Holiday Dining

Master list of best restaurants in Dallas for New Year's Day 2020 brunch

Best way to begin 2020: with a mimosa.

Photo courtesy of Vital Fitness Studio

The year 2020 starts off on a Wednesday, but you can climb over hump day to ring it in with a festive New Year's Day brunch.

Here's a list of restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth where you can celebrate the New Year with a bite to eat:

Blatt Beer & Table
Preston Hollow gastropub opens on New Year’s Day at 12 noon. 469-372-2080.

Blue Mesa Grill
Legendary brunch makes special weekday appearance with carving station featuring BBQ brisket, roasted Latin chicken, salmon and grilled veggies; omelet bar; ice cream sundae stand for kids and adults; and assortment of Tex-Mex, breakfast dishes, salads, desserts, champagne, Mimosas, OJ, coffee, tea, and soft drinks. 10 am-3 pm. $24, or $7 for 6-11 years old.

City Works
Fort Worth and Frisco locations are hosting a rock 'n' roll-themed brunch, with cocktails including the Hot Blooded and Flapjack Old Fashioned, along with massive HDTVs for college bowl viewing. Frisco 469-850-1850, Fort Worth 682-207-1500.

Doc B's Restaurant & Bar
No-fuss restaurant will be open all day for lunch and dinner, serving its famous candied bacon, The Angry Meatball, shredded Brussels sprouts salad, oven roasted chicken wings, and wedge burger. Fort Worth, 682-231-8820; Dallas, 469-998-2330.

Ellen's
Downtown Dallas staple serves brunch all the time, day and night; why should New Year's Day be any different? Because on New Year's, they're also offering every diner a free order of celebratory black-eyed peas. 469-206-3339.

Fearing's
Ritz-Carlton restaurant hosts a three-course prix fixe menu. 11 am-2:30 pm. $75, or $100 with champagne, mimosas, and bloody Marys. 214-922-4848.

LAW at Four Seasons Las Colinas
New Year's Day Disco Brunch features enhanced holiday breakfast buffet and Bloody Mary bar. Comes with two featured brunch cocktails or featured glasses of wine. 11:30 am-2 pm. $59, or $29 for 12 and under. 972-717-2420.

Perle on Maple
In addition to its regular hours, the restaurant at the Stoneleigh Hotel is hosting a special brunch with Bloodys, bubbles, and Stoneleigh burger, featuring their famous sparkle bar. 9 am-2 pm. 469-375-5846.

Meddlesome Moth
Design District gastropub opens early with a la carte brunch menu in addition to Black Eyed Pea Stew with cornbread, and “The Little Luther” breakfast sandwich: a duck fat doughnut, pork sausage, praline bacon, egg, white cheddar, and blackberry jam ($8-$19). 10am-3pm. 214-628-7900.

Meso Maya
New Year's Day brunch will feature interior Mexican cuisine along with $3 mimosas, bloody marys, and sangrias. 11 am-3 pm.

Mimi's Bistro + Bakery
$5 Mimosas and breakfast served all day at the locations in Arlington and Fort Worth. 817-466-3212.

Moxie's
Both Uptown Dallas and Plano locations of this gastropub are running a special New Year' Day version of the brunch they usually host on weekends. Start 2020 with poutine. 469-687-0050.

Norma's Cafe
Enjoy free samples of black-eyed peas and special menu additions including traditional corned beef and cabbage. plus a contest to win chicken fried steak for a year. 7 am–8 pm. Five locations at Oak Cliff, North Dallas, Frisco, Park Lane, Plano.

Oceanaire Seafood Room
Open 4–9 pm with $1 oysters at the bar. 972-759-2277.

Pappas Delta Blues Smokehouse
Smoked turkey breast, USDA prime beef brisket, jalapeño & cheddar sausage, cream corn pudding, or buttered collard greens & turnips. Open until 10 pm. 972-378-9903.

PS 214 and PS 972
Both Dallas and Addison locations of this bustling gastropub are hosting special holiday brunch not only on New Year's Day but also on New Year's Eve Day. Menu will be the same as their weekend brunch with chicken & green chili waffles, eggs benedict pizza, and boozy carafes including mimosas and bloody Marys. 11 am-3 pm. 214-599-6234.

Punch Bowl Social
Deep Ellum spot hosts a morning-after brunch with Barbacoa Brisket Hash, Griddled Breakfast Burrito, and a Bloody Mary bar. 10 am-3 pm.469-607-6880.

Razzoo's Cajun Café
All 21 Razzoo’s Cajun Café locations will be serving $5 Moonshine Marys and Hair of the Dog cocktails. These special prices are available all day on New Year’s Day.

The Rustic
Family-style Hangover Cure Brunch with free live music. 214-730-0596.

Street's Fine Chicken
Brunch menu is available all day with favorites like the show bird and biscuit sliders. Street’s also offers $3 mimosas and $5 Bloody Marys.

Wheelhouse
Design District pub reprises its "Rehab/Relapse" brunch on New Year's Day. "Rehab" is juice virgin-style; Relapse includes alcohol. They'll serve their traditional brunch menu from 11 am-3 pm, but the regular menu is available as well. 214-307-5690.

Whiskey Cake
Both locations will be open for New Year’s Day brunch featuring their regular brunch menu dishes. 10 am-3 pm. Plano, 972-993-2253; Las Colinas, 469-941-2253.

holidays

Spring Arrival

West Dallas gets new Spanish-Peruvian restaurant with big-name chef

Photo courtesy of Ulloa's

Paella will be on the menu.

A new restaurant with a high-profile culinary director will bring Spanish and Peruvian flavors to West Dallas: Called Ulloa’s, it is coming to 727 Fort Worth Ave., with a projected opening in March 2027.

The concept is from philanthropists Susan and Woodrow Gandy, who were previously investors in the historic Belmont Hotel just around the corner. They've teamed up with Dallas celebrity chef Kent Rathbun as culinary director, along with Christopher Tunnell as general manager to lead the front of the house.

Rathbun is a name Dallas diners know well, with a resume that includes The Mansion on Turtle Creek, the Landmark Restaurant at the historic Melrose Hotel, Seventeen Seventeen at the Dallas Museum of Art, Abacus, Jasper's, Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen, and more. He's won numerous awards and made multiple appearances on Food Network. He was most recently behind the launch of On The Rocks, an Italian bistro in Burleson.

Chef Kent Rathbun will be the culinary director of Ulloa's. Photo courtesy of Kent Rathbun

Tunnell’s background spans both culinary direction and front-of-house operations. He worked at Los Angeles hot spots Ketchup, Geisha House, and Les Deux, as well as the Mandalay Bay and The Mirage in Las Vegas, before moving to Dallas to open The Mexican, the upscale restaurant in the Design District.

“I am truly excited to partner with Chef Kent Rathbun, whose reputation is amazing — not only in the DFW Metroplex, but in the culinary world,” Tunnell says. “He has been with this project since the beginning, helping develop it; this will be a very chef-driven, culinary-forward restaurant.”

The team's vision for Ulloa’s is both culinary and urban, with hopes of anchoring the corridor and attracting other businesses to Fort Worth Avenue — a stretch connecting downtown Dallas with Oak Cliff that remains somewhat underdeveloped despite its panoramic skyline views.

The restaurant is named for Spanish explorer, astronomer, and scientist Antonio de Ulloa, who spent extensive time in the Mexican peninsula before becoming Louisiana’s first governor. During his travels, Ulloa documented a fogbow — a circular rainbow formed when sunlight meets mist that causes silhouettes standing between the sun and fog to appear ringed in light, a phenomenon known today as “Ulloa’s Rings.”

That vibrant phenomenon inspired both the restaurant's identity and logo. The concept promises "bold, worldly flavors in a welcoming neighborhood setting inspired by exploration and discovery,” the owners say.

Ulloa's Rendering of Ulloa's.Rendering courtesy of Ulloa's

While the menu remains in development, Tunnell describes the culinary direction as “Spanish soul with a Peruvian heart.” The kitchen will merge the coastal flavors of both traditions — ranging from paellas and ceviches to crafted cocktails and signature adaptations by Rathbun.

The 200-seat, two-story space will feature a downstairs dining room, a large bar, and an outdoor patio. Upstairs, plans call for a secondary bar, a private dining room, a patio, and an expansive balcony patio, offering views of the city's skyline and of the Margaret Hunt Hill and Margaret McDermott bridges.

While the upstairs space will be available for private events, the owners intend for it to operate primarily as an organic extension of the main restaurant. The buildout will include a guest elevator along with ample parking, including both self-parking and valet options.

The team says the restaurant will have have an aesthetic that's “warm, theatrical, generous, elegant but alive, with the energy of a great Spanish tapas bar and the soul of Peruvian hospitality.”

Ulloa’s plans to launch with dinner service first, followed by lunch and weekend brunch.

restaurants bars peruvian flavors west dallas oak cliff kent rathbun