Chicken Salad News

Chicken salad restaurant that sparks joy scoops new location in Irving

Bow down to the chicken salad.

Photo by Sara Hanna

A restaurant chain that specializes in chicken salad is chaining it up in Dallas-Fort Worth: Chicken Salad Chick, which perhaps unsurprisingly is the nation's only Southern-inspired, fast-casual chicken salad restaurant concept, is opening a location in Irving, at 3341 Regent Blvd.

At Chicken Salad Chick, they sell chicken salad by the pound, for about $10 per; they plop it onto sheets of paper on a tray, not unlike barbecue. Diners can customize their chicken salad with various flavor add-ins such as pickles, apples, cranberries, pecans, jalapenos, and bacon.

CSC also does soups and side salads using some of the add-in ingredients, such as cranberry-apple salad, pasta salad with olives and artichokes, and broccoli salad with cheese and bacon.

The concept was established in 2008 by founder Stacy Brown. The company now has more than 109 restaurants open in 13 states, including Fort Worth and Hurst, as well as two locations near Houston.

Situated in a shiny new strip center near the intersection of 635 and Belt Line Road, the Irving Chicken Salad Chick will open on February 13, with various giveaways and specials designed to entice you to rush over there on opening day that include things like a cooler and a raffle for free chicken salad, which is, after all, their speciality. For chicken salad fans, this is nothing less than a gold mine.

Spearheading the growth in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is Irving resident and first-time Chicken Salad Chick franchisee Luis Ibarguengoytia of Metroplex CSC, LLC. According to a release, he's a restaurant industry veteran and multi-brand operator whose portfolio includes Bruegger’s Bagels, Cru Wine Bar, and Panda Express.

Ibarguengoytia and his wife Lesslie have big dreams for the chain with plans to open 15 Chicken Salad Chick locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth area over the next several years, with restaurants in McKinney, Arlington, and Mansfield slated to open in 2019.

In a statement, Ibarguengoytia says that the company "brings so much joy to its customers through its flavorful chicken salad recipes, endearing atmosphere and top notch customer service." You know what they say: If it sparks joy, then keep it.

openings

Dumpling News

Asian soup dumpling chain Ugly Dumpling to open location in Allen

Ugly Dumpling

Colorful dumplings from Ugly Dumpling

A new dumpling concept is coming to Dallas-Fort Worth: Called Ugly Dumpling, it's a chain specializing in Chinese soup dumplings, and it's opening its first DFW location in Allen, at 213 N. Central Expy., near the intersection of McDermott Road, where it will debut in early fall.

Ugly Dumpling is from Vertex Hospitality Group, a national restaurant franchise organization whose portfolio includes two other Asian chains, KPOT Hot Pot & Korean BBQ (which has a location in Arlington and another coming to Fort Worth), and Kinya Ramen.

Buoyed by the success of those two brands, Vertex launched Ugly Dumpling in 2023, opening the first location in Edison, New Jersey. They now list 26 locations on their website, in Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and Texas, although 14 are "coming soon," including one in Austin that's been in the works since 2024.

Soup dumplings — official name, xiao long bao — are a dish of Shanghai origin that are popular due to their unique combination of a delicate dough wrapper enclosing a tender filling and savory broth, which releases when you take a bite — making for an indelible comfort food experience.

Ugly Dumpling's menu includes six varieties of dumplings, accompanied by a savory soup broth, as follows:

chicken
pork
pork & crab
pork & truffle
pork, shrimp, & spinach
Szechuan pork

Porky! They can be ordered in a dumpling sampler, one of each variety, for about $14. No vegetarian options, although they do have a couple of vegan dishes such as vegan wonton soup.

There are also Chinese classics like spring rolls, cream cheese wontons, hot & sour soup, salt & pepper popcorn chicken, garlic green beans, orange chicken, beef & broccoli, Mongolian beef, Kung pao chicken, and fried rice; plus tempting Asian favorites like edamame and bao buns, and even chicken wings.

They also serve boba tea and other beverages.

Bringing the concept to DFW is Grace Zhao, who previously owned Zhao Star Chinese Bistro in Frisco, which she sold. She's all in on Ugly Dumpling — "we're hoping to open more than one location, but Allen comes first," she says.

A statement from marketing head Margaret Farrell says that "when we created Ugly Dumpling, we wanted to tap into the historical Shanghai street food movement but do so in a way that caters to the modern palette. [Surely she means 'palate'?] Our menu respects Shanghai's centuries-old cooking techniques while cultivating an exciting experience for today's restaurant goer."

openings