Downtown News

Steakhouse in AT&T District in downtown Dallas closes for a reworking

Tuna tower at Hawthorn in downtown Dallas.

Hawthorn

A flagship restaurant at the AT&T Discovery District in downtown Dallas has closed: Hawthorn, the upscale steakhouse from Apheleia Restaurant Group (El Bolero, Wits Steakhouse), packed up over the March 5-6 weekend and cleared the space out.

The restaurant had been closed since mid-February, blaming its closure on a plumbing problem.

But owner Richard Ellman says it's just a temporary closure, and that he's changing up the concept.

"We are temporarily closed, as we have something else in the works," Ellman says. What that something is, he does not say.

He says he's executing a similar reconcepting on Wits Steakhouse, the restaurant he opened in the Design District in 2022, in the former Oak space. It is also now temporarily closed.

The AT&T District has suffered a number of closures, most notably Rise + Thyme, the restaurant from celebrity chef Amanda Freitag, which closed in fall 2022. But most of the turnover has involved kiosk-style tenants, located inside the venue's food hall.

Hawthorn was a stand-alone restaurant (one of two in the District, along with Jaxon Texas Kitchen) — occupying a separate storefront facing Commerce Street.

It boasted an elegant clubby atmosphere, with caviar, Wagyu beef, and Prime steaks from Allen Bros., plus a separate full menu of sushi, sashimi, and raw-bar specials such as oysters and poke — earning it a CultureMap Tastemaker Awards nomination in 2021 for Best New Restaurant.

But unlike the food hall operators, it has a more traditional 10-year lease.

AT&T also called for Hawthorn to be open for lunch as well as dinner. But the built-in lunch business from AT&T's headquarters employees has evaporated in the wake of the work-from-home trend.

In its last few months, Hawthorn was open only for dinner, Thursday-Saturday.

In a 2022 story about ongoing issues at the AT&T Discovery District, Hawthorn owner Richard Ellman told the Dallas Morning News that business was being hurt by scaffolding, lack of marketing support from AT&T, and parking problems, including an inability to offer valet.

Ellman's restaurant group has, like every food & beverage entity, suffered hits through the pandemic, with closures that include El Bolero on Fitzhugh Avenue, and Pakpao Thai at Preston Hollow Village.

However, the original Pakpao Thai in the Design District is still open, as is El Bolero, which was just nominated for Best Neighborhood Restaurant in CultureMap's 2023 Tastemaker Awards.

downtown closings

Escargot News

New all-day French bistro in downtown Rockwall is all from scratch

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Belle View Bistro Rockwall

An all-day French bistro has made its debut in Rockwall: Called Belle Vie Bistro, it’s a new mom-and-pop in the charming historic downtown district, at 112 E. Rusk St., the former home of The Fatted Calf restaurant, where it opened its doors on November 12.

Belle Vie is from Luis and Iliana Marquez, a hard-working couple who also own Los Marquez, a popular taco--themed food-truck-turned-restaurant in Rockwall they first debuted in 2019. In May, the couple took over the former Fat Chicken space to open a brick and mortar location of Los Marquez, where they serve well-made Mexican food like tacos, burritos, and quesadillas, but also burgers & fries. They open for breakfast with breakfast tacos, and run a daily lunch special, often creative, always popular, such as birria ramen with choice of beef or lamb for $11.

But the couple had a bigger vision of creating a place where chef Luis could stretch and showcase his skills.

"Luis has a lot of culinary experience, and it’s something that he’s been putting aside,” Iliana says. “We were just waiting on the perfect time to bring this to life.”

"This is something exciting and new for us, it’s something that we always wanted to make,” Luis says.

Like Los Marquez, Belle Vie is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, serving classics like French onion soup, moules frites, escargot, and duck confit. There are also comforting and American dishes like spinach-artichoke dip, crab cakes, and fish & chips.

Lunch features Cobb salad, a French dip, and chicken & Brie panini, while an extended breakfast -- which runs from 7 am to 4 pm — includes pancakes, waffles, eggs benedict, beignets French toast, and crepes, plus pastries and breads made from scratch.

Mural on the wall at Belle Vie Bistro RockwallFacebook

The bakery counter is a delight, with eclairs, croissants, scones, fruit tarts, and cake slices in flavors like carrot cake and white chocolate raspberry. There's also a serious coffee program with espresso drinks such as lattes.

"We pride ourselves on making everything from scratch," the duo says. "Our bread—whether for sandwiches, paninis, hamburgers or anything listed on our menu is made fresh just for us by our incredibly talented pastry chef and baker. The same care goes into our pastries and desserts ensuring every bite is special and crafted with love."

The dining room is warm and cozy with dark wood chairs and plush booths and a full-wall mural depicting a street in Paris. They also have a full bar, with cocktails and beer on tap. Prices are reasonable, ranging from $9 for a Belgian waffle during breakfast to $45 for prime ribeye at dinner.

For now, they're not taking reservations — it's first come, first serve.

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