Dallas’ AllGood Cafe, a friendly hangout for artists craving comfort food in Deep Ellum, was in jeopardy of closure. In a swift decision to save AllGood, a Dallas couple will “revive and freshen up” the 25-year-old venue, said Robin Gill, one of the new owners.
She’s joined in the effort by her partner, Dallas musician John Pedigo.
The two wouldn’t have dreamed of owning AllGood even a month ago, they told The Dallas Morning News. A friend mentioned the Main Street haunt was probably going to close because founder Mike Snider — a longtime fixture in Deep Ellum — was ready to retire.
“I said, ‘That can’t happen,’” Pedigo said. “This is a really important place. Somebody wants to buy it.”
Restaurant News
He and Gill ended up being those somebodies.
Long-timers who don’t want AllGood Cafe’s memorabilia to be touched shouldn’t worry: The new owners understand the venue’s importance to Deep Ellum.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
Gill went to culinary school and has a career in restaurant operations. Pedigo is a musician and record producer, currently working with Joshua Ray Walker and the Old 97’s. He’s known in Dallas for his bands The O’s and Boys Named Sue, and he also runs a radio show on 95.3 the Range.
Pedigo’s role at AllGood will be to set the music schedule. Gill will run the restaurant day-to-day. They both want to spruce up AllGood: maybe knock some dust off the posters and streamline the menu, the two say. But, they’re aware this 25-year-old cafe has deep roots in Deep Ellum. Bars come and go. Deep Ellum gets rowdy. AllGood was always there, like a worn-in couch at a friend’s house.
“We’re trying to be very respectful of the space,” Gill said. “And of its legacy.”
AllGood Cafe, then and now
When Snider opened AllGood in mid-2000, he was already a music promoter for venues like the Sons of Hermann Hall and the Gypsy Tea Room.
As the COVID-19 pandemic and downtown Dallas riots in mid-2020 caused some business to close, AllGood Cafe stayed open.
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
His vision for AllGood was to create a casual place where musicians and their friends could hang out. Maybe they’d grab a guitar and pick a few songs up on the modest stage.
From the way Pedigo tells it, Snider wanted AllGood to feel like a Dallas version of Threadgill’s in Austin, now just a memory after the historic spot closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From AllGood’s start, the slogan was “make love, not money.” It’s still on the T-shirts today.
“Do you know how many people who live in Dallas get up and have one passion in life, which is making money?” Snider said a quarter-century ago in a Dallas Morning News story. “That’s what they live for 24 hours a day. We like to make love, make food, make music, make fun and make friends.”
(They also make a mean huevos rancheros, chili, meatloaf and chicken-fried steak.)
AllGood Cafe’s chicken-fried steak is a staple.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
While the idea of “make love, not money” is a good one, Gill and Pedigo say their role, as the next generation of AllGood, is to keep it afloat.
“We at least need to be profitable, or else it’s not going to be there,” Gill said. “It’s not been doing great the past few years.”
Said another way: They need to get more butts in seats.
AllGood Cafe’s awning needs a touch-up, the new owners say.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
Still, a romantic view of AllGood lingers. Pedigo has been visiting the restaurant as long as it’s been open. Before that, in the late 1990s, he was a teenager trying to play shows in Deep Ellum. Snider held the keys to several important venues.
“Eventually, we beat him down,” Pedigo said, only half joking. “We started to become friends.”
Gill moved back to Dallas in 2001, a year after AllGood opened, and started hanging out with musicians. AllGood was home base.
“It’s the one constant place we always go,” she said. AllGood felt like an “anti-Dallas” spot.
“It’s a place for people to go who don’t necessarily want to go to all the fancy restaurants,” she said. “It’s laid back and calm.”
After spending a quarter-century there, Pedigo said he feels a responsibility to the modest cafe that survived decades in a cutthroat Dallas neighborhood.
“I understand what Mike is doing, and I want to continue that legacy,” he said.
Sendoff for Snider
Mike Snider, pictured here in 2013, was a champion for live music in Dallas for decades. He’s retiring from AllGood Cafe, the restaurant he opened in 2000.
Jerry McClure / Special Contributor
Snider deserves “some much needed R&R,” Pedigo said. A team of Dallas musicians have planned a retirement bash on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, at Sons of Hermann Hall to honor the long-time Deep Ellum promoter.
Snider’s “aloha party” will raise funds to send him to Hawaii, one of his favorite vacation spots.
The concert features a host of Texas bands: The New Bohemians, Old 97’s, Zydeco Blanco, The O’s, Lucky Pierre’s, The Sutcliff’s and more. No tickets required.
Mike Snider’s Aloha Party is at 7 p.m. Nov. 16, 2025, at Sons of Hermann Hall, 3414 Elm St., Dallas.
AllGood Cafe remains at 2934 Main St., Dallas. Open seven days a week.