My palace in Dallas - Haley Yeager and Jake Saenz

“Solitude requires you to move past reacting to information created by other people and focus instead on your own thoughts and experiences – wherever you happened to be”

— Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism

Hello folks, HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2023 has been nothing but a wild rollercoaster ride for me and 2024 is about to be so great for all of us I can just FEEL IT! If you’re reading this I hope you are as excited for what’s to come your way and enjoying everything that is around you — People and space alike, especially your home. Has your space changed since last year? Did it feel more like home to you?

I started My Palace in Dallas during the height of the pandemic, and it was born from pure curiosity: I want to know, I want to see, and, most importantly, I want to document what the people around me have become after these unprecedented years. They can be artists, comedians, or they can also be the people you meet on the street—which is quite hard cause supposedly people in Dallas don’t walk at all. So, what is it that they do? This project delves into their stories and, as the name suggests, explores their Palace in Dallas.

Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Haley Yeager and Jake Saenz. A long-time homie from my coffee shop and burger lurking days. they are a local staple, amazing barista, great burger smasher, tattoo artist, and most important of all, a duo with great warmth and gentle heart I’m proud to call my friend. We talked about their journey from tattoos, opening up a burger shop with DJ Sober, what inspires them and for them, what makes a place, a home.

**Hello Haley and Jake! Thank you for sitting down with me today! Before I bomb you with questions, would you like to tell people a bit about yourself? Who are you and what is it that you do?**

**H (Haley):** My name is Haley, a former barista at Wayward Coffee and a tattoo artist. I’m on pause with a lot of things cause I’m pregnant and currently just working for my partner Jake at Herby’s Burger.
**J (Jake):** I’m Jake, I cook at Herby’s burgers. I cook all of the things on the menu, hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled cheese, cheesy fries, and tater tots, you name it.

From burgers, tattoos, pop-ups, and coffee, both of you have done so much with so many till now! Could you tell me what the journey was like for you? How did you get to where you are now?

H: We actually have a very similar timeline in terms of coming to Dallas. I moved to Dallas almost three years ago because I was hired by Wayward via Facetime while I was still living in North Carolina. I loved working there and I’m really thankful for Wayward, looking back I don’t think I would’ve stayed in Dallas this long if it wasn’t for them. Dallas can be a scary city if you’re a transplant, but Oakcliff somehow became a haven filled with solid creatives and artists who cared for each other. Safe to say if it wasn’t for Wayward I probably wouldn’t found this neighborhood and dipped very early on, and I probably wouldn’t have met Jake cause we met there too.

I’ve been working on artwork since high school, making my own prints and stickers, but never tattoos. I’ve always thought about doing tattoos but it can be intimidating looking from the outside, so when a door opened I jumped at the opportunity and have been doing it for over a year now. I still work on my artwork but tattooing is such a different experience going from paper or canvas to human skin so there’s much practice to be done.

In a way I had to re-learn how to draw again because this time I’m actually doing it on a human body, you can’t throw it away if you mess up which is cool and terrifying at the same time.

J: Like Haley said we shared a pretty similar timeline coming to Dallas, I lived in Dallas for about 7 years, left for San Antonio for a while, and only came back again two and a half years ago. I started doing grilled cheese pop-ups in a friend's driveway in San Antonio. After moving back to Dallas, my friend asked me if I wanted to start doing something similar up here.

So we started Rev’s Grilled cheese and it kind of took off from there. I would say getting to where I am now stemmed from working the pop-ups all over Dallas. I got to meet a lot of industry people that I think I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise.

The way Herby’s came to be was super random actually. Haley and I had been thinking about leaving Texas since our lease was up this past summer, but an opportunity came up asking if I wanted to open up a burger spot. I thought to myself if Haley is cool with this and feels like the right move, we might as well give it a go and see how it plays out.

Im super grateful for our owner, Will (DJ Sober) for giving me the chance to run our kitchen. I was upfront and told him pretty early on that I didn’t really know what I was doing, I had never run a kitchen before. He still gave me the opportunity and we’ve both been learning as we go and I am super thankful for that.

Doing pop-ups, especially working at Tiny Victories for their industry nights the last couple of years, I got to meet a lot of people who have been in the industry for years. everybody has been super helpful, sending reps or giving me advice when I need it. Having this network made me more confident and less lost starting out. Herby’s is now 4 months in and here we are making it work.

Like how you’d be curious about their letterbox account when you meet a film lover or would love to take a peek at someone’s mood board, can you tell me what consists of your media diet and where you usually get your inspiration from?

J: One of the main resources where I learned how to cook was through YouTube.Years ago I was a receptionist at one of my old jobs and during my downtime, I would watch Bon appetit videos religiously, that was what really got me into cooking. I went down a rabbit hole following all the chefs I like from there, Roy Choi, Matty Matheson, Brad Leone, and the old BA video crew learning different styles of food by watching their videos.

I still follow them closely and there are so many new chefs emerging on Instagram too. Every time someone tells me about their favorite chef or restaurant I try to check them out. I like to take in a lot of people’s tastes and learn new things through that.

H: We aren’t huge TV people, but talking about art inspiration, I love cartoons, like Adventure Times, SpongeBob, or Over the Garden Wall, their art styles are just so fun! The fact that you can be an artist and still draw really silly things is amazing and heavily influenced my style.

With tattoos, I tend to study the OG artists and practice tracing over old flash sheets. The history of tattoos is so interesting to learn about.

I would also say Instagram, there are thousands of incredible artists that inspire me that I see on Instagram. Seeing styles and approaches that make me want to challenge myself and my skills. Also a never-ending list of artists I’d like to get tattooed by one day. *laugh.

It’s been three years since the pandemic hit and I’m glad to see both of us rose up and did many incredible things during and after. What did you do to stay centered and sane? Did any of those new habits carry over now that things are back to normal?

H: I moved to Dallas around summer 2021 so I wasn’t here during the peak of it…I moved to North Carolina after my divorce the first week of Covid and honestly, it was pretty scary because I moved during the beginning of the pandemic from Arizona all the way to the East Coast and everything was shut down by the time I got there. It was such a good experience for me because I learned how to be independent. You aren’t really independent when you get married so young, so my time in North Carolina was a stage where I got to grow into an actual adult, working my way through the real world.

My time in NC was great and is what introduced me to natural wine, which turned into me starting my wine club here in Texas. (The club is currently on pause, but hopefully will be back soon!)

Moving to a new city alone has been so good for me. I’ve met so many beautiful people and it has taught me that at the end of the day, we are all just a bunch of humans and no one knows what they’re doing. So moving to Dallas has been just another part of my journey.

J: Haley and I actually both have been divorced and started working at Whole Foods around the same time… but in different states, which is kinda crazy. When I moved to San Antonio I only knew a few people while most of my friends were still back in Dallas. During the pandemic, My friend and I started our pop-up in San Antonio, and when things started opening back up I started working at a BBQ spot. Working there was the beginning of my actual restaurant experience, we later opened a food truck and that’s how I started learning a bit more about the ins and outs of pop-ups.

Haley and I haven’t been riding our bikes since she got pregnant but that was a big thing for us to do when we started dating. we would go on a ride at 6 in the morning to coffee shops, having a partner who has similar interests was a very important part for me on what makes a healthy relationship early on. Bike riding is definitely something that carried over since the pandemic and doing something we both love is healthy, physically and emotionally. I haven’t felt this good in a long time so I appreciate this and plan on starting back up again as soon as we get the chance.

Having a non-linear journey and working in such an interesting background, I’m sure you have your fair share of traveling experience and exposure to different scenes across the states. What do you think sets Dallas apart from all the other well-known big cities like NY, LA, or any other city you’ve been to?

H: I think Dallas could do a lot more, but for some reason, they just aren’t doing anything here. Most restaurants and bars here don’t focus on the important part.. which is the product. Everything is very fake and built to post on social media. There are definitely a few places here that are really good but it’s so hard to discover them for as big as this city is. I wish there were more places where the owners were passionate about their food and their establishment.

J: In my own opinion, I think for how fast developing and the size of the city Dallas is, we are pretty behind. In the last few years though it’s exciting to see some changes happening with cool new spaces popping up and you can feel how genuine they are.

I’m excited to see what the future of Dallas could be, but with how fast-paced and business-focused the city is, I think a lot of the restaurant’s direction tends to be catered to that.

Are you two Dallas natives? As a dynamic duo living in this city and having spent quite some time finding your identity, what do you think of this city?

J: For almost 10 years I’ve been in Dallas and this is my first time living in Oak Cliff. I’ve always lived in Old East Dallas near Jimmy’s and then over by White Rock Lake. In all my time here I never thought I would be living in Oak Cliff. This area from the outside always felt cliquish. Now that I actually live here, I get it.

I feel like compared to other parts of Dallas, Oakcliff is very community-oriented. For the most part, everyone supports one another, and that was big when I started doing my pop-up, and now in a restaurant people here have had my back. There is a community that will show up for you and that’s my favorite part of Oak Cliff.

H: Dallas as a whole I won’t really say I enjoy, but Oak Cliff I really have fallen in love with and I genuinely love the community here.

J: In the short amount of time Haley and I have been dating and working in our field, I think we have been able to grow on a scale where we might not have been able to in other places. It’s easy to create your own community and meet new people here. We are super grateful for the people we’ve met and call friends here, it’s made the transition into who we are a little bit easier.

No matter what the next chapter holds, it’s a huge privilege to be able to have our start here, making a small name for ourselves, and whatever the future holds our community here will have our back and make that next step easier just like when we first got here.

As I look around I can see a lot of your taste in a tangible form! Now the hard part is, what would you say is your most prized possession?

H: This is probably the hardest question *laughs

All of the knick-knacks I have around the house are either from my mom or grandma and they are my favorite things here. Even a few paintings I have hanging my grandma painted herself.

J: I don’t have them out here because they're all in my storage now, but all of my old band T-shirts when I started going to concerts would be my favorite thing. They are very cringy and I don’t fit in them anymore but I’ve just kept them in a bag and taken them with me wherever I’ve moved to. I don’t even know what I’m going to do with them but they stuck around.

This Bon Iver poster too. The summer I went to that festival was very special. I kind of switched from collecting t-shirts at concerts to posters. I feel like that’s the more mature thing you do when you get older *laughs.

And we are almost to the bottom of my list of Qs for today, for those who are interested in getting into this business or starting something of their own. What suggestions or advice you would like to give them or wish you had known sooner?

H: I think in any industry, regardless of art, tattoo, food, or coffee, you have to know people. Not in an “ I KNOW PEOPLE” and name-drop way, but you have to do your part and meet the people who work in the local scene. Making an effort to be a part of the scene is really important. Had we stayed in our little bubbles and never reached out, Herby’s would’ve never existed. You can’t expect a community to happen or people to just trust you if you don’t even exist in the community.

J: There are a lot of things I wish I’d known. Going back to two years ago when I first started doing pop-ups, I just said yes to everything. I thought when you’re in the industry this is just what you do, you have to say yes to anything that comes your way. I really should’ve slowed down a little bit to take care of myself and know my value.

Know your worth and whatever industry you want to go into, yes you have to put in the hard work to make a name for yourself but if there’s something you don’t feel comfortable with, there will always be another way to make it happen. Otherwise, you’ll get burnt out easily and lose sight of why you’re doing it in the first place.

There are plenty of good people out there who want to work with you – sometimes they can be hard to find – but they’re out there so take your time and find the right person to work or get into business with.

To wrap this interview up, also because I am curious personally, what’s on the horizon for you? Any “Big things coming” in the works for you? What would you like the world (whichever random soul stumbled upon this article) to know about?

H: Well we’re having a baby! So I would say that’s the biggest thing coming for us.

J: Yeah it’s pretty big.

H: Learning how to balance life with a baby as Herby’s continues to grow would be the biggest thing to learn for us too.

J: For Herby’s, nothing too crazy is on the pipeline. We are still working on getting our beer and wine license, Haley will be running a natural wine program there once that comes through. We want to start hosting more late-night stuff with DJs and do a couple of industry nights where we’ll open till late so they have a place to go eat and hang out after their shift. I’ve talked about this with Will, especially with him being a DJ and us being around so many industry people all the time, having a place for them to go is important to us.

We are working to get a few things finalized and trying to make the restaurant running smoothly so that when the baby arrives Haley and I can both take a break for a little bit. We have a small team right now but they are so solid and that’s something I’m super grateful for.