Craft Beer News

Outdoor growler bar in The Colony pairs up dogs and craft beer

Pets and beer, all in one convenient location.

Photo courtesy of Billingsley Co.

Just in time for summer, a new concept is opening at The Shacks, the 8-acre outdoor complex in The Colony from the Billingsley family, and this one has beer.

It's called Grrrowler's Tap Room and Beer Garden, which is very clever since it appeals to both dog owners and beer enthusiasts alike. Grrr for the dogs, and growler for the beer. Is this over-explaining?

Grrrowler's features seasonal and local craft beer and growler fills from 25 taps; growler fills being where you bring your own bottle and fill it with beer on tap. Is this over-explaining? There are also four wines on tap, plus packaged beers and single-serve wines available for carryout.

According to a release, the owners and operators are sister and brother Leigh Ann and Doug Karr.

"We got the idea when visiting the dog park one day and realized the only thing missing from The Shacks [at Austin Ranch] was fine craft beer," Doug says in a release.

Their build-out includes an extra-large patio that extends over the one-acre dog park.

Billingsley Company VP Sumner Billingsley says that they liked the tap room's Austin vibe.

"When your dog park can also double as a beer garden, it seems a bit like Austin to us, and that felt right for this space," she says.

The Billingsleys intentionally kept the natural views and large trees when developing this plot of land, in a nod to the Hill-Country inspiration that so many years ago gave way to the name Austin Ranch.

Grrrowler's shares a large open-air patio with Ten Ramen, OMG Tacos, and two shacks from restaurateur Frank Carabetta: Dirty Burger Bar and Tackle Box Seafood.

Amazingly, The Shacks will celebrate their one-year anniversary on June 16; it seems like only yesterday that CultureMap was breaking the news of its existence. How time flies when you're a breaking-news fiend, tra la la.

They're hosting an event on the patio from 11 am-2 pm with a vendor fair, pet events, and food and drink specials from the bars and restaurants overlooking the dog park, plus a bounce house and face painter.

Located at the southeast corner of Windhaven Parkway and Plano Parkway, the project is designed as an amenity for not only the 5,000+ residents at Austin Ranch, but for nearby single-family and corporate communities as well.

Billingsley Company has been active in the 1,700-acre master-planned development since 2010. New multifamily developments include The Boat House and The Hudson, and new office tenants include Sanyo and Quest Resource Management.

Billingsley Company is also doing a 300,000-square-foot build-to-suit office campus for AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group which will open in 2019.

pets craft-beer

Dessert News

New Asian dessert shop in Dallas combines churros and soft-serve

Nathan Boun

IYKYK Mochi Churros

There's an exciting new dessert in town, thanks to a shop called IYKYK Mochi Churro, which just opened at 1499 Regal Row #106, in a ghost kitchen called Prep Dallas, west of Dallas Love Field.

The shop specializes in Korean-style mochi churros — a hybrid street food treat that combines the Mexican classic fried doughnut with mochi, the Japanese rice cake with the chewy texture.

To make the churros, IYKYK uses the same rice flour used for mochi, which makes the churros a little chewier on the inside with a fried-crisp shell. Beyond the delectable texture, there's a big fringe benefit in that they're also gluten-free.

In addition to mochi churros, they offer another irresistible treat: soft-serve ice cream in exotic and Asian-inspired flavors including ube, Earl Grey, matcha, and chocolate, for $4.50.

IYKYK — which is internet slang for the hipster phrase "If You Know, You Know" — is from Connor Park and Dean Kim, both from South Korea, who met while at school in Kansas and became close friends. Park has a degree in accounting, but has food & beverage experience after working at Asian restaurants in Korea and in Kansas while in college. He heads up the kitchen. Kim is a software engineer who manages their website and social media activity.

"Having a restaurant was my dream, and I saw a lot of opportunity in Dallas given its growing Asian community," Park says.

In May 2025, he and Kim opened Neko Yubu, their first restaurant at the Prep Dallas ghost kitchen, which focuses on yubu, a Korean dish similar to Japanese inari sushi, featuring tofu "pockets" filled with sushi rice and toppings.

"Neko became popular and our customers would ask about dessert, so we decided to expand with a dessert concept next door," Park says. "I don't have a background in baking, but I had seen mochi churro places in Korea, and found a good recipe that we could execute very well."

They offer churros in four flavors: original with cinnamon sugar, ube, chocolate, and matcha, which can be drizzled with caramel, chocolate, ube, or matcha sauce. Each churro is $4, and it's not uncommon to order a sampler with one of each for $14.

But the most popular order is a churro-soft serve combo for $6.95, with the churro poking out of the soft-serve cup.

They also have a savory item: a "churro dog" featuring a churro stuffed with sausage, regular or spicy, and mozzarella.

Prep Dallas does not have a seating area, so everything is to go. The IYKYK ordering system is in person at the store, where customers can order via a tablet, and wait for their orders to be delivered to them outside or at their cars. They're open four days only on Thursday-Sunday from 12-9 pm, and they're already the toast of Instagram.

Park acknowledges that they've been busy. "We knew we had to draw customers here with unique flavors and it’s been great so far," he says.

desserts openings