Josh Harmon prepares stuffed eggs and puri in the private dining room of Victory Social. | Courtney E. Smith Chef Josh Harmon is bringing Birdie back, baby Josh Harmon is recognizable in whatever room he’s in. His booming voice, rattail finishing out a mullet, and minimalistic tattoos give him away, although his vibe of confidence and competency lets everyone know he’s the boss. His partner in Victory Social, a food hall opening in Dallas’s Victory Park on Thursday, November 7, appears to be his exact opposite. Kevin Lillis, the CEO of Hospitality Alliance who Harmon also partnered with on the Exchange Food Hall in Downtown, is physically the opposite — in fact, he looks like like Pete Buttigieg if you squint a little. It’s their energies that match. Both men take up a lot of room, exude an unpretentious “I know what I’m doing” aura, and, on the day Eater Dallas sits down with them, they’re both full of nervous excitement about doing something that upends the food hall model. Courtney E. Smith Harmon says he’s gunning to win the title of best burger in town. Lillis explains that the deal with AT&T to start the Exchange, which is part of the AT&T Discovery District, was brokered when Warner Brothers was still a company commodity — and the response to the question of what the hall would do when traffic was slow was a list of conferences and events Warner would put on. “The Exchange was built for speed,” he says. “We had 6,000 alumni there for Texas Tech’s 100th anniversary and that was no problem — it was built for that. Tapering it down was always a problem. It was never contemplated in design that there would be a slow day.” There were, and Harmon, who opened his chicken sandwich shop Birdie in it, was one of the dissenting voices, both in a letter to the management and in the Dallas Morning News. There were some questions, after AT&T laid off thousands and spun off Warner Brothers. Lillis notes that most of the people they’d been working in corporate for the Exchange were let go, and everyone seemed to lose sight of the concept or how to make it work. Courtney E. Smith Stuffed eggs and puri — comfort food from the South meet comfort food from Southeast Asia. This around, Lillis and Harmon have no investors; they’re running the show themselves. Victory Social is their project and they own the IP on all the restaurant concepts in it — all of which Harmon is overseeing. Those include Rise & Thyme; serving breakfast, Birdie, which is all about the chicken; Itza Cocina, a Tex-Mex spot heavy on tacos and influenced his Harmon’s time working at Purpecha; Park Bistro, a soup and sandwich joint; D’oro Italiano, with traditional Italian offerings; and Victory Grill, which features some classic Harmon recipes from the long-defunct Junction and LTO Kitchen. Unlike most food halls, you can walk up to each station and order, or you can sit and have full service from the menus — with everyone at the table ordering from whatever station they like. The offerings include some 25 wines by the glass, custom cocktails, draft beers, and “packaged” drinks that include canned beers and canned millennial faves like High Noon (happy hour is half off drafts, beers, and house wines, Monday to Friday from 3 to 6 p.m.). Also unlike most food halls, there is one central kitchen where everything is prepared , with Harmon at the helm. Lillis calls it a kitchen full of “killers,” noting it includes chefs who’ve worked at Monarch, Georgie, Quarter Acre, Lucia, and local legend Stephan Pyles’ various endeavors. Anyone who knows the first thing about Harmon knows that it is his M.O. to pick DIY over the establishment, and that he will walk away if the situation doesn’t suit him. He did it with Junction, he walked away from fine dining after working at Buddakan and Le Cirque in New York City in favor of a fine dining restaurant in a gas station in Colleyville, and he certainly and loudly walked away from the Exchange. Courtney E. Smith “I liked being part of the coolest food hall in Dallas,” Harmon says, naming off the excellent local chefs and restaurants with stalls there including Regino “Gino” Rojas’s Revolver Taco and Misti Norris’s Acadia. “When that changed — I don’t know if they wanted it to be chef-driven and, for me, that’s what I do. It doesn’t matter if I’m selling chicken or Ritz crackers, it’s going to be chef-focused.” In addition to all the menus Harmon developed for the stalls, he also has a curated menu that will be available, and frequently change, in the evenings. From it, Eater Dallas tried the Original JCK Steak Tartare, a tartare that sits on top of an egg yolk in the basket — a breakfast that finds an egg cooked in a piece of toast. This version leaves the egg yolk uncooked and the diner is to cut all the way through the tartare to get to the egg underneath. That high-low mix is a hallmark of Harmon’s work. It’s topped with a tallow fat aioli that enhances the taste of the beef. And… who has ever had steak tartare at a food hall? Courtney E. Smith The Original JCK Steak Tartare He also gave us a peek at a plate of stuffed eggs and puri, the chef’s snackable take on deviled eggs. Harmon stuffs the eggs with bacon pate and tops with a dusting of berbere spice coupled with a puri bite filled with trout rillettes that he describes as “a gusher” (they are, eat with caution). It also includes a private dining room that can be reserved for meals, where diners can let Harmon and his staff cook (literally and figuratively) or give them some direction on the menu — Harmon says he welcomes the challenge of recreating grandma’s favorite cake, or whatever you’ve got. It includes a customized serving station that goes directly into the central kitchen, designed by Harmon, so there are chances to interact with the chef. In short, it’s a DIY food hall with an affordable price point. Right now, that is Harmon’s speed. Victory Social opens on November 9 at 2323 Victory Ave.