This week's hot headlines

New McDonald's spinoff leads this week's 5 hottest Dallas headlines

The first CosMc's in Texas has opened in Dallas.

McDonald's

Editor's note: A lot happened this week, so here's your chance to get caught up. Read on for the week's most popular headlines. Looking for the best things to do this weekend? Find that list here.

1. McDonald's opens first Texas CosMc's beverage spinoff in Dallas. McDonald's is spinning off a new concept called CosMc's focused on beverages, and is opening its first location in Texas in Dallas. According to a release, the "small format beverage-led concept" opened at 6033 Campbell Rd. on March 19.

2. Canadian doughnut king Tim Hortons to open 2 locations in Dallas-Fort Worth. A major name in coffee and doughnuts is making its debut in Dallas: Tim Hortons, a doughnut and coffee shop chain from Canada, will open two locations in the DFW area in 2024, first in Coppell, and then in Denton.

3. Upscale Southern restaurant spreads Dallas wings to Cedar Hill center. A Southern-styled restaurant from Addison is opening a second location: Spatch Kitchen + Cocktails, which serves American cuisine and cocktails with a Southern touch, is opening a location at Hillside Village, an open-air regional retail center at 305 W. FM 1382, in Cedar Hill, south of Duncanville.

4. Revered French restaurant St. Martin’s reopens in new east Dallas space. Venerable French restaurant St. Martin’s Wine Bistro is back. The restaurant, which closed its longtime location on Greenville Avenue in 2023 after 46 years, has resurfaced at a new location in East Dallas.

5. Where to eat in Dallas right now: 10 must-try new restaurants in March. This edition of Where to Eat, CultureMap's monthly list of top restaurant recommendations, is all about fresh new restaurants that have opened in the past month or so. They're an especially varied lot both in cuisine and location, ranging from a family-run trattoria in Frisco to an upscale Indian restaurant to Las Colinas to a casual-sophisticated Asian concept in the center of Dallas.

Venue News

McKinney breaks ground on new Sunset Amphitheater live music venue

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The ground was at last broken on a new live music view opening in 2026: Sunset Amphitheater powered by Eight Elite Light Beer, a 20,000-seat facility located at the northeast corner of US 75 and SH 121 in McKinney, slated to open in 2026.

The $300 million venue is being developed as part of a public-private partnership between Venu, the City of McKinney, the McKinney Economic Development Corporation, and the McKinney Community Development Corporation.

Venu is a Colorado-based hospitality and live music venue developer formerly known as Notes Live, with multiple concepts in the works (many seeking funding) including Sunset Amphitheater, which they're opening in Oklahoma and El Paso, as well as McKinney.

The Sunset Amphitheater at McKinney powered by Eight Elite Light Beer may be a mouthful of a name but it also reveals that it has already landed a sponor in the beer company launched by ex-Dallas Cowboys Troy Aikman.

The venue will feature a flexible multi-season configuration for year-round programming, with suites, members-only club, canopied roof, and wind walls, to provide protection from inclement weather and comfortable atmosphere in the winter.

There will also be food and beverage through a partnership with Aramark Sports + Entertainment, a massive enterprise that provides food services to NBA and NHL arenas, baseball fields, zoos, college facillities, and more.

The members-only club is called The Aikman Club, in collaboration with Troy Aikman, and will be nestled at the center of the amphitheater: a one-of-a-kind space with "world-class cuisine," unmatched views, premium seating, and high-end amenities for its elite members.

“We’re so excited to be here,” said Venu founder and CEO J.W. Roth in a statement. “We’re gonna build the most luxurious, fully seated, multi configuration, multi seasonal venue in history right here in McKinney. The organizations here in McKinney have been nothing short of incredible. This groundbreaking wouldn't be possible without that unwavering passion of the folks of McKinney.”

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