Father-and-son chefs Beto Rodarte and Julian Rodarte 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.
Mexican restaurant Beto and Son is expected to close in Trinity Groves, a development in West Dallas, after dinner on July 25, 2026. Co-owner Beto Rodarte will retire after 40 years in the industry, including running the restaurant with his son Julian Rodarte for nearly a decade.
“It felt like home,” Beto Rodarte said of the restaurant that is the longest-tenured spot in Trinity Groves.
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.
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“We had a wonderful little project here,” Beto said.
When Beto and Son opened in 2016, Rodarte was a 23-year-old Culinary Institute of America graduate.
His dad had spent much of his career working for Dallas-based Brinker International (which operates Chili’s Grill and Bar and Maggiano’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 Brinker exec and a creator of Romano’s Macaroni Grill, Eatzi’s, Fuddruckers and other restaurant concepts.
Julian has known Romano for so long, he calls him Uncle Phil.
“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.”
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Avocado slices and pineapple chunks top the al pastor tacos at Beto and Son restaurant in Trinity Groves.
Julian stacked other jobs on top of his co-ownership at Beto and Son. He became CEO of Trinity Groves when he was 29 years old, then was culinary director for a family of restaurants in the Bishop Arts District before leaving to be executive chef at Cosm, an entertainment venue in The Colony. Today, he is culinary director for Dee Lincoln Concepts, which is anchored by Frisco steakhouse Dee Lincoln Prime.
As restaurants came and went in Trinity Groves, Beto and Son remained steady, in part because Beto was often 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 fajitas, 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.
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 liquid nitrogen, which leads other diners to wonder what those folks are drinking. Consider the liquid nitrogen cocktail like a boozy sorbet — a soft-serve margarita 10 years ahead of its time.
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 final hurrah, for sure, having people from other countries experience it.”
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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 in 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.”
Why will Beto and Son close in Dallas?
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. Details were not immediately available.
Julian, now 33, and Beto, 66, said they’ll miss their longtime employees the most.
“You go through a roller coaster of mixed emotions,” Beto said.
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Two years after Beto and Son opened, the father and son appeared on Food Network TV show Beat Bobby Flay, which brought customers from all over the country to the small dining room in West Dallas. When 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 2021 and 2022.
Beto and Son was Trinity Groves’ biggest success story, aside from Kate Weiser Chocolate, a neighboring shop that shuttered unexpectedly a few months ago.
With the closure of Beto and Son, the co-founders are not looking for a new location for the restaurant for now, they confirmed to The Dallas Morning News.
“After 40 years in the industry,” Beto said, “I’m ready to take a break and have some peace and quiet.”
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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.
Related: Kate Weiser Chocolate struggled quietly. Why didn’t Dallas customers know?
Julian Rodarte and Beto Rodarte, pictured in the back, set out a steak fajita skillet topped with fried onion strings in this 2016 DMN file photo.
