- Claire Ballor, Dallas Morning News

Nuri Steakhouse will open on Cedar Springs Road in 2023.

An upscale steakhouse from Dallas’ Koreatown is relocating to Uptown next summer. Well, sort of.

The restaurateur and chef behind Nuri Grill are opening Nuri Steakhouse in summer 2023. The Uptown steakhouse will be a “next level” extension of the Koreatown grill that has been around since 2021.

For the past year, Nuri Grill has served as a testing ground for the steakhouse, said owner Wan Kim, who is also the CEO of Smoothie King.

“We strategically secured a short-term lease for Nuri Grill in the heart of Koreatown, where we were able to provide an upscale Korean dining experience not typically found in the Metroplex,” Kim said in a prepared statement. “It was always our intent to operate this as a full-service restaurant to painstakingly test recipes for the steakhouse.”

At Nuri Grill, the menu is made up of vegetable and noodle sides that accompany chef-prepared proteins like bone-in short rib, bulgogi and lobster, as well as proteins diners can grill at their tables themselves like ribeye, filet mignon and shrimp. The steakhouse’s menu is still in development, but it will hinge off of the grill’s menu.

Chef Minji Kim, who relocated to Dallas from Seoul last year with her husband and fellow chef Ben Lee, will create the menu for Nuri Steakhouse by allowing guests at Nuri Grill to submit feedback and make contributions to the menu — an unusual move for a chef. The restaurant she and Lee ran together in Seoul — Min’s Kitchen — was featured in the Michelin Guide for many years.

Nuri Steakhouse will open along Cedar Springs Road across the street from Uchi, and Nuri Grill in Koreatown will take on a new identity in its current Northwest Dallas space.

“Before the steakhouse opens, Nuri Grill will then turn into a different concept, leaving the steakhouse to carry on the name, but as a grown-up version of the brand in Dallas proper,” Kim said. “Nuri Steakhouse will be taking it to the next level in design, atmosphere, experiential dining and menu offerings.”

The 9,500-square-foot restaurant in Uptown will be able to seat 150 guests inside and an additional 50 with outdoor seating. Traditional Korean celadon ceramics will be used throughout the restaurant’s decor, which will also be infused with a bit of “cyberpunk culture” to give a nod to “the popularity of digital gaming in modern Asian culture,” according to a release.

Nuri Steakhouse will open at 2401 Cedar Springs Road, Suite 120 Dallas. It will serve dinner and weekend brunch when it opens in late summer 2023. nuristeakhouse.com.

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