DALLAS, Texas — When one door partially shut in Deep Ellum, JD Ybanez of Rodeo Dallas found another wide open.

Inside a new Uptown space set to open this weekend, Ybanez walked WFAA through his latest venture — a smaller, more restaurant-driven version of the bar brand he built in Deep Ellum, Fort Worth, and Arizona.

“It makes me want to open 100 more locations,” he said. “I’ll open in every neighborhood in Dallas. I’m never going to stop. If anything, it’s motivation.”

That motivation, he says, was shaped by a summer that unfolded like a storm. But not because of the new Uptown venue — a corner off Ross and McKinney that hasn’t even welcomed guests yet. The tension traces back to Deep Ellum, where Rodeo Dallas was forced to close after months of mounting concerns and a lawsuit that u

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