The landmark Lower Greenville building that was damaged severely in a four-alarm fire this past March is getting a new life. Business owners expect the building at 2800 Greenville to open with three restaurants before the Super Bowl, Feb. 6. Dodie’s, the Lower Greenville Cajun food spot, has signed a lease for the 3,000-square-foot corner space that was Hurricane Grill before the fire. Plumbing work started in September on the 1931 building, and construction is expected to move rapidly. All three spaces are expected to have roofdecks.
“It’s going to be hip, trendy, cool,” Dodie’s owner Chris McGuinness says. “We want to bring some of the business from Henderson back over here to Greenville.”
The building, which is in the 2800 block of Greenville, housed Terilli’s, Mick’s, Greenville Bar and Grill and Hurricane Grill. Terilli’s, the romantic Italian joint known for live jazz performances, is the only restaurant returning to its rebuilt space next year. Dodie’s owner Chris McGuinness and partners also have leased the middle space for a new concept. It’s an Asian-fusion restaurant called (rohst). The spelling is based on the phonetic pronunciation of “roast”. The chef owns a Korean restaurant in Dallas. He’s planning a menu that will be “like a Korean Houston’s”, McGuinness says. The original Dodie’s will stay open for at least six months after the new place, Dodie’s Reef, opens. The original Dodie’s opened 20 years ago and became popular especially for its Cajun tamales. Since then, it has expanded to a chain of six restaurants in the Dallas area. The new restaurant, Dodie’s Reef, will serve a similar menu, but more upscale. McGuinness says the new space is one he always coveted — it’s where he originally wanted to put Dodie’s, and he settled for the location at Greenville and Richmond, which turned out to be terrific, he says.
“We have a lot of history there. It’s hard to just leave it,” he says. McGuinness expects all three restaurants to open in the same week early next year.
• A version of this post first appeared in a Sept. 10 Lakewood/East Dallas BackTalk blog post. Visit the blog regularly for updates on this topic.
Here’s our video of the aftermath in March:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH61LP2Z_Do[/youtube]
