Grocery News

New Plano grocery stocks Mediterranean rarities with gourmet spin

Photo courtesy of Blue Fig

A new foodie find has surfaced in East Plano that goes for a gourmet spin on the quintessential ethnic market. Blue Fig Market is a Mediterranean, Arabic, Indo-Pak and European specialty grocery store that stocks not only canned shelf goods but also produce, bread, cheese, Halal/Zabiha meats, and a Halal deli.

Located at 4101 E. Park Blvd., at the corner of Los Rios Boulevard, Blue Fig is a family-owned business from Zaid Nowar, his father Ziad Nowar, and his brother-in-law, Walid Radwan.

Zaid is a graduate of University of Texas at Dallas with an entrepreneurial streak.

"I always had the mindset that I wanted to start a business, so this is a little project with me and my dad," Zaid says. "It's been a journey. With a market like this, there are so many things to coordinate, particularly when you're stocking produce and bread. Everything has to be fresh."

A large number of their customers come for their Halal meat.

"Our foundation was to create a Halal butchery and deli," he says. "In Dallas-Fort Worth, there are some places to get Halal meat, but there are no Halal delis. If you eat Halal meat, you can't eat the deli meats you get from a Kroger or Walmart."

Their other mission was to create a market that had a European feel.

"I've been to markets where you're hit with a smell," he says. "Our goal was to create an American market but with things that can appeal to everyone. We have a large section of European goods and a variety of breads including both middle Eastern and European-style breads. We're happy to be drawing a large diverse population of customers."

They're only a couple minutes from Plano East High School, so their customers also include students who come in for snacks and drinks.

They're stocking some cool imported sodas such as Vimto, and Arabic-style ice cream. They also make a cute little pita bread snack, almost like a pizza, topped with an Arabic oregano, that's become an unexpected bestseller.

"What we're hearing from customers is that they want more food to go — falafel, hummus — so we're definitely working on expanding that," he says.

And no surprise, they're selling blue figs. "Not too many people in the area sell them," he says.

supermarkets shopping

Pei Wei News

Upscale Indian restaurant takes over an original Pei Wei in Dallas

Roti Grill

A hallowed restaurant space in Dallas' Knox Park Village has a new tenant. The new tenant is Roti Grill, the Northern Indian restaurant known for its modern take on traditional Indian food. The space is the former Pei Wei space at 3001 Knox St., which closed in 2023 after nearly 20 years.

Roti Grill knows the neighborhood well, as it has been there since 2005 (as reported by Andoni Vossos), just around the corner at 4438 McKinney Ave.

That location was a little hidden away, without much on-street presence. And yet they survived 20 years. Imagine what they'll do in the Pei Wei space.

That Pei Wei was only the fifth Pei Wei to open in Dallas. (No. 1 was Preston Frankford, #2 was Carrollton, #3 was Las Colinas, and #4 was South Arlington — this is the kind of solid-gold intel you can find in Fork Fight!, the memoir by Pei Wei co-founder Mark Brezinski.)

But the Knox location being so centrally located in Dallas made it a major foodie destination for most of its two-decade lifespan.

Roti Grill founder Pardeep Sharma says the new location brings not only greater visibility but also gives them the opportunity to present a more refined version of the typical Roti Grill dining experience — including full-service dining and a full bar serving craft cocktails made with Indian ingredients.

“There’s a lack of Indian restaurants in DFW where guests can sit down and take their time enjoying wine, beer, or cocktails along with dinner,” Sharma says.

Open daily from 11 am-10 pm, the restaurant offers a contemporary, elevated Indian dining experience, unlike its other counter-service locations. Guests can enjoy a full-service meal paired with cocktails and wine.

Sharma is a veteran restaurateur who has owned some of Dallas' most popular Indian restaurants starting with Kebab N Kurry, which he opened in Richardson in 1982. He went on to open India Palace in 1985, a longtime staple in the Indian restaurant community.

He launched Roti Grill in Plano in 1992, and has since opened locations at Victory Plaza near downtown Dallas and at The Star in Frisco.

Roti Grill Knox Street Roti Grill gives former Pei Wei space a bright makeover.Roti Grill

Dishes include

Vegetable Samosas filled with spiced potatoes and peas
Chili Paneer with onions and bell peppers
Dahi Papdi Chaat - fried chickpea flour cake, spicy chickpeas, and chutney

Tandoori specialties include chicken tikka, ground lamb seekh kebab, and shrimp tandoori — each served with basmati rice, naan, and masala sauce. Entrees include chicken Vindaloo in a tangy sauce; plus vegetarian favorites like Chana Masala and Malai Kofta - vegetable and cheese dumplings in a creamy sauce.

Drinks include the Indian Sunset with Indian rum, amaretto, cranberry juice, and pineapple juice; and a Mango Margarita with Hornitos tequila, mango purée, and lime.

The new location spans 3,300 square feet and seats up to 80. It features a vibrant design by Hatsumi Kuzuu (Tei-An, FT33). The former Pei Wei now incorporates decorative details of Indian architecture and art, large wood beams, vibrant colors, and stenciled figures.

It joins other excellent-yet affordable restaurants at Knox Park Village that include Bread Zeppelin, the ingenious salad chain that puts salads inside a crusty loaf of bread, and Fadi's Mediterranean Grill, the excellent Mediterranean and Lebanese concept from Houston.

uptown openings