News You Can Eat

Burgers, beer and brunch bump up the good Dallas restaurant news

There are more burgers in the north, beer in the villages and brunch. Everyone is doing brunch. Time to catch up on all the latest restaurant news:

A second location of Dee Lincoln Steak & Burger Bar opened in Plano on April 25. Chef Andrew Powers has made a few additions to the menu, including lobster tacos, lobster mac and cheese, "creative" burgers such as bison and a Wagyu strip from Local Yocal. There are also adult milkshakes and a wine-by-the-glass program using an Enomatic wine system designed to keep wines at the correct temperature. It's open for dinner Monday-Saturday; lunch hours will be added in the future.

Greenville Avenue bar-restaurant Vagabond is open for weekend brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from noon-4 pm. The menu includes $2 mimosas and offerings such as a bacon sourdough grilled cheese Benedict with smoked tomato hollandaise.

A second Kenny's Burger Joint will open in Plano's Lakeside Market in August; the original is in Frisco. This is Bowers' second restaurant in Plano, following Kenny’s Smoke House, which opened in the Shops of Legacy a year ago.

Seafood restaurant Spoon Bar & Kitchen is hosting Lobster Sundays, featuring a 1.5-pound lobster, every Sunday night beginning on Mother's Day (May 11). Complementing the lobster are steamer clams with broth and drawn butter, creamer potatoes, house-made kielbasa and tomato salad. It's $55 per person, and bottles of wine are half off. For reservations, call 214-368-8220.

Cheese shop Scardello has new products for spring: lamb bacon, goat cheese from Crottina's from Blue Ledge Farm, and Amethea goat pyramids from Haute Goat. French butter is also back in stock, as well as Bible Belt, the latest brew from Prairie Ales.

The old Marquee Grill space in Highland Park Village has a new concept for spring called Encore that features snacks and cheap drinks. Hours are Tuesday-Friday, 4-7 pm, with happy hour prices: $6 well drinks, $8 fancy cocktails, $3 domestic beers and wines by the glass for $6-$7. There are also "bar bites," including a charcuterie board for $18, panini for $8, beef jerky for $8, fresh berries for $6, caramel bacon popcorn for $5 and a bowl of "house made" almonds for $5.

Old-time dive bar/burger joint Club Schmitz is closing after 68 years; the club opened on Denton Drive in 1946. The owners, who are in their 60s, sold the real estate to a RaceTrac nearby and don't plan to reopen.

A second DFW-area location of Brick House Tavern & Tap will open in Fort Worth, following the branch in Plano, which opened in 2010. Brick House is part of Houston-based Ignite Restaurant Group, which also owns Joe's Crab Shack and Romano's Macaroni Grill. There are 20 branches around the country. They're big on fireplaces and fire pits, and it has a sports bar atmosphere with recliners, lots of TVs and servers in the Hooter's mold, only younger and more suburban.

West Village Thai restaurant Malai Kitchen has expanded its beer program. Owners Braden and Yasmin Wages are now offering their first "seasonal rotator" beer, called Thai One On Porter. It's dark and smooth, with a small dose of chile that gives it a little kick of heat at the end. They're also selling their house-brewed beer by the "growler," for $15 to $20 depending on whether you get the lager, porter or spicy IPA. If you don't have a growler, they'll sell you one for $8.

Mockingbird Station's Trinity Hall has a new "weekend breakfast" menu, available on Saturdays and Sundays beginning at 1 pm. There are scrambled eggs on toast; smoked salmon; a breakfast sandwich with eggs, ham and cheese; and "Irish toast" served with jam and light honey-lime syrup. A banger "butty" is a sandwich with Irish sausage, onions, peppers and cheddar cheese, and there are tacos with corned beef and cabbage. Among the salads and entrees is a "Mockingbird sundae" with potatoes and choice of lamb, chicken or veggies with gravy and sour cream.

Trinity has also increased its vegan menu, with items such as polenta and three beans, Buffalo "chiken" and Irish-style mulligatawny stew with barley and jalapeños.

A bison burger is on the menu at the Plano branch of Dee Lincoln's Steak & Bar.

Bison burger at Dee Lincoln Steak & Burger Bar in Dallas

Photo courtesy of Dee Lincoln Steak & Burger Bar

A bison burger is on the menu at the Plano branch of Dee Lincoln's Steak & Bar.

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Asian Food News

Taste of Malaysia restaurant brings rare Asian cuisine to Dallas area

Taste of Malaysia

A new restaurant has debuted in Coppell with a cuisine that's relatively rare in Dallas. Called Taste of Malaysia, it's now open at 3001 Olympus Blvd #130, at the Sound at Cypress Waters, between an Ari's Italian market and a Kilwin's ice cream shop, where it's serving authentic Malaysian dishes and flavors — adding another option to Dallas' burgeoning Asian restaurant scene.

A neighbor to Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia, Malaysia has been described as having some of the best street food in Southeast Asia, boasting a mix of Malay, Chinese, Indian, and indigenous flavors. Signature dishes include satays — skewered meats — plus vividly spiced soups and rice dishes.

The country's national dish is nasi lemak, a beloved comfort food originally devised as a breakfast staple, featuring fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk with pandan leaves, sometimes enhanced with boiled egg and sliced cucumber and ikan bilis, i.e. anchovies.

Coming in at a close second is laksa, a spicy noodle soup made with rice noodles or egg noodles in a broth flavored with aromatic spices, shrimp paste, and coconut milk or tamarind.

These are the dishes that natives of Malaysia and fans of Malaysian food crave, says Shiva Nair, part of the team, along with his wife, Vsruti "Vish" Nair, that opened Taste of Malaysia.

Shiva has more than 20 years in the hospitality business including managing hotels and running other restaurants.

"There are a lot of Malaysians here in Dallas-Fort Worth but not many Malaysian restaurants," Shiva says. "That's what gave us the idea to open this."

Their menu features seven varieties of nasi lemak — including vegetable curry, chicken curry, slow cooked beef, slow-cooked chicken, fried chicken, fish, and spicy shrimp — all made with coconut rice, peanuts, boiled egg, and cucumber.

They also have fried rice, noodle dishes, satay chicken skewers, spring rolls, a samosa-style pastry with potatoes and vegetables called karipap, and a chicken "kutlet" — a breaded patty with minced chicken enclosed in a crunchy crust.

All of their meat is halal, meaning that the animals are raised and butchered in accordance with Islamic guidelines — a growing trend in Dallas-Fort Worth.

There's a full bar and the ultimate lure for timid diners: a lunchtime buffet, $18 on weekdays and $20 on weekends, with 15 to 20 dishes, with chicken, shrimp, fish, and vegetarian and vegan options, which are plentiful in Malaysian cuisine.

"We serve the buffet only at lunch, so that those who are unfamiliar with the cuisine can sample every dish," Shiva says.

"We saw an opportunity to bring Malaysian flavors to North Texas, a region hungry for authentic, halal-certified Asian food with real spicing and real heritage," he says.

openings coppell asian cuisine