An innovative new restaurant spotlighting burritos has opened in Uptown Dallas: Called Burrito Bellas, it's serving Mexican-Italian fusion burritos, and it's open at 2523 McKinney Ave. in a space that was most recently a Black-owned turkey leg place called Turkey DAM, but was previously home to the bar Nickel & Rye.

The concept is the brainchild of Shawn Horne, a longtime veteran of Dallas' restaurant scene whose resume dates back to fine-dining spots like Star Canyon, Aquaknox, and the Green Room. Horne is an irrepressible enthusiast who also has experience in the real estate world, currently working with OR Asset Holdings, a company founded by DFW businessman Oscar Renda, who owns the property where Burrito Bellas is located.

Their goal is to revive the space and the corner on which it sits, starting with Burrito Bellas, which fuses Mexican and Italian cuisines. There's also an adjoining courtyard that's home to a newly opened sibling concept called Goomba's Hoagie Hole, serving grinders, sandwiches, and muffalettas.

"Mexican and Italian are the two highest-selling cuisines in Uptown — Mexican is No. 1 and Italian is No. 2 — so I jammed them together," Horne says.

There are:

• Mexican-style burritos filled with fajitas; barbacoa with rice & beans; and a vegetarian papas, with potatoes, refried beans, and guacamole.
• Italian-flavored burritos, including chicken parm burritos, and sausage & peppers with onions, marinara, and Calabrian pepper paste.

Quesadillas include the "pizza-dilla" with pepperoni and the "fajita-dilla" with either steak or chicken, peppers & onions, and mozzarella.

Fries are a special passion for Horne — "I always wanted to serve skinny fries," he says — and they're offered in three loaded versions including one with blue cheese queso, and two with spicy Calabrian queso. Calabria is the region in southern Italy that forms the "toe" of the Italian "boot," and it's where Oscar Renda is from.

Salads include a fajita salad, chopped salad, and a Calabrian Caesar. For dessert: frozen lemon sorbetto, and churros with Calabrian espresso coffee sauce. Prices range from $12 to $18.

The restaurant also has a full bar with cool items including cocktails on tap.

"The bar program is eco-friendly," Horne says. "You won't see 200 bottles of liquor lined up on the wall. We have drinks on tap with vodka, bourbon, a sangria, and a margarita on tap. We also have six frozen machines doing limoncello, frozen coffee from Calabria, a mango margarita, bellinis on tap, a paloma, and the coco loco — it's like a pina colada with rum and THC in it, as well."

Burrito Bellas facadePhoto courtesy of Burrito Bellas

Courtyard
Behind the restaurant is an open-air courtyard as well as a parking lot. There are ambitious plans to open more concepts in the courtyard — pasta! pizza! gelato! — but first there is Goomba's, a kiosk serving a gourmet take on sub-style sandwiches, which is open now. (They've posted a map of the property, showing where Burrito Bellas and Goombas are, along with the courtyard, patio, and parking.)

"In the courtyard, we opened a sandwich board with two to-go windows where you can walk up and order a sandwich," Horne says. "This is something the neighborhood really needed."

Goomba's menu has about a dozen sandwiches including classic Italian-American grinders such as chicken parm, veal cutlet with broccoli rabe, sausage & pepper, and Big Mike's Italian grinder with Italian deli meats and cheese.

Horne has also planted an herb garden and hopes that his foodie sensibilities can override an Uptown corner that's definitely been down on its luck.

"We're not open late at night, there's no booty shakers, no basketball hoops — we want to become a piazza where people can come back and relax," he says.