left the pharmaceutical industry for the exciting world of croissants, cookie butter layer cakes, pepperoni pizzettas, ham & cheese baguettes, chocolate chip scones, pumpkin pie lattes, and matcha frappes. Who could blame him? This international bakery café concept is growing in North America, with more than 245 bakery cafés including seven in the DFW area: Allen, Carrollton, Coppell, Flower Mound, Frisco, Grand Prairie, and Lewisville.

Torchy's Tacos
Austin-based chain Torchy’s Tacos is now open in Murphy, at 104 E. FM 544. Founded out of an Austin food truck in 2006, Torchy’s is a fast-casual concept serving tacos and Tex-Mex inspired fare. The chain has more than 130 locations across 16 states with 24 in the DFW area: Allen, 2 in Arlington, Burleson, 5 in Dallas, Denton, Euless, Forney, 3 in Fort Worth, 2 in Frisco, Highland Village, Irving, Mansfield, McKinney, Plano, Richardson, Southlake, and Celina also coming soon.

CLOSINGS

Evan's Meat Market
Boutique butcher at the Shops of Highland Park at 4266 Oak Lawn Ave. closed on August 18 after two years. Founded by Evan Meagher, a native of Louisiana who grew up in butcher shops, Evan's sold locally sourced meats plus meals to go such as Cajun gumbo and twice baked potatoes. Meagher had since opened a sandwich shop called The PoBoy Shop in Preston Center, offering po’boys, salads, and Southern sides, where the butcher shop's legacy and recipes will live on. On Friday, August 22, a list of bulk products for sale from the butcher will be shared via email and social channels, with pickups available on Wednesday, August 27.

Henry's Majestic
Craft cocktail pioneer and brunch favorite in West Dallas closed in mid-July. The bar had already closed once before, shuttering its McKinney Avenue location in 2022. They reopened in the former Chicken Scratch space at 2303 Pittman St. but were unable to make the magic happen in a different location. "The last 11 years have been wonderful serving you, our guest good food + strong drink," their post said. "Our plan is up in the air right now to reopen both Henry's Majestic and Atwater Alley in a new location. We are open to the idea of returning but no plans as now."

Stirr
Patio-riffic restaurant and bar in Deep Ellum closed, after a decade of rooftop sunsets, weekend brunches, and late nights. "The memories made here are countless, and the decision to close was not taken lightly [but] with our 10-year lease coming to an end, we felt it was the right time to bring this chapter to a close," their post stated. An Addison Stirr that debuted in 2020 with the same brunch, cocktails, and rooftop vibes is still open.

closings openings