Opening news
Revered French restaurant St. Martin’s reopens in new east Dallas space
Coq au vin at St. Martin's Bistro.
Venerable French restaurant St. Martin’s Wine Bistro is back. The restaurant, which closed its longtime location on Greenville Avenue in 2023 after 46 years, has resurfaced at a new location in East Dallas.
The restaurant is at 4223 Bryan St., the former L&B Antiques spot, where it reopened March 11. It’s a hot foodie corner, with neighbors such as Bangkok City, Vietnam Restaurant, Ciao! By Civello's, and Bryan Street Tavern.
The restaurant left its 3020 Greenville Ave address when the lease ran out, and owner Mohsen Heidari turned over the operation to his two sons Pasha and Sina, who helm the Black Marble Hospitality group that also owns Bowen House, Las Palmas Tex-Mex, Mike’s Gemini Twin Lounge, and Urbano Cafe; and Omid Haftlang, their uncle, who is both their partner and running the restaurant day to day.
“It was the right intersection of circumstances — with more than 45 years in our last space, we were excited for a chance to build a new space out to our standards and specifications,” the brothers say in a statement.
They strove to recreate the atmosphere of the previous location, known for its quiet and romantic ambience with live piano music. The new building required significant renovations to transition from antique shop to restaurant, including the installation of a larger bar than Greenville Avenue.
Construction was expected to be complete last September, but that estimate got bumped back several times before St. Martin’s finally reopened.
“We took our time because we knew our loyal guests wouldn’t cut us any slack — and they haven’t,” the brothers say. “So we took our time and did it right, and we feel it shows.”
The menu will stay largely the same with returning signatures such as their champagne Brie soup, escargot (snails), tournedos Rossini (a French steak dish), and foie gras torchon, although they plan to expand the menu with a few new offerings as well.
The restaurant originally opened in 1980, founded by two veterans of the Vietnam war, Scott Fickling and Phil Patterson. Over the years, multiple restaurant families have run the restaurant before Heidari took over in 1997.
"We wanted to keep the nostalgia and the feel of what made us who we are today," they say.
