Each restaurant brings unmistakable Las Vegas glitz to Dallas.
DALLAS — If you’re a Texan who likes to fly to Las Vegas to eat at celebrity chefs’ restaurants, you soon won’t have to make the trip.
A surge of restaurants in Sin City are moving to North Texas — or already here — bringing personality and theatricality to our busy dining scene. Take away the blackjack tables, and Dallas can be just as big and bold as Vegas.
Sugar Factory
Sweets shop Sugar Factory isn’t exactly what its name says. More than a factory, it’s an all-out restaurant party, where music blasts from a DJ booth while customers eat dinner or share a giant $99 ice cream sundae. It’s the kind of place where the Kardashian sisters, Drake and Mariah Carey have been spotted.
The first Sugar Factory opened in Las Vegas in 2009, and the Dallas restaurant opened in November 2021.
Sugar Factory is at 1900 Cedar Springs Road, Dallas.
Sadelle’s
Dallasites are still impatiently waiting on Sadelle’s, the over-the-top brunch spot that originated in New York City and expanded to Vegas. Whether in New York, Nevada or Texas, the idea at Sadelle’s is that diners can eat breakfast and brunch food all day long. Brunch gets boozy, of course, with Bellinis and mimosas. It’s almost like there’s no concept of time at Sadelle’s, which is something we always find ourselves saying in Vegas.
Sadelle’s will be at 1 Highland Park Village, Dallas. It’s expected to open ... soon?
Carbone
We can’t mention Sadelle’s without talking about Carbone, a Michelin-starred Italian restaurant owned by the same parent company. Again, this concept comes from New York City, but again, it finds a huge clientele in Vegas — and soon in Dallas — by serving what we’ve called “fabulously flashy Italian food.”
Carbone isn’t the type of place you pop into; it’s your destination for the evening.
We love the dominance, especially in a steak city like Dallas.
Carbone will be at 1617 Hi Line Drive, Dallas. It’s expected to open ... soon?
Hattie B’s Hot Chicken
If Las Vegas is famous for taking one region’s cuisine and over-commercializing it, we’re hopeful Dallas can replicate its restaurants with a little more soul. Hattie B’s is a Nashville hot chicken restaurant with a simple menu and a fanatical fanbase. The family-owned company has grown in the past few years, not only to Vegas’ Cosmopolitan hotel but also to Memphis and Atlanta. It’s one of Deep Ellum’s most anticipated restaurants right now.
Hattie B’s Hot Chicken will be at 3000 Main St., Dallas. It’s expected to open Feb. 23.
STK
STK was expected to move into Uptown Dallas in 2015, but that never happened. It’s now 2022, and a steakhouse rep told CultureMap it’s trying again in Uptown, this time at 2100 Olive St., home of the former Perry’s Steakhouse (which moved). STK, like several restaurants on this list, originated in New York City. Each restaurant in cities like Miami and Vegas have what they call a “vibe-driven” dinner experience. You know what that means: DJs, people partying on leather banquettes, and bottles of Champagne.
STK will be at 2100 Olive St., Dallas. Opening date is unknown.
Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips
One of the biggest food-news stories in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2021 was that Gordon Ramsay had moved his restaurant headquarters to Irving. Today, a fleet of chefs and financial types are planning for a rapid expansion of the TV chef’s restaurant presence worldwide. Ramsay doesn’t have any restaurants in North Texas yet, but CEO Norman Abdallah says Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips will open here at some point. That restaurant originated in Las Vegas.
No address or date set for Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips’ entry into Dallas-Fort Worth.
La Pizza and La Pasta, inside Eataly
Eataly, a wonderland of pasta, meat and wine, has just seven shops in the United States, two of those being in Dallas and Vegas. La Pizza and La Pasta are lively restaurants in the middle of the action where diners can order antipasti, fried bites like arancini, and pizza and pasta.
La Pizza and La Pasta is at 8687 N. Central Expressway, Dallas, inside Eataly at NorthPark Center.
Gilley’s
Gilley’s honky tonk has a fascinating past as a place where Emmylou Harris, Loretta Lynn and others performed at the original in Pasadena, Texas, a city southeast of Houston. The club operated near Gulf Coast from 1970 to 1990. A Texas-themed offshoot opened in Las Vegas’ Treasure Island casino in the late ‘90s, then in Dallas in 2003. Modeling after what Texans (apparently) like to do, the Las Vegas Gilley’s is a loud Southern spot with barbecue, line-dancing and mechanical bull riding.
Gilley’s Dallas is at 1135 Botham Jean Blvd., Dallas.
Nobu
Restaurants in Dallas and Vegas come and go, but Nobu has stuck around. The original opened in Los Angeles in 1987. It landed in Vegas in 1995 and in Dallas in 2005. Its staying power shows a nimble balance in two fickle dining cities, proving that chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s Japanese fusion is both inventive and timeless.
Nobu Dallas is at 400 Crescent Court, Dallas.
Not in North Texas, but close: Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen & Bar in Oklahoma
Casinos! That’s something Nevada and Texas don’t share. And that’s where our neighbor to the north comes in.
Take a trip to the other side of the border, to Choctaw Casinos & Resorts in Oklahoma, and the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives frontman Guy Fieri has a restaurant selling trash can nachos, chicken tenders, wings and burgers. The Choctaw menu is similar to the one in Vegas, at The Linq Hotel & Casino.
Fieri also operates a ghost kitchen named Flavortown. Flavortown has commercial kitchens in Allen, Dallas, Frisco, Plano and Southlake, as well as from four kitchens in Las Vegas. (The brand is also in 35 states and in Washington, D.C.)
Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen & Bar is at 4216 S. Highway 69/75, Durant, Oklahoma.
