News You Can Eat

New restaurants and lunchtime options fill this plate of Dallas food news

CrushCraft Thai will have chef-driven daily specials.
Photo courtesy of CrushCraft
CrushCraft is located in the Quadrangle.
Photo courtesy of CrushCraft
Blind Butcher's menu includes the Canadian delicacy known as poutine.
Photo courtesy of Blind Butcher
Tanoshii's new lineup of lunchtime burgers includes a veggie burger with miso.
Photo courtesy of Tanoshii
Glazed Donut Works has added Thursday to its nighttime schedule.
Photo courtesy of Glazed Donut Works

As 2014 kicks in, we're seeing lots of restaurant action, with openings, Fort Worth rumblings, loads of lunches and a quiet closure at the Crescent.

Carnivorous Blind Butcher opens on Greenville Avenue on February 6. Matt Tobin and Josh Yingling of Goodfriend have partnered with Ryan Chaney, Tony Bricker and chef Oliver Sitrin in this bar-restaurant featuring sausage, charcuterie, bangers and mash, and bacon bratwurst with sauerkraut. There's a vegan item too: a tofu bacon hot dog with pickled mustard seeds. Also, three kinds of poutine, a Canadian snack with French fries, brown gravy and cheese curds: mushroom, pork belly and duck. Blind Butcher will be open for dinner every day from 4 pm to 2 am.

Cool though oddly named CrushCraft Thai will open in the Quadrangle in February. This fast-casual Thai concept from chef Paul Singhapong and Jack Nuchkasem will feature traditional Thai dishes made from scratch. Menu categories include Thai street food; Thai favorites; and chef-driven dishes that push the envelope, such as sweet pork belly curry and braised short ribs.

The Cane Rosso in Fort Worth is now open on hipster Magnolia Avenue in the old Ryan's Fine Grocer space. Pizzaiolo Shon Ben-Kely moved here from Las Vegas after having worked with pizza guru Carmine D’ Amato, Michele D'Amelio (pizzaiolo at Pizzeria Testa in Frisco) and Roberto Caporuscio. This is the third branch, following the original in Deep Ellum and the spin-off near White Rock Lake.

Tim Love-related restaurant Barter is now open for lunch, Monday-Saturday, from 11 am to 2 pm. There is red chili with cornbread and an intriguing salad with escarole, arugula, black kale, Parmesan, cornbread croutons, Gaunciale and avocado. Sandwiches include tenderloin with caramelized onions and horseradish, as well as a burger with Redneck cheddar and bacon served on an English muffin. Entrees include fish and chips and, just as at Love's Denton steakhouse Queenie's, steak sold by the ounce.

Deep Ellum ramen spot Tanoshii Ramen + Bar is now serving "Japanese burgers" at lunch. Is that really a thing? The "hambāgā" is topped with miso chili, lettuce, tomato and onion. Teriyaki chicken burger is a chicken thigh cutlet. A vegetarian korokke burger is a mixed vegetable croquette coated with panko, fried, and topped with slaw and tonkatsu sauce. All burgers, served on a brioche bun, are $8.50; sweet potato fries with wasabi cucumber ranch dip are $4.50 extra.

Trinity Groves restaurant Chino Chinatown will launch a dim sum Sunday brunch on February 9, with steamed buns, chorizo egg rolls and dumplings. The restaurant will also begin serving lunch Mondays through Saturday on February 3.

Deep Ellum doughnut shop Glazed Donut Works is expanding its weekend late-night hours to include Thursdays from 8 pm to midnight. The nighttime menu includes the signature doughnut grilled cheese and maple-bacon long johns. Thursday nights replace Tuesday morning hours, which Glazed has curtailed for now, until the road construction on Elm Street is finished.

The name is out on the Fort Worth restaurant from former Pakpao chef Eddy Thretipthuangsin: Bite. The menu will include lamb meatballs, duck breast, scallop and grits, short ribs, lobster ravioli, flatbreads, sandwiches, and salads. There'll be a daily seafood entrée and "cut of the day." Entrees range from $16-$30. The restaurant opens in Montgomery Plaza on West 7th Street in the spring.

Fort Worth will get a gourmet ice cream shop called Melt Ice Creams, opening this spring in the southside district at 954 W. Rosedale St. Owner Kari Crowe Seher will make the ice cream in flavors such as brown sugar coffee, lavender honey and lemon basil sorbet. She told Eater that she'll keep her menu small, maybe six flavors.

Oak Cliff has a new Cajun seafood restaurant called Pier 247, from the owners of nearby Bar 303. It takes up residence in an old gas station at 247 W. Davis St. The menu includes fried oyster and crawfish nachos, po'boys, catfish Sloppy Joes and fried seafood baskets.

Top Chef is casting for season 12. Producers will be in Dallas on February 18 from 10 am-1 pm at the Hotel Palomar. To download an application, visit TopChefCasting.com.

In closing, Arcodoro y Pomodoro at Crescent Court is no more.

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Coffee News

East Dallas coffee shop Killer Joe crackles with sharp New York style

Killer Joe

Killer Joe Coffee

A hip new coffee shop is energizing a busy corner in East Dallas: Called Killer Joe, it's a new shop at 108 N. Fitzhugh Ave. right on the northeast corner of Columbia Avenue, next to (and in the same building as) Pupusas To Go.

Killer Joe is from Christine Sweet and Christian Napolitano, who moved from New York to Dallas in 2022 in search of entrepreneurial opportunity.

"We had been wanting to open up a business in New York for a long time," Christine says. “After the pandemic, it was really hard doing business there. We were looking for a good place to move that offered an opportunity to open our business."

Christine previously worked in travel/destination marketing, living in different places around the world. Christian was in hospitality, having worked in high-end restaurants in Manhattan, most recently at Bond Street Sushi in Soho.

Their goal: to bring a little New York culture to Dallas.

“We are more than a coffee shop — we're a place for foodies and musicophiles, we are really into music and rock & roll. Our shop is not a sleepy, quiet coffee shop," Christine says.

They serve notice of their intentions on the exterior with a quirky, personal mural by Anthony Z. Padilla, rendered in taxicab yellow, with elegant line drawings of the Statue of Liberty and highway-style signs that say "Now leaving New York" and "Welcome to Texas."

The interior is casual-chic, with pale wood furniture and an original cement floor that still sports intentional patches of old paint. The walls have a mix of B&W vintage photos and the occasional cowboy hat. The space was for many years a closed-in bar called Los Dos Reales; but now, the building boasts expansive windows that look out on Fitzhugh and create a bright and sunny space.

For their coffee program, they use organic espresso beans and make their drinks in an Italian Sanremo machine. They serve all the classics plus signature drinks such as French Toast Latte, Sea Salt Caramel de Leche, and Caliente Mocha with a hint of cayenne pepper.

Seasonal drinks include a pistachio caramel matcha latte — featuring toasted pistachios like a baklava, but balanced by the earthiness of the matcha. Other specialty drinks include rose water matcha, orange blossom matcha spritz, and cucumber lemonade.

Panini at Killer JoeKiller Joe

They also serve food, including breakfast all day: steak & eggs, avocado toast, and bagels with plain, scallion or vegan cream cheese. The "Spaghetti Western" is a twist on the traditional ham & cheese sandwich with spicy capicola, roasted tomato, Calabrian pepper sauce, and chimichurri on toasted ciabatta.

Bread is from Empire Baking Company and the bagels are from Shug's.

At lunch, they serve an umami tuna melt; a "K-Pop Cuban" with ham and cheese, plus kimchi pickles and wasabi mayo; and The Texican, with soyrizo spicy sausage, cheddar roasted poblano peppers, tomato, and avocado.

Reeves Family Farm in Princeton provides fruits and vegetables, and 4DWN brings their microgreens. Pastries are baked in house and sauces such as black olive pesto and Killer chipotle sauce are made from scratch.

“We are trying to blend our edgy New York style with a Southern Texas flair," Christine says.

They're open daily from 7am-3 pm, with a late-hour program every second Saturday featuring live DJs; people gather inside and outside the shop for music, food, and drinks.

"This community is just so great, very eclectic, and has really embraced our style," Christine says. In fact, a few customers had a tattoo made at neighbor Franklins Tattoo and Supply with the coffee shop's skull logo.

"I had to follow and get one done too," she says.

coffee openings