Late night drive-by photo-shooting by CHB
Updated Nov. 22: In a phone call, restaurant co-owner Mario Urtecho says it’s a matter of weeks until the new restaurant will be open. It’s been a rough road since closing the Addison location in 2019. Deals have fallen through. But “everything happens for a reason,” he says, and Oak Cliff was destined to be home to La Comida. Mario says he loves the old building, although it has required some work to ready it for business. They have had the help of contractors at Texas One Construction. The brothers love the neighborhood and say they have long been members of Church of Christ in Oak Cliff, and they get their haircut at the salon across the way from future La Comida.
Sometime in the past few days the Coming Soon sign went up on the wall of the erstwhile Spiral Diner at Beckley and Zang. That means the opening of its successor, La Comida Mexican Kitchen, a family operated eatery that was an Addison favorite before it closed in 2019, is fast approaching.
Restaurant lifers Mario and Ivan Urtecho are the owners, per their 2017 Voyage Dallas interview, in which they note that the thing to try at La Comida is the conchinita pibil pork tacos, “made with Mom’s family recipe and to this day a true favorite by all.”
Oak Cliff’s Spiral Diner closed in August, and owners indicated the 100-year-old building might be part of the reason. When Spiral, pioneers of vegan comfort fare, opened near Lake Cliff Park in 2008, commercial investment in our neighborhood was practically non-existent. Now the building is on the streetcar line and adjacent to Kairoi Residential’s eight-story apartment development and the five-story Zang Flats. (Lee Harvey Oswald’s Rooming House is also right across the street for now).
The 1101 N. Beckley property is owned by Square Foot Inc. An adjacent tenant, Jonathon’s also closed after its owners decided not to renew their lease last year, but Jonathon’s Diner is still open just down the road, and Beatrice, the new restaurant from Zen Sushi owner Michelle Carpenter promptly opened in its old spot.
We reached out to the Urtecho brothers for details and will update this post with a solid date when we know.
A look at reviews on their Facebook page indicates the service is as loved as the comida, and there might even be a few vegetarian and vegan options on the menu for the Spiral Diner ghosts.
They are pretty active on Facebook, so follow them for the most real-time announcements.
“The most beautiful thing in life is when the passion of what we love in life is giving us the opportunity to have a job,” La Comida posted on FB Saturday. “The most beautiful thing in life is seeing La Comida team getting back together,” they added yesterday.
The crew appears hard at work on the final touches.
