An excellent Mexican-influenced restaurant has debuted in Uptown: Hugo’s Invitados, a concept named for co-founder Hugo Miranda, has opened in Dallas’ West Village, where it’s doing authentic Mexican food and craft cocktails, in the space at 3699 McKinney Ave. formerly occupied by Mi Cocina, which relocated to the former Del Frisco’s Grille space.
The opening represents a welcome return of Mexican food and yummy margaritas for West Village, with an acclaimed team behind the wheel.
This is the second Hugo’s Invitados; the first was opened in Las Colinas by Miranda and Mark Hulme, co-founder and owner of Hospitality Inspirado, Hugo’s parent company. It debuted in 2018 with a focus on all-natural Mexican-influenced cuisine and organic cocktails, with a menu featuring innovative dishes such as:
- Mexican Avocado Toast, cleverly on a corn masa patty, with salsa roja botanera, avocado, & queso fresco
- Smoked Salmon Nachos with avocado puree, mango relish & mango-habanero yogurt
- Mexican Cioppino – seafood stew with mussels, clams, bay scallops, baby calamari, pacific shrimp, jumbo lump crab meat, fish, lemongrass rice, & tomato crudo chilpachole
- Cowboy Al Pastor – a seared bone-in ribeye al pastor with roasted vegetables, applewood smoked bacon, & pineapple-guajillo demi
The menu will mirror the Las Colinas location, says Hugo’s executive chef Natalio Charles, including craft cocktails such as their cucumber serrano margarita, all made with juices that are squeezed fresh every day.
“It will be the same fresh-crafted organic cuisine and cocktails that are influenced by Mexico and inspired by our guests as Hugo’s Invitados in Las Colinas,” Charles says. “And to coincide with the opening in West Village/Uptown, we recently seasonally updated our dinner menu.”
At Hugo’s, even basics like chips and salsa get an upgrade: Their tortilla chips are baked, never fried, and are served with scratch-made organic salsas. And they are surely the only Mexican restaurant in Dallas serving an arugula salad with baby arugula, avocado, berries, celery leaf, agave vinaigrette, pumpkin seeds, & queso de rancho.
The interior of the restaurant has 7,000 square feet, with seating for about 150 inside including 10 tables at the bar. They’ve done wonders with the outdoor patio, taking what was formerly a driveway between the restaurant and the movie theater and transforming it into a massive oasis that seats 125, with cool celery-green chairs and cheerful orange umbrellas, ringed with potted flowers, an ideal setting for brunch.
They’ll be a dominant presence in West Village, where Hospitality Inspirado recently opened Honest Taco, a new concept with tacos, bowls, and craft cocktails, right across the way. (In late 2021, the company also opened Hugo’s Lost Colony, a Tex-Mex spinoff with a menu designed by chef Charles.)
“On behalf of our entire team—including Natalio, Hugo, Eder, Jose, and many more—we are thrilled to bring Hugo’s Invitados to Uptown Dallas, and proud to be a part of the culture and history of this vibrant community,” Hulme says. “West Village is unmatched in terms of walkability, culture, and sense of place, and we couldn’t think of a better partner and location for this flagship location.”
