2024 was a busy year for Lake Highlands’ dining scene. New additions like Goldie’s and Cane Rosso have given neighbors fresh, slightly elevated options for weeknight dining. However, we also lost a few local spots.
Coming off a holiday season where Bo Bo China-loving neighbors were undoubtedly scrambling to find a new Christmas Day tradition, it only seems fair to recount some of this year’s most memorable departures. So, here’s what closed in 2024 in Lake Highlands.
Bo Bo China | Closed in August
“We’ve had people coming in saying they grew up eating here,” Bo Bo China manager Bruce Lee told the Advocate in 2020. “We had a couple come in and say they had their first date here. Now they’re grandparents.”
Arguably the most painful and nostalgia-inducing loss of 2024 (our article breaking the news of Bo Bo’s closure was by far the most-read piece published on the Lake Highlands Advocate’s website this year), the beloved neighborhood spot closed in August after close to 50 years of serving our neighborhood.
The closure was announced via a lockout notice on the restaurant’s door. Judy Gee, whose number was listed on the flier, told the Advocate that aging ownership and the deterioration of the building on Church Road had led to the decision to shutter the business. While it was unclear if a reopening was in the cards in August, no plans have yet been announced to revive Lake Highlands’ oldest Chinese restaurant.
Southern Comfort (SoCo) Coffee House and Bistro | Closed in February
Jonny Bean and Charles Bader opened SoCo in 2019 in a corner of Lakeridge Village that has been a revolving door of dining concepts over the years. Offering coffee, pastries, hearty breakfast fare and light lunches, the casual spot expanded its space and menu in 2022.
Adding a full bar and opening for dinner didn’t seem to improve SoCo’s fortunes and by February of this year, SoCo officially went out of business, with ownership citing a lack of foot traffic as the catalyst for the closure.
Taco Diner | Closed in January
Part of the M Crowd (Mi Cocina) Restaurant Group’s portfolio, the last Taco Diner location in Lake Highlands Town Center closed towards the beginning of the year. Taco Diners opened across Dallas in the 1990s as a casual, taco-centric sibling of Mi Cocina.
Photo by Kathy Tran.
The Lake Highlands location opened in 2018, shortly before other locations began closing in 2019. After the West Village location closed in 2021, it might be fair to say the writing was on the wall. That didn’t stop the Lake Highlands location from holding out until January of this year, however.
If you are lamenting the permanent closure of Taco Diner locations and the end of the brand, there may yet be hope on the horizon. After the LHTC closure in January, the Dallas Morning News reported that the M Crowd hadn’t completely buried Taco Diner just yet, and instead considered the closures more of a “pause.’
Jake’s Gameday | Sold in September, transitioned to Tailgater’s Sports Bar and Grill in October
Jakes Gameday. Photo courtesy of Jake’s Gameday
Jake’s Gameday opened its first location at the intersection of Plano Road and Northwest Highway in 2022 in the former End Zone space, offering traditional poppy-seeded burgers, wings and snacks in a sports bar setting. The move followed the acquisition of Jake’s Burgers and Beer by MAD Concepts. An additional location opened in the former Picasso’s space at Skillman Street and Walnut Hill Lane shortly after.
MAD Concepts sold the chain of watering holes in September to Tailgaters in September. By early October, the space had been redecorated and officially transitioned to the Tailgaters menu.
