Pickle News

Venue combining chicken and pickleball ready for Grand Prairie debut

You've got your chicken and you've got your pickle.

Photo courtesy of CNP

UPDATE 12-15-2021: Chicken N Pickle is ready for its Dallas-Fort Worth debut. The unique indoor/outdoor entertainment complex which includes pickleball courts, shuffleboard, yard games, restaurant, and sports bar, will open on Sunday, December 26 in Grand Prairie, near the 2900 block of Esplanade and adjacent to the service road along the President George Bush Turnpike.

Chicken N Pickle Grand Prairie features six indoor pickleball courts, three outdoor and two outdoor covered pickleball courts, lawn games, rooftop bar and event spaces. The menu offers rotisserie chicken, pork and beef sandwiches, and hand-cut fries and tots.

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There's an unusual restaurant-entertainment concept breaking ground in Grand Prairie that combines rotisserie chicken with the "sport" of pickleball.

Called Chicken N Pickle, it's a Kansas City-born chain that dubs itself the nation's leading pickleball-focused dining and entertainment venue. That's probably an easy claim, given the dearth of competition? (Although there are places to play pickleball in Dallas-Fort Worth and an entire Facebook page dedicated to Dallas pickleball with 779 followers drawn from Dallas, Plano, Rowlett, Rockwall, DeSoto, Arlington, etc.)

It'll break ground this week in Grand Prairie's Epic Central development; a release says it'll open in late 2021.

Chicken N Pickle is an indoor/outdoor complex centered around the sport of pickleball, combined with a restaurant/sports bar, lawn games, fire pits and TVs.

According to company lore, founder Dave Johnson conceived the idea in 2016 in the Grand Cayman Islands, where all great ideas are conceived. There, he discovered his love for wood-fired chicken and the game of pickleball.

He opened the flagship location in Kansas City, Missouri, followed by Wichita and San Antonio, which premiered in summer 2020. Three more are in the works for 2021, including Grand Prairie, Oklahoma City, and Overland Park, Kansas.

Grand Prairie's location will comprise 77,000 square feet with:

six indoor pickleball courts
five outdoor pickleball courts (two covered)
7,500 square feet of outdoor yard games
dining room
rooftop bar
stages for live performances

Food
The menu includes wood-fired and rotisserie chicken dishes, pork and grass-fed beef sandwiches, and salads.

You can get 1/4 chicken or 1/2 chicken which comes with a flour tortilla, avocado, and a fried serrano pepper, a flourish not unlike the pickle you get with barbecue.

There's a hot chicken sandwich, a chicken-fried chicken sandwich, a burger, pulled pork, and pulled jerk chicken.

Salads include a Caesar, Cobb, and a couple of power bowls such as the one with sweet potato, kale, quinoa, mint, jalapeño, cilantro, and avocado, in citrus vinaigrette.

"Munchies" include fries, tots, biscuits, chorizo fondue, avocado hummus, and fried pickles, which seem essential at a place dedicated to pickleball. There are also four desserts served in cast-iron skillets that include a s'mores cookie and apple crisp.

Pickleball
Chicken N Pickle - Grand Prairie will host pickleball clinics for beginners or advanced players and pickleball tournaments. Wow, there are advanced pickleball players out there, who knew.

Is it time yet to post a definition of pickleball? Yes. Yes, it is time:

Pickleball is a paddle sport where two to four players hit something resembling an enlarged whiffle ball back and forth on a court. Think of it as a combo of ping-pong, tennis and badminton, with a few variations. First-timers and advanced players can have fun playing at Chicken N Pickle.

The release says that pickleball is the fastest growing "sport" in America, and is most popularly played as doubles on a court half the size of a tennis court, with an oversized ping pong paddle and a plastic ball. The rules are a mix of tennis and ping pong and are easy and fun for all ages.

The mayor of Grand Prairie and the Grand Prairie city council are totally on board.

"We are so excited that Chicken N Pickle has selected Grand Prairie as the site of its sixth location nationally," says Mayor Jensen in a statement. "We have so many residents who are ready to play pickleball and eat chicken, some of whom serve on the City Council with me."

He calls it a wonderful addition to the Epic Central project, which already includes Epic Waters, The Epic, The Summit and PlayGrand Adventures, with hotels, more restaurants and retail coming soon.

openings sports

Craft Beer News

Frisco rolls out red carpet for Rollertown Beerworks brewery

Rollertown

Rollertown Beerworks

A brewery owned by a pair of Dallas celebrities has opened the taps in Frisco: Rollertown Beerworks, it's from Ben Rogers and Jeff Wade, beloved hosts of "The Ben & Skin Show" on KEGL-FM, joined by Jonathan Rogers, who is CEO as well as Ben's younger brother, and it just opened at 6450 Main St., next to Frisco’s historic silos.

The brewery was originally founded in Celina in 2020. This is a relocation that's been four years in the making, with backing from the city of Frisco.

The brewery is a public-private partnership between Rollertown and the city of Frisco, Frisco Community Development Corporation, and Frisco TX EDC.

“Rollertown will be an entertainment destination, a family friendly gathering place for residents and visitors,” said Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney in a statement at the brewery's opening. “Our residents will find the live music and brewery experience they craved here in the heart of our city. … After years of looking for the right fit for the silo property, Rollertown bridges both sides of Main Street, connecting our historic Rail District to Frisco Square and Toyota Stadium."

Jonathan Rogers says they're thrilled about their location and its proximity to … everything.

“We’re at the corner of Main & Main in Downtown Frisco — just a block from Toyota Stadium and FC Dallas, and down the street from the Dallas Cowboys HQ, the Dallas Stars HQ, the PGA of America, Universal Studios, and at least three new billion-dollar developments," he says.

"There’s so much happening in Frisco that the real question is…why wouldn’t we want to be here?" he says. "Beyond the incredible location and explosive growth, there’s a sense of possibility and teamwork that exists in Frisco that you don’t always find everywhere else. It’s a perfect culture and values fit for us."

Rollertown BeerworksRollertown

The taproom has two levels of indoor and outdoor seating, beer garden, rooftop deck, and a performance stage. The heart of the operation is a production facility featuring a state-of-the-art 60-barrel brewhouse which will allow Rollertown to produce more than 75,000 barrels annually.

Rollertown offers 21 rotating beers on tap, and plans to release a new beer every two weeks. The selection includes IPAs, sours, and stouts.

“We use traditional brewing techniques that result in approachable beers that are true to their classic styles,” says Rogers.

Beyond the popularity of the founders, Rollertown is best known for its Big German beer, named in honor of Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki, who is an investor of Rollertown. They describe the brew as a “highly crushable Kölsch” containing “minimal hops and a smooth finish,” like Nowitzki himself.

“He loves that joke, we promise,” Rogers says.

On site are three brewhouses of different sizes: a 30-BBL system for production beers, a 7-BBL system for frequent small-batch releases, and a 1-BBL system for private parties and experimental batches.

In addition to beer, Rollertown also offers wine a full range of spirits — vodka, bourbon, tequila, rum, and gin.

Following a common brewery practice, they delegate the food to food trucks, with three — American Gothic Pizza, Jazzy’s Tacos, and Mueller Wagyu — currently in residence. Mueller, known for its Wagyu smashburgers, will have permanent residence at the venue beginning in the first quarter of 2026.

craft beer openings