Coffee News

Starbucks is heating up new coffee shops in 3 Dallas neighborhoods

Having a Starbucks nearby is a coup.

Taringa.net

Nevermind the hipsters haters, having a Starbucks come to your neighborhood remains a coup, and a handful of areas in Dallas are about to find this out.

The celebrated coffee giant has a number of locations in the works, ranging from North Dallas to Greenville Avenue to East Dallas.

The company almost never announces or even acknowledges openings and is reluctant to confirm. But based on neighborhood notices and online construction sites, these locations are all in motion and, presuming the city of Dallas doesn't get in the way, opening in 2022:

Forest & Central. 7804 Forest Ln. This is a former Schlotzky's, a block west of US-75, that's been closed since 2019. The location comes with the key essential: a drive-thru. It's anticipated to open in the fall.

Greenville & Alta. 1827 Greenville Ave. This is the famous Taco Cabana that was home to the Tango Frogs. It's in the heart of Lower Greenville, about as favorably located as it gets, and with a highly desirable drive-thru, which is rare for the neighborhood. A spokesman for the landlord says that Starbucks is still wending its way through permitting details, but construction is set to start in March, with an opening for early summer.

The neighborhood is ripe: There used to be a Starbucks at 3715 Greenville Ave., at the corner of Martel, that was vastly popular among nearby residents - but it was small, with limited parking and no drive-thru. It closed in 2010, and there's a Gloria's there now.

Casa View. 10305 Ferguson Rd. This location at the Casa View Shopping Center, at the corner of Ferguson and Gus Thomasson, has been the subject of frenzied rumors on Facebook neighborhood pages for at least two years. The neighborhood is in transition and the shopping center has been undergoing a subtle makeover. A spokesperson for Shop Companies, which manages the center, confirmed that it's definitely coming, despite supply chain issues and city delays, with a hoped-for opening by late summer.

The company previously opened three locations in Frisco in fall 2021:

8949 Coit Rd., #100, at the intersection of Main Street
5533 Old Lebanon Rd., in the former Start Restaurant space, with a larger-than-usual seating area
13355 Dallas Pkwy. #300, with a smaller seating area and an emphasis almost entirely on drive-thru

coffee

Ice Cream News

Kwality Ice Cream shop to bring creamy exotic desserts to Frisco

Kwality

Kwality Ice Cream

An ice cream chain with an Indian flair is dipping into Dallas-Fort Worth: Called Kwality Ice Cream, it's a concept founded in New Jersey that specializes in traditional Indian ice cream and cold drinks, and it's opening a location in Frisco, at 13089 Main St. #500, in a new shopping center.

According to franchisee Raju Vikey, the shop will open sometime in 2025. It joins two DFW locations already open: Irving at 8600 N. Macarthur Blvd., and Euless, at 1060 N. Main St. at Harwood Crossing shopping center, which opened in April.

Kwality Ice Cream was founded by food scientist Dr. Kanti Parekh and his son Anand, in New Jersey in 2003. It has expanded with 38 locations in 14 states including Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas, where there are three locations in Houston and one in Austin.

“The idea was to create a South Asian-specific ice cream, which is more known for fruits and nuts,” Anand says. “As a Ph.D. in food and nutrition, my father’s background and expertise were in flavor. He used that to create very unique flavors and top notes to give a really good mouth feel and experience.”

They have close to 50 ice cream flavors with classics like cookies & cream, chocolate supreme, and butter pecan; but South Asian and Indian flavors dominate the menu with exotic options like green guava, lychee, and Nuttie Tuttie Fruitee, a berry-flavored ice cream with nuts and candied fruit.

There is also kulfi, a frozen dessert that's like ice cream but with less added air so it has a stiffer, creamier texture. It's served in slices and comes in popular Indian flavors like pistachio, mango, and rose.

Other novel frozen treats include cassata, an ice cream cake with three flavors of ice cream layered over sponge cake.

As with many Asian desserts, they're often less sweet than American-style confections. Wild inventions include the mawa rabdi cup, with ice cream, rice noodles, basil seeds, and rose syrup, topped with nuts and candied fruit; and Thandai ice cream, a staple at Indian festivals, consisting of almonds, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, watermelon seeds, rose petals, pepper, cardamom, saffron, milk, and sugar.

Rabdi is like a pudding, believed to have originated during the 1600s. Kwality makes it following the traditional method of slow-cooking milk until it thickens and reduces, enhancing its sweetness and creaminess, then adding ingredients like cardamom, saffron, and pistachios.

Pints of ice cream and frozen desserts range from $8-$11, and cassata ice cream cake slices are $7.

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