Kevin and Jenny Galvan had already opened three Haystack Burgers & Barley locations by the time the Lakewood restaurant opened in May 2020.
But it was the store in Hillside Village that changed the criteria for future Haystack locations.
“Every Haystack we’ve done since, the drive has been the patio,” Jenny says.
The Lakewood restaurant is in the former Dallas Swim Club space, which moved to another spot in the Hillside Village shopping center. Specifically, the restaurant occupies the space where the locker room and shallow end of the pool were.
The Galvans, who have been married for 25 years and met as students at Dallas Lutheran School, were familiar with our neighborhood before they opened the restaurant here. But they had also heard stories from an investor in the restaurant, now in his mid-70s, who attended Woodrow Wilson High School and used to hitchhike home from the east side of White Rock Lake.
Kevin’s journey in the restaurant industry began long before he and Jenny opened the first Haystack in Richardson in 2013.
His great-grandfather immigrated from Mexico and opened a restaurant in West Texas. His grandfather and father owned restaurants in the Metroplex, including Manny’s Tex Mex Grill in Frisco. So that’s how Kevin grew up, refilling chips in his father’s restaurant and learning about Tex-Mex restaurateurship from his family.
“It’s what I’ve always wanted to do,” Kevin says. “Out of college, I started working for my dad and realized I really enjoyed this. So my dad fired me.”
Leaving the family restaurant, and following his father’s advice, he gained experience at Houston’s and then Pei Wei before he opened Ricardo’s Tex Mex in 2004. Kevin and Jenny operated it for a few years before creating a new concept, Haystack, putting a twist on their Tex-Mex experience.
After opening the Richardson store, the Galvans expanded to Turtle Creek (which has now closed), Frisco, Lakewood, Far North Dallas and Preston Hollow.
“We learned our niche is neighborhoods,” Kevin says.
In addition to its 1,000-square-foot, dog-friendly patio, Lakewood was the first without communal tables. Those two features came in handy at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the restaurant opened.
A few Bishop Lynch students were some of the first hires for the restaurant.
“They were just so happy to get out of the house,” Jenny says. “And then their parents and their friends, they would all come eat dinner. Everyone was just happy to have a gathering place.”
It just so happened that the online ordering system went live the day businesses had to shut down. Now, Lakewood handles more to-go orders than almost every other location. And the day the restaurant opened for patio seating and to-go orders was the day restaurants were able to open to 25% capacity inside.
Vodka soda was one of the most popular drink orders at the beginning.
“We call it ‘the local’ at all the other stores, but we know it’s really Lakewood,” Jenny says.
Salads and the avocado ranch burger, made with avocado ranch dressing, applewood smoked bacon, provolone, avocado and lettuce, are top sellers.
“We do burgers because everybody likes them, and you can eat it more than once a week,” Jenny says.
However, Haystack sells sandwiches and chili, too.
The Galvans’ Tex-Mex history comes through in the chips and salsa, queso and guacamole, along with the ranchero chicken stuffed jalapeños.
And of course, there are the “soon-to-be-famous” mozzarella sticks, as Kevin says. Each morning, the cheese is sliced and rolled in a Panko crust, ready for the fryer.
“I feel they’re life-changing,” Kevin says. “You can’t go back to frozen mozzarella sticks.”
Haystack Burgers & Barley, 6465 E. Mockingbird Lane, 214.434.1588
