Deep Ellum News

Mechanical bull is headed to Dallas' Deep Ellum at new Rodeo country bar

Here comes the mechanical bull, riding into Deep Ellum.

Rodeo Ranch

There's a mechanical bull coming to Dallas' Deep Ellum, courtesy of a new bar called Rodeo Dallas, opening in late spring.

Rodeo is a spinoff of a concept founded in Arizona, and it's opening at 2724 Elm St., in the space previously occupied by Wits End. Construction is already well underway and according to co-owner Joseph "JD" Ybanez, it'll open in early summer.

The original is called Rodeo Ranch, and was founded in 2018 in Tempe as an "adult playground" with the aforementioned mechanical bull, bottle service, DJs, dancing, and light show.

The concept is from two veteran club impressarios with strong ties to Texas: Ybanez and partner Josh Reagan, who own Longshots in Dallas, plus two locations of Varsity Tavern, in Fort Worth and in Tempe.

Ybanez, 35, is a native of El Paso and graduate of A&M with a master's degree who's been in the bar and restaurant industry since 2007.

"I love the industry, I've been involved in it since I was 19," he says.

His first bar was Trophy Ranch, which he opened in the West 7th District seven years ago, now closed. It, too, had a mechanical bull.

"That's where I learned how popular it was," he says. "We liked the idea of bringing one to Deep Ellum. Obviously, the mechanical bull will be a focal point — but Rodeo will also just be a country-themed bar with great nightlife, food & drinks, state-of-the-art audio-visual, and plenty of entertainment."

Rodeo Ranch has been described as an upbeat bar with Texas-inspired elements such as cowhide benches, animal trophy heads, lighting over the bar made from a rustic trough and Edison light bulbs.

The Arizona location features arcade games such as Big Buck Hunter, boxing, and basketball games, numerous 70-inch TVs for sports viewing, electronic dance music DJs, VIP tables with bottle service, a high-end sound system and light show that includes a back-lit wall lined with liquor bottles, shot wheel, and dancing on the bar.

Part of the package includes women servers in lingerie, which has become increasingly common in high-energy bars.

"I think Bottled Blonde brought that to Dallas, but it's a trend you see across the country now," he says.

Ybanez also organized the Tacos & Tequilas festival that debuted in 2022 at Panther Island Pavilion in Fort Worth , where it will return on May 20, 2023.

Wits End was an old-school hangout that closed in June 2022. At the time it closed, a spokesperson said that the lease had come to an end and the landlord, Westdale Properties, would not renew. Westdale did not comment, but neighborhood regulars cited a desire to clean up the area and focus more on soft uses such as restaurants and retail.

deep-ellum openings

Noodle News

YouTube critic Mike Chen ranks his favorite noodles in Dallas

Pho Pasteur

YouTube food critic Mike Chen, who travels the world spotlighting mostly Asian restaurants for his Strictly Dumpling YouTube channel, recently dropped into Dallas to rank his favorite noodles in town.

Titled "24 Hours Eating The Best NOODLES + DUMPLINGS Around DFW," the video follows Chen as he visits five restaurants, ordering noodles and dumplings at his favorite places as well as new discoveries.

The visit marked a return to DFW for Chen, who briefly resided in North Texas in 2021 and who has previously posted videos covering ramen, Vietnamese food, sushi, and barbecue.

Here's where he ate:

Chef Sun's Noodle and Dumpling
The video starts out with him noting that "there's a lot of new noodle places around the Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Frisco area," before entering Chef Sun's Noodle and Dumpling, a Chinese Halal restaurant that makes its own noodles, with locations in Plano and McKinney (which CultureMap covered in May — do you think he saw our story?!).

He raves over the extensive menu, featuring not only noodles but "a bunch of dumplings" and many other options like walnut shrimp and mapo tofu.

He also raves over the price. "Wow — $10 for Biangbiang noodles" [a dish featuring flat noodles with minced garlic, green onion, chili powder] — "only in Texas," he says.

He orders the Big Plate chicken, like a chicken stew with flat noodles, chunks of soft potato, carrots, yellow onion, green onion, bell pepper, and cilantro; as well as a variety of dumplings, including beef, pork, chicken & corn, veggie, and soup dumplings, heaping praise on their light chewy wrapper.

"My philosophy is always, eat the worst first and save the best for last, so let's start with the veggie dumplings," he said.

Pho Pasteur
On Day 2, he goes to Pho Pasteur, a longtime highly acclaimed family-owned chain with locations in Richardson, Arlington, and Carrollton, the location he visits.

"I've been thinking about this place for a long long time," he says. "I remember when I was living here, this was one of my favorites."

He orders pho with fatty brisket — "because here in Texas, whenever you see brisket, you get the brisket," he says.

After taking a sip of the broth, he proclaims, "This is the stuff — I've always said that this place has one of the best, if not THE best broth in America, with such a concentrated beefy flavor, and it's got so much depth."

"This might be one of my most-missed food items after I left Dallas," he says.

z.TAO Marketplace
His next destination is the z.TAO Marketplace, an Asian grocery store and food court in Plano which oddly has not updated its social media presence since 2020. He oohs and aahs over the supermarket's bounty including the many different Asian flavors of Pepsi, Coca Cola, and Fanta, then orders a bowl of hulatang, a traditional thick Northern Chinese soup, hand-pulled dan dan noodles, and a sandwich with chopped pork.

Moriya Shokudo Ramen & Curry
He also visits Moriya Shokudo, which started out in a food court in Koreatown before opening a stand-alone restaurant in Richardson in 2024, and which has won local awards for its ramen and curry.

He orders the garlic ramen and marvels at its garlicky-ness, with a black garlic-flavored tonkotsu broth along with roasted whole garlic cloves.

"This is a really intensely garlicky bowl — to call it intense would be an understatement," he says. "I would say this is a must-try."

Pho Big Bowl
His last place is Pho Big Bowl, a Vietnamese restaurant which started out in Watauga before opening a location in Carrollton in 2022.

He likes the lightness and yet potent beefy flavor of the broth. "I feel like when I'm here in Texas, I don't add nearly as much sriracha as I would at places in New York or Seattle," he says.

"I am really jealous of all the good pho places you have here in the Dallas area," he says. "I feel like, of all the cities in Texas, this area has the best pho, hands down."

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