• Home
  • popular
  • Events
  • Submit New Event
  • Subscribe
  • About
  • News
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Home + Design
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • Innovation
  • Sports
  • Charity Guide
  • children
  • education
  • health
  • veterans
  • SOCIAL SERVICES
  • ARTS + CULTURE
  • animals
  • lgbtq
  • New Charity
  • Series
  • Delivery Limited
  • DTX Giveaway 2012
  • DTX Ski Magic
  • dtx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Your Home in the Sky
  • DTX Best of 2013
  • DTX Trailblazers
  • Tastemakers Dallas 2017
  • Healthy Perspectives
  • Neighborhood Eats 2015
  • The Art of Making Whiskey
  • DTX International Film Festival
  • DTX Tatum Brown
  • Tastemaker Awards 2016 Dallas
  • DTX McCurley 2014
  • DTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • DTX Beyond presents Party Perfect
  • DTX Texas Health Resources
  • DART 2018
  • Alexan Central
  • State Fair 2018
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Zatar
  • CityLine
  • Vision Veritas
  • Okay to Say
  • Hearts on the Trinity
  • DFW Auto Show 2015
  • Northpark 50
  • Anteks Curated
  • Red Bull Cliff Diving
  • Maggie Louise Confections Dallas
  • Gaia
  • Red Bull Global Rally Cross
  • NorthPark Holiday 2015
  • Ethan's View Dallas
  • DTX City Centre 2013
  • Galleria Dallas
  • Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty Luxury Homes in Dallas Texas
  • DTX Island Time
  • Simpson Property Group SkyHouse
  • DIFFA
  • Lotus Shop
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Dallas
  • Clothes Circuit
  • DTX Tastemakers 2014
  • Elite Dental
  • Elan City Lights
  • Dallas Charity Guide
  • DTX Music Scene 2013
  • One Arts Party at the Plaza
  • J.R. Ewing
  • AMLI Design District Vibrant Living
  • Crest at Oak Park
  • Braun Enterprises Dallas
  • NorthPark
  • Victory Park
  • DTX Common Desk
  • DTX Osborne Advisors
  • DTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • DFW Showcase Tour of Homes
  • DTX Neighborhood Eats
  • DTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • DTX Auto Awards
  • Cottonwood Art Festival 2017
  • Nasher Store
  • Guardian of The Glenlivet
  • Zyn22
  • Dallas Rx
  • Yellow Rose Gala
  • Opendoor
  • DTX Sun and Ski
  • Crow Collection
  • DTX Tastes of the Season
  • Skye of Turtle Creek Dallas
  • Cottonwood Art Festival
  • DTX Charity Challenge
  • DTX Culture Motive
  • DTX Good Eats 2012
  • DTX_15Winks
  • St. Bernard Sports
  • Jose
  • DTX SMU 2014
  • DTX Up to Speed
  • st bernard
  • Ardan West Village
  • DTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Taste the Difference
  • Parktoberfest 2016
  • Bob's Steak and Chop House
  • DTX Smart Luxury
  • DTX Earth Day
  • DTX_Gaylord_Promoted_Series
  • IIDA Lavish
  • Huffhines Art Trails 2017
  • Red Bull Flying Bach Dallas
  • Y+A Real Estate
  • Beauty Basics
  • DTX Pet of the Week
  • Long Cove
  • Charity Challenge 2014
  • Legacy West
  • Wildflower
  • Stillwater Capital
  • Tulum
  • DTX Texas Traveler
  • Dallas DART
  • Soldiers' Angels
  • Alexan Riveredge
  • Ebby Halliday Realtors
  • Zephyr Gin
  • Sixty Five Hundred Scene
  • Christy Berry
  • Entertainment Destination
  • Dallas Art Fair 2015
  • St. Bernard Sports Duck Head
  • Jameson DTX
  • Alara Uptown Dallas
  • Cottonwood Art Festival fall 2017
  • DTX Tastemakers 2015
  • Cottonwood Arts Festival
  • The Taylor
  • Decks in the Park
  • Alexan Henderson
  • Gallery at Turtle Creek
  • Omni Hotel DTX
  • Red on the Runway
  • Whole Foods Dallas 2018
  • Artizone Essential Eats
  • Galleria Dallas Runway Revue
  • State Fair 2016 Promoted
  • Trigger's Toys Ultimate Cocktail Experience
  • Dean's Texas Cuisine
  • Real Weddings Dallas
  • Real Housewives of Dallas
  • Jan Barboglio
  • Wildflower Arts and Music Festival
  • Hearts for Hounds
  • Okay to Say Dallas
  • Indochino Dallas
  • Old Forester Dallas
  • Dallas Apartment Locators
  • Dallas Summer Musicals
  • PSW Real Estate Dallas
  • Paintzen
  • DTX Dave Perry-Miller
  • DTX Reliant
  • Get in the Spirit
  • Bachendorf's
  • Holiday Wonder
  • Village on the Parkway
  • City Lifestyle
  • opportunity knox villa-o restaurant
  • Nasher Summer Sale
  • Simpson Property Group
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2017 Dallas
  • Carlisle & Vine
  • DTX New Beginnings
  • Get in the Game
  • Red Bull Air Race
  • Dallas DanceFest
  • 2015 Dallas Stylemaker
  • Youth With Faces
  • Energy Ogre
  • DTX Renewable You
  • Galleria Dallas Decadence
  • Bella MD
  • Tractorbeam
  • Young Texans Against Cancer
  • Fresh Start Dallas
  • Dallas Farmers Market
  • Soldier's Angels Dallas
  • Shipt
  • Elite Dental
  • Texas Restaurant Association 2017
  • State Fair 2017
  • Scottish Rite
  • Brooklyn Brewery
  • DTX_Stylemakers
  • Alexan Crossings
  • Ascent Victory Park
  • Top Texans Under 30 Dallas
  • Discover Downtown Dallas
  • San Luis Resort Dallas
  • Greystar The Collection
  • FIG Finale
  • Greystar M Line Tower
  • Lincoln Motor Company
  • The Shelby
  • Jonathan Goldwater Events
  • Windrose Tower
  • Gift Guide 2016
  • State Fair of Texas 2016
  • Choctaw Dallas
  • TodayTix Dallas promoted
  • Whole Foods
  • Unbranded 2014
  • Frisco Square
  • Unbranded 2016
  • Circuit of the Americas 2018
  • The Katy
  • Snap Kitchen
  • Partners Card
  • Omni Hotels Dallas
  • Landmark on Lovers
  • Harwood Herd
  • Galveston.com Dallas
  • Holiday Happenings Dallas 2018
  • TenantBase
  • Cottonwood Art Festival 2018
  • Hawkins-Welwood Homes
  • The Inner Circle Dallas
  • Eating in Season Dallas
  • ATTPAC Behind the Curtain
  • TodayTix Dallas
  • The Alexan
  • Toyota Music Factory
  • Nosh Box Eatery
  • Wildflower 2018
  • Society Style Dallas 2018
  • Texas Scottish Rite Hospital 2018
  • 5 Mockingbird
  • 4110 Fairmount
  • Visit Taos
  • Allegro Addison
  • Dallas Tastemakers 2018
  • The Village apartments
  • City of Burleson Dallas

    Tex-Mex News

    Classic Dallas Tex-Mex comes back to life in storied El Fenix location

    Teresa Gubbins
    Oct 25, 2021 | 3:50 pm
    Popocatepetl Y Iztaccihuatl mexican romeo juliet
    One of the murals depicts Popocatepetl and Iztaccíhuatl, the Aztec Romeo and Juliet.
    Photo courtesy of Saatchi

     UPDATE 5-1-2022: Casa Rosa did a soft opening on April 29. UPDATE: 4-21-2024: Casa Rosa closed.

     

    -----------------------------------

     

    A classic Dallas Tex-Mex that's been dormant for more than a decade is ready to rise again. Casa Rosa, which once ruled the Park Cities from its Inwood Village location, is being revived by owner Gilbert Cuellar Jr., who will open at an address with its own storied past: the former El Fenix at 5622 Lemmon Ave., in the Lemmonwood Shopping Center, built in 1961.

     

    A renovation of the space is underway, and Cuellar says his goal is to be open in early 2022.

     

    Casa Rosa was founded in 1981, part of the El Chico family of restaurants, as a slightly more upscale concept than El Chico, though with its same dedication to reliable, well-done Tex-Mex at its core.

     

    In a 1996 review, critic Mary Brown Malouf noted that Casa Rosa was the de facto Tex-Mex for its Park Cities neighborhood, calling it "one of the prettier Mexican restaurants around — with its deep heart-colored walls, heavy carved moldings and furnishings, and giant Spanish paintings," and applauding its well executed food and exciting menu.

     

    After an ownership change, the restaurant was rebranded in 2003 as a Cantina Laredo; by 2013, it was closed to make way for the Trader Joe's.

     

    Gilbert went on to other concepts such as Cuellar's Fajita Ranch, which he co-opened with his cousin John Cuellar in 2016.

     

    "Bringing back Casa Rosa was probably the furthest thing from my mind," Gilbert says. "But I got a call from a real estate person, who asked if I wanted to see this restaurant space that had closed. When we got there, I was amazed it was the El Fenix space. I love old buildings like that, steeped in history. It was a request from the landlord, who asked if we could put Casa Rosa there, because she had enjoyed going to the Inwood Village restaurant all those years."

     

    His goal is to evoke the spirit of Casa Rosa, including bringing back the key elements people reminisce about the most.

     

    "No. 1 is the large murals," he says. "There were two big paintings on the wall, originally done by artist Frank Boerder, and we're replicating those in scale and content. People who went there remember them vividly. One is a depiction of the legend of the Mexican Romeo & Juliet, holding each other in death on a volcano. It was a recreation of traditional Mexican calendar art. The other is of a woman with a letter on a road in Mexico."

     

    "No. 2 is the planter and the skylight," he says. "The original Cast Rosa was designed to create the look of a Mexican courtyard. We had a skylight with a planter underneath, and we're going to recreate that."

     

    "No. 3 is the pink," he says. "The restaurant was named after two houses, side by side, that my father had built. They were called Casa Rosa. So we'll definitely have pink elements. It's about my love of my family and the house we all knew as home."

     

    The food is Tex-Mex, with a little something extra.

     

    "The thing about Casa Rosa, what's special beyond the fact that we do a very good job at what we do, is that we know what people want," he says. "The heart and soul of our menu is our Tex-Mex."

     

    We're talking enchiladas, tamales, quesadillas, fajitas. But they'll also cycle in specials, some of which may achieve permanent status.

     

    "My father and mother would find recipes they liked and recreate them," he says. "We'll bring back those recipes, and run specials for three to six months or longer if people like them. The goal is to always have something new to try."

     

    The other special thing about this revival is his partner.

     

    "I wouldn't do this alone, I knew I wanted to find someone to help me run it and I reached out to my son-in-law, Michael Fleetwood," Gilbert says. "So this represents two things: the return of Casa Rosa back to Dallas and the third generation of the family."

    tex-mex
    news/restaurants-bars

    Tex-Mex News

    New Dallas Tex-Mex Texano Cocina opens in former El Fenix space

    Teresa Gubbins
    Jul 8, 2025 | 7:05 pm
    Texano Cocina
    Texano Cocina
    Texano Cocina

    The name may change but the Tex-Mex goes on: A new concept called Texano Cocina has opened at 5622 Lemmon Ave., in the Lemmonwood Shopping Center, taking over the space that was most famously El Fenix, but has seen a series of Tex-Mex concepts open and close in recent years.

    The space was most recently occupied by Eddie's Cocina & Cantina, and prior to that was home to Tex-Mex restaurant Casa Rosa, which closed in 2024.

    Eddie's was from Eddie Cervantes whose previous restaurants include Primo's in Uptown, now closed, and E-Bar Tex Mex in East Dallas, now owned by Ernie Quilantan. Cervantes also owns Eddie's Tex-Mex Cocina at 2018 Greenville Ave., which he opened in 2021.

    The location at Lemmon and Inwood is adjacent to Park Cities, Preston Hollow, and the Medical District — all neighbors who desperately want a Tex-Mex nearby. El Fenix had been in that location for 60 years before it closed in 2020.

    A release states that Cervantes and his former partners have decided to part amicably, and describes Texano as a rebranding, boasting an updated vision while continuing to deliver the restaurant's signature flavors and hospitality.

    "We are incredibly grateful for Eddie's vision and contributions to establishing such a beloved spot on Lemmon Avenue," says managing partner Rick Castillo. "We wish him nothing but the very best in his future projects. As Texano Cocina, we are excited to build upon the strong foundation he helped create, introducing new recipes, fresh ideas and an enhanced experience that celebrates the vibrant culinary traditions of Texas and Mexico."

    That means a menu fusing Mexican and Texan flavors with a commitment to exceptional food, outstanding service, and a memorable dining experience.

    There are fajitas, chicken with mole, steak with onions, mushrooms, & peppers, guiso de res beef stew, chile relleno, and redfish, pan-seared or blackened. There's also a smashburger, a Mexican cheesesteak, and eight tacos with options such as carne asada, brisket, or shrimp.

    There are lunch specials including combo plates with rice and beans priced from $12-$14; and appetizers like ceviches, queso, nachos, and Texas torpedos, stuffed with chicken and cheese, then deep-fried, grilled, or wrapped in bacon.

    Guests can look forward to a new remodeled dining and bar area, along with a patio area for dining in the cooler months, and an expanded menu featuring more regional Texas-inspired dishes.

    tex-mexopenings
    news/restaurants-bars

    most read posts

    This Dallas suburb had the highest apartment rent prices in DFW in June

    State Fair of Texas leaks semifinalists for '25 Big Tex Choice awards

    9 best things to do in Dallas on 4th of July weekend

    Loading...