Tex-Mex restaurant Escondido is slated to open on Dallas’ Greenville Avenue, in place of the longtime Blue Fish sushi, in mid-2026.
It’ll be the second Escondido in Dallas-Fort Worth, following the first at Preston Road and Royal Lane. But it isn’t restaurant owner Jon Alexis’ first East Dallas eatery, as he opened a patio bar called Birdie’s nearby, on East Mockingbird Lane, in 2023. Alexis’ company also owns and operates TJ’s Seafood Market at Preston-Royal and Ramble Room in Snider Plaza.
Alexis, a longtime Dallasite, said he’s “bullish” on Lower Greenville.
“I love that location,” he said of the former Blue Fish, which was open for more than 25 years. He also enjoys the Granada Theater, the venue across the street that’s been open since the 1940s.
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Alexis said Greenville Avenue is “a drinking destination, it’s a party destination, it’s a dining destination, it’s a go-see-a-concert destination.”
News that Escondido will move into East Dallas marks the second time in two weeks that a local restaurateur is expanding an existing Tex-Mex concept into the neighborhood. The owners of unaffiliated restaurant Muchacho are opening in the former Petra and the Beast nearby.
The look and menu at Escondido in East Dallas will be similar to the original at Preston-Royal. The restaurant is known for its fajitas, Alexis said, and theirs come with choice of protein, plus rice, beans, tortillas, house-made ancho chile butter, house-made green salsa, papas bravas and “roasted garlic cloves you can spread on your tortillas.” Mmm.
Escondido offers more than a dozen margaritas. It also has some unexpected agave-based cocktails like a tequila old-fashioned and a Mexican aperol spritz.
Alexis turned down 49 restaurant spaces before he said yes to this one. Why? The sizable parking lot, for one.
“I believe in parking,” Alexis said. (So do many Dallas diners, but it can be hard to come by on Greenville Avenue.)
Escondido will eventually be neighbors with a coming-soon restaurant in the former Pizzeria Testa. The team behind Goodwins in East Dallas took the lease.
Both of Alexis’ East Dallas restaurants — Escondido and Birdie’s — are expected to grow to other parts of Dallas-Fort Worth, he told The Dallas Morning News. He’s eyeing the suburbs, but no news there. Yet.
“We are actively looking,” he said.
Escondido is expected to open at 3519 Greenville Ave., Dallas, in 2026.