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    Family-Style Vietnamese

    East Dallas favorite Mot Hai Ba takes the lid off new dinner menu

    Teresa Gubbins
    Apr 4, 2014 | 1:54 pm

    Having exposed us to the thrills of Hanoi-style street food, East Dallas Vietnamese restaurant Mot Hai Ba has launched a new dinner menu that focuses on the family side of dining, with shareable plates and sides. Chef-owners Colleen O'Hare and Jeana Johnson are still emphasizing the same authentic flavors and ingredients, but they have redefined their presentation.

    "We're exploring the realm of a Vietnamese family-style dinner," Johnson says. "We've recast our approach to doing entrees. Previously, we had everything in one bowl for you to eat. This becomes more about sharing a meal."

    "We're exploring the realm of a Vietnamese family-style dinner," says co-owner Jeana Johnson says.

    The shift comes as Mot Hai Ba celebrates its one-year anniversary. Johnson and O'Hare brought these unique Hanoi-style dishes to Dallas after studying the cuisine in Vietnam. Zagat rated the restaurant one of the 25 most important in the country in 2013, and it made D Magazine's 2013 top 10 list. Most important of all, Mot Hai Ba was voted best restaurant of 2013 by CultureMap readers.

    Observing that many tables were already sharing, Johnson and O'Hare decided to move toward a more authentic experience. "This gives you an opportunity to eat dinner the way you would if you were actually in Vietnam," Johnson says.

    New dishes include fried chicken with coconut-poached corn, bamboo spicy shrimp, whole fried fish, quail with yellow curry and "street-style" duck leg. And there's a new menu of sides, such as roasted mushrooms and jasmine rice, all big enough to share.

    The fried chicken is a half chicken, broken into parts that's steamed, dredged in potato starch, and fried until the outside gets thick and crunchy. The potato starch makes it gluten-free. "Gluten-intolerant people usually can't eat fried chicken," Johnson says.

    The whole fried fish is branzino, which is scored, fried until crispy, then topped with marinated julienned vegetables and fish sauce. The duck leg is marinated in fermented red and white bean paste and grilled until the skin crackles.

    They've replaced the whole crab in the shell — some customers found it too messy — with lump crab and black noodles in a dark seafood sauce that Johnson says "smells and tastes just like Vietnam."

    Sides are all new. Asparagus is tossed in a lime-fish sauce vinaigrette, then topped with carrot, bean sprout and six-minute egg. Roasted mushrooms — all Asian varieties such as enoki and maitake — are drizzled with sesame oil and soy, and slow-roasted. There's a green vegetable of the day that might be long beans, Chinese broccoli or baby bok choy.

    Garlic noodles are simple perfection: egg noodles made fresh — "close to here, and they're kick-ass to start with," Johnson says — blanched, then cloaked in a sauce of garlic, butter and chopped scallions.

    Tempura okra consists of whole pods, fried in a tempura batter until crisp, not slimy. It's a sweet throwback to the previous tenant, York Street, whose fried okra received many raves.

    Some items they kept, including the marinated grilled fish of the day with dill and yogurt, and the signature shaking beef. "We had to keep the shaking beef," Johnson says. "There's no getting rid of that dish. There would have been a cross burning. Every table gets the shaking beef and the grilled fish."

    And they haven't changed the lunch menu. "Not yet — but we will change the lunch menu," she says.

    Tempura okra consists of whole pods, fried in a tempura batter until crisp.

    Mot Hai Ba, tempura okra
      
    Photo by Teresa Gubbins
    Tempura okra consists of whole pods, fried in a tempura batter until crisp.
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    Pizza News

    Singas Famous Pizza chain opens first Texas restaurant in Frisco

    Teresa Gubbins
    Jun 4, 2025 | 4:44 pm
    Singas Pizza
    Singas
    Singas Pizza

    There's a new pizza concept in town, now slinging pies in Frisco: Called Singas Famous Pizza, it's a chain founded in New York, and it just opened on June 4 at 13089 Main St. #400, Frisco, in a new center at the intersection of Coit Road.

    According to a spokesperson, they'll host a grand opening on June 6.

    The first Singas Famous Pizza opened in Elmhurst, above the Bronx, in 1967, from founder Bill Singas, who apparently was not fully clued in to the definition of the word "famous."

    A decade later, current president and CEO Greg Tsanis and his brother Chris bought the business, and went on to open more locations in the tristate area. They made it a little more "famous." Greg and Chris are natives of Greece who emigrated to the U.S. When it comes to food, the Greeks know what's up.

    Pizza is the centerpiece of the menu, although there are also pastas, sub sandwiches, chicken tenders, wings, jalapeno poppers, garlic bread, and French fries.

    They bake their pizzas in metal pans, the approach taken with deep-dish pizza, but Singas' crust is a regular New York-style thin crust. (They also offer a cauliflower crust for the GF crowd.)

    The chain has been a favorite for South Asians in the New York area, and that influence can be seen on menu items such as the Chef's Special pizza with tikka sauce, green pepper, onion, and choice of South-Asian cottage cheese (paneer) or chicken.

    And in a nod to the heritage of the owners, there's a Greek pizza with tomato sauce, spinach, feta cheese, and olive. There's also a garlic chicken and broccoli, plus classics like pepperoni, meat lovers, and a loaded "supreme."

    In 2004, the company launched a franchising program, which has expanded in recent years. There are currently close to 40 locations across the U.S., mostly in the New York-New Jersey-Delaware area but with a dozen new openings penciled in for Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Florida.

    That includes seven new locations set to open across Texas, with four in the DFW area, as follows:

    • Coppell: 817 S. Macarthur Blvd. #105
    • Plano: 8245 Preston Rd.
    • Frisco: 13089 Main St. #400
    • Prosper: address still TBA

    There is also a franchisee opening three locations in Houston:

    • 10758 Cypress Creek Pkwy, Houston
    • 11388 Fountain Lake Dr, Stafford
    • 25830 Westheimer Pkwy, Katy
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