A new bar on Dallas' Greenville Avenue achieves the rare feat of being unlike anything else in town: Called Boxcar, it's now open, softly, at 4509 Greenville Ave., in a former laundromat, just a block north of SMU Boulevard, where it serves chef-driven food, craft cocktails — and an atmosphere that summons the inside of a train car.

Boxcar is from a team with lots of hospitality experience, including Jordan Carson and Patrick Gorman, who co-own Dudley's Sports Grill in Rockwall, plus partners Allen Scott and Carlos Angel; Carson is also a co-owner of Christies Sports Bar & Grill.

Carson says that Boxcar was actually in the works before Dudley's, which they opened in May.

"We had to go through a change of use, since this used to be a washeteria, and then we had to update the plumbing — it took two years," Carson says. "But we're very happy with the outcome."

The outcome is a bar that, once you step inside, feels like you're sitting inside a train car, and they went to great lengths with fabrication and furnishings to create the illusion.

"The bar is 1,000 square feet, and the train theme transforms the space," Carson says. "We created windows with a backdrop that makes it look like you're moving on a train. We built out the walls so we could embed TV screens, then put curtains on the windows — it makes it feel like the whole room is moving."

Other perfect Orient Express-style appointments include two glittering chandeliers, red banquettes, and a century-old rug. Bathrooms have some wow, featuring gold toilets no less, with black subway tile and fanciful wallpapers, one featuring varied portraits of George Washington in gilded frames on a black background.

Their cocktail menu has a vintage vibe, from classics like Bees Knees and a French 75, to specialty cocktails that embrace the train theme, with names like Lovers Station (gin, orange cordial, lemon, egg white, Peychaud's, & St. Germain) and Light at the End of the Tunnel (Toki Japanese whiskey, averna, cream sherry, & Peychaud's).

In addition to a full bar, there's a themed menu devised by chef Eric Freidline (who won a CultureMap Tastemakers Award in 2019 for Rising Star chef and who also did the menu for Dudley's), that includes a meat & cheese board, Wagyu pastrami French dip sandwich, truffle parmesan tater tots, olives & Marcona almonds, and a cheddar corndog with garlic aioli. Dessert includes butter croissant beignets.

"Everything is served on fine china," Jordan says. "My mother-in-law found china from estate sales all over Texas, and I used my mom's. It's mix-and match."

Carson and his partners did the decor mostly themselves, and even though it's very polished — "it's also all very personal," he says.