Downtown News

Jerry Jones' Legends Hospitality takes over AT&T's downtown Dallas food hall

AT&T Discovery District

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A downtown Dallas dining destination has a new boss: The AT&T Discovery District, the outdoor oasis with immersive exhibits and entertainment in the center of downtown, has formed a partnership with Legends, a premium experiences company co-founded by YGE Holdings, LLC, an affiliate of the New York Yankees, and Jones Concessions LP, an affiliate of the Dallas Cowboys and majority-owned by Sixth Street.

Legends will serve as the new management team overseeing The Exchange Hall, the 26,700-square-foot food hall that's a centerpiece of the downtown destination.

Founded in 2008, Legends Hospitality manages live event spaces and events for major sports and entertainment. It's partnered with such iconic brands as the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, Real Madrid CF, SoFi Stadium, University of Notre Dame, Manchester City FC, LA Clippers, One World Observatory, and Live Nation.

According to a post from AT&T, the new management will be accompanied by upgrades to the district, plus details on a new restaurant, to replace Jaxon, which closed at the end of July.

The food hall was previously managed by Hospitality Alliance, and opened in June 2021 with 16 eateries featuring beloved Dallas chefs and operators.

The Exchange was the first food hall in downtown Dallas and capped the long-awaited full opening of the AT&T Discovery District. AT&T launched the project in 2018 to create a world-class workplace and help revitalize downtown Dallas.

AT&T, whose corporate headquarters already represented a major presence in downtown Dallas, added the new district adjoining AT&'s downtown campus, with restaurants, retail, water features, and a park with free wifi, with a goal to create a place where employees, locals, and tourists could spend time.

That included a mix of technology and green space, including a 425-foot-long water feature ringing the plaza, with lawn, tables, and chairs; a 104-foot-tall, 6K Media Wall; and a 30-foot tall interactive mirrored globe that has become Dallas' mini-version of Cloud Gate, aka "The Bean," in Chicago.

In 2022, the food hall began to experience some turmoil, including high-profile chef departures, turnover, and closures.

Original concepts such as Rise & Thyme, a seasonal American cafe from celebrity chef Amanda Freitag, were replaced by less unique options such as pizza.

Jaxon's closure was precipitated by a severence between AT&T and Hospitality Alliance effective July 31.

"We will no longer be involved with the Discovery District (including Jaxon) after the end of the month," the company told members of its staff. "While this is disappointing, I believe it will be better for all of us in the long run."

AT&T already has a relationship with Jones via the location of Cowboys Fit, their trademark fitness center, which opened in the AT&T Discovery District at 1500 Jackson St. in early 2020.

downtown closings

Hottest Headlines of 2025

Top Dallas restaurant news of 2025 cooked up celebs, closures & Costco

Soul Shack

Fried chicken, mac & cheese, collards at Soul Shack.

Editor's note: As we look back at the most-read restaurant stories of 2025, it clear that the fate of a Dallas landmark — and its even more iconic popovers — kept readers riveted. There were exciting openings and heartbreaking closures, as well as one very controversial taco pop-up, and even ice cream delivered by drone. And news of a new Costco (or three) was a hot topic from all the way back at the beginning of the year.

Here are the 10 hottest restaurant stories of 2025 in Dallas:

1. The 2 Dallas restaurants where reservations are now impossible to get. Cafe Dior by Dominque Crenn is the restaurant inside the new Dior boutique in Highland Park Village, which opened in at the start of the year. Zodiac Room is the about-to-close restaurant inside the storied downtown location of Neiman Marcus, which has had several imminent closure scares but now states it will remain open past the 2025 holidays.

Popover, Zodiac Room, Neiman Marcus Downtown Zodiac Room popovers. Photo courtesy of Lisa Crossett

2. Dallas Caramel Company founder Rain McDermott dies at 52. Dallas entrepreneur Rain McDermott, who founded artisan caramel maker Dallas Caramel Company when she was only 34 years old, died in June after a battle with breast cancer; she was 52.

3. Dallas celebs are flocking to Soul Shack, new restaurant in Cedar Hill. The original was a fast-casual concept in Chicago called Soul Shack Express, which is still open. The Dallas location is a more ambitious effort, with a full-service restaurant, full bar, and swanky nightlife atmosphere. They've quickly earned notice from celebrities including TikTok phenomenon Keith Lee, who touted them with a review in their first week open (giving it a high rating of 8 out of 10 on his scale); and celebrity Shaquille "Shaq" O'Neal, who dropped in for a surprise visit.

4. Salad and Go reveals the 18 locations closing around Dallas. In good news, 25 locations will remain open. The one-of-a-kind salad chain specializing in low-priced salads in a drive-thru-only format previously announced its plan to close 41 restaurants. But the chain is still firmly committed to the Dallas metro area and Oklahoma, plus stores in Arizona and Las Vegas.

Salad and Go is going going gone. Photo by Salad and Go

5. Award-winning Dallas burger joint opens location in Forney. Blues Burgers is from Howard and Catherine Baldwin, who opened the original Blues Burgers near Love Field in Dallas in 2014 (it closed in February 2025 so they could focus on this venture). They use Angus beef for their burgers, and make their own sauces and spreads in-house. They fry in beef tallow, and their sodas are made with cane sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup. They also do fried pies, made in house.

6. Costco lines up 3 new stores opening in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2025. Cult-favorite grocery warehouse Costco is gifting Dallas-Fort Worth with three new stores, two of which opened in mid-March: Prosper and Weatherford. The Celina location's timeline has shifted to late 2026.

7. Blue Bell hosts extravagant freebie to get Dallas to try new ice cream. The new flavor is Classic Pecan Pie Ice Cream, a brown sugar ice cream with roasted pecans and pieces of pie crust mixed with a pecan pie filling. Now is a good time to mention that pecan pie is the state pie of Texas. Blue Bell partnered with Wing, the drone delivery division of Google parent company Alphabet, and Walmart, to give DFW residents the chance to try it for free via drone delivery.

Blue Bell Classic Pecan Pie ice cream. Blue Bell

8. Michelin-starred taqueria from Mexico City to do pop-up in Dallas. El Califa de León was to come to Texas for a limited-run 14- day, culinary pop-up, but following less-than-stellar reviews on social media, the restaurant pulled the plug one week into the engagement.

9. 2 Dallas steakhouses proclaimed among the best in the world. Nuri Steakhouse and Knife join 17 others in the U.S. that made the cut. The ranking, by London-based company Upper Cut Media House, is based on incognito reviews of each restaurant by so-called "Steak Ambassadors" who have industry backgrounds as chefs, food journalists, or "certified meat- and Wagyu masters."

Nuri Steakhouse ranked 84th on the list. Photo courtesy of Nuri

10. Beloved Richardson burger joint pivots to smaller more affordable mode. After 12 years, Haystack Burgers & Barley has reimagined its flagship location at 100 Central Expwy. #17 into a new concept called Little Stack, a more concise, more budget-friendly version of itself.