New Dallas Restaurant/Bar is California Chill

Hospitality Vets Just Want to Do Simple Food Right

By Natalie Gempel // May 18, 2018

Photography Ben Gibson

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New Dallas restaurant Laurel Tavern boasts an outdoor patio.

Cantonese Chicken Tenders

The bar and restaurant is focused on quality ingredients.

Beets & Buratta

Cocktails

Caesar Salad

Laurel Tavern in Lower Greenville has closed its doors permanently.

Jalapeño Burger

The bar serves a variety of craft cocktails as well as beer and wine.

Laurel Tavern is officially open on Lower Greenville in Dallas, serving up cocktails and casual American fare in a cozy setting. (On a side note, what a time to open a restaurant by that name!) The bar and eatery is focused on approachable, scratch-made dishes and locally-sourced goods.

Located at 1920 Lowest Greenville – just steps away from Nora Restaurant & Bar – Laurel Tavern has a cozy-chic feel. Tin walls, low ceilings, leather banquettes and a black walnut bar give the space a rustic, wholesome look. The bar also extends onto the outdoor patio.

Laurel Tavern’s cuisine shares a similarly relaxed vibe. The menu includes elevated bites like like pork belly skewers with maple glaze, and the duck club with smoked bacon and house-made cherry mustard. The restaurant uses local produce and sources its bread from local bakeries.

Co-owner Michael Leko explains that the restaurant is focusing on making simple dishes and cocktails as well as it can.

“We aren’t reinventing the wheel here, just doing it the right way and hopefully doing it well. This is a culmination of a group of friends working together for 20 years in the business and of us striving to provide the best food, drink, hospitality program we can,” Leko says in a statement.

The team of industry experts behind Laurel Tavern was visiting Dallas on a social trip and decided to stay.

“When I was moving out here, I fell in love with Lower Greenville and East Dallas in particular. The tight and gracious community here has been great to us and we strive to be an asset to them,” says Leko, who previously lived in California.

The restaurant is the creation of William Shamlian and Mark Leddy, along with partners Michael Leko, Jonny Valenti and Hardy Edwards. The group collectively represents more than 100 years of hospitality experience.

Laurel Tavern is now open daily – will full patio access – for dinner from 5 p.m. to midnight. Social Hour (Mondays through Fridays, 5 to 7 p.m.) offers drink specials and off-menu food items.