'salata news here
Salad days and pizza nights fill your plate of Dallas-Fort Worth restaurant news
If you're in a salad mood, then this installment of news on the Dallas-Fort Worth restaurant scene will please you. There are more salads, more delis and more fish – just in time for Lent.
Salata, the salad bar chain, will open its seventh Dallas-area location in Uptown this spring, at 3000 Blackburn Ave., a.k.a. the Mondrian building, on the northern edge of West Village. Customers create their own salads and salad wraps; the menu also offers soup. Based in Houston, Salata has 13 locations in Houston, Dallas and Los Angeles.
Speaking of salads, McAlister's Deli will open a branch at 4235 Northwest Hwy., near Midway Road, on March 8. The deli will be at a new strip center called Midway Crossing; it's in the space that used to be the Baha'i temple. McAlister's menu has sandwiches, giant spuds, salads and soups. Dallas-based Saxton Group has 52 McAlister's Delis in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas, with more on the way.
Goodfriend Beer Garden & Burger House has new menu items created by chefs Jeana Johnson and Colleen O'Hare. New sandwiches include sriracha-glazed meatloaf and smashed potatoes on challah bread; pulled pork; chicken with pears, Brie and arugula; and grilled cheese with tomato and onion. New burgers come topped with smoked brisket, bacon, Jack and Swiss cheese or with sauerkraut, Thousand Island and fried pickles. Last but not least, there is a second veggie burger made from grains and butternut squash topped with Bellwether cheese.
After some speculation about its future, the plight of Uptown Bar & Grill has been revealed: It was bought by the team behind Kirby's and will rise again as a gastropub called Nickel & Rye. "We will reopen this spring under a new name, a new menu, new exciting spirits, great wine list, premium beers, great Scotch list.....just all together an awesome new bar!" chirps its new Facebook page.
The Inn at Dos Brisas, the only Forbes five-star restaurant in Texas, located in Washington, has a new executive chef: Zachary Ladwig. He comes from the Relais & Châteaux resort, and he has worked at Bouley, Gordon Ramsay at the London, and numerous AAA five-diamond establishments. Ladwig works with the inn's onsite gardener to help maintain the facility's 24-acre, organic farm, the produce from which he uses in dishes such as duck with sunchokes and sprouts; Hokkaido squash prepared three ways; or monkfish liver roasted on binchotan with matsutake, pine and green apple.
Mama's Pizza, the original pizzeria of Fort Worth founded in 1968, has opened a branch in Southlake, on Southlake Boulevard in the old Garliq pizza space. Mama's, which calls its pizza "East Coast style," recently added new items to the menu, including barbecue chicken pizza, thin-crust and gluten-free options, and grilled chicken salad, which president Jordan Scott says have been a hit in Southlake.
Small bites
Trailercakes, famous for its retro silver Airstream trailer, now has a regular storefront in Knox-Henderson. It takes over the old Jamba Juice storefront next to Pei Wei and boasts a kitchen and display case with cupcakes to go.
The second branch of Hook, Line & Sinker is open. Occupying an old Taco Cabana on Preston Road, HL&S is known for its lightly fried catfish and shrimp. Good news as it's just in time for Lent.
Yumilicious has launched a new line of gluten-free tart yogurt flavors, beginning with Kiwilicious, a light, fresh kiwi-flavored fro-yo.