RJ Cooper opens Punk Noir June 2

RJ Cooper is set to open Punk Noir in Dallas’ Design District on June 2, according to the restaurant’s website and multiple local reports. The new restaurant at 139 Turtle Creek Blvd. will center on a 20-course tasting menu priced at $295 per person. Punk Noir is being marketed as an immersive, multi-room experience rather than a standard dining room service. Reservations were already appearing as available through the restaurant’s website on May 18. ### Where exactly is Punk Noir opening, and when? Punk Noir is scheduled to open on Tuesday, June 2, in the Dallas Design District at 139 Turtle Creek Blvd., local outlets including the Dallas Business Journal and Local Profile reported. The restaurant’s own website also showed booking availability ahead of the opening date. The Dallas address places the project in a part of the city that has attracted destination restaurants, galleries and design businesses. Local Profile reported that the restaurant will operate with 26 seats per seating and only two to three seatings each night, putting a cap on nightly covers from the outset. (bizjournals.com) ### What is diners’ $295 buying here? The $295 price covers a 20-course tasting menu, according to the Dallas Business Journal and other local coverage. Local Profile described the meal as unfolding in stages, with dishes moving through themes including earth, sea, fire and fermentation. Local Profile said example dishes include camote morado with huitlacoche, blue crab with seaweed and calamansi, turbot with mussel and plankton, scallop with turmeric and Kaluga caviar, and Australian wagyu. (localprofile.com) The later courses, it said, include combinations such as white chocolate with kombu and onion with Amur caviar. (bizjournals.com) ### Why is the restaurant calling itself an immersive experience? Punk Noir’s website says the concept aims to “push the boundaries of conventional dining experiences” through punk aesthetics and neon-focused design. Local Profile reported that guests will move through multiple rooms over the course of the meal, beginning in a lounge with a graffiti mural by Dallas artist Michael Shellis before entering other dining spaces with projection mapping and performance elements. (localprofile.com) The same report said a third room is designed to evoke a more traditional fine-dining setting, giving the evening a sequence of different environments instead of a single-service layout. That structure helps explain why the restaurant is being presented as part tasting menu, part staged event. (punknoir.com) ### Who is behind the project besides RJ Cooper? RJ Cooper is the chef leading Punk Noir, and the concept is owned by Dallas natives John McKeel and his sons, Cole and Clay McKeel, according to Local Profile and other local reports. Cole McKeel said in comments carried by Local Profile that the goal was to create cuisine that is “refined and world-class” while making the experience “energetic, immersive and unforgettable.” (localprofile.com) Cooper is a James Beard Award winner in the Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic category, according to the James Beard Foundation’s archived chef profile. Other published biographies tie him to Rogue 24 in Washington and later projects in Nashville and Wisconsin. ### How does this compare with what Punk Noir first promised? Dallas Observer reported in September 2025 that Punk Noir was initially presented as an early-2026 opening with a 22-course tasting menu. (localprofile.com) By May 2026, local coverage and the restaurant’s current marketing had shifted to a June 2 opening and a 20-course format. (archive.jamesbeard.org) That change suggests the concept evolved during development, but the core pitch stayed intact: a tasting-menu-only restaurant, a multi-room setting and a high-end price point aimed at limited nightly attendance. ### What happens next before opening night? May 18 booking availability on Punk Noir’s website showed reservations opening ahead of launch through Tock. (dallasobserver.com) The next public milestone is June 2, when the first seatings are scheduled to begin at the Design District address. (punknoir.com)