The old ice plant on East Clarendon Drive has a restaurant again, and it comes with a chef Oak Cliff already knows well.
Barro y Fuego is now serving in Suite 100 of East Dock, the restored industrial complex at 900 E. Clarendon Dr. The name means “clay and fire,” and the kitchen belongs to Eric Spigner, who spent eight years cooking at Nova in Oak Cliff before winning Food Network’s Chopped.
Spigner is self-taught, and his partner here is Robert Ramirez, the Nova co-owner he worked alongside all those years. The two had talked for a long time about opening something of their own. This is it.
The menu pulls from a wide map. Spigner cooks from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and the Afro-Latino traditions that tie those places together, what the restaurant calls the cooking of the Atlantic world. With more than 30 Latin American countries to draw from, the plan is to keep the menu moving. It will change every quarter, built around what is in season and whatever corner of that map Spigner wants to explore next.
The setting may be the biggest surprise. East Dock went up in 1915 and spent its first decades as Oak Cliff Ice & Cold Storage. Later it turned out books, and later still the Guiberson Corporation built aircraft engines and parts there. Then the 62,000-square-foot property sat empty for more than seven years before Oak Cliff’s Proxy Properties began bringing it back.
Barro y Fuego sits on the southeast corner of the complex, near Clarendon and Ewing, and its patio looks out over Cedar Creek and the green strip it shares with the Dallas Zoo. DART trains roll past within view. It is an unusual dining spot for the middle of the city, and the partners plan to fill it with live music and community events as the first year goes on.
Inside, Spigner has talked about a long communal wooden table where strangers end up side by side and, with luck, in conversation. That fits the neighborhood. East Dock’s other tenants already include Bite Sushi, Lola’s Cantina & Snacks, Elevate Coffee and Kuluntu Bakery, and the complex is shaping up as one more reason to linger south of the Trinity.
Barro y Fuego is open Wednesday through Sunday, with dinner starting at 4 p.m. on weekdays and daytime service beginning at 11 a.m. on weekends, including Sunday brunch. Hours are still settling in these early months, so a call to (972) 503-2871 before you go is a good idea. Parking is available in all three East Dock lots, including the one right in front of the restaurant and the large lot at Clarendon and Viola Street.
