A French restaurant called Trapeze is coming soon in Dallas’ Bishop Arts District.
The co-owners are turning a 1940s home on Oak Cliff’s 8th Street into a bohemian French brasserie, said Dallas restaurateur Peter Novotny, co-founder of Deep Ellum bars Armoury D.E. and Ruins.
The restaurant will feel like a “little farmhouse,” Novotny said, with cabaret and circus themes — hence the name Trapeze.
Novotny thinks French food is a fit for Oak Cliff. In the mid-1800s, a group of settlers, led by a Frenchman, established a colony called La Reunion on the south side of the Trinity River. The neighborhood celebrates its French heritage today with an annual Bastille Day party.
Already inspired by French culture, cocktails, food, wine and music, Novotny and business partner Dan Murry joined with Matt Battaglia, a music tour manager who recently returned from France.
Et voilà: Signs kept leading them to French food, Novotny said.
Classic French dishes like roasted oysters with leeks, pork rillons, steak au poivre and duck confit poutine are on a menu created by consulting chef Jeremy Spector, who lives in New York City.
Spector’s burger at NYC restaurant The Brindle Room was featured on Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. He plans to add a burger to Trapeze’s menu, too.
“We’ll Frenchify it a little bit,” he said. “It’s going to be a big, meaty burger. Probably dry-aged. It’ll definitely be delicious.”
In New York, Spector has worked at well-known French restaurant Balthazar and cocktail bar Employees Only. He said he’s looking forward to creating a menu that highlights the humble origins of the French brasserie — “things you’d eat in a common pub in the early 1900s in Paris,” the chef said.
Cocktails will be “very French,” Novotny said: cognac, New Orleans-inspired drinks, absinthe cocktails, aperitifs, digestifs and more. The wine selection will be all French. Beers will be classic European brands like Kronenbourg 1664.
The patio wraps around the building, revealing a backyard with occasional live music. Visitors might want to snag a seat on the backyard balcony, which will have views of the stage.
“At night,” Novotny said, “it’ll come alive with entertainment.”
Trapeze is expected to open at 240 W. 8th St., Dallas, in mid-2026.
Dining and Cooking