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BY CHRISTOPHER WYNN
Nestled beneath American Airlines Center’s massive video screen, and across the plaza from mega-watt eateries N9NE and Nove, two upstart tastemakers are bringing their own electricity to Victory Park. Late last month, they flipped the switch on a boutique Mexican cafe and tequileria (it gets easier to pronounce after a margarita) dubbed La Condesa Comida y Tequila.
Consider it the little eatery that could.
Named after the chic Mexico City neighborhood that inspired it, the restaurant is a reflection of creators Donald Chick and Jesse Herman: youthful, casual, more worldly than you’d initially expect.
The men’s friendship turned business venture began in 2006, when their paths crossed at Victory Park. Chick was the project’s creative director at the time, overseeing retail and restaurant development and leasing. But he also had quite the hospitality résumé, including a lounge opened during his SMU days and an event-planning stint with Mico Rodriguez’s M-Crowd (Mi Cocina, Taco Diner, Mercury Grill).
Herman, a Boston native, made his name as a nightclub guru in New York and Miami before branching into mixed-use developments, which led him (naturally) to Dallas – and to Chick. Drinks were poured, conversation was made, and over time, a fanciful idea to launch a boutique eatery began to take flight.
"There are many great restaurants and venues at Victory," acknowledges Herman over midafternoon drinks at the Uptown townhouse Chick shares with BeE Woman magazine creator Celine Gumbiner. (The two walk the aisle this month.) "But what we felt was missing was some place more casual, more low-key."
Skimping on design was not an option. In fact, quite the opposite. When their concept developed a Mexican bent, the two well-traveled architecture- and design-philes headed south of the border to do their homework.

dallasnews.com