A Dallas taco chain born out of a converted gas station is about to call a nearly 90-year-old movie palace home. Rusty Taco is opening a restaurant in the lobby of the historic Lakewood Theater at 1825 Abrams Parkway, moving into the Bowlski's bowling alley that now occupies the building and replacing DoubleDave's, the pizza shop that has served food there for the past few years.
The new location is the result of a franchise agreement between Rusty Taco and Bowlski's, according to CultureMap Dallas. Owners Craig and Jennifer Spivey, who are also vendors at the State Fair of Texas, transformed the theater into the 10-lane Bowlski's bowling and entertainment venue back in 2019, installing lanes where the building's old stage once stood. Craig Spivey called Rusty Taco a great partner and a great fit for the space, a sentiment that lines up with the company's broader push to expand into non-traditional spaces like Bowlski's, as the chain has described it.
A Landmark With a Long History
Lakewood Theater has operated as a movie house, live music venue and burlesque stage since it opened in 1938, and it's recognized today as an official City of Dallas landmark, a status the Dallas City Council granted in 2016 after a push from neighbors, per NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. The building's lobby still carries its original movie-theater murals, while the balcony, now home to the Balcony Club, includes pool tables, arcade games and spaces for private events, according to the same report. Under the new plans, the Balcony Club will remain open and unchanged on the theater's second floor, and customers up there will still be able to order Rusty Taco food sent up from the lobby kitchen.
The Lakewood location is expected to open in late 2026 or early 2027, and Rusty Taco plans to start construction at the theater soon, according to The Dallas Morning News, which first reported the new tenant in a story by staff writer Sarah Blaskovich. CultureMap's reporting narrows that window further, pegging the Dallas opening for late fall 2026, while a related Rusty Taco location planned for Bowlski's Aspen Valley site in Colorado is slated for early 2027. DoubleDave's, for its part, has operated inside the Lakewood Theater's Bowlski's for years, including a walk-up ordering window and delivery service when it first opened there in 2022, according to the Advocate.
Smaller Menu, Familiar Favorites
The Lakewood Rusty Taco will run on a smaller menu than other locations, with offerings expected to include Baja shrimp, Texican, and bacon, egg and cheese tacos, plus the chain's cheesy queso appetizer — the same dish that landed Rusty Taco on The Dallas Morning News' list of best quesos in Dallas. Tacos at Rusty Taco generally run about $3 to $5 apiece.
Rusty Taco traces its roots to a single stand founded in 2010 by Rusty Fenton on Greenville Avenue near East University Boulevard, housed in a renovated gas station complete with patio tables beneath a steel gas pump awning, a detail the company highlights in its own account of its origins on its website. Fenton died of kidney cancer in 2013, and the brand was later acquired by Gala Capital Partners in 2022. The company's location count is reported inconsistently across sources: a National Law Review press release and CultureMap's reporting both put the chain at roughly 28 locations across eight states, including six in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, while a separate account describes Rusty Taco as having 24 restaurants in eight states.
Keeping the Family Name Alive
Denise Fenton, Rusty Fenton's wife, has said the theater's facade is iconic and shows up on websites about Dallas, and that carrying on the Rusty Taco brand matters to her family. Sherry Elbow serves as Rusty Taco's director of marketing. The Lakewood opening fits into a larger pattern for the chain, which has been expanding into non-traditional venues including convenience stores, airports, college campuses and travel centers, according to commentary attributed to Denise Fenton on LinkedIn.
For now, the historic theater's next chapter blends its movie-house past with its bowling-alley present: pins falling upstairs, tacos coming out of the lobby kitchen below, and a landmark facade that's outlasted several different tenants since 1938.
