A Dallas-based restaurant devoted to Texas comfort food is coming to Houston. Haywire will open in the summer of 2024 in the former Vallone’s space at Gateway Memorial City.
Part of FB Society, the Dallas-based hospitality group behind restaurants such as Whiskey Cake, Velvet Taco, and Sixty Vines, Haywire describes itself as serving ranch-to-table cuisine. Houston will be the restaurant’s third location, joining Plano and Dallas’s Uptown district.
“Memorial City has everything we’re looking for in a development partner – high foot traffic, accessibility, shopping, hotels, etc,” Haywire vice president of operations Judd Fruia said in a statement. “We’re excited to become part of the community and introduce our larger-than-life concept and elevated farm-to-fork menu to Memorial City.”
Open for lunch, brunch, and dinner, Haywire serves dishes such as a tomahawk steak, chicken fried steak, and Texas whiskey barbecue ribs. At brunch, the menu includes kolaches, biscuits, migas, and chicken and waffles. They’re paired with cocktails, an extensive selection of whiskeys, and a wine list that’s worthy of Wine Spectator magazine’s Best of Award of Excellence.
Each Haywire location features photo-worthy design elements. In Plano, they include a 1962 Airstream trailer that’s been transformed into a roof top lounge and a whiskey lounge with fireplace. The combination of Haywire’s food, drinks, and decor helped it earn a nomination for Restaurant of the Year in the 2021 CultureMap Dallas Tastemaker Awards.
If the idea of a comfort food restaurant in Gateway Memorial City that serves chicken fried steak and chicken and waffles sounds familiar, it might because that roughly describes State Fare, the Texas-inspired comfort food restaurant that opened in 2016. Not so fast, says Memorial City developer MetroNational.
“Haywire provides an elevated farm to table dining experience with an emphasis on modern Texas staples and a variety of whiskey offerings. Haywire offers a broader menu and has more of a steak focus,” Danna Diamond, MetroNational’s vice president of retail leasing, said in response to CultureMap’s request for comment about the apparent similarities between the two restaurants.
“In addition, they will be providing opportunity for event space that does not exist today. State Fare provides a unique and contemporary twist on southern favorites.”
Haywire is one of several new restaurants coming to the Memorial City area. Common Bond will open two of its On-The-Go concepts in the area. Austin-based pizzeria Via 313 and Miami-based burger and kebab concept Pincho are slated to open this spring. A second location of Montrose barbecue favorite The Pit Room will open in the fall.
Courtesy of The Nix Company
Haywire serves comfort food such as chicken and waffles.
