Dallas wine bar partners with Tulum restaurant to host Yucatan-themed pop-up

You don’t need to buy a plane ticket to feel like in Mexico. Drive to Dallas.

Dallas-based Leela’s Wine Bar has teamed up with WILD, a restaurant and bar nestled in the Tulum jungle, for its latest pop-up this summer.

Karla Gallegos went to Tulum for a week looking for inspiration and a restaurant to collaborate with for her Dallas pop-up. Gallegos is the horticulture and design director for 8020 Hospitality, which is behind Leela’s as well as other Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants like Hero, HG Supply Co. and Standard Service.

“Finding WILD was super natural,” she says. “I loved everything they represented.”

WILD works with local farms in the Yucatan Peninsula and the Campeche region to obtain the freshest produce possible. The honey also comes from local Mayan beekeepers. All organic waste is then collected and turned into compost that local farmers can use for their crops.

From the lush greenery around the restaurant to the smell of crisp pine copal incense burning in the air, Leela will make you feel like you’ve traveled, says Gallegos.

“When you walk into Leela’s, you feel transported to Tulum,” she says.

Leela’s team worked with WILD’s to curate a menu with over a dozen cocktails. And if you think there’s a lot of tequila involved, you’re right, and that’s on purpose.

On the menu, you’ll see WILD classics like Hayate, a cocktail made with tequila blanco infused with red pepper, agave, lime and spices. Another favourite? No Mames, which is made with mezcal, grapefruit, maté, lemongrass and lime. The rest of the menu features dishes from Leela’s and WILD’s original menus.

“That pop-up really took me back to my roots and love of Mexico and more to what I wanted to bring back to Dallas,” Gallegos said.

The Leela x WILD Tulum pop-up runs until August 15, and if you go on the final day, you can see Aztec dancers perform as part of the closing ceremony.

Leela’s Wine Bar, 1914 Greenville Ave. leelaswinebar.com.