A 20-course tasting menu. Projection-mapped dining rooms. Neon graffiti, a roaming “Mistress of Ceremonies,” and a black SUV delivering guests up a private ramp into a 9,500-square-foot warehouse.

It’s not a secret supper club, but it might feel like one. Punk Noir is a new fine dining concept coming to Dallas’ Design District in early 2025. The tasting menu–only restaurant will open at 139 Turtle Creek Blvd., Suite 130, with two to three seatings per night and just 26 guests per seating.

The restaurant is led by James Beard Award–winning Chef RJ Cooper and General Manager and Level II Sommelier John D’Alexander. The owners are Dallas natives John McKeel and his sons, Cole and Clay McKeel, who said they conceived the project as a true passion venture for the city they love and grew up in—and their personal experiences traveling across the USA, Europe, and Japan.

“Punk Noir is a rebellion against the ordinary,” said Cole McKeel in the announcement.

“We’ve eaten at many Michelin-starred restaurants, even some ranked among the Top 50 in the world,” he said. “So many of them had amazing food, but the experience often felt flat—stiff, quiet, and even intimidating. We wanted to create something different: food that is just as refined and world-class, but an experience that is unforgettable, irreverent, and full of energy.”

He describes the restaurant as a love letter to the city—and a deliberate challenge to traditional ideas of what fine dining should be.

“It’s fine dining without the pretense,” McKeel said. “Where hospitality is unconventionally perfect and our team’s personalities can shine.”

He said the goal is to revolutionize the culinary landscape by creating a destination for “food enthusiasts, art lovers, and experience seekers who crave something unique—where punk aesthetics and neon artistry ignite the senses, and guests are invited to rebel in elegance and savor the unconventional.”

Chef RJ Cooper [Photo: Punk Noir]

The venue and VIP car

The experience begins before guests even enter the restaurant. A VIP car service will be available, offering private black SUV transportation that delivers diners up a private ramp and directly into the first room of the evening, no front entrance required.

Inside, Punk Noir spans 9,500 square feet of warehouse space, built to support a fully immersive, multi-room format. The restaurant will host two to three seatings per night, with total capacity capped to preserve what the founders call deliberate intimacy.

Every room is designed to shift the tone, drawing guests deeper into the experience as the night unfolds.

Restaurant guests will move through multiple spaces, from a dramatic communal dining room with immersive visuals and graffiti art led by the aforementioned “Mistress of Ceremonies”, to an open kitchen where Cooper will offer up select courses, to an intimate neon-lit dining room, before concluding the evening in the Noir Lounge, which will seat 46 guests and offer craft cocktails alongside “mini tasting” menus for those not partaking in the full experience.

Rendering: Punk Noir

20 courses that delight and surprise

At the center of it all is a 20-course tasting menu, where each bite is designed to surprise, provoke, and delight. Dishes will reflect Cooper’s culinary style, weaving together global influences, cutting-edge gastronomy, and his own personal inspirations.

Diners can expect courses that are playful and provocative; some just a single bite, others layered with theatricality and multi-sensory touches.

Punk Noir said that ingredients will be sourced from the world’s best producers, including seasonal highlights from Italy, Japan, and Central America, while also showcasing bold flavors closer to home. Each course will be paired with a curated beverage, including wine, cocktails, or zero-proof options.

“It’s irreverent fine dining,” said John McKeel, who co-owns the restaurant with his sons. “The lounge has punk graffiti wall art and an unrestrained departure from the familiar.”

“We’re here to challenge the norms of traditional fine dining—to turn the Dallas dining scene on its head,” he said. “We’re disruptors. We want to challenge our guests’ expectations of what elevated dining should be—while delivering something that’s surprising, provocative, entertaining, and delicious.”

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