For this month’s Mi Cocina location spotlight, we’re heading over to a part of East Dallas known as Lakewood. Marked by the beautiful White Rock Lake, historic 1920s and 1930s era homes, diversity in dining and shopping centers and one of the city’s most popular landmarks, the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, Lakewood has a history and culture all of its own, separate from the Dallas hustle and bustle.
This Mi Cocina location opened on La Vista Drive in June of 2012, next door to the famous Lakewood Theater, just downstairs from the bluesy hot spot Balcony Club, separated by our celebrated, pet-friendly and award-winning patio where families enjoy al fresco dining nearly year round.
From a design and architectural perspective, this location features many unique details including a grand two-story main dining room with an upstairs dining and bar area to be enjoyed by guests 21 years of age and older, a separate private dining room for seated events of up to 80 guests and an original exposed brick wall adorned by a group of 17 connecting square paintings forming a segmented mural painted by world-renowned Mexican artist Luis Sottil entitled “A Song to Life.” After researching the beauty of the surrounding Lakewood area, Sottil stated that it reminded him of the lush biodiversity of his native country of Mexico; in particular, the large number of colorful birds that are common inhabitants of White Rock Lake and the city of Tampico where he grew up. “A Song to Life” depicts a tree filled with these native birds and surrounded by the natural flora elements from Mexico, bringing the two environments together and producing a creation reminiscent of the Lakewood community’s rich, diverse and vibrant environment.
While this patio has always received great recognition, Mi Cocina has given the patio a summer update with added cabana-style seating and lounging, additional televisions for enjoying the upcoming football season and more color and texture to create a home-away-from-home feeling for our Lakewood guests. One of the unique aspects of the remodel is a new mural created by local artist, Alli K. Alli K. has created some of the most Instagram-worthy walls in Dallas such as the popular LikeToKnowIt wall in collaboration with rewardStyle. You can view her work on her website as well as her Instagram. In order to capture the history and culture of the beautiful Lakewood area, we asked locals such as Brittany Cobb, founder and CEO of Dallas’ own FleaStyle, and fashion & lifestyle blogger Brighton Keller how the beauty and culture of Lakewood should be represented in the mural. We are thrilled to unveil the final design below and invite you to snap a photo with friends or family and share it with us on Instagram, tagging @micocina.
