Downtown News
Swanky tapas bar co-founded by 2 Chainz to open in downtown Dallas
Rice, greens, and more from Esco Restaurant & Tapas
A restaurant from Atlanta with celebrity ties is coming to Dallas: Called Esco Restaurant and Tapas, it's a concept founded by Grammy Award-winning rapper and TV host 2 Chainz and his partner Mychel "Snoop" Dillard, and it's opening in a vintage downtown building.
It'll be located at 1300 Jackson St., in a space that was previously home to Lenny's Sub Shop, which closed in 2018.
Chainz (born Tauheed Epps) and Dillard debuted Escobar Restaurant & Tapas in Atlanta in 2016 as a restaurant by day and lounge by night, with good food, drinks, atmosphere, and hookahs. Franchised locations have dropped the "bar" from "Escobar" and are known as Esco.
The menu features seafood, Southern dishes, and bar food staples such as:
- red velvet chicken & waffles
- shrimp & grits
- chicken wings
- crab cakes
- salmon croquettes
- lamb chops
Plus Southern sides such as mac & cheese, loaded mashed potatoes, collard greens, fried okra, and yams. Salads include Caesar, Cobb, and kale salad with apple and dried cranberries, along with sandwiches, wraps, a shrimp club, and a blackened salmon BLT.
Cocktails have fun names like Ladies Night with gin, Cointreau, & cranberry juice, and 1+1 = 2Chainz with Courvoisier, green tea, and agave nectar. 2Chainz has become celebrated for hosting the over-the-top Vice TV show Most Expensivest; in one recent episode, he smoked the most expensive weed with comedian Sarah Silverman.
There are two locations of Esco in Georgia — in Atlanta and Morrow — plus a third in Columbus, Ohio (these photos convey its vibe including gold banquettes, a wall of greenery, and a 2 Chainz mural), with more locations slated for Marietta, Georgia and Memphis, Tennessee.
Bringing Esco to Dallas is Apiphany Fuller, a military veteran and entrepreneur who's been working in the entertainment and hospitality industry as an event host, in anticipation of owning a lounge.
Fuller's deal to open in Dallas has been in the works for more than a year, but it finally became reality when Fuller and realtor Meloni Marie secured the location in early June.
Permitting and renovations are underway and they're hoping to be open by the end of 2023, no later than early 2024.
We do not have an official date as of yet because we are still finalizing the design and picking a general contractor, but we will know as soon as that’s complete," they say via email.
