Doughnut News

New Dallas doughnut shop rings up hot mini-doughnuts made to order

Mini-doughnuts are the latest hot new trend.

Photo courtesy of The Dapper Doughnut

Dallas will soon be home to a new kind of doughnut shop, specializing in mini doughnuts with fillings and toppings, custom-made right before your eyes. Called The Dapper Doughnut, it's a chain from Las Vegas whose first DFW location will open at the Galleria Dallas in mid-February.

Founded by brothers Jeff and Brian Pappas, who grew up in New York eating freshly made doughnuts, Dapper is a custom concept that makes bite-size mini doughnuts to order. A machine pops out the batter which cooks up into mini doughnuts, maybe 2 to 3 bites depending on your degree of gluttony.

You specify the quantity; they're sold in batches of 6 for $5. Then choose a topping from 14 options such as powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, s'mores, and chocolate sprinkle.

Unlike the fluffy raised doughnuts served at chains such as Krispy Kreme, Dapper's doughnuts are "cake style," with a texture that's light, moist, and slightly crunchy.

There are nearly two dozen Dappers across the country in the works; some are kiosks at malls, others such as the outlets in Frisco and Houston are food trucks.

The Dallas location is from Brooke and Leo Sanchez, two former Dallas ISD teachers who wanted their own business.

"After we tasted the doughnuts, we knew it was something we wanted to do, because they're amazing," Brooke says. "We also liked that it was this entire experience. It's not just, you come in and buy a doughnut. It's the interactive part of ordering the toppings and seeing the doughnuts made in front of you, served fresh and hot."

Interactivity is a big trend right now with concepts such as the rolled ice cream places that are sweeping DFW.

At Dapper, in addition to doughnuts, you can also get your doughnut mixed up into a doughnut milkshake; or doughnut truffles, dipped in chocolate.

Opening at the Galleria made sense, and not merely because Dapper likes its malls, but because of the shop's location across from the Galleria's famed ice-skating rink.

"We have the doughnuts, but we also do very good coffee and hot chocolate," Brooke says. "It just seemed like a perfect fit, to go skating and then come and get freshly made doughnuts and hot chocolate."

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Steakhouse News

High-profile Palladino's Steak & Seafood heads to Preston-Royal Dallas

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Filet Mignon will be on the menu.

A high-profile new steakhouse is coming to North Dallas: Palladino’s Steak & Seafood, an eponymous concept from Dallas restaurateur Joseph Palladino, will open at 5959 Royal Ln., in the former Spec's space.

Palladino is the larger-than-life ex-NYPD police officer-turned-restaurateur known for concepts such as Nick & Sam's Steakhouse and the Coal Vines pizza chain.

Palladino first landed on the Dallas restaurant scene in 1998 to partner up with the equally larger-than-life restaurateur Phil Romano, and went on to have a hand in the creation of Nick & Sam’s, the glitzy steakhouse on Maple Avenue (now run by Sam Romano, son of co-founder Phil Romano), Nick & Sam's Grill, Dos Jefes, and more. He created Coal Vines as an homage to the casual neighborhood restaurants reminiscent of his upbringing in New York.

Palladino's Steak & Seafood is a newly created concept, which will combine steakhouse, Italian dishes, and seafood, particularly sushi. The first location is already penciled in for New York, opening in the former Michael Jordan Steakhouse at Grand Central Terminal, which closed in 2018. It's being designed by the international design firm Rockwell Group and is slated to open in early summer.

Joseph Palladino and Troy Aikman Joseph Palladino and one of his many celebrity pals, Troy Aikman.Instagram

Palladino was approached by the landlords to open a restaurant in the center. Given Palladino's local following and celebrity draw, as well as the large local appetite for steakhouses, Dallas made sense as a second location, particularly at the highly desirable intersection of Preston and Royal.

On the culinary side, Palladino is partnered with veteran chef Sam Hazen, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America as well as an instructor there. His star-studded resume includes La Côte Basque, the Quilted Giraffe, Quatorze, Michelin three-star Le Gavroche, Terrace in the Sky, Cascabel, and Tavern on the Green. He was most recently at Tao, the glitzy Asian concept from Tao Hospitality, where he worked for a decade, giving him sushi expertise.

Palladino is busy getting the New York location open first, with a target date of "soon," and the menu has yet to be revealed, although Hazen previewed a dish on Linked In, consisting of a slice of toast with a cut-out center of pate, with accompaniments that included cornichons and mustard — like a pate version of the classic "egg in a hole."

"But it'll have high-quality steaks and seafood, along with some of my trademark specials and Italian dishes," Palladino says.

The hospitality will match the cuisine and ambience. “I intend to bring a very special steakhouse to the city, one that the locals can embrace," Palladino says. "They’re going to receive a good experience — that’s important to me.”

"Pate in a hole" dish shared by Palladino's chef Sam Hazen.Sam Hazen

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