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Dinner on the water, in Dallas? 5 local restaurants headed to splashy development off 635

Editor's note: This story was updated on Sept. 27, 2018 with news of an Eno's Pizza Tavern joining The Sound in Cypress Waters development.

For restaurant lovers, it might be interesting enough that eight new restaurants are expected to debut in early 2019 in a development north of 635 at South Belt Line Road, near the borders of Dallas, Coppell and Irving. But it's downright curious that some of those restaurants will have pier-like patios overlooking water.

The new development is called The Sound, and it's "the heart" of the master-planned community Cypress Waters that the Billingsley Company has been working on for a decade, says partner Lucy Billingsley.

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Those waterfront patios will look out on to North Lake, a reservoir dug in the '50s to house a Dallas Power and Light Co. electric plant. The Billingsley Company -- the group best known for Austin Ranch bordering Plano, The Colony and Lewisville and One Arts Plaza in downtown Dallas -- is building restaurants, offices, trails and even an outdoor music venue on about 1,000 acres northwest of 635 and the Bush Turnpike, near that man-made lake.

Flying Fish and Rodeo Goat will be located next to one another. Both will be built out over...
Flying Fish and Rodeo Goat will be located next to one another. Both will be built out over the water.(Rendering created by O'Brien Architects)

If you ask Billingsley, the 2 acres that make up The Sound anchor the expansive Cypress Waters development. "In Dallas, we just don't get to experience being on the water," Billingsley says. "We don't office on the water, we don't live on the water, we don't eat, dine and have fun on the water. At Cypress Waters, we get to do exactly that. And The Sound is where it all comes together."

Burger joint Rodeo Goat and seafood restaurant Flying Fish are two of the restaurants that will be located on the water. Both come from restaurateur Shannon Wynne, a friend of Billingsley's who had never yet opened a restaurant in one of her company's developments.

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Rodeo Goat is a no-nonsense burger joint, and Flying Fish is a homey fried-fish restaurant. Billingsley likes the authenticity of each ibe. "You walk in there [to Rodeo Goat] and think, yep, this must be where the rodeo kept the goats! There's nothing hokey about these places," she says.

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Just announced in late September, Eno's Pizza Tavern will also be one of the restaurants at this development. The restaurant originated in Oak Cliff and is known for its cute to-go window called Side Dough.

The development will house an Ascension Coffee, the growing company that started in Dallas' Design District. Ascension serves not just caffeineated drinks but also sandwiches and salads, and wine in the evenings at certain locations.

"I'm not a coffee drinker and I love to go to Ascension Coffee," Billingsley says.

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The bell tower, which was just installed at The Sound, was constructed with bells Lucy...
The bell tower, which was just installed at The Sound, was constructed with bells Lucy Billingsley's dad got from a Houston church years ago. They've been waiting in storage until Billingsley's team found the right place to use them.(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)

Landon Winery is the final food-and-drink company the Billingsley Company is announcing for now. Landon Winery pours Texas-made wine in locations in downtown McKinney, Wylie and Greenville; this coming-soon tasting room at The Sound offers Landon a significant reach west.

Billingsley says Landon Winery helps The Sound "create the Texas you wish you were from." She envisions Cypress Waters residents or office workers stopping in for a bottle or a glass and going out to watch the sunset.

Cypress Waters includes a Coppell ISD elementary school and a middle school, and offices for 40,000 people, including the new HQs for Nokia, 7-Eleven, Brinker International (parent company of the restaurant Chili's) and more. Billingsley says as many as 20,000 people will live there.

Though D-FW has seen massive reach north -- in Plano and Frisco -- and northwest -- in Las Colinas -- Dallas Morning News business reporter Steve Brown says Cypress Waters has found yet another slice of land: "While Plano's $3 billion Legacy West development has gotten huge headlines for its big corporate moves, 15 miles away at Cypress Waters they quietly scored more than three dozen office leases," he writes.

Stay tuned for more information on the remaining restaurants opening at The Sound.

The Sound is the name of the new development on the shores of North Lake that will be home...
The Sound is the name of the new development on the shores of North Lake that will be home to eight restaurants. Nokia and Brinker International are also moving their headquarters there.(Rendering created by Green Grass Studios)