Tequila and tapas restaurant Palladino’s Dos Jefes ready for you to meet the new boss(es)
Back in October, CultureMap Dallas reported on the closing of Uptown Dallas location of Nick & Sam’s Grill, a casual spinoff of the Nick & Sam’s Steakhousse in Dallas. According to the CultureMap post (by DFW.com contributor Teresa Gubbins), the restaurant issued a statement saying that the restaurant was being closed for renovations and would be “re-concepted” for re-opening, possibly as early as January 2016.
Soon after the closure, restaurateur Joseph Palladino announced that the “re-concepting” would be Palladino’s Dos Jefes, a tequila-and-tapas bar. The new restaurant made Zagat’s list of 14 most-anticipated restaurant openings of 2016 in Dallas–Fort Worth, and anticipation was heightened by the fact that Dos Jefes didn’t quite make that target opening date.
Restaurant target openings are notoriously hard to hit; just ask Fort Worth’s Heim Barbecue and Catering, which is also on Zagat list and is now shooting for a late June opening for its Magnolia Avenue brick-and-mortar. But Dos Jefes, which means “two bosses,” is ready for you to meet the new bosses.
The restaurant will open Thursday, June 2, at the 2816 Fairmount St., Dallas, location. The two Jefes of the name are Palladino and Nate Paul CEO of World Class Capital.
The restaurant will serve small plates only from Wednesday through Sunday, featuring Latin and Mexican flavors with an Asian influence. The menu on the Dos Jefes website is small but intriguing, with items such as a pomegranate guacamole, a Chilean sea-bass ceviche and a a Maine lobster-cream cheese ceviche. Most of the dishes on the online menu run 15 bucks or more.
Although the restaurant doesn’t open till Thursday, there was a preview party there late last week. “The music is loud — nightclub loud, a deep and unrelenting thump that shakes the ice in my glass of tequila,” reports the Dallas Observer’s Beth Rankin. “Servers teeter past in sky-high stilettos and dresses that are equal parts short, tight and low-cut.”
“I got my inspiration from a spot I found in Mexico City that had an incredible energy that I thought would be perfect for Uptown,” Palladino says in a release.
The top floor of Dos Jefes has been branded the “42 Room,” which will only serve cocktails made with Don Julio 1942 Limited Edition Tequila (from the Observer post: “Why? Because Palladino likes it, that's why. ‘I'm not much of a drinker but if I do drink, I like 42,’ ”. Food will also be served upstairs, with the kitchen remaining open late.
Brunch was popular at Nick & Sam’s Grill; Paladino plans Saturday and Sunday at Dos Jefes as well. Executive chef Samir Dhurandhar of Nick & Sam’s Steakhouse also co-owned by Palladino – designed the Dos Jefes menu and will serve as its executive chef as well. Palladino also owns Nick & Sam’s Grill, Coal Vines, Quill Lounge in the Dallas Design District and Biergarten on Lamar outside the Omni Dallas Hotel. The Park Cities location of Nick & Sam’s Grill remains open.
Dos Jefes will be open from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Wednesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.
This story was originally published May 31, 2016 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Tequila and tapas restaurant Palladino’s Dos Jefes ready for you to meet the new boss(es)."