There's a restaurant in North Dallas serving ceviche but also much much more: Called Okey Resto Bar, it's a Peruvian restaurant in North Dallas at 14902 Preston Rd. #706, near the busy intersection of Preston and Belt Line roads, where it offers a rich variety of dining experiences and cuisines.

The restaurant is open seemingly all hours, starting with a hearty breakfast and brunch menu that's available 9:30 am-3:30 pm, and then late on weekend nights when it becomes a hot spot with live music and dancing until 2 am.

The menu is lengthy and diverse, featuring both traditional Peruvian food and Colombian dishes such as:

• Parihuela: Peruvian seafood soup with fish, shrimp, calamari, and green mussels
• Bistec a lo pobre: Beef tenderloin topped with fried egg and French fries
• Arroz chaufa de carne: Peruvian's version of Chinese fried rice
• Bandeja Paisa: Colombian dish that includes beans, rice, arepa, chorizo, plantain, chicharrón, avocado, and sirloin
• Mojarra frita: Whole fried tilapia, marinated in sauce, garlic, served with patacones (plantains) and salad

Most entrees are under $20.

They also have empanadas and arepas, plus desserts such as alfajores, arroz con leche, and napoleon.

Okey is from Rony Perez, also known as Chicho, who was born and raised in Chimbote, Perú, before moving to Dallas in 2003. This is not his first restaurant: He previously had a seafood spot called Chicho’s, when he opened in Garland in 2006, before relocating to North Dallas, then Addison.

He closed it down in 2015 to work for the Don Mario's Mexican chain but got the bug to have his own place again and opened Okey Resto Bar in 2021.

Okey Resto Bar undergoes a transformation on weekends, opening its stage for live music and dancing until 2 am, and with a special menu that includes picadas, tacos, steaks, chuzos (brochettes), and traditional cocktails such as Pisco Sour and Algarrobina (Pisco with a sweet syrup made from the Black Carob tree or algarrobo - which gives the drink its name - and evaporated milk).

"We host around 50 to 80 people each Friday and Saturday night, and attendance keeps growing," Perez says.

Perez has many irons in the fire. He plans to open a catering business from the location in February, and is also opening a restaurant in Tyler, called Incas Peruvian Latin Cuisine, which like Okey will offer a combination of Peruvian and Colombian food as well as some Central American dishes to cater to a growing population in the area, filling a niche not currently filled.

"Healthy, fresh, delicious Latin food is what we do," he says.