Seafood restaurant Pesca opened in Trinity Groves, the restaurant park in West Dallas, on Dec. 13, 2024.
It comes from Jesus Carmona, whose erstwhile restaurant Tacos Mariachi got a high-profile visit from Guy Fieri for an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network in 2018.
Tacos Mariachi was one of the first tenants in the reinvention of West Dallas a decade ago, back when it was a series of construction projects in the middle of a neighborhood near the Trinity River. Today, Trinity Groves is a joint venture between a team of deep-pocketed Dallas investors and Nebraska real estate firm Goldenrod Cos., and the master plan calls for more than 5,000 residential units, nearly 1,000 hotel rooms and over 2.5 million square feet of office space.
Carmona is dedicated to West Dallas because it’s the neighborhood where he started his first restaurant, after working in Dallas kitchens led by chefs John Tesar, Avner Samuel and more for years. Carmona’s first restaurant Tacos Mariachi didn’t survive the COVID-19 pandemic, but in 2021, Carmona opened a different taqueria, Milagro, about 450 feet away. Pesca is his third restaurant West Dallas — and the first in Trinity Groves’ main restaurant park on Singleton Boulevard.
Pesca Coastal Classics and Boozy Cocktails takes the place of Amberjax, which closed in summer 2020.
Carmona describes Pesca as a casual place. “I don’t want to be just another seafood place with high prices,” he said. “I want to be an everyday place.”
He hopes customers consider starting dinner with an oyster or shrimp shooter, priced $6 to $7 each.
Inside Pesca, Trinity Groves’ newest restaurant
Although Carmona is known for his tacos, just a few Mexican dishes made the menu. The Amazing Tortilla Soup ($6 for a cup, $9 for a bowl) uses the same guajillo broth from Milagro. He also added shrimp enchiladas with poblano cream sauce ($22) and fried calamari with serrano aioli ($14). The majority of the menu is straight-ahead recipes for New England clam chowder ($7 to $10), oysters Rockefeller ($14), a lobster roll with butter and tarragon ($25) and linguini with shrimp, calamari and clams ($26).
One of the specialties is a choice of fish, served grilled or a la plancha with a vegetable of the day. Options include salmon, mahi mahi and Texas red snapper.
About 80% of the menu is seafood, Carmona said.
The rest are meaty classics — “because we are in Texas,” he said. That means steak frites ($28), crispy fried chicken ($23) and a cheeseburger ($16).
Fans of Carmona’s other restaurants might appreciate the agave-based cocktails. The Pescarita comes with blood orange and guava. Guilty Pineapple is a mezcal drink with pineapple, cilantro and lime.
Carmona is no longer involved with Argentinian restaurant Chimichurri in the Bishop Arts District as of a few months ago. He’s focused on West Dallas, the neighborhood where he has lived and worked for a decade.
“I think it’s a big challenge, and I love a challenge,” he said of opening a restaurant in Trinity Groves, the development going through another reinvention.
“I think it’s the right moment.”
Pesca Coastal Classics and Boozy Cocktails is at 3011 Gulden Lane, Dallas. Closed Mondays. Dinner only, for now; brunch will be added in early 2025.
