La Neta Cocina y Lounge, a modern Mexican restaurant that originated in Las Vegas, opened in Deep Ellum’s Epic development on Feb. 20, 2023.
The name La Neta means “the truth,” and the restaurant’s CEO and designer Ryan Labbe says, “the truth, to me, is we’re different.”
“Maybe you’re not going to get your grandma’s enchiladas, but you’re going to love our enchiladas,” he says. He’s one of nearly a dozen restaurant owners bringing Las Vegas restaurants to Dallas. Others include Italian restaurant Carbone and steakhouse STK.
For Labbe, the Vegas-to-Dallas connection makes sense: Deep Ellum is a celebratory neighborhood, where a “sexy” Mexican restaurant serving oversized tacos and tequila-heavy cocktails might make sense.
“In Dallas, everything is sparklers and dry ice,” Labbe says. He’s launching a new section of the menu in Dallas called BFD — that’s “Big F-ing Desserts,” that will include flashy and oversized sweets like a big cookie sandwich called the Hot Mess that froths from dry ice and is dripping in chocolate fondue.
The idea comes after a section called “Big F*#K’N Tacos,” which originated on the Las Vegas menu and will be in Dallas as well. Those three shareable items include a taco stuffed with a whole lobster; an oversized birria taco made of short rib, with the bone sticking out; and a “24Karne” skirt steak taco with truffle fondue, crispy onions and pieces of 24-karat gold.
Corporate chef Lanny Chin created the menu for the original restaurant in Vegas, which opened in 2021. Most of the menu will remain the same in Dallas, though some new items will be added in Dallas, like steaks.
“Everything’s bigger, so I thought we really needed to grasp that,” Labbe says of Dallas.
Other menu items, as seen on the Vegas menu, include chorizo sopes, beef or tuna tartare, chipotle hummus, fajitas, enchiladas, and large, shareable plates of seafood paella and a 30-ounce tomahawk rib-eye.
[Update on Feb. 2, 2023: Christian Galvan was announced as the restaurant’s executive chef. He has worked at Whiskey Cake and P.F. Chang’s.]
Labbe designed the restaurant with a 30-foot-wide indoor faux tree hanging over the bar and a wall of faux moss, “to bring that outdoor element in,” he says. Although the restaurant will be in one of the busiest parts of Deep Ellum, near a street with nightclubs, Labbe says La Neta is a restaurant with a lounge — not a club.
He says he looked in parts of Arizona, California and Austin before deciding that Dallas was the place for the second La Neta. Within Dallas, he considered Uptown, Victory Park, Highland Park and others, but said Deep Ellum’s Epic development “just feels right.”
The Epic is already home to another restaurant and lounge named Harper’s, plus the coming-soon Asian restaurant Komodo, as D reported. Chloe’s Newsstand, a lounge we called one of the most exciting new restaurants in D-FW to open in 2023, is expected to open in March. All the restaurants have that buzzy feel — a dimly-lit atmosphere that leans heavy on the cocktails — except for the development’s hotel restaurant, Elm + Good, which has farmhouse decor.
Fast-casual restaurant Velvet Taco has also opened recently in The Epic development.
Labbe says he plans to scout for other restaurant locations in Dallas next. His company 81/82 Group owns several other restaurants in Las Vegas, including Clique Bar and Lounge, The Barbershop and Mas Por Favor.
“I want to become part of Dallas hospitality, and I think it can really sustain multiple concepts,” he says.
La Neta is at 2525 Elm St. (at The Epic), Dallas.
Reservations for La Neta Cocina y Lounge became available Jan. 9. 2023 on OpenTable. The restaurant opened Feb. 20, 2023 and will have an RSVP-only grand opening party on March 2, 2023.
Story originally written Jan. 9, 2023 and updated Feb. 2, 2023 with the name of the executive chef and on Feb. 21, 2023 with confirmation that the restaurant is open.
