Coronavirus News

Dallas restaurant group opens ghost kitchens with burgers, wings, and bowls

Their burgers are made with Angus beef.

Photo courtesy of CRO

Dallas-based Consolidated Restaurant Operations Inc. is jumping onto the virtual "ghost" kitchen bandwagon, in which restaurants spin off delivery-only concepts to keep their kitchens busy while the pandemic still limits dining capacity.

Recognizing that ghost kitchens are a growing trend, CRO, which owns venerable restaurants such as III Forks, Cantina Laredo, and El Chico, has debuted three virtual kitchen concepts, each dedicated to a single cuisine: burgers, wings, and healthy bowls. These delivery-only kitchens are now open, serving the DFW area.

Here are the details:

Hashtag Wings. This concept with the clever social media name is all about wings, which it does four ways: Buffalo, Garlic Herb Parmesan, Sweet Thai Chili, and Chipotle Barbecue. A batch of five wings is $8; a dozen is $18. A side of hashbrowns is $3, and blue cheese and ranch dipping sauces are 60 cents.

Craftsman Burgers. Burger concept uses Angus beef in its quarter-pound burgers. There are four offerings: The Craftsman ($12), with cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sliced red onions, and pickles; Smoked Gouda Bacon Melt ($12); the Truffled Mushroom Burger ($13), which comes with fried onion strings on top; and the Veggie Burger ($10), with house-made lentil cakes.

Craftsman Bowls. They do chef-crafted bowls with seasonal ingredients, priced from $9 to $14. Offerings include: the Steakhouse Bowl, with tenderloin, fingerling potato, asparagus, tomato, bacon, green onion, almond, white balsamic vinegar, and creole mustard dressing; and the Vegetarian Poke Bowl with sweet potato, beets, wild rice, cucumber, avocado, jalapeño, cilantro, sesame seed, and ponzu sauce. There's a Creole salmon with wild rice, squash, and zucchini; and Tuscan kale with baby kale, goat cheese, dried cherry, pepitas, fennel, and apples in a mustard vinaigrette.

The food from these three kitchens is available only via delivery. You can order via third-party partners suchas Grubhub, Door Dash, Favor, and Uber Eats.

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Where to Drink

Where to drink in Dallas right now: 5 new happy hours for February

Even Coast

The Frozen John D at Even Coast.

The February edition of Where to Drink, CultureMap's monthly column on restaurants and bars you can get a drink at, travels far and wide to find the best and most exotic happy hours around: From sushi deals in downtown Dallas to $5 margaritas in Collin County to Indian bar bites in Irving.

(If you're in a more date-night frame of mind, be sure to consult our list of places where you can share a sweet Valentine's Day meal.)

Here are five happy hours to try in February:

Cafe Gecko
Laid-back perennial favorite in Richardson has just unveiled a brand new happy hour menu featuring their delectable versions of classic bar food treats including pizza fries, pretzel bites, chicharrones, onion rings, and fried pickles, priced from $5-$7, plus $1 off everything in the bar. It's served Monday all day, and Tuesday-Friday from 3-7 pm.

Dozo Omakase
Omakase sushi restaurant which opened a year ago at Trinity Groves with a compact menu that includes the trendy multi-course omakase style of dining, available in small or large versions. They do a cool approach to happy hour by introducing a new menu nearly every month. For February, it includes items from the sushi bar and the kitchen including half-price nigiri, sushi hand rolls for $8, gyoza for $6, crispy rice tuna for $10, and miso soup for a bargain $2.50. Cocktails include sake for $9 and a Kyoto highball cocktail for $11.

Even Coast
Neighborhood restaurant from chef Omar Flores opened on the Addison-Dallas line in 2024 with seafood, pastas, and steaks — and now happy hour. It's a good one, served from 2-6 pm every day with its own menu of $3 oysters, $10 cheeseburgers, and salmon dip. House cocktails are $9, including a rotating flavor frozen drink; a pint of beer is $6, and wine by the glass is $9. The only restriction is where: On Friday-Saturday, it's available only at the bar; Sunday-Thursday, it's also available in the dining room and on the patio.

Neon Cactus
Congenial Mexican restaurant in Fairview has a happy hour with deals that surely seem worth driving for: They run Monday-Friday from 3-6 pm and include margaritas for $5, domestic beers for $4, wine by the glass for $5, and well drinks for $4. They also have daily food specials that run all day, such as queso blanco and chicken tinga flautas, $10 each on Thursdays, and taco plates with rice and beans, $10 to $12 on Tuesdays.

Nirvana
Sultry Indian lounge at Toyota Music Factory with DJ, dance floor, and rooftop patio has what may be the worst website in the world — but buried beneath the PTSD flash graphics and music is a worthy happy hour, served from 4-7 pm featuring $2 off all cocktails, including the Hunan Heatwave with tequila and tandoori pineapple, and the Beijing Berry mocktail with mixed berries and ginger ale. Plus Indian-themed bar snacks such as "drums of heaven" AKA chicken lollipops; street-style chow mein, and crispy chili corn.

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