Chef Wyl Lima will open the doors to Ateliê on Monday, December 15, bringing a globally influenced bistro and multidisciplinary creative space to the heart of Bishop Arts. After years of underground dinners and art-driven events through his pop up social club, The Experience, Ateliê becomes the first permanent home for Wyl’s intersection of food, storytelling, and culture.
Ateliê opens with a curated 12-item bistro menu, one Wyl describes in a statement as “the dishes that feel the most like me.” These are the flavors and ideas that have followed him his whole life, not because they represent world regions, but because they represent his DNA and how he grew up eating. “People call it global, but to me, this is just my normal,” he says.
The opening menu begins with vibrant vegetable-forward dishes, including Roasted Carrots with tofu curry, sesame, and crispy shallots, and a Garden Salad of frisée, fried egg, and radish. Guests will also find the Flatbread and Prawns, layered with matbucha, amba sauce, and frisée, along with delicate Mushroom Croquettes served with allium aioli. From there, the menu leans into comforting staples reimagined through Wyl’s lens, such as the Turkey Hot Pocket filled with truffle mornay and smoked gouda, the Wagyu Melt with pastrami and caramelized onions, and Fried Rice enriched with egg yolk, garlic crisp, and nori.
The heartier side of the menu showcases the dishes Wyl considers personal pillars of the bistro: the Cacio e Pepe (a classic he reshapes with his own technical voice), the Grilled Mackerel finished with nam jim and fresh herbs, the slow-braised Lamb Shank with pomegranate and couscous, the Arrachera (skirt steak) with piquillo salsa and yuca, and the dish he considers most emblematic of his identity — the Half Roasted Chicken with sweet plantains and Mediterranean chutney. Dessert opens with a Matcha Cheesecake of matcha mousse, strawberries, and graham cracker.
Chef Wyl says the Half Roasted Chicken, Cacio e Pepe, and Grilled Mackerel are the clearest reflections of his culinary voice. “The chicken is everything I grew up around, African and Caribbean influences, fire, sweetness, spice, brought together in harmony,” he explains. “The plantains remind me of home, and the chutney blends Indian and Italian inspirations. It’s a collision of the cultures that formed my instincts in the kitchen, but it still feels natural.”
“The Cacio e Pepe shows how I reinterpret the classics with my own technique and instinct,” he adds, “and the mackerel is about purity, letting a great ingredient speak for itself.”
In the weeks following the grand opening, Ateliê will expand to its full menu with additional dishes,including roasted squash with speck and manchego, a seasonal salad with goat cheese and pepitas, crispy potato-mushroom cakes, wagyu bolognese, and a seafood platter featuring oysters, shrimp, crudo, and seafood dip, evolving the menu into the complete expression of the bistro’s culinary identity.
The cocktail program mirrors that ethos. Led by Stephen Gazaway, a longtime collaborator of The Experience and bar lead at The Charlotte, the menu features six brunch cocktails and eight dinner selections, all tied together by the idea of personal expression. Drinks range from inventive signatures like a Caesar Martini made by infusing vodka with concentrated Caesar dressing, to a playful red “dirty martini” infused with Hot Cheetos, alongside a lineup that balances creativity with approachability. “The question we kept asking was: Who are we in a glass?” Wyl says. “As long as the drink is balanced, it can be as wild or as classic as it needs to be.”
Beyond the plate, Ateliê is designed as a true cultural incubator, a place where artists can convene, perform, and collaborate. Central to that vision is Ateliê’s partnership with Daisha Board Gallery, which transforms the bistro into a rotating satellite gallery showcasing emerging and underrepresented visual artists. Artwork curated by Daisha Board will fill the space, each piece accompanied by scannable QR codes that connect guests to the artist’s process and inspiration. The installations will shift with the seasons, evolving alongside the menu and keeping the dining room in a constant state of creative motion. For Wyl, integrating the gallery at the heart of Ateliê was never an add-on, it was foundational. “This place is meant to feel alive,” he says. “The art is part of the energy of the room.”
That commitment to honesty and process carries into the physical space itself. Wyl views the room as part of the storytelling, leaning into textured walls, exposed materials, and unrefined details as intentional design choices. “I want every imperfection, I actually want to highlight them,” he says, noting that the space is meant to feel lived-in and genuine rather than overly polished.
The creative ecosystem extends to the sound and rhythm of the bistro as well. One of Dallas’ most respected DJs, Grammy Award–winning producer Lone Star, will perform live on opening night. The bistro will regularly host musicians and creatives who have worked with The Experience over the past several years, including Latin artist EJ Galvez, and independent musician Ashton Edminster, with more surprise performances planned. Guests can expect recurring pop-ups, artist nights, and unreleased-music sets woven into the dining room’s energy. “We want Ateliê to feel like a living studio,” Wyl says, “where you might walk in and find a musician testing something new or an artist setting up a piece.”
Ateliê will be open seven days a week, serving brunch and lunch from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Brunch launches immediately and will be offered on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Dinner service will run from 5:30–10 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, and 5:30–11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The restaurant will be closed for dinner on Sunday evenings.
Just next door, Origen—Chef Wyl’s tasting experience—will open approximately 6–8 weeks after Ateliê, offering a reservation-only, art-driven tasting menu inspired by individual pieces selected by Daisha Board Gallery.
RESERVATION LINK: https://www.opentable.com/r/
