A First Taste of Maroma — Chef Omar Flores’ New Coastal Mexican Restaurant in Dallas’ Design District

Since it was announced almost a year ago that Chef Omar Flores would be opening a new coastal Mexican restaurant in Dallas’ Design District, we’ve been eagerly awaiting its debut. Finally, Big Dill Hospitality founder (who also owns Casa Brasa, Muchacho, and Even Coast), along with the Marshi family, just opened their newest local hotspot, Maroma, and it was completely worth the wait.

Located on the ground floor of the newly built Thirteen Thirty Three Building at 1333 Oak Lawn Avenue, Maroma brings ceviches, aguachiles, seafood, and mesquite wood-grilled meats to one of the Dallas food scene’s most rapidly growing neighborhoods.

Dallas’ Most Rapidly Growing Neighborhood

Just this year, the Design District has seen the Texas debut of Delilah, and The Saint’s move into a new building on Riverfront Boulevard, which also houses the same owners’ new concept (and one of our favorite new spots), Night Rooster. California-based Italian restaurant import Ospi just opened in the former Meddlesome Moth space. Local concepts AM/FM Diner & Lounge, Alara – Modern Mediterranean, Puerto Cocina & Bar, and Jo’Seon have all debuted within the past six months or so.

Next, an immersive 20-course tasting menu-only restaurant called Punk Noir is opening at 139 Turtle Creek Boulevard, Suite 130, on June 2. La Lupita Taco & Mezcal is gearing up to debut this year as well. And this fall, a new mixed-use development on Oak Lawn Avenue, The Seam, already has Chicago-based Mediterranean concept Aba, New York cafe maman, and a globally-inspired cocktail lounge called Lumis on board to open at the massive space.

We’re excited about many of these openings, especially the homegrown spots like Maroma. We were recently hosted for dinner at the new spot and were completely delighted by what Chef Flores is offering at his first Design District restaurant.

You can read more about the stunning design, “daylight to dusk” atmosphere with later weekend hours, and beverage program here, but in this first taste story, we’re diving into the food.

What to Order at Maroma

There’s a lot to try on Maroma’s menu, but we think we narrowed things down to a solid initial dinner at the new restaurant. If you’re going in for a celebration, just know that there is a massive Marisco Tower available with an assortment of chilled oysters, lobster, red snapper ceviche, poached shrimp, and montaditos. My husband and I were dining for two, so we opted for a couple of other options from the raw bar.

• Yellowtail aguachile negro was a refreshing and flavorful start to our meal with cucumber, red onion, cilantro, avocado, and burnt habanero salsa.
• Out of the three tostadas, we chose the bluefin tuna, primarily because of the peanut salsa matcha combined with chipotle mayo, serrano Chile, avocado, and Cambray onion, and we were happy with our choice. Now I want to go back and try the Peekytoe crab tostada as well.
• For a hot starter, we opted for the smoked beef cheek barbacoa sopes. Three bites came out topped with salsa Taquera, pickled red onion, and Cotija cheese. Make sure to get a good scoop of the Mexican crema that the sopes sit atop in every bite.
• A favorite at our table for the evening was the Baja fish tacos with masa-battered halibut, chipotle chile mayo, carrot salpicon slaw, and salsa taquera. Just order it and you’ll see.
• The green chile burger is a great option for someone not feeling a steak, but wanting red meat with a Mexican flair. The roasted Anaheim chillies and sauce “Especial” are delicious toppings to the double Angus patty with double American cheese and LTO.
• My top pick for the night was the Spanish octopus “Al La Brava.” I have ordered and enjoyed the octopus dishes at Chef Flores’ Even Coast and Casa Brasa so much that I had to try the version at Maroma. The perfectly cooked protein with smoked potato puree, saffron aioli, bravas glaze, crispy fingerlings, and Castelvetrano olive relish make a perfect dish.
• And for dessert, you can’t go wrong with the massive portion of strawberry cuatro leches.

Big Dill Hospitality intended for Maroma to be transportive. Although I did still feel like I was in Dallas, as I had a view of the construction of The Seam across the street during dinner, Chef Flores’ innovative and delicious take on coastal Mexican cuisine made me forget several times — and that’s something in our city. And maybe if I were facing the other way, I would’ve forgotten completely.