Matt McCallister Opens River Sing Restaurant Near Dallas Fair Park

DALLAS, June 12, 2026 — Chef Matt McCallister announced his return to Dallas's dining scene with River Sing, a new tasting menu restaurant set to open this fall at 820 Exposition Ave., one block from Fair Park, inside a portion of a 1928 building that once served as the city's General Motors Truck & Coach showroom.

The announcement marks the end of a three-year period away from running his own kitchen for McCallister, who previously helmed FT33 and Homewood, two of Dallas's most discussed fine dining restaurants of the past decade. River Sing will serve a four- or five-course menu priced at or below $150, targeting the growing middle ground between casual à la carte dining and extended, elaborate tasting experiences.

A Restaurant Built Around a Garden

Access to outdoor planting space was a non-negotiable condition McCallister set before signing any lease. The result is a walled garden hidden inside the historic Exposition Avenue building, which will serve as both the entry point and exit for every meal. Guests receive a gate code by text message before each dinner and walk through the planted space featuring a plum tree, elderflowers, anise hyssop, mountain mint, nodding onions and redbuds before reaching the dining room.

To create the garden, workers excavated 16 inches of the original floor, removed rocks and old industrial debris, and brought in soil inoculated with microorganisms from a producer west of Fort Worth. The building's owners agreed to remove the service room's roof entirely, repurposing it as the garden's back wall. Parking space numbers painted by General Motors workers decades ago remain visible on the original brick.

Herbs and edible flowers from the garden will feature in River Sing's cooking. McCallister, who describes gardening as therapeutic and formative, says the outdoor space reflects the philosophy underpinning the entire project. For those interested in how gardens and seasonal planting influence modern cooking, HCP Good Food's collection of garden-to-table recipes offers useful context on the farm-to-fork approach that chefs like McCallister champion.

A Small Team, a Collaborative Menu

River Sing reunites McCallister with Chris Morina, who served as his second-in-command at Homewood. A third chef, currently completing a previous role, will also join the kitchen as a full collaborator on every menu. McCallister says the deliberate shared leadership reflects where he is as a cook.

"I don't want to be in charge of everything," McCallister said. The dining room reflects the same restraint: an open kitchen counter seats 14 guests, with 10 more places at tables, and the total kitchen and front-of-house team will number just seven or eight people. Cooks are expected to serve most courses themselves.

Morina brings a distinctive perspective shaped by nine months working on a biodynamic farm in Tennessee, during which he and colleagues sourced everything they ate from the land or through direct trade with local Mennonite producers. "The whole time I was there, nine-plus months, we didn't go to a grocery once," Morina said. That period, following his departure from a Michelin-starred kitchen, now informs his approach to sourcing and seasonality.

Blackland Prairie Cuisine and a Deliberate Style

McCallister describes the cooking at River Sing as aligned with the concept of blackland prairie cuisine, a term coined by The Heritage Table chef-owner Rich Vana to describe cooking rooted in Central Texas's native landscape and producers. The team is sourcing from as many local farms as possible and has been sampling cheeses from every Texas producer it can find. A strict Texas-only rule, as McCallister enforced at FT33, will not apply, but the local and seasonal impulse remains central.

The restaurant will include a preservation room visible to guests through windows, where the team will produce its own pickles, vinegars, verjus, misos and dehydrated ingredients, and grow edible oxalis plants under LED lighting. A wine room and a collection of culinary reference books will also form part of the space. After dinner, guests exit again through the garden, where patio tables offer the option to sit with an after-dinner drink.

River Sing takes its name from a line in the Grateful Dead's "Brokedown Palace." McCallister was clear that the reference is personal rather than programmatic. "I'm not trying to open some Grateful Dead-influenced restaurant," he said. "But I'm opening a restaurant based on my influences throughout my life, what's inspired me, and why I do this." Further details on the opening are available at the D Magazine report on River Sing.

River Sing is expected to open in September or October 2026 at 820 Exposition Ave., Dallas.

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