The corner of 3525 Greenville Avenue that once smelled like wood-fired pizza is about to smell like preserved lemon and open-flame kebabs. Jeff Bekavac and Austin Rodgers, the duo behind Goodwins and Alamo Club, have acquired the old Pizzeria Testa space and are turning it into Corsaire, a 9,000-square-foot Mediterranean restaurant set to open in late September or early October 2026.
The concept draws its name and inspiration from pirates who worked the Barbary Coast during the days of the spice trade, according to the Dallas Observer. Bekavac told the paper the partners wanted their next concept to be Mediterranean, and the menu will pull culinary influences from Morocco, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Spain, and France. Rather than sticking to traditional cuisine from any one of those countries, Corsaire plans to offer approachable food filtered through the partners' own spin, per the Observer's reporting.
What's on the Menu
The kitchen will lean on shareable small plates, house-made breads, and open-flame grilled dishes, according to CultureMap Dallas, which reported that the team imported a specialized charcoal oven from Spain along with a Turkish kebab grill to handle it all. Appetizers are set to run under $20, with entrées between $25 and $40, the outlet reported. The Observer's list of dishes includes a raw bar section, dips and spreads, pecan muhammara, a Spanish cazuela with red shrimp, garlic, and olive oil, and berbere-spiced wings with preserved lemon and ranch. Kebabs, whole fish, half chicken, and steaks round out the larger plates, and the restaurant will reportedly make probably three different kinds of bread out of a dedicated bread room.
Corsaire is built for grazing as much as for a sit-down entrée, with a menu suitable for snacking or trying multiple dishes across a table. The space is designed to flex for groups growing from six to ten people, and Bekavac said he wants guests to feel transported outside Dallas the moment they walk in, per the Observer.
Half Restaurant, Half Bar, All Patio
Corsaire is planned to run 50 percent restaurant and 50 percent bar, with a low-ABV cocktail menu built around aperitivo-style light drinks meant to be sipped throughout a meal rather than before or after it. The patio component is described as large, with a more formal covered area up front and a far patio meant to evoke a Lake Como feeling, complete with cast-iron umbrellas.
Ahead of the fall launch, Bekavac and Rodgers menu-tested potential Corsaire dishes as featured specials at Alamo Club, their existing restaurant just down the street at 1919 Greenville Ave, according to a report from Jessica Cazares. Rodgers said he and Bekavac wanted another concept on Greenville, and both partners have said they love their East Dallas customers, per the Observer's account.
A Building With a Long Restaurant History
The 3525 Greenville Avenue address has cycled through several restaurant identities before Corsaire. It originally operated as a plant nursery before being converted into a restaurant venue, and when Pizzeria Testa first opened there in June 2018, the operators outfitted the space with two 7,000-pound imported Vesuvio pizza ovens capable of baking pies at nearly 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Lakewood/East Dallas Advocate.
Building owner Rod Schaefer closed Pizzeria Testa's Dallas location after a seven-year run in June 2025, choosing to lease the space directly to Bekavac and Rodgers because of their local, neighborhood-focused vision rather than pursuing a national hospitality group, per WFAA. Schaefer noted he wasn't actively looking to change tenants until the duo presented their concept. Pizzeria Testa's original Frisco location has remained open throughout the transition.
Building a Lower Greenville Footprint
Corsaire is the latest expansion for a team that has steadily built a presence on the corridor. Rodgers first planted a flag on Lower Greenville in February 2019 when he opened Alamo Club at 1919 Greenville Ave. as a neighborhood cocktail bar and American eatery, a debut Hoodline covered at the time in its rundown of newest Dallas openings, with the bar's early buzz building through that spring. Bekavac and Rodgers later teamed up on Goodwins, which opened in May 2024 at 2905 Greenville Ave. inside the building long occupied by Tex-Mex institution Blue Goose Cantina, a restaurant that had operated there for nearly 39 years before closing in March 2023 after failing to reach a lease renewal with new property owners, according to Community Impact.
That transition wasn't without friction. In July 2024, a federal judge in Dallas denied a preliminary injunction sought by Blue Goose Cantina's owner, who had sued the Goodwins leadership group over its use of the name The Goose Bar inside the 2905 Greenville Ave. building, according to court records reviewed by Justia Law. The court found the plaintiff had failed to show irreparable injury from the back-bar name.
Bekavac's culinary credentials have only grown since then. He was named Chef of the Year at the 2025 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards for his work at Goodwins, an honor that highlighted his neighborhood bistro menu and popular burger concept on Greenville Avenue, per CultureMap. A Coppell native and Texas A&M graduate who trained at the California Culinary Academy, Bekavac spent seven years working alongside chef Nick Badovinus at Neighborhood Services, where he first met Rodgers, and later served as culinary director for PILF Group, overseeing Cane Rosso and Zoli's NY Pizza, according to CultureMap Dallas. Bekavac and Rodgers also have histories tied to Town Hearth, per the Observer.
A Block in Transition
Corsaire's arrival is part of a broader shakeup on the 3500 block of Greenville Avenue, where local operators have taken over three adjacent storefronts that had gone dark: 3525 Greenville for Corsaire, 3519 Greenville for Escondido Tex-Mex, and 3606 Greenville for Brazamar, according to a report from Jessica Cazares. Property owners on the block reportedly prioritized established local operators over outside national chains when filling the vacancies. It's a pattern consistent with the corridor's broader shift, as Lower Greenville continues moving away from its late-night bar-strip reputation and toward a chef-driven dining identity.
