It’s Fast. It’s loud. It is the Gas Monkey Garage boys ripping it up each week on the Discovery Channel with their hit reality program Fast n’ Loud. The Dallas based show is centered around two mechanics, Richard Rawlings who is a self-pronounced motor mastermind, and Aaron Kaufmann, a mechanical prodigy. Now call them by their new title, restaurateurs.
We were invited in for an exclusive hard hat tour this week and it looks like this will be an extremely fun venue. Gas Monkey Bar and Grill is deep up in the construction phase with new ideas being brought to the table each day to make it more Monkey-esque. Look for plenty of garage doors opening up into secret cabanas in perfect eye sight to a massive outdoor stage that also overlooks a beautiful pond. Or the beautiful patio around the corner, in the front of the venue, that has the same water view but will be shaded with faux garage fixtures.
The interior sports a smaller, but still healthy sized stage for live music, and is situated in the main dining area. To the far back of the building you will find an uber cool gift shop so you can take care of all your Christmas shopping needs.
The fixtures in the building, including the walls and seating, are made from reclaimed wood and metal found nearly everywhere by the Monkeys. This past month you may have spotted the boys sopping for oddball items in Canton to add to the decor. Word is that they scouted a large chicken coop owned by the inlaws of General Manager Alex Mendonsa, and that is being dismantled to add to the giant stack of wood that is being inlaid across the building. It is truly beautiful.
“One of the things we saw surrounding the Gas Monkey guys is that they have such explosive personalities. The show itself has this mass appeal, whether you are blue or white collar, whatever, you can get behind someone that has this skill and does what they do. Richard and Aaron have a great time. So the concept is to take some of what they do over there [at Gas Monkey] and take that opportunity to create this amazing live music venue in a restaurant and night club type atmosphere, said Mendonsa.
Mendonsa isn’t exactly new to the restaurant and club world. With roots in Texas, he was actually scouted in Las Vegas where he ran the House of Blues for many years, as well as other big named venues in Sin City.
Thankfully there are no real neighbors, besides Toby Keith’s bar just to the south of the rebuilt structure, to complain about the outdoor venue. We were told there will be this massive 70,000 watt sound system imported from Spain, and is the first like it in the world. We were told the sound will be superb.
In addition to all the unique features being installed into this incredible building, there is also a VIP room overlooking the back outdoor stage that should seat a good amount of people and has its own bar.
Look for 32 taps on hand pouring at a cold temperature of 29 degrees and will include many local craft beer selections. The food menu will feature plenty of American comfort food with a little bit of Tex Mex spice. To create the menu they tapped Fort Worth chef David Hollister who was formerly at the Yucatan Taco Stand. Included in Hollister’s daily duties will be to make his own bacon for use at the restaurant. Look for some great burgers with on-premises fresh ground beef and in-house smoked meats.
Look for an opening possibly early September and is located at 10261 Technology Blvd in Dallas. These guys aren’t monkey-ing around.