Craft Beer News

Ultra-hip pizza and beer spot opens in Quonset hut near Dallas' Fair Park

Wriggly Tin

There's an eagerly awaited new bar-restaurant coming to the neighborhood near Dallas' Fair Park: Called Wriggly Tin, it's a beer + cocktail + pizza place rolling into a Quonset hut at 1906 S. Haskell Ave., where it'll make its official debut on November 1.

The location is a former Cajun fried turkey place which has received a loving, doting, you might even say obsessive, makeover with custom plaster walls, trinkets and art objects from around the world, and one whole side of the hut replaced by glass, for sunsets and maximum outdoor gazing.

The concept is from Jacob Boger and Aaron Garcia, the popular team who also own Small Beer Works, a brewery they founded after the closure of Small Brewpub in Oak Cliff, which earned a devout following among the foodie cognoscenti for its stellar craft beer and also for being, at one time, a platform for the cooking of acclaimed chef Misti Norris, before she opened Petra and the Beast.

At Wriggly Tin, they've partnered with chef Desmon “Dez” Coleman, who's logged praise for his pizza and burger pop-ups throughout DFW via his Hustle Town Pizza concept.

"Before we even tasted his pizza, we wanted to offer him the job on the spot because he is extremely charismatic and kind," Boger and Garcia say in a statement.

The pizza will be New York-style, and it's a simple menu they say is designed for high volume.

The name is a reference to the corrugated metal roofing – aka corrugated sheet metal, corrugated steel, or wriggly tin, a nickname from the U.K. military for the bumpy sheets used to fabricate quonset huts, which by the way are right on the verge of being a hot trend (this being the second Quonset hut spot following Quonset Ballroom in Fort Worth).

The duo began renovation during the pandemic, with fun updates shared on Garcia's Instagram page. That included custom painting of the pendant lights, and textured panels to buffer sound and offer a textural element. They didn’t want a standard paint and finish look, so they made a custom plaster to give the walls a stucco/adobe vibe — "the small details that might go unnoticed, but that’s what we obsess about," they say.

Beer will be from their Small Beer Works brewery, with five beers on draft:

Hart: a light German helles lager
Black Pepper Pils: a novel twist on the classic pilsner with spices and other aromatics
Underdog American IPA: "probably the only IPA we’ll ever make"
Ojo Moro: dark lager is an ode to pastries and beers shared by the Mexican, Czech, and Texan cultures, tasting like light coffee and nutty caramel cookies
Bijou: tropical spritz blurs the lines between beer and cocktail: "The best cherry limeade you’ve ever had."

They may do a seasonal or special edition beer but the beer part won't be front and center.

"For us, the person and the occasion are what matters and we just want our beer to be a small part of it," they say. "Small hasn’t gone anywhere, it’s just gotten back to its right size. Wriggly Tin is our cocktail, wine, and pizza joint that also sells Small Beer Works beer. We want to be home to everyone, even if they don’t know or care that there’s a brewery out back."

"Wriggly Tin is just a small metal building in the big city trying to give the people of Dallas a place to relax and make themselves at home," they say.

craft-beer openings

Spring Arrival

West Dallas gets new Spanish-Peruvian restaurant with big-name chef

Photo courtesy of Ulloa's

Paella will be on the menu.

A new restaurant with a high-profile culinary director will bring Spanish and Peruvian flavors to West Dallas: Called Ulloa’s, it is coming to 727 Fort Worth Ave., with a projected opening in March 2027.

The concept is from philanthropists Susan and Woodrow Gandy, who were previously investors in the historic Belmont Hotel just around the corner. They've teamed up with Dallas celebrity chef Kent Rathbun as culinary director, along with Christopher Tunnell as general manager to lead the front of the house.

Rathbun is a name Dallas diners know well, with a resume that includes The Mansion on Turtle Creek, the Landmark Restaurant at the historic Melrose Hotel, Seventeen Seventeen at the Dallas Museum of Art, Abacus, Jasper's, Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen, and more. He's won numerous awards and made multiple appearances on Food Network. He was most recently behind the launch of On The Rocks, an Italian bistro in Burleson.

Chef Kent Rathbun will be the culinary director of Ulloa's. Photo courtesy of Kent Rathbun

Tunnell’s background spans both culinary direction and front-of-house operations. He worked at Los Angeles hot spots Ketchup, Geisha House, and Les Deux, as well as the Mandalay Bay and The Mirage in Las Vegas, before moving to Dallas to open The Mexican, the upscale restaurant in the Design District.

“I am truly excited to partner with Chef Kent Rathbun, whose reputation is amazing — not only in the DFW Metroplex, but in the culinary world,” Tunnell says. “He has been with this project since the beginning, helping develop it; this will be a very chef-driven, culinary-forward restaurant.”

The team's vision for Ulloa’s is both culinary and urban, with hopes of anchoring the corridor and attracting other businesses to Fort Worth Avenue — a stretch connecting downtown Dallas with Oak Cliff that remains somewhat underdeveloped despite its panoramic skyline views.

The restaurant is named for Spanish explorer, astronomer, and scientist Antonio de Ulloa, who spent extensive time in the Mexican peninsula before becoming Louisiana’s first governor. During his travels, Ulloa documented a fogbow — a circular rainbow formed when sunlight meets mist that causes silhouettes standing between the sun and fog to appear ringed in light, a phenomenon known today as “Ulloa’s Rings.”

That vibrant phenomenon inspired both the restaurant's identity and logo. The concept promises "bold, worldly flavors in a welcoming neighborhood setting inspired by exploration and discovery,” the owners say.

Ulloa's Rendering of Ulloa's.Rendering courtesy of Ulloa's

While the menu remains in development, Tunnell describes the culinary direction as “Spanish soul with a Peruvian heart.” The kitchen will merge the coastal flavors of both traditions — ranging from paellas and ceviches to crafted cocktails and signature adaptations by Rathbun.

The 200-seat, two-story space will feature a downstairs dining room, a large bar, and an outdoor patio. Upstairs, plans call for a secondary bar, a private dining room, a patio, and an expansive balcony patio, offering views of the city's skyline and of the Margaret Hunt Hill and Margaret McDermott bridges.

While the upstairs space will be available for private events, the owners intend for it to operate primarily as an organic extension of the main restaurant. The buildout will include a guest elevator along with ample parking, including both self-parking and valet options.

The team says the restaurant will have have an aesthetic that's “warm, theatrical, generous, elegant but alive, with the energy of a great Spanish tapas bar and the soul of Peruvian hospitality.”

Ulloa’s plans to launch with dinner service first, followed by lunch and weekend brunch.

restaurants bars peruvian flavors west dallas oak cliff kent rathbun