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Father-and-son chefs Beto Rodarte and Julian\u00a0Rodarte opened Beto and Son in West Dallas’ Trinity Groves in 2016. The restaurant closes in late July 2026, a few months shy of its 10th anniversary.<\/p>\n
Smiley N. Pool\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
Mexican restaurant\u00a0Beto and Son is expected to close in Trinity Groves, a development in West Dallas<\/a>, after dinner on July 25, 2026. Co-owner Beto Rodarte will retire after 40 years in the industry, including running the\u00a0restaurant with his son Julian Rodarte for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n “It felt like home,” Beto Rodarte said of the restaurant that is the longest-tenured spot in Trinity Groves.<\/p>\n He said his goal was to show his son the entrepreneurial side of the restaurant business by starting a restaurant from the ground up in a newly developing neighborhood, Trinity Groves, near downtown Dallas and Oak Cliff.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “We\u00a0had a wonderful little project here,” Beto said.<\/p>\n When\u00a0Beto and Son opened in 2016, Rodarte was a 23-year-old Culinary Institute of America graduate.<\/p>\n His dad had spent much of his career working for Dallas-based Brinker International (which operates Chili’s Grill and Bar and\u00a0Maggiano’s Little Italy today). Both Rodartes said it was an easy yes to sign a lease in Trinity Groves, which was co-founded by Phil Romano, a former\u00a0Brinker exec and a creator of\u00a0Romano’s Macaroni Grill, Eatzi’s, Fuddruckers and other restaurant concepts.<\/p>\n Julian has known Romano for so long, he calls him Uncle Phil.<\/p>\n “I would argue my career would not have launched if not for Phil Romano,” Julian said. “He gave me an opportunity; he gave my dad an opportunity. We are grateful.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Avocado slices and pineapple chunks top the al pastor tacos at Beto and Son restaurant in Trinity Groves.<\/p>\n Smiley N. Pool\/Staff Photographer Despite his father Beto’s best efforts to dissuade him from a career in restaurants, 23-year-old Julian Rodarte (left) went on to graduate from New York’s Culinary Institute of America and started Beto and Son in Trinity Groves with his dad in 2016.<\/p>\n Smiley N. Pool\/Staff Photographer Beto and Son sells a Flora Liquid Nitrogen Margarita with blanco tequila from Socorro, a Dallas-owned tequila company.<\/p>\n Adriana Herrera\/Socorro The barbacoa enchiladas at Beto & Son are served open-faced and topped with a fried egg, avocado and shaved radish.<\/p>\n Smiley N. Pool\/Staff Photographer When Julian Rodarte was a teenager, dad Beto Rodarte made him wash dishes before he could cook. Nearly a decade ago, they opened a restaurant together in Dallas.<\/p>\n Smiley N. Pool\/Staff Photographer Beto & Son’s ceviche tower has been on the menu since the restaurant opened.<\/p>\n Smiley N. Pool\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Julian stacked other jobs on top of his co-ownership at Beto and Son. He became\u00a0CEO of Trinity Groves when he was 29 years old,<\/a> then was culinary director for a family of restaurants in the Bishop Arts District<\/a> before leaving to be executive chef at Cosm, an entertainment venue in The Colony<\/a>.\u00a0Today, he is culinary director for Dee Lincoln Concepts, which is anchored\u00a0by Frisco steakhouse Dee Lincoln Prime.\u00a0<\/p>\n As restaurants came and went in Trinity Groves<\/a>, Beto and Son remained steady<\/a>, in part because Beto was\u00a0often there. (The morning of the interview for this article, Beto was at the restaurant, marinating chicken and steak.) Chefs make flour tortillas in-house every day and serve them with steak\u00a0fajitas, carne asada tacos and chicken tinga enchiladas. Some dishes have an upscale Mexican twist, like the Rodartes’ ceviche stack presented in a tower layered with bright green avocados, pink shrimp and red cocktail sauce.<\/p>\n Beto and Son’s No. 1 seller is a liquid nitrogen margarita that was originally sold as an off-the-menu option. It’s mixed tableside, frothing from\u00a0liquid nitrogen, which leads other diners to wonder what those folks are drinking. Consider the liquid nitrogen cocktail like a boozy sorbet \u2014 a soft-serve margarita 10 years ahead of its time<\/a>.<\/p>\n It costs $25 and remains a bestseller in Beto and Son’s last days. “Through FIFA, it crushed,” Julian said of the month of World Cup soccer matches in Dallas-Fort Worth. “It was a great\u00a0final hurrah, for sure, having people from other countries experience it.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Beto and Son was the only restaurant “incubator” left in Trinity Groves. This former business model in the West Dallas development offered new restaurateurs like the Rodartes a space\u00a0in exchange for a majority share in the business. The model didn’t work for some restaurant owners, but Julian Rodarte, co-owner of Beto and Son, said until the end “we were extremely happy with it.”<\/p>\n Smiley N. Pool\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Why will Beto and Son close in Dallas?<\/p>\n The father-son duo didn’t plan to shutter their restaurant. But they ultimately sold their lease to a restaurateur who has plans to open something in its place, the Rodartes said.\u00a0Details were not immediately available.<\/p>\n Julian, now 33, and\u00a0Beto, 66, said they’ll miss their longtime employees the most.<\/p>\n “You go through a roller coaster of mixed emotions,” Beto said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Two years after Beto and Son opened, the father and son appeared on Food Network TV show Beat Bobby Flay<\/a>, which brought customers from all over the country to the small dining room in West Dallas.\u00a0When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Beto and Julian took food to hospitals and fire stations. The restaurant bounced back and saw its highest sales in\u00a02021 and 2022.<\/p>\n Beto and Son was Trinity Groves’ biggest success story, aside from\u00a0Kate Weiser Chocolate, a neighboring shop that shuttered unexpectedly a few months ago.<\/a><\/p>\n With the closure of Beto and Son, the co-founders\u00a0are not looking for a new location for the restaurant for now, they confirmed to\u00a0The Dallas Morning News.<\/p>\n “After 40 years in the industry,” Beto said, “I’m ready to take a break and have some peace and quiet.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Beto and Son is at 3011 Gulden Lane (in Trinity Groves), Dallas. Open for lunch and dinner seven days a week until the end of the day July 25, 2026.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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