Gas Monkey Reality TV Star Richard Rawlings Is Opening a New Dallas Restaurant

Richard Rawlings, the hot rod restorer known for his Discover Channel show Fast N’ Loud, is plotting a massive new restaurant and live music venue in Dallas. The reality star and owner of Gas Monkey Garage is planning to open a new Gas Monkey Dallas in Mercer Boardwalk in the middle of 2022.

Rawlings is partnering with Refined Hospitality Concepts for the project, which will be located on LBJ Freeway near Luna Road — just a mile and a half from the Gas Monkey Garage. Gas Monkey Dallas will span over 40,000 square feet, including a rooftop bar, stage for live music, and green space. The menu will be Tex-Mex and barbecue-centric.

This is the latest restaurant and bar venture from Rawlings, whose Gas Monkey Live closed in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. (That space on Technology Boulevard is now home to new music venue Amplified). Rawlings also started to work this year on a custom-designed $500,000 food truck to park in front of his garage.

Refined Hospitality Concepts and Rawlings are going big on the Gas Monkey brand: in addition to the Dallas outpost, the plan is to open up similar venues in Texas and beyond, including Vegas. For now, Rawlings put up a video preview showing off the site’s excellent highway access, and his unique method of breaking ground for construction: doing donuts in his restored 1968 Mustang Shelby GT 350 Convertible.

• From Reality TV to Restaurant: Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill is Now Open [EDFW]