Laurel Tavern opens to the public for dinner on Wednesday, May 23 at 1920 Lowest Greenville Avenue (same block as Nora Restaurant & Bar) is a casual but elevated modern American bar and restaurant with an intentional focus on high quality but approachable food, cocktails and superior hospitality.
Laurel Tavern features a menu with most everything made fresh daily onsite and from scratch. What the kitchen does not make, they source from the highest quality purveyors possible. Breads are sourced via local bakers and the burger is a proprietary blend ground in-house daily and hand formed. Produce is also hyper local and fresh, delivered daily.
From Pork Belly skewers with maple glaze to the Duck Club with duck confit, smoked bacon, pickled green tomato and cherry mustard made in-house, Laurel Tavern provides an elevated casual dining experience that is accessible to everyone. The cocktail program is solid, using fresh ingredients.
With tin walls, low ceilings, an L- shaped bar made of black walnut and banquettes with diamond-tufted leather, the space has a sense of intimacy and feels like an extension of someone’s home.
There is a heartbeat and authentic, comfortable feeling when guests visit Laurel Tavern for a night out or weekend brunch. The patio is just as inviting with the bar having an inside/outside seating element.
Co-owner Jonny Valenti explains, “We hope our guests see this as a meeting place. The focus on people, food, drinks and hospitality evolves around a social element – being with one another. We want them to feel comfortable and relaxed so as to enjoy the company they keep. We even tailor our sound system to be not too loud so people can talk. “
The team says they feel they found the sweet spot with this concept by fusing contemporary gastro pub with an elevated food and cocktail program. Co-owner Michael Leko says, “We can be the place people eat multiple times a week. We are consistent. 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.”
The restaurant group came to Dallas on a social visit – and decided to stay. Leko, who moved to Dallas from California not long ago says, “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.”