Drive past The Shops at Highland Village this month and you'll notice construction fencing where Corner Bakery Café used to sit, and a different name taped to the glass where Delhi 6 used to serve dinner. Neither closure means the center is struggling. Both are the direct result of restaurants outgrowing the spaces they were given, and the shopping center rearranging its own floor plan to keep up.
Two full-service restaurants are moving into those spots this year: Hudson House, an East Coast-inspired concept from Dallas-based Vandelay Companies, and Troy Bar & Grill, a Mediterranean concept currently hiring ahead of its grand opening. Neither is stepping into a space built for a sit-down restaurant. Both are wedged into bays that were designed for something smaller, and that mismatch is the real story behind this fall's dining lineup.
The math behind two restaurant openings
Start with Troy Bar & Grill. The space it's taking over used to belong to Delhi 6, the Indian restaurant that expanded into a larger footprint elsewhere in the center earlier this year. Delhi 6 didn't close because business was slow. It outgrew its original bay and moved, which is exactly the kind of vacancy a shopping center wants: proof a restaurant did well enough to need more room.
Hudson House tells a similar story on a larger scale. The brand needed 5,965 square feet, which is more than a single standard retail bay in this center typically offers. Rather than wait for a space that size to open naturally, the landlord combined two smaller tenancies, Corner Bakery Café and a Pilates studio, into one restaurant-ready shell. Renovations carrying a price tag near $1 million started July 1, 2026, with completion expected this November.
Both moves point the same direction. The center already counts more than 17 food and beverage tenants among its roughly 60 businesses, according to its own visitor information, and it's been voted Denton County's best shopping center every year from 2013 through 2023. A property that size doesn't need to guess what residents want more of. It's building for it.
What's replacing Corner Bakery Café
Hudson House will be the brand's 12th restaurant and its first in Highland Village, joining existing North Texas locations in Addison, Fort Worth, Frisco, Highland Park, Lakewood, Las Colinas, Preston Hollow, Rice Village, River Oaks and West Village. As of this spring, the company was also reported to have a Southlake location in the works. The concept leans into what it calls East Coast comfort food built around a Hudson Valley sensibility: warm leather booths, a wraparound bar, a sit-down raw bar, and an outdoor patio meant to work with the center's walkable layout rather than against it.
The menu skews toward familiar dishes done with a little more care than a quick-service version. Expect a whipped avocado dip with ranch chips, a thin-patty cheeseburger with American cheese and pickles, a classic chicken parm, and a house salad built around popcorn chicken, avocado, cherry tomato and bacon.
"Hudson House has always been about creating places that feel like part of the neighborhood," says Hunter Pond, founder, chairman and CEO of Vandelay Companies. "The Shops at Highland Village offers a strong sense of community and has become a destination for dining, shopping and gathering."
The old Delhi 6 spot gets a second life
Troy Bar & Grill hadn't announced a firm opening date as of this spring, but its social media has been clear about the intent: Mediterranean-inspired plates, a premium bar program, and an atmosphere built for evenings rather than quick lunches. The restaurant describes itself as "a new destination for great food, crafted cocktails and unforgettable nights," and was actively hiring for the launch as of that announcement.
What matters for anyone who already eats at the center regularly is location. The old Delhi 6 spot sits inside the same walkable core as the AMC Theatre and Whole Foods anchor, which means a Mediterranean dinner reservation won't require driving to a different part of town. It just requires walking to a different door.
Already open this year at The Shops
The two upcoming restaurants are the latest entries in a tenant list that's shifted noticeably over the past two years:
- Dragon House, a Chinese restaurant serving hand-made dumplings and hand-pulled noodles, opened next to the AMC Theatre in October 2024
- Lululemon had opened by February 2025, according to the center's own tenant announcement
- Baylor Scott & White Cardiovascular Consultants opened a specialty medical office on the center's second level in July 2025
- Aspen Gift House held its soft opening the same July
- Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming, Drybar, iCRYO, Warby Parker, and Bluemercury were all announced as incoming tenants across 2025, adding pet grooming, a blowout bar, cryotherapy, eyewear and beauty to the lineup
That's a lot of turnover for a property that isn't losing tenants. It's a property that keeps finding tenants who want more space, more visibility, or both.
A quick timeline of the shift
| Timeframe | New Additions | Category | Status as of August 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 2024 | Dragon House | Restaurant | Open |
| By February 2025 | Lululemon | Apparel | Open |
| July 2025 | Baylor Scott & White Cardiovascular Consultants, Aspen Gift House | Medical, gifts | Open |
| Announced across 2025 | Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming, Drybar, iCRYO, Warby Parker, Bluemercury | Pet services, salon, wellness, eyewear, beauty | Reported as opening in 2025 |
| Renovation underway | Hudson House | Restaurant | Completion expected November 2026 |
| Hiring for launch | Troy Bar & Grill | Restaurant | Opening date not yet announced |
Pair dinner with a free night at Doubletree Ranch Park
If you're timing a visit to the center around a bigger night out, the city has already put one on the calendar. Doubletree Ranch Park, a short drive away at 310 Highland Village Road, hosts a free Concert in the Park on October 3, 2026, from 6 to 9 p.m., with local bands, food truck vendors, and enough lawn space for a blanket and a folding chair. It's the kind of evening that works well bookended by an early dinner at the center and a walk on the park's nearly mile of trails before the music starts.
What it means for a Tuesday night at home
None of this changes what Highland Village is. It changes what a weeknight here can look like without leaving the zip code. A shopping center that opened with a bakery and a Pilates studio now has a raw bar and a wraparound bar going into that same footprint. A restaurant that was popular enough to expand freed up room for a second new concept a few doors down. The pattern isn't random. It's a shopping center quietly converting square footage built for retail into square footage built for staying a while.
For residents, that's a genuine upgrade to the routine: more full-service dinner options within walking distance of a movie or a grocery run, and a free concert on the calendar to go with it. For anyone paying closer attention to what that kind of demand signals about the neighborhood itself, that's a different conversation, and one The Tomlin Team is always glad to have. If a change in your own address is ever on the table, schedule a consultation and we'll walk through what a market like this one actually means for your plans.
