Uptown News

Uptown Dallas Asian restaurant rebrands with crowd-pleasing cuisine

Tacos are a crowd-pleasing cuisine.

Photo courtesy of Tequila Delicious

A restaurant-bar in Uptown Dallas that was doing Asian food has closed to make way for a concept with Mexican food. Goodbye Anju and hello Tequila Delicious, which is now open at 2901 Thomas Ave., where it's serving street tacos, Mexican food, and margaritas, with a big selection of tequila and mezcal and an epic patio that's also dog-friendly.

The new concept is the brainchild of owner Michael Kim and chef Humberto "Beto" Lira, who has worked at restaurants such as Neighborhood Services, Taco Lingo, and Mexican Sugar.

The menu includes quesadillas, "a big burrito," queso, guacamole, street tacos, and margaritas in a variety of flavors.

"It's a smaller menu," Kim says. "But Beto hails from Mexico City and has always had a vision of wanting to do the food from his hometown. We're not doing Tex Mex. The centerpiece is street tacos. It's summoning that food truck culture where you can grab a few street tacos, with his bright flavor profiles."

Taco options include bistek (beef marinated in lime), carnitas, chicken tinga, pork pastor, lengua, and nopales with queso fresco.

Margaritas include cucumber jalapeno, frozen, strawberry-basil, and a refreshing one with dragonfruit and mint.

They're also leaning heavily into brunch, including featuring the perennial crowd-pleasing drag brunch concept which they'll host every Saturday at 1 pm.

This space has had some turnover: Once Thomas Avenue Beverage Company, then Boxwood, then City Council. Kim opened Anju in early 2021 as a cool Asian outpost in the middle of Dallas, but a cool Asian outpost is not what the market wanted.

"I thought of all the Asian and Korean places I've enjoyed in Carrollton and the surrounding areas outside Dallas, and thought it would be more convenient for Uptown to have an Asian tapas drinking place close by," he says. "At the end of day, what I concluded is that I was incorrect. We got great feedback on what we were doing and people liked the food, but maybe didn't crave it as frequently as a hamburger or pizza or more traditional cuisines."

Kim, who owns a hospitality company called One Esca, is an ambitious and enthusiastic restaurateur. He's reviving Sugarbacon, the American/Southern food restaurant in McKinney, and is also bringing Mad For Chicken, a chain known for its soy garlic fried chicken and unique Korean inspired dishes, to DFW.

uptown

Coffee News

New Dallas coffee shop opens with good coffee — and great hair

Common Good

Common Good coffee and good vibes

A new coffee shop with some serious styling has opened near downtown Dallas: Called Common Good, it's located at 1619 N. Hall St., right off Ross Avenue, in what was previously a retail outlet for Rakkasan Tea Company, who left the space in mid-2024.

Common Good is more than just a coffee shop – it's a coffee shop-hair salon from Christopher Bermudez, a stylist who previously owned Ellum Salon in Deep Ellum which he sold in 2022. Their motto: "Good coffee, good hair, good vibes."

Bermudez was born in Mexico City and moved to Dallas when he was one year old but remained close to his culture and often travels to Mexico City, where he found the inspiration behind this new concept.

"I was inspired by the multiuse spaces in my hometown of Mexico City: coffee shops that turn into a nightclub or tequila tasting rooms in the evening. Great vibe is what we are going for," he says.

The coffee shop is in the front, while the hair salon is in the back, divided by a large glass. The salon has eight stylists, including Bermudez.

The shop also features all-vinyl jam tables where guest DJs play music most weekends, creating a cool atmosphere. The décor resembles listening rooms that are popular in South Korea, with custom-made wooden walls and modern furniture.

Good vibes at Common Good Coffee and hair salonCommon Good

Heading the coffee operation is Jesse Nava, who recently worked at Xaman Coffee in Oak Cliff, and they're partnered with Lemma Coffee for beans and barista training. The shop offers a small but solid menu, with espresso and coffee classics, plus some specialty drinks including pistachio matcha, cardamon rose latte, espresso freddo, and a Mexican mocha.

“We want to stay consistent with a small menu — we want to get it right, then eventually add to it," Bermudez says.

They plan to add food, as well, working with a local bakery still to be decided for muffins, croissants, kolaches, cookies, and bagels.

They're open Tuesday-Saturday from 7 am-7 pm, with shorter hours Sunday and Monday, from 7 am-2 pm, since the salon portion is closed those days.

They've witnessed a big demand for coffee, since the center they're in had coffee history: The storefront on the corner at 1623 Hall St. was once Method Coffee, then Fiction Coffee, which closed at the end of 2023. (It's now home to Black Swan Saloon, the resuscitated bar from acclaimed mixologist Gabe Sanchez.)

They see themselves as a neighborhood coffee shop, where residents of the multiple apartment complexes around can become regulars. They are dog-friendly, serving pup cups.

"I always believed that if you have a good product people will come," Bermudez says.

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