The spot on Ross Avenue where El Chingón was. Photo by Lillian Juarez.
El Chingón opened this spring on Ross Avenue but has now closed.
The purveyor of hand-crafted cocktails and self-proclaimed “bad ass Mexican cuisine” announced its Sunday, Sept. 6 closure on Instagram.
“When we came to Ross Avenue, we believed in Dallas and in what this part of the city could become,” read the Sept. 7 post. “We took a blighted property, invested millions of dollars into bringing it back to life, created jobs, and built a space unlike anything that had stood there before. Our goal was simple: give Dallas the best, most Chingón experience we possibly could. And Dallas showed up for us.”
Except operating El Chingón meant fighting with the City of Dallas, which included “repeated code compliance visits, citations and ongoing challenges to our certificate of occupancy and restaurant use,” the post explains.
“Over time, it became increasingly clear that El Chingón simply was not what the City wanted us to be,” the Instagram post read. “Events, programming, dancing, the way we used our space — nearly every part of the experience became another opportunity to find fault with our identity. We made changes. We worked with City officials. We worked with the neighborhood. We hired consultants and attorneys. We met with elected officials. We repeatedly tried to find a reasonable path forward while continuing to operate the restaurant we spent millions of dollars building. Instead, the scrutiny intensified.”
I reached out to the City’s communication team for more information about these claims and the City’s response and will update once I receive more information.
El Chingón thanked its supporters, including patrons and staff, saying, “The people of Dallas were never the problem. You are the reason we fought as long as we did.” The establishment also said a plan to give Dallas another shot in the future is on the radar.
As of writing this, the Instagram post garnered 387 comments. Some users were sad to see El Chingón go while others celebrated the closure and said the concept caused issues, particularly with parking and traffic, in the nearby neighborhood. A Dallas Observer article even questioned if El Chingón should be classified as a restaurant at all. If there is common ground to be had between both perspectives, this user’s comment may sum it up: “Good idea, bad location.”
