Cajun restaurant in North Texas merges with Louisiana after closing due to pandemic, economy

BEDFORD, Texas — Cajun Market, a Colleyville restaurant that closed in October due to the “pandemic and the current economy,” has reopened with a new brand just in time for Mardi Gras celebrations.

“You will not enter my restaurant, you will enter my house,” owner Phil Tallis said. “That’s what I want you to feel.”

The WFAA first told you about the Cajun Market in February 2021 when they donated hot meals to Ellery Arbor Memory Care when the facility had no electricity, heat, or hot water.

But then, just over two years after Tallis and his wife Deborah opened the Colleyville restaurant, the couple closed its doors, citing the economy and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We want to be transparent. We want people to be aware of the hardships we have been through because if we all help each other, we will all succeed,” Tallis told WFAA in October. “That’s the point.”

Enter Dirk Kelcher, a regular at the Cajun market before it closes.

“I’ve always loved Cajun food,” Kelcher said. “We have family friends who grew up in Louisiana and they always boiled crayfish in the backyard. And ever since I was 8 or so, I have fallen in love with crawfish and Cajun food.”

Kelcher and his brother are behind the Kelcher Entertainment Group and own 12 bars and restaurants, including two Bourbon Street Bar & Grill in Bedford and The Colony.

“We found out pretty quickly that we didn’t have the culinary side that we really needed,” Kelcher said.

So when Kelcher heard about the closure of Cajun Market, he called Tallis.

“What I didn’t have, they had,” Tallis said of the Bourbon Street Bar & Grill, restaurant space and parking lot.

“He had something that I don’t, which is food and authentic Cajun food, which he was already well known for,” Kelcher said.

New brand Cajun Market on Bourbon Street was born.

“Now we definitely have the right partnership,” Kelcher said. “I think we have everything to hit this home run.”

Two Louisiana restaurants are teaming up to make headway in North Texas: now there’s something to celebrate.

“They can expect the old Cajun Market,” Tallis said. “Cajun and Mardi Gras are not just about food. This is culture. And culture is fun and food.”