With its sprawling tequila lounge, regionally focused menu, and design inspired by some of Mexico City’s most acclaimed restaurants, Sueño is betting that Dallas diners are ready for a deeper exploration of Mexican culture.
Sueño, founded by Julio Pineda and Cristian Lujano in Richardson, opened a second location at 6600 Snider Plaza in the Park Cities on Wednesday, June 10. The original location was converted from a Burger King, and Pineda and Lujano turned it into a valet service fine dining destination with coastal Mexican decor and a menu that explores the heritage and customs of the country.
The owners partnered with the Bellomy Group, a hospitality company owned by brothers Ryan, Sean, and Beau Bellomy (S&D Oyster Company, Rex’s Seafood), who are testing a model that pairs established local operators with expansion opportunities in Dallas. Sueño itself is also a family affair: Lujano’s brother, Marco, serves as beverage director, while Pineda’s brother is the general manager of the Richardson location.
That family influence also shapes Sueño’s culinary vision, which aims to showcase the depth and diversity of Mexican culture through food and drink.
Mexican food is the focus of Sueño’s menu, with lots of attention paid to Indigenous food and drink, and a purposeful highlighting of select regions. “We’re going to start off [focusing on] four states: Mexico City, Oaxaca, Jalisco, and Monterrey, where our executive chef is from, and we’re planning on cocktails with food based on each region,” Lujano says.
That looks like cheese-filled enchilada Suizas from Mexico City, a host of moles to reflect Oaxaca, lamb biarra for Jalicso, and mesquite wood-fired beef fajitas and carne asada to reflect Monterrey. The restaurant has a new relationship with Rosewood Ranch out of Ennis, which is known for raising some of the best beef in the state.
“We did start with more sustainable seafood, grass-fed beef, and free-range chicken,” Lujano says. The carne asada is Rosewood, and the leftover parts are turned into Rosewood picadillo enchiladas, stuffed with savory ground beef.
Whatever you call Sueño, don’t call it authentic. “We’re not authentic. I feel like the word authentic is very repetitive, and then you contradict yourself with authentic and re-imagined Mexican cuisine,” Lujano says.
Much research went into imagining the food and drinks, and the cocktail menu does a stellar job of highlighting Mexico’s Indigenous traditions. Dive even deeper into Alma Agave, the tequila lounge attached to the restaurant whose name translates from Spanish to “soul of the agave,” Alongside an extensive selection of tequilas and mezcals, the bar features Mexican sake, aged tequilas, and cocktails inspired by ancestral drinks.
Among them is tejuino, a traditional beverage from Jalisco made with fermented corn masa. At Sueño, it’s combined with house-made orgeat and topped with lime sorbet.
Another is tejate, an Oaxaca invention known as the “drink of the gods”. Made from toasted corn masa and fermented cacao beans, it is consumed from a jícara, made from the hollowed-out woody shell of the calabash tree fruit. “It has a very light, silky, creamy profile,” Pineda says. At Sueño, the drink is paired with agave spirits and offered in flavors including mango or guava—kind of like a margarita, but that drinks very differently.
The design of Sueño’s second location is vastly different from the one in Richardson. The group worked with Mexico City-based JSa, the firm behind the iconic, two Michelin-starred restaurant Pujol. Pineda and Lujano are big fans. “It was elegant, nothing over the top,” Pineda says. “It defined what a Mexican restaurant design should look like as an aspect of not too flashy—just right in the alley of elegance.”
The dark design—with velvet-covered seats, dark wood tabletops, and black iron accents—is a modern take on the idea of and materials used in Mexican haciendas. It was also JSa’s first project in America. “I think we took them to every Mexican restaurant around Dallas that you can think of, because we wanted to show them what we didn’t want to be,” Pineda says. “We wanted to be different, and we wanted people to step into our restaurant and connect with Mexico.”
While the food, drinks, and decor all do their jobs, the reason you’ll truly be transported is the people. Lujano pays tribute to the “food runners, cooks, bartenders, and bus boys” who actually make their restaurants run.
“[When] you walk in through either facade of the restaurant, we want you to see that this is a place that it is powered by passion rather than ego,” Lujano says.
That philosophy is woven throughout Sueño, where every detail is designed to tell a broader story about Mexico and its diverse culinary heritage.
Sueño, 6600 Snider Plaza, Ste. 100, Dallas, suenotx.com
