An Asian fusion restaurant with a personal touch has opened in Richardson: Called Crimson Dragon Cafe, it's located at the CityLine complex on the ground floor of The Riley apartments, at 1450 State St. #400, a space previously occupied by Pho Dangki Fusion, which closed in early 2026.
Crimson Dragon is from Stephanie Nguyen, a spirited 33-year-old entrepreneur who opened her first business, a doughnut shop in Arlington, when she was only 20. She was most recently a stay-at-home mom who is leaping back into the restaurant world with this cafe, serving everything from her grandmother's egg rolls to popular favorites like pad Thai.
Skewers are a theme, offered as an entree with choice of fried rice or garlic noodles; or as an appetizer, in options from shrimp, chicken, beef, or mushroom.
Starters include spring rolls, wings, and Dragon Bombs, an original creation she compares to the Juicy Lucy, the famed burger with a core of molten cheese inside.
"For the Dragon bombs, we use ground chicken and shrimp, rolled into a meatball that's stuffed with mozzarella cheese, then dusted in crumbs and fried," she says.
Grandma's Egg Rolls are a signature dish she learned to make by her grandmother's side.
"I grew up watching her make egg rolls, and over the span of many years, she would let me do the next step — like, when I was 5, I got to seal the wrappers," she says. "We make three variations: pork, chicken, and vegetarian which has two types of mushroom, and tofu skin for a meaty texture. We take the vegetarian option seriously."
Nothing on the menu is more than $15, and for the large workforce in the area, they offer $12 lunch specials with classics like chicken teriyaki on jasmine rice; garlic noodles; Golden Fried Rice; and chicken katsu sandwich which they serve stacked tall on Texas toast.
The space is pretty and bright, with nice touches like gleaming wood-top tables and curvy modern metal chairs.
They're about to add breakfast, with earlier hours and a menu featuring breakfast croissants, sandwiches, and burritos — as well as Asian-themed chicken katsu with waffles, and what she called "our little Asian twist on an English breakfast" with hash browns, tomato, and king mushrooms.
"Breakfast was something we planned when we first opened," she says. "We're here to serve the demand for good fresh food at a reasonable price."
