Thai High Tea

Bangkok City cousin opens in Richardson with pinkies-up weekend offering

A new Thai restaurant in Richardson is serving tea.

Bangkok on Beltline

A new restaurant called Bangkok at Beltline is now open in Richardson, serving rice, curry, and noodle dishes including the ever-popular pad Thai. It also offers something found at no other Thai restaurant: afternoon Thai tea, available on Saturdays only, to a limited number of diners.

Bangkok at Beltline is a second restaurant from husband-and-wife Joe and Sunny Pumphaung, who also own the Bangkok City on Greenville Avenue — which is no relation to the other Bangkok City restaurant on Bryan Street.

The afternoon Thai tea is their way of serving Thai food in a modern style but enjoyed in a classic manner. The menu will rotate and change occasionally, but with items such as curry stuffed dumplings and Thai-inspired sandwiches such as the pad Thai croissant.

There'll also be pastries and desserts. Coconut panna cotta consists of coconut custard with oven-roasted vanilla pineapple. Chai tea panna cotta is custard infused with Chai tea, with berry jam. Some of the desserts, including Thai tea macarons and a chocolate tart with passion fruit caramel, are made for Bangkok by Tida Pichakron, pastry chef and co-owner of Dallas bakery Haute Sweets Patisserie.

Joe and Sunny came up with the tea concept so they could work with Pichakron on creating desserts with a Thai flair because she was local and Thai-American, and had created desserts for the Adolphus Hotel's afternoon tea and pastries for the Mandarin Hotel in Las Vegas.

The tea will be served on Saturdays at 2 pm, with only 20 seats available, so reservations are required.

Joe was a former server at Bangkok City who bought the restaurant from the original owner in 2005; the Bryan Street Bangkok City was bought by a different owner. As the largest city in Thailand, Bangkok City is a not uncommon name for a Thai restaurant. But to avoid confusion, the Pumphaungs decided to give the name of the new Richardson branch a defining twist.

The couple has a love for cooking and for sharing their Thai culture and food. Joe's family had a restaurant in Thailand and while there, he studied and trained at the royal family's culinary school, where floral arrangement and food presentation like fruit and vegetable carving were equally as important as the cooking and taste.

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Escargot News

New all-day French bistro in downtown Rockwall is all from scratch

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Belle View Bistro Rockwall

An all-day French bistro has made its debut in Rockwall: Called Belle Vie Bistro, it’s a new mom-and-pop in the charming historic downtown district, at 112 E. Rusk St., the former home of The Fatted Calf restaurant, where it opened its doors on November 12.

Belle Vie is from Luis and Iliana Marquez, a hard-working couple who also own Los Marquez, a popular taco--themed food-truck-turned-restaurant in Rockwall they first debuted in 2019. In May, the couple took over the former Fat Chicken space to open a brick and mortar location of Los Marquez, where they serve well-made Mexican food like tacos, burritos, and quesadillas, but also burgers & fries. They open for breakfast with breakfast tacos, and run a daily lunch special, often creative, always popular, such as birria ramen with choice of beef or lamb for $11.

But the couple had a bigger vision of creating a place where chef Luis could stretch and showcase his skills.

"Luis has a lot of culinary experience, and it’s something that he’s been putting aside,” Iliana says. “We were just waiting on the perfect time to bring this to life.”

"This is something exciting and new for us, it’s something that we always wanted to make,” Luis says.

Like Los Marquez, Belle Vie is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, serving classics like French onion soup, moules frites, escargot, and duck confit. There are also comforting and American dishes like spinach-artichoke dip, crab cakes, and fish & chips.

Lunch features Cobb salad, a French dip, and chicken & Brie panini, while an extended breakfast -- which runs from 7 am to 4 pm — includes pancakes, waffles, eggs benedict, beignets French toast, and crepes, plus pastries and breads made from scratch.

Mural on the wall at Belle Vie Bistro RockwallFacebook

The bakery counter is a delight, with eclairs, croissants, scones, fruit tarts, and cake slices in flavors like carrot cake and white chocolate raspberry. There's also a serious coffee program with espresso drinks such as lattes.

"We pride ourselves on making everything from scratch," the duo says. "Our bread—whether for sandwiches, paninis, hamburgers or anything listed on our menu is made fresh just for us by our incredibly talented pastry chef and baker. The same care goes into our pastries and desserts ensuring every bite is special and crafted with love."

The dining room is warm and cozy with dark wood chairs and plush booths and a full-wall mural depicting a street in Paris. They also have a full bar, with cocktails and beer on tap. Prices are reasonable, ranging from $9 for a Belgian waffle during breakfast to $45 for prime ribeye at dinner.

For now, they're not taking reservations — it's first come, first serve.

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