'Guy candy' eatery, all-male Hooters, opening in Dallas

If you're more into six-pack abs than Bunday Monday, a restaurant named Tallywackers promises to open next month in Dallas, perhaps in time for Mother's Day.

Inspired by Hooters, the "breastaurant" chain that opened its first location in 1983 in Clearwater, Fla., this eatery will feature guy eye candy with its appetizers, hot dogs, pasta dishes and what its owner called comfort foods.

"It's funny that everyone has asked themselves the same question over time when visiting these venues more related with female eye candy: Why isn't there a male equivalent?" owner Rodney Duke told interviewers Wednesday on The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show on KHKS-FM, Dallas. He said he thought about the idea for a decade, co-owning another bar in the meantime, before pulling the trigger.

And yes, in a coy or not-so-coy way, tallywacker is slang for a man's penis in the same way hooters is a crass name for a woman's breasts.

Earlier this month, Duke had a five-hour cattle call in Dallas for prospective employees, promoted on Craigslist and ribbed by comics from Comedy Central to Jimmy Fallon. The beefcake bar and grill with a children's menu hasn't opened but already has more than 18,000 likes on Facebook.

Duke wasn't saying exactly who he is hiring but contends that he wants to hire a wide variety of men.

"Everyone has a different type," he said. "We want to have eye candy for everyone."

And everyone includes both women and men. More than a few wags in the Dallas area have noted that the Lemmon Avenue restaurant will be in the city's traditional "gayborhood."

Patrons will be able to pick their waiter by choosing to sit in the section where he's serving, Duke said.

Don't expect Chippendales, the iconic male striptease troupe, he said. Food service and bare chests don't mix in city health officials' eyes.

But customers likely will see waiters in tight red T-shirts and a version of a boxer brief, he said. The uniforms are still being designed.

"We're going to be a respectable restaurant," Duke said. "There's not going to be any groping going on."