A new restaurant doing a tasting menu only is coming to Dallas' Design District: Called Punk Noir, it'll open at 139 Turtle Creek Blvd, #130, Dallas, TX 75207 with a 20-course tasting menu and an immersive, multi-room design — smashing the conventions of fine dining, as a press release so articulately states.
It's set to debut Tuesday, June 2, in time to welcome World Cup visitors.
Led by James Beard Award-winning chef RJ Cooper, the restaurant will combine "world-class cuisine, irreverent artistry, and edgy elegance."
A funky, punky cocktail.Photo by Samantha Marie Photography
Owners are Dallas natives John McKeel and his sons Cole and Clay McKeel, who conceived the project as a passion project.
“Punk Noir is a rebellion against the ordinary,” Cole McKeel says in a statement. “What initially inspired us to open this concept were our personal experiences traveling across the USA, Europe, and Japan. We’ve eaten at many Michelin-starred restaurants, even some ranked among the Top 50 in the world. So many of them had amazing food, but the experience often felt flat—stiff, quiet, and even intimidating. We wanted to create something different: food that is just as refined and world-class, but an experience that is unforgettable, irreverent, and full of energy."
Punk Noir — which is no relation to Punk Royale, a similar-sounding European concept founded in Stockholm in 2015 that has since opened spinoffs in Copenhagen and Oslo — will be in a 9,500-square-foot warehouse where it will host two to three seatings per night, with only 26 seats per seating.
The space will incorporate:
- a dramatic communal dining room with projection-mapped visuals and graffiti art led by a “Mistress of Ceremonies”
- an open kitchen where Cooper presents select courses to an intimate neon-lit dining room
- the Noir Lounge, which will seat 46 guests and offer cocktails alongside “mini tasting” menus for those not partaking in the full experience
A VIP car service option will also be available, chauffeuring guests directly to the restaurant in a black SUV and delivering them up a private ramp and into the restaurant where they will be escorted to the first room to begin the immersive dining experience.
One of the 20 courses at Punk Noir.Photo by Amy Zawacki
The food
The experience will consist of a 20-course tasting menu that weaves together global influences, cutting-edge gastronomy, and Cooper's personal inspirations. The release says that diners can expect courses that are "playful and provocative — some just a single bite, others layered with theatricality and multi-sensory touches."
From the release:
"The menu will change often but the experience begins with an 'agrarian prologue,' exploring the quiet intimacy of soil, root, and garden before moving toward the pull of the sea. Early courses such as camote morado with huitlacoche and blue crab with seaweed and calamansi establish a dialogue between land and ocean.
"As the progression unfolds, the menu builds tension through fire and transformation - featuring dishes like scallop with turmeric and Kaluga caviar, turbot with mussel and plankton, and cod cheek with dashi. Later sample courses explore indulgence through restraint, with compositions including Peking duck, Australian wagyu, and fermented endive - each emphasizing controlled richness and depth.
"The experience concludes with unexpected, thought-provoking pairings, for example, onion with Amur caviar, white chocolate with kombu, and sunchoke with ash - designed to challenge and resolve the palate in equal measure."
Ingredients will feature seasonal highlights from Italy, Japan, Central America, and closer to home. Each course will be paired with wines, cocktails, and zero-proof beverages.
The 20-course tasting menu is $295 per person.
The chef
RJ Cooper won a James Beard Award for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic in 2007. His prior concepts include Rogue 24, serving a 24-course tasting menu, in Washington, D.C.; Gypsy Soul, a Southern bistro; and Saint Stephen and Acqua in Nashville. He previously worked at Vidalia in D.C. for seven years and has earned national press.
Artwork by Michael Shellis in the Noir Lounge.Photo by Samantha Marie Photography
The bar manager
The cocktail tasting program, led by acclaimed bar manager Shane Scully, is "a multi-course exploration of form, flavor, and restraint - reimagining signature cocktails through a lower-ABV lens without sacrificing depth or impact," the release says. The wine program will focus on wines "with a clear sense of place and straightforward appeal, drawing from classic and emerging regions including Champagne, Burgundy, and the Loire Valley in France, as well as Napa Valley and Sonoma in California, alongside selections from Italy and Spain," they say.
The owner
John McKeel shares his and his sons' vision for Punk Noir: “It is irreverent fine dining. The lounge has punk graffiti wall art and unrestrained departure from the familiar. We are here to challenge the norms of traditional fine dining, turn the Dallas dining scene on its head. We are disruptors. We are here to challenge our guests' conventions of what elevated dining should be. We provide an experience that is surprising, provocative, entertaining, and delicious."
Reservations can now be booked at https://www.exploretock.com/punk-noir/.
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This story originally was published on September 25, 2025 and has been updated with opening date, new menu and personnel details.
