Pioneering Dallas Chef Shutters His Uptown Restaurant, Makes a Bold Move Into Suburbs: The Reinvention of Stampede 66 Comes with Two New Additional Concepts

Premier Dallas chef Stephan Pyles shuttered Uptown’s frito pie and prickly pear margarita haven Stampede 66. But all is not lost — if you just so happen to live in the ‘burbs.

The six-year-old Dallas restaurant was a nostalgic playground, an ode to Pyles’ 1990s restaurant Star Canyon.

“It was really in-your-face-Texas,” Pyles tells PaperCity. The fifth-generation Texan would know a thing or two about that.

The Modern Texas cuisine-focused restaurant is being reborn in Allen, Texas, with a look that’s still rustic but a little more refined. Flying under the same flag, the new Stampede 66 will be inside the new Delta Hotels Dallas Allen & Water Creek Convention Center, alongside two other new Stephan Pyles concepts: cocktail bar Canyon Bar and on-the-go restaurant Provisions 66.

So, why the abrupt big city closure?

“With the influx of what seems like thousands of restaurants in Uptown, it was just time to move,” Pyles says. He’s headed away from super saturation and hightailing it to the suburbs in January.

“I think the really good, positive thing about the suburbs, Allen in particular, which I’m really high on right now, is there’s so much opportunity there. It’s almost like the old days of Dallas,” Pyles notes.

People from the suburbs would drive into Stampede 66 and urge the chef to open something closer to their homes. “They’d say ‘We love coming to your restaurant, but we have to drive.’ It’s time to give that a shot,” Pyles says.

The new Stampede 66 will definitely have the same feel, with the ultra-Texas elements toned down. Think wood, Texas sayings, but don’t necessarily plan on jumbo Lone Star State puns, wild mustang sculptures and flat-screen TVs with a running loop of Yoakum ranches.

But if you loved that original Stampede 66 Texas, Texas, everything Texas menu, you won’t be disappointed. “It’s the same food-wise, beverage-wise and service-wise as Stampede 66. Basically the same menu, with some new twists and innovations,” Pyles says.

The signature liquid nitrogen prickly pear margaritas are here to stay, for those who like their drinks not just on the rocks, but on dry ice.  You can also expect the chicken-fried buffalo steak.

It’s geared more toward the suburbs, which to Pyles means more kid-friendly. At the original Stampede 66, there was no menu specifically for kids. The new Stampede 66 will serve up pint-sized, children-friendly dishes.

A New Bar Start

Pyles is every bit as passionate about the two brand new concepts as well.

“The idea we had for Canyon Bar is kind of based on the old Star Canyon, which was such a popular concept,” Pyles says. “It’s going to be a great watering hole I think for not just the folks at the hotel, but hopefully the people of Allen. It’ll have artisan cocktails.” But the fun’s not all about the drinks.

“There will be some snacks as well. We’ll have a great burger and a steak, also lobster quesadillas, mushroom empanadas, flat breads, that sort of thing,” the chef continues. “It’s a place to gather and drink but also to dine.”

The third concept, Provisions 66, is a symbol of hotels moving away from room service. “This is a good opportunity to do really offer something of good quality that is a little quicker and on-the-go. Provisions 66 will kind of be like gourmet takeout,” Pyles says.

While the Dallas Stampede 66 has closed — after his eponymous Stephan Pyles restaurant closed in 2016 — Pyles’ Flora Street Cafe is doing better than ever.

“Everything’s really good. We’re having a really great month,” the chef says.

Even if Pyles’ other restaurant is stampeding to the suburbs — and charting a new course.