A Dallas pop-up from an award-winning chef team has found a permanent home: Molino Olōyō, the acclaimed Mexican culinary concept obsessed with heirloom corn, will open a brick-and-mortar at 4422 Gaston Ave. in east Dallas, taking over the space previously occupied by the restaurant Cry Wolf.
According to a release, the concept will open in the first half of 2026.
Founded by chef Olivia López and Jonathan Percival, Molino Olōyō has earned widespread recognition for its attentive dedication to masa and boundary-pushing tasting menus.
Lopez has worked in some of Dallas' premier kitchens, starting out at Craft Dallas, the onetime restaurant at the W Hotel, then through the ranks of Charlie Palmer's, CBD Provisions, Mirador, and Americana. She earned a CultureMap Tastemaker Awards nomination in 2021 for Rising Star Chef, and was a James Beard Award semifinalist for "Best Chef: Texas" in 2023.
In 2021, she and Percival launched out of a commercial kitchen in Dallas' Design District, following their passion for heirloom corn, delving into nixtamalization, the ancient art of processing corn, in an effort to make a higher-quality version of the masa used in Mexican staples such as tortillas and tamales.
What started as tamales and heirloom corn tortillas delivered to doorsteps evolved into pop-ups at Wayward Coffee Co. and Strangeways; restaurant takeovers at Mot Hai Ba; and dinners at Lone Gallery, Marcello Andres Ceramics, and private homes.
“We’ve put down roots here in Dallas, and we’re just getting started,” López says in a statement. “Molino Olōyō will continue to grow, evolve, and honor the soul of Mexican cuisine, from selling tacos on the street to sharing dinners in your home. It’s a tribute to what’s possible when we trust the ingredients, the land, and the people who grow with you.”
Molino Oloyo's Olivia López and Jonathan PercivalMolino Oloyo
Chef López’s menus will continue to showcase seasonal Mexican gastronomy using refined, contemporary techniques as part of a new multi faceted concept, with the following elements:
- An intimate multi-course tasting room will serve dishes such as pescado con moles, cacao nicatole con fresa y bisito colamote, and bay scallop aguachile.
- A fonda, inspired by Molino Olōyō’s pop-ups, will offer street-style fare, from the wagyu suadero taco that Texas Monthly named one of the 50 best tacos in the state to churros with toasted corn ice cream.
- A mezcalería attached to the tasting room, featuring a spirit-forward agave cocktail, wine program, and botanas, will bring everything together.
“You can’t have Mexican food without tacos, even though I enjoy showcasing the refined elements of our gastronomy, but I still wanted to build a place where you can come by any day and enjoy a taco or two,” Lopez says. “Every dish is an expression of connection, tied to the family farmers in Mexico who grow our corn, to local producers across Texas, and to the land we cultivate at Pequeño Farms in South Dallas.”
“We’ve built Molino slowly and intentionally by focusing on one tortilla, one story at a time,” Percival says. “This next chapter gives us a chance to cultivate those stories into a space that reflects everything we believe in: simplicity, warmth, and deep reverence for the ingredients and our process.”
