Matt McCallister's River Sing slips to a November opening
The former FT33 chef delays his 22-seat restaurant near Fair Park to November, with a four-course menu at $150 or under built around a walled garden entry.
Matt McCallister's River Sing, a small tasting-menu restaurant near Dallas's Fair Park, has slipped from an October target to a November opening, the chef's team confirmed.
The restaurant occupies part of a 1928 General Motors Truck & Coach showroom at 820 Exposition Avenue, a block from Fair Park. McCallister is converting a former service bay into a walled, planted garden that will double as the entry, a central piece of the design rather than a courtyard tacked on for looks.
The menu runs four or five courses at $150 or under, built around an open kitchen that anchors the room. Staff will number seven or eight in total, a small crew for a small space: the kitchen counter seats 14, with table seats for 10 more, though reports on total capacity vary between 22 and 24.
A 22-seat room built around a garden is a statement about what McCallister wants dinner to feel like, not just taste like.
McCallister previously ran FT33 and Homewood, both closed, and has picked up multiple James Beard Award nominations along the way. Diners who remember either restaurant will recognise the style: local, seasonal and produce-forward, built around whatever the market gives him that week rather than a fixed concept.
Why River Sing, not a Grateful Dead bar
The name comes from a Grateful Dead lyric, though McCallister plays down any band theme. He says he is not trying to open a Grateful Dead-influenced restaurant, describing the goal instead as an oasis, with hospitality placed ahead of formality.
A quiet comeback watched nationally
River Sing made Food & Wine's national list of 10 most anticipated fall restaurant openings before McCallister had even confirmed a date, a sign of how closely the trade press has tracked his return since Homewood closed. The attention lands at an odd moment for Texas dining: the Michelin Guide's own Texas contract is running out just as a new generation of chefs opens. A slip from October to November will test how much of that attention survives the wait.
No firm date has been set beyond November. McCallister's team says updates will come through the restaurant's own channels rather than a formal announcement.
Sources
- D Magazine ·
- Hoodline ·
