Omar Flores grew up in El Paso helping his father run family restaurants. Not as a dishwasher, not clearing plates — actually in the kitchen, learning how things worked from the time he was old enough to hold a knife. That early start shaped everything that came after.
Flores left for New Mexico State University to study hotel and restaurant management, then went east to Hyde Park, New York, to graduate from the Culinary Institute of America. After staging around the country, he landed in Dallas at Abacus — one of the city’s most serious kitchens at the time — where he spent eight years, working his way up to executive sous chef. When he left Abacus, he went to Oak Cliff and opened Driftwood in March 2012. The Dallas Morning News gave it four stars. He was named one of the best chefs in DFW that same year.
In late 2013 he opened Casa Rubia at Trinity Groves, a modern tapas concept with Catalan influences that landed in Texas Monthly’s best new restaurants list and earned a James Beard Foundation nod for best new restaurant. The Beard Foundation came back for him personally in 2015 and 2016 — two consecutive nominations for Best Chef Southwest. In 2016 he launched Whistle Britches, a chicken, biscuit and beer concept built around crispy fried chicken, house-made biscuits, and cold beer that earned best new restaurant nominations and now runs multiple DFW locations. Then came Muchacho, his Tex-Mex spot that opened in University Park in late 2019 — enchiladas, tacos, queso, and a house margarita that became a phenomenon during COVID’s to-go era. The marg practically kept the concept afloat through the shutdown and is now famous enough that it travels across his entire portfolio. Muchacho runs locations in Dallas and Southlake, with Frisco and Lakewood both in the works.
Last year he opened Even Coast at 5463 Beltline Road in the Addison-Dallas border area — a steak and seafood neighborhood restaurant with house-made pastas, a 150-seat room and a large patio. It filled up fast. Then Casa Brasa at 8111 Preston Road in Preston Commons, a live-fire concept drawing on the open-flame grill traditions of Latin America, with an open-fire grill, raw bar, sushi counter, and a private bar called Kamilla. Both are under Big Dill Hospitality, the group he runs with the Marshi family.
Today, the newest one opens. And it might be the most personal yet.
Maroma is at 1333 Oak Lawn Avenue in the Design District, on the ground floor of the newly built Thirteen Thirty Three Building — down the street from Carbone, near the Seam development where Aba and Maman are landing soon. The neighborhood is moving fast and this opening fits right into the moment.
The concept is coastal Mexican — not Tex-Mex, not interior Mexico, but the coastline specifically. The food of Sinaloa and Jalisco and Nayarit, where pristine seafood meets bright citrus and the smokiness of open fire. Flores has been straightforward about the approach: “Coastal Mexican cuisine is incredibly expressive. You have pristine seafood, bright citrus, and the influence of fire — but it’s about control and balance. Every dish is crafted with discipline and intention, allowing those elements to shine in a refined way.”
The cold bar is the anchor. Chilled Mercado Oysters come with chiltepin mignonette, fresh horseradish, cocktail sauce, and salsa marisquera. The Spot Prawn Aguachile Verde builds a serrano-cucumber broth with avocado, pickled red onion, cucumber, and chiltepin around the prawns. The Marisco Tower — three tiers of oysters, lobster, red snapper ceviche, poached shrimp, and montaditos — is $150 and designed to anchor a table. The red snapper ceviche at $26 runs sweet and sour with charred pineapple, serrano chile, and aji amarillo leche de tigre.
Hot starters include Little Neck Clams Chori-Papa — Mexican chorizo, fingerling potatoes, fennel confit, white wine, chipotle chile broth — and Chargrilled Oysters with chile toreado and garlic herb butter. From the grill: a Sea Bream a la Talla and a Peekytoe Crab Tostada that’s been called a must-order in early previews.
The Muchacho margarita is on the menu, which the Big Dill team openly says they’d be crazy not to include. Beyond that, the cocktail program goes its own direction — a Cazuela with Hennessy, white peach, Cocchi vermouth, lime, honey, and prosecco that serves four, a Coco Loco served in a coconut, a Corona y Caña topped with piña colada candy floss, and a Maroma Paloma.
The room is 3,800 square feet and seats 150 across a dining room and a covered, air-conditioned patio that is already one of the better outdoor setups in the Design District — Bird of Paradise plants between coral and seafoam banquettes, temperature controlled, which in a Texas May is not a small thing. The design runs natural materials and layered textures, sophisticated without trying too hard. The best seat in the house is a circular table for eight near the center of the room.
Maroma is open Sunday through Wednesday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Thursday through Saturday 11 a.m. to midnight. Reservations at maromadallas.com.
