Downtown Dish

Upscale picnic spot City Park Cafe is ready to roll in Main Street Garden

There's a name and a date for the restaurant concept going into the kiosk at Main Street Garden: City Park Cafe. In bigger news, it's opening this weekend. Owner Joe Groves says the cafe will celebrate a soft opening on Saturday, November 9, as part of the festivities surrounding the erecting of the park's Christmas tree.

"The cranes will be out there, and we'll be serving on the patio," Groves says. From there, he plans to be open for real next week.

This space has had its share of hard times. First it was Lily Pad, then Rusty Taco, which lasted less than a year. "The optimist in me says it's because it hasn't been given the love it needs," he says.

He's also uniquely qualified, because he already has a place downtown, Ellen's Southern Kitchen in the West End.

"The beauty is that the kiosk is designed in a way that you cannot have a working kitchen in there," he says. "Everybody that's tried it has had to cater the food from another location. Ellen's is only eight blocks away."

The food will be prepared in Ellen's kitchen and brought over to the kiosk a few times a day. But the menu by Ellen's chef Russell Mertz won't be the same; City Parks Cafe will serve sandwiches, salads, hot dogs, potato salad and an all-day cereal bar.

"I don't really love this phrase, but we're calling it upscale picnic food," Groves says. "The whole concept is to treat it as a backyard for those of us who live downtown. I live across the street. I get up and look at it every morning. You have people walking through. It has a lot of traffic.

"If you view it as downtown's backyard, what do you do in your backyard? You have cookouts, events, friends over, you drink. We're going to have beer and wine. You have food you can handle, you can hold in your hand, but it's still really good, not processed or from some microwave."

It'll have breakfast too, because it will be open from 7:30 am to 10 pm every night. If it does anywhere near as well as Ellen's, it'll do very well.

"We're having great fun at Ellen's," Groves says. "It started as a little diner concept, and we just welcomed our 100,000th guest as of last Sunday. The popularity we're enjoying has been insane. We're grateful for it."

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Hummus News

Revered family-owned Mediterranean restaurant debuts in North Dallas

Samantha Marie Photography

Zon Zon food spread

An upscale Mediterranean restaurant is coming to North Dallas from a trusted name: Called Zon Zon, it'll open at 5455 Belt Line Rd. #130, in the Work/Shop center, and it's from hospitality group Yela Concepts, led by Yaser Khalaf (Darna, Baboush), together with his son Mak Khalef in their first collaboration.

According to a release, it'll open on December 22.

Named for Mak's sister Zaina (“Zon Zon”), the restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner with a refined take on Mediterranean dining, rooted in tradition but with modern influences.

"We tried to merge what embodies Mediterranean cuisine with dishes that people in Dallas love," Mak says. "A lot of the dishes we have on menu are Mediterranean but have American and Texan influences."

Mezze favorites include hummus topped with green shatta and extra-virgin olive oil; baba ghanoush with charred eggplant, tahini, dukka, and pomegranate; crispy cauliflower with saffron labneh; tuna neya with tahini, mixed pickles, and Aleppo pepper; and kibbeh with ground lamb, onions, pine nuts, and dill labneh.

Salads include seared tuna salad with freekeh and golden beets; Tahini Caesar with tahini–Caesar dressing and za’atar croutons; and roasted beets with burrata, oranges, and pistachios.

Entrées include roasted chicken with garlic-batata and pomegranate jus; chicken shish kebab over saffron rice with almonds and raisins; hanger steak shawarma frites — a clever twist on steak frites with hand-cut fries; ZZ’s Wagyu cheeseburger with smoked provolone and house pickles; Prime ribeye with za’atar chimichurri and heirloom carrots; and apricot lamb couscous.

The beverage program complements the menu with a Mediterranean-focused wine list and creative cocktails such as the coffee-kissed Midnight Istanbul and ZZ’s Margarita, with burnt pineapple and ras el hanout.

Designed in collaboration with Dallas-based Coeval Studios, the restaurant features a 2,130-square-foot interior with an expansive 735-square-foot patio that seats 76, for a total occupancy near 100.

The restaurant boasts an open kitchen, while decorative finishes include modern woodwork, rich textures, and Middle Eastern-inspired details — stylish yet inviting, with a setting that feels like home.

“The inspiration behind Zon Zon came from wanting to create the kind of place we’ve always wished existed — a neighborhood Mediterranean spot that feels both familiar and exciting," says Yaser in a statement. "We wanted to create a comfortable space where guests can meet up with friends or neighbors on a regular basis."

Mak went to college to study biomedical engineering, but says he couldn't resist the lure of the restaurant world in which he grew up.

"Zon Zon is a reflection of everything we love about food," Mak says. "What makes this especially meaningful is building it with my dad — bringing our family’s story and passion to the table."

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