Grown-Up Playground Punch Bowl Social Is Headed To Dallas

For those of us who absolutely refuse to grow up, the arrival of Punch Bowl Social may be the best news of the year.

Punch Bowl Social CEO Robert Thompson confirms to Eater that the restaurant will hit Deep Ellum next year as part of a six location national expansion. The Denver-based chain has grown massively since its opening four years ago, bringing outposts to Austin, Detroit, and Portland among other locations.

The hybrid bar/bowling alley/karaoke lounge’s Dallas arrival is more than two years in the making. “We have been searching in Dallas, mostly only finding opportunities in outlying quasi-suburban areas that don’t really work for the urbane, gritty and edgy nature of Punch Bowl Social,” he says. “Over a two year period, we finally felt that Deep Ellum had developed enough to do a deal there, and we couldn’t be more pleased to be ‘in-town’ where we belong.

Earlier this month, Punch Bowl Social made a massive hire in multi-James Beard Award winning chef and Top Chef judge Hugh Acheson, the Georgia-based owner of Empire State South, Five & Ten, The National, and The Florence. According to Eater Denver, Acheson debuted a “nearly complete overhaul” of the restaurant’s menu earlier this month, and will “lead the ongoing culinary direction of the growing restaurant concept and bolster Punch Bowl Social’s commitment to a seasonally inspired scratch kitchen.”

An address for Punch Bowl Social has not yet been announced, but you can look forward to its debut next year. Stay tuned for more updates on its arrival.

• Top Chef Judge Hugh Acheson Joins Punch Bowl Social [EDEN]