The lowdown on what’s up with neighborhood businesses

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In-N-Out on I-30

Marriott Residence Inn, Denny’s and In-N-Out Burger are the first retail tenants announced for The Canyon in Oak Cliff, a 200-acre development at Westmoreland and Interstate 30. Steve Sanders of developer Stratford Land says he expects at least 10 other restaurants to sign on in the next two years. Plans call for relocating the eastbound I-30 exit ramp at Westmoreland to create a three-lane frontage road for access to The Canyon. Also, West Colorado will be extended to Westmoreland. “Once you can access the site, the retailers will come,” Sanders says. The Canyon in Oak Cliff could have as many as 7,500 residential units, 1,000 hotel rooms, 1.2 million square feet of office space and 800,000 square feet of retail. A natural creek line, set in the “canyon,” between the property’s two hills, will be made into a water feature. City Council voted in 2011 to reimburse Stratford Land as much as $129 million to build roads, sewer and other infrastructure in the development.

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The Canyon, thecanyoninoakcliff.com

 

No ramen for you?

The Oak Cliff restaurant business is a small world. Remember the ramen guy? Justin Holt was the Lucia cook who rocked Ten Bells Tavern with tender, tender pork and noodles with the weepy egg. Only $5, but you should really order two. Anyhow, those savory midnights could be over for now, Oak Cliff, because Holt has a new job. He left Lucia for Driftwood. There he’ll be leading the kitchen while chef Omar Flores is busy over at budding Trinity Groves with a tapas concept. Casa Rubia is Flores’ project with Driftwood owner Jonn Baudoin. Another seafood restaurant, this one from 303 Bar & Grill owner Celia Lopez, is expected at 247 W. Davis. Texans Can Academies leased the former service station after the nonprofit’s effort to rezone the lot for parking was defeated. The new restaurant is expected this summer. Over at Bolsa, there’s a new menu and dinner-only hours except weekend brunch, but Bolsa Mercado now has more tables and an expanded menu. Elsewhere in Bishop Arts, Advocate readers were disappointed that Sarah Lombardi abandoned the restaurant idea that ultimately gave taquería El Padrino the boot. Too expensive to retrofit and renovate the Oak Cliff Mercantile building, Lombardi says. No doubt. Don’t lose faith, though, because southern Dallas gal Casey Caldwell is launching the city’s first pop-up restaurant, Kitchen LTO. The restaurant at Trinity Groves will change concepts every four months. Caldwell is the founder of Greenz Salads and the brains behind LTO, which stands for Limited Time Offer. The first one is expected around July 15. Please let it be ramen.

Driftwood, 642 W. Davis, 214.942.2530, driftwood-dallas.com

Trinity Groves, 425 Bedford, 214.744.0100, trinitygroves.com

303 Bar & Grill, 303 W. Davis, 214.942.3030, 303barandgrill.com

Bolsa, 614 W. Davis, 214.367.9367, bolsadallas.com

Bolsa Mercado. 634 W. Davis, 214.942.0451

El Padrino , 408 W. Jefferson, 214.943.3993, elpadrinomexicangrill.com

Kitchen LTO, 3011 Gulden, kitchenlto.com

Oswald, trailer park, a Jefferson Boulevard facelift

Perhaps the sexiest real estate news in Oak Cliff comes from Beckley Avenue, where a former rooming house is for sale. It’s the one, of course, where Lee Harvey Oswald stayed, 1026 N. Beckley. He rented it for $8 a week. Valued at $65,830 on the tax rolls, it comprises 2,046 feet, including the room and bed where a presidential assassin had slept. Plus, it’s at the gateway to Oak Cliff and blocks from Lake Cliff Park. Speaking of sexy, a West Dallas trailer park could be the next site of an upscale apartment complex from Wood Partners, the company that built the Alta West Davis apartments near Winnetka Heights. The Atlanta-based company is “eyeing” the 8-acre property adjacent to Chicken Scratch and the Foundry at Commerce and Pittman, according to a Dallas Morning News report. Changes are expected to come soon to Jefferson Boulevard at Madison, where Bishop Arts developer Jim Lake Cos. has plans to make over half a city block. The developer bought Jefferson Tower last year and is renovating the street-level retail to include restaurants and entertainment venues, plus second-story residential lofts. Those projects could be completed by April 2014.

Wood Partners, woodpartners.com

Jim Lake Cos., jimlakeco.com

 

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Rizzoli published the cookbook from Smoke chef Tim Byres, “Smoke: New Firewood Cooking,” last month.

 

A new Tex-Mex place, Victoria’s Mexican Grill, opened in Winnetka Heights in March.

Victoria’s Mexican Grill, 607 N. Willomet, 214.943.3000