In this action-packed summary of restaurant news around Dallas-Fort Worth, there's a new State Fair-style restaurant, a new ballpark restaurant, and a new menu item boasting what is possibly one of the dumbest-sounding dishes ever to be devised. See if you can spot it!
Here's all your dining news:
The Stadium Club has opened at AT&T Stadium. The 19,000-square-foot restaurant seats up to 650 and is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, with exclusive availability to Stadium Club members on Cowboys home game days.The menu does a sophisticated spin on game day food, with shareable appetizers and sides, soups and salads, burgers and sandwiches, flatbreads, and entrées such as the "carne maximus" with three varieties of meat.
State Fair Treats, a fair-themed restaurant, has opened inside a Walmart at 425 Coit Rd. in Plano. The restaurant is from Isaac Rousso, a State Fair of Texas regular whose cookie fries won the 2016 award for most creative.
The retro-themed menu will feature 45 items, including nachos, chili fries, funnel cake fries, fried Oreos, fried Twinkies, sliders, chicken tenders, and Buffalo wings. The cookie fries won't show up until after the 2017 fair is done. In a release, Rousso says that Walmart "was looking for a creative new food concept to energize high-profile locations."
Mesa Grapevine, a second branch of the highly rated Oak Cliff authentic Mexican restaurant, will open November 7. At 6,000 square feet, it'll be three times bigger than the original. Chef-owner Raul Reyes, who is known for his handwork, did a lot of the building himself, from interior construction to fixtures to a welded metal art wall sculpture.
Dillas Quesadillas, a quesadilla-only restaurant in Plano, is expanding to Frisco, with a branch in the Stonebriar Shopping Center opening in early 2017.
Lovers Seafood and Market is the tentative name for a new seafood restaurant from Shinsei owners Lynae Fearing and Tracy Rathbun, with chef Aaron Staudenmaier, who is returning to Dallas from Boot Ranch in Fredericksburg. They plan to open in December in the former Rex's Seafood spot on West Lovers Lane.
ZaLat Pizza, the Fitzhugh pizzeria best known as the place you hit after a night of drinking, has opened a location at 1701 S. Lamar St., next to Mac's Southside, the bar that took over the former Absinthe Lounge space.
Abacus, the Knox District restaurant, has promoted Chris Patrick to executive chef, replacing founding chef Kent Rathbun, who left in June. Patrick has worked at the restaurant since 2012 and previously worked at Nobu, Yutaka Sushi Bistro, and Nana.
Small Brewpub, the very small brewpub in Oak Cliff, and its chef Misti Norris have parted ways. The owners say they're changing the direction of the menu to something more basic.
The Slow Bone, the Design District barbecue spot, was purchased by Eatzi’s co-founder Jerry Meyer and company CEO Adam Romo. Founder Jack Perkins is out, but pitmaster Jeffery Hobbs and catering director Anne Oliver Lewis will stay on.
Mot Hai Ba, the East Dallas Vietnamese restaurant, has changed ownership. Founders Jeana Johnson and Colleen O’Hare sold their stake in the restaurant to chef Peja Krstic.
Next Door, the Uptown bar-restaurant, has launched a Thursday-night special of small bites and desserts. Lemon arugula flatbread, tomato ricotta bruschetta, California roll cones, grilled prosciutto mozzarella, spicy tuna with crispy rice cake, and mac and cheese bites are all $8. Sweet bites include canilla panna cotta with blueberry compote and mint, chocolate ice cream sandwich with Mexican cocoa sauce, and bacon-pecan doughnuts with sea salt caramel sauce. There's also a menu of champagne cocktails for $3.
Oddfellows, the hipster coffee spot in Oak Cliff, has launched its new fall menu from chef Anastacia Quiñones. Selections include mussels and frites, seared salmon, pimiento cheese deviled eggs, crab sliders, black pepper fettuccini, truffled chicken pot pie, chicken farro risotto, and arabica crusted steak with refried lentils and kale salad. Desserts include spiced tres leches and coffee panna cotta. Nothing on the menu is over $20.
CiboDivino Marketplace, the Italian market at Sylvan Thirty, has a trio of new lasagna options. These chef-prepared options include traditional made with 44 Farms beef, a butternut squash, and a vegetarian lasagna. A tray costs $15.
Hopdoddy Burger, the Austin-based burger chain, has new seasonal items for October: Boss Hog Burger, a beef patty topped with pulled pork, bacon, cheddar, chipotle coleslaw, and mustard barbecue sauce for $12; and a pumpkin cheesecake shake with vanilla ice cream and pumpkin butter for $6.
Quill Kitchen & Cocktails, the Design District spot, has a new dinner menu with sesame-crusted tuna tostada, mascarpone pumpkin agnolotti with sage and vanilla, fish and chips, brown-bag shaken chicken, steak frites, and possibly one of the dumbest-sounding dishes ever to be devised — salted caramel chicken wings with chipotle blackberry sauce. Desserts include doughnuts, fried pies, s'mores, and butterscotch pudding.
Scardello Artisan Cheese has new to-go versions of their cheese and charcuterie plates for sale at the Oak Lawn location. Each plate is $15 and features an assortment of delicacies with accompaniments like olives, nuts and dried fruit, and crackers. If you want a cheese and charcuterie combo, it's $18.
Ragin’ Crab, sister concept to Hibashi Teppan Grill & Sushi Bar, will now be open for lunch on Greenville Avenue. There are new salads; a vegetarian black bean burger; entrées such as red snapper with dirty rice; and a whole menu of po'boys including lobster, catfish, crawfish shrimp, or oysters.
Super Chix, the nascent chicken sandwich chain, has released its menu of special custard flavors for October; each flavor lasts one week. In order, they begin with cherry chocolate chunk, then salted caramel and chocolate pretzel, coffee toffee, apple pie, and carrot cake. It's $3.95 for a regular custard or $9 for a custard flight with perennials vanilla and chocolate and flavor of the day.
Stonedeck Pizza Pub in Deep Ellum has a new menu for fall, featuring new pizzas and sandwiches. A sausage pizza has Andouille, hot link, and bratwurst with onion and Jack cheese. The "cheeburger" has beef, cheddar, provolone, lettuce, pickle, onion, tomato, and shoestring potatoes. There's a turkey, bacon, cheese, and avocado sandwich and another sandwich with sausage and pickled red cabbage.
Mimi's, the cafe chain with French-inspired American comfort food, is serving a dish created by a customer, the honey-lavender grilled pork chop, which will be featured in all Mimi’s cafes, including the two in Dallas-Fort Worth, on 5858 SW Loop 820 in Fort Worth, and 301 E. I-20 in Arlington.
Pizza Hut has a new pizza that's a twist on its original Stuffed Crust, called the grilled-cheese stuffed crust pizza. Wait, is that the dumbest-sounding dish ever devised? It's a contest. A large, one-topping pizza is $12.99 and features cheddar and mozzarella cheese stuffed in and baked onto the crust. It can be topped with any one of Pizza Hut's toppings.
Starbucks now has "almondmilk" in all stores, for hot or iced drinks. Almondmilk was one of the highest customer requests of all time. As for the one-word thing, Starbucks is following the latest industry approach by spelling non-dairy milk alternatives as one word, almondmilk, rather than two.
State Fair Treats is a new fair-themed restaurant inside a Walmart.
