Deep Ellum’s New Deal: The Struggle, The Shift and a New Restaurant Row

We want to love Deep Ellum, we really do. But when it continues throwing up roadblocks — both literal and figurative — between us and our burgers and beer, it gets harder and harder to persuade our friend group to go there. Now, imagine if you owned a restaurant in the area.

Recently, we drove up and down Main, Elm and Commerce streets, the neighborhood’s main thoroughfares. Commerce was, predictably, still covered in rubble. A graffiti-covered portable toilet was planted in the middle of the street, and the “Open for Business” signs looked a bit worse for wear. That said, Main and Elm Streets were pretty busy at about 2 p.m. on a weekday. We spotted folks walking and sitting on patios along the block, as well as about half a dozen conspicuously placed police cruisers. Street parking was free and easy to find throughout the area.

On the surface, when the sun is high and bright, all seems well. But street construction and the inherent problems of being a nightlife beacon barely scratch the surface in terms of the challenges restaurants face. Of course, recent times have been tough on all food service businesses. We’ve written about tariffs, the lease cliff and higher prices for labor and goods. But when you add Deep Ellum-specific hurdles and (literal) road blocks to the mix, you’re looking at a punishing obstacle course. 

The area has lost some big-name spots in the last couple of years: Federales (July 2024), Niwa (June 2025), Fuzzy’s (September 2025), STIRR (August 2025), Deep Sushi (January 2026) and Dot’s Hop House (February 2026). Others have moved, and openings are slim by comparison.

This past summer, the neighborhood reached a boiling point when the popular nightclub Rodeo Dallas drew young, rowdy crowds. There were multiple shootings in the entertainment district; police presence increased; roads were shut down. Many pointed to Rodeo as the epicenter of the chaos. Landlords filed suits to shut down the bar.

But Deep Ellum isn’t a passing fad. The entertainment and music district, built in the late 19th century as a residential and commercial neighborhood largely populated by Black people, is a survivor. A cradle for jazz in the ’20s and a platform for punk in the ’80s, Deep Ellum has grit. Despite the recent spate of closures (both businesses and streets), will a new initiative from the Deep Ellum Foundation smooth the way? Well, let’s just say you’ll wanna lace up your trainers for this one.

Not So Easy

The food truck Easy Slider opened its first brick-and-mortar on Main Street in Deep Ellum in 2017. The restaurant relocated to East Side Avenue, about 1 mile away, last year. Co-owner Caroline Perini discussed the good times, the bad times, and the challenges they faced in their seven years in Deep Ellum.

“We moved into a very large space that had never been a restaurant,” Perini says. “It took about a year to finish construction just because the building was so old.” She also notes that, without an alley or loading dock, the location always had challenges with food and beverage deliveries. That said, Easy Slider opened during a comparatively thriving time; foot traffic was great, and neighbors like Pecan Lodge were drawing lines around the building. Perini remembers that it “felt good for a minute” through about 2019. 

After COVID hit, however, Easy Slider experienced “an immediate downhill projection.” Challenges with crime and parking that had always been present — but not insurmountable — became too much for stressed-out pandemic-era consumers to bear. Easy Slider persisted for another couple of years before reaching a “crisis moment.” 

“We definitely ran the gauntlet in every category that everybody has ever brought up about Deep Ellum,” Perini says. “There were a lot of people working toward making it better, and it just never got there for us.”

Steet Talk

Dan Murray is the co-owner of the bars Armoury D.E. on Elm Street and Ruins on Commerce Street. The two venues have served up drinks, food and music in Deep Ellum for 10 and seven years, respectively. Murray’s connection to the neighborhood goes back even further; he got his first tattoo at Taboo in 1997.

“Deep Ellum is meant to be for musicians and artists and small business people to go in there and be able to do weird stuff,” Murray says. “It’s supposed to be a little weird, a little freaky, and that’s why it’s been around for 150 years.”

On the plus side, and unlike Easy Slider, Murray reports recovering “pretty quickly” from COVID-era issues. But that’s where the good news ends. For him, a bigger challenge has come in the form of “perceived” crime in Deep Ellum and the city’s subsequent street closures. 

“A lot of focus is on crime in Deep Ellum,” Murray says. “But anytime you have an entertainment district, you’re gonna have bad actors that go in there and cause problems. It’s just human nature.” 

Last summer, to address the issue, the city started closing Main, Elm and side streets in Deep Ellum on Friday and Saturday nights, beginning around 10 p.m. Murray argues that the presence of police cruisers, lights, and officers actually reinforces a “crime scene look,” not to mention presenting a logistical inconvenience. “It is a massive pain in the ass to get down there, and customers don’t want to deal with it,” he says. 

This said, this longtime fan is well acquainted with the ebb and flow of Dallas’ relationship with Deep Ellum, and he’s not giving up anytime soon. “It’s frustrating when you feel like the city is, not intentionally, but still an anchor around our ankles and we just can’t keep our head above water,” he says. “But we’re still trying, we’re still kicking.”

An ‘Emotional’ Choice

Jay Jerrier is the owner of PILF Restaurant Group, which operates many restaurants under five concepts, including nine locations of his popular original pizzeria, Cane Rosso. In 2011, he opened his first restaurant on Commerce in Deep Ellum.

“I knew nothing really about the neighborhood,” Jerrier says. “But the space had the vibe I was looking for.” He recalls that the building was a “huge mess,” but its exposed brick walls and patio had potential. Sure enough, Jerrier’s first door opened to adoring fans, awards and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Cane Rosso has also experienced its share of Deep Ellum drama, but nothing compares to the crippling issue that hit in 2024.

“One of the biggest challenges in Deep Ellum is the aging infrastructure,” Jerrier says. He reports some “interesting odors” from aging pipes over the years, but unfortunately, the process to correct these issues has created a much, much bigger mess. A massive, multiyear project is underway on Commerce, with the goal of updating pipes, widening sidewalks and converting it to a two-way street. It is projected to last through the end of this year, or early 2027.

“We’ve been losing money in Deep Ellum since the construction tore up the road in front of our spot,” he says, and it’s been “far worse for business than COVID, protests, inflation or crime.”

And yet, after 15 years, Jerrier recently renewed his lease — with an asterisk. In the short term, he reports striking a deal to run through the end of the Commerce construction project, with another lease to be signed thereafter. Why all the trouble to stay? Because he really wants to be there.

“The renewal was really driven by 90 percent emotion on my part,” Jerrier says. “There are a few pockets in DFW that feel authentic. Deep Ellum is a very unique and eclectic area with a cool mix of venues, retail, and restaurants. It still feels like a neighborhood.” 

A Little Help

The Deep Ellum Foundation (DEF) is a nonprofit corporation that provides improvements, maintenance, security and marketing, based on a service plan adopted by the Dallas City Council. Marketing manager Veronica Young is a Deep Ellum resident who developed a natural affinity for the area through years of volunteering before stepping into her full-time role. 

“Deep Ellum is not just an entertainment district,” Young says. “It’s also a very small community. My job is to serve the businesses and to make sure that they feel supported.” 

Young shares that an upcoming plan will focus specifically on supporting restaurants by rebranding Commerce Street as Deep Ellum’s “Restaurant Row.” In the meantime, a request for feedback:

“While streetscape improvements are currently underway, the culinary backbone of this stretch is very much open,” Young says, calling out Twisted Root, Cane Rosso, Adair’s, The Free Man and St. Pete’s Dancing Marlin. “The Deep Ellum Foundation is inviting diners to lean in now. Eat your way down Commerce Street. Tell us what hits. Then come back again when the upgrades are complete and experience it all through a fresh lens.”

The “Restaurant Row” branding project will officially kick off with a video series. But there’s still a year on the clock for the Commerce Street construction project, and what about all the other food and beverage businesses located elsewhere in the neighborhood? Will removing this obstacle for some restaurants in Deep Ellum be enough?

Murray, whose restaurant Ruins and Amory D.E. are on Commerce and Elm respectively, is optimistic. He thinks the entire neighborhood will get a lift from both the branding project and the end of construction.

“The two-way traffic on Commerce, wider sidewalks and more parallel parking are going to be great for the neighborhood,” he says. “Beautifying the neighborhood in general is going to be great for everybody.”

He’s looking forward to just a “few months” when construction on one side of Commerce should be completed. “They still have to do the other side of Commerce, but they don’t have to sink utilities, so that goes lightning quick because it’s just road resurfacing,” he says.