News You Can Eat
Plenty of meat on the table in this roundup of Dallas restaurant news
If you're up for reading about steak, grilled meats, burgers, and more burgers, you've come to the right story. There's an unusually high quantity of meat in this collection of Dallas dining tidbits. But there's also shrimp, poke, and pizza. Pizza, you're our hero.
Here's what's happening in Dallas restaurant news this week:
Bulla Gastrobar, the tapas restaurant from Florida-based Centurion Restaurant Group, has opened its first Texas location at 6007 Legacy Dr., in Plano's Legacy West district. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner and features appetizers, small plates, entrees, and salads. But don't worry, there are burgers, too. On weekends, there's a unique Spanish brunch with $6 mimosas and sangrias until 4 pm. The decor includes vivid blue Spanish tiles, chalkboard art, photos of flamenco dancers, and teardrop-shaped glass lighting fixtures, a signature in all Bulla locations. There's a patio and a bar topped with white Carrera marble.
Pazzo Uptown, the American-Italian restaurant and lounge concept, has opened at 2680 Cedar Springs Rd., at the corner of Carlisle Street below the Gables Villa Rosa apartments. Owner Luke Zeutzius' vision for Pazzo is to be the leader of all things fun in Uptown, with a made-from-scratch kitchen one-of-a-kind cocktail lounge, and state-of-the-art lighting system. Zeutzius is partnered with the culinary team of Apheleia Restaurant Group on a menu that includes cold pizza bennies, avocado toast, panwaffles, brick chicken, and turkey meatballs with ragu sauce and zucchini noodles. A raw bar features oysters, seafood towers, and tuna nachos; champagne brunch includes panwaffles and rosé all day. Pazzo Uptown is open daily while The Lounge is open Friday-Saturday nights only.
Poké Bop, the Lemmon Avenue restaurant featuring Hawaiian poké with a Japanese fusion flare, has opened its second location in the former Zuzu Mexican Food space at 4140 Abrams Rd. at Mockingbird Lane. This new location features a boba bar serving a variety of iced and blended boba teas in a variety of flavors. The regular bar serves frozen sake-tinis, frozen rosé, Asian beer, wines, and cold sake by the bottle. The location seats 50+ diners, plus additional outdoor seating. You can choose a signature bowl or build your own, or choose a poké ritto, an oversized sushi roll you can pick up and eat with your hands, like a burrito.
The Juice Bar has opened a food stall at Legacy Hall in Plano where it's serving juices, smoothies, pressed juice, juice cleanses, and some food. Other food stalls introducing new options include Eiland Coffee, which has bottomless coffee in four varieties; and FAQ which has three new breakfast tacos.
Grimaldi's Pizzeria has opened a location at the Toyota Music Factory, where it's serving pizza, calzones, antipasto, salads, New York-style cheesecake, and a full bar with cocktails, craft beer, and a robust wine list, including its own signature Mille Gradi red blend, produced by Rocca delle Macìe winery in Tuscany, Italy. Grimaldi's is famous for its thin-crust pizza, coal-burning ovens, red-and-white tablecloths, and black-and-white photographs of Brooklyn, where it originated. Irving is the 7th location in DFW and the 17th in Texas. An additional location is opening at the Shops at Clearfork in Fort Worth in spring 2018.
Natural Grocers is opening a store at 677 W. Campbell Rd. in Richardson. Natural Grocers is a specialty grocer committed to healthy food products and affordable pricing for more than 60 years. It takes over a space that used to be the K1 Speed Go-Kart Track.
BurgerFi is opening a location at Mockingbird Central Plaza at 5400 East Mockingbird Ln. in spring 2018. In addition to beef burgers, their menu includes a veggie burger, Vienna hot dogs, fries, onion rings, frozen custard, and cane sugar soda. The Florida-based chain was launched in Florida in 2011 and currently has more than 50 locations, mostly along the East Coast. The chain has been threatening to launch big in DFW for at least three years, but so far the only location in the area is in Arlington.
Killarney's Live Irish Pub opened at Fairview Town Center, at the northeast corner of US-75 and Stacy Road in January. They serve Irish-Americana cuisine and live music five days per week with large dance bands on the weekends. They'll host a grand opening in April, once they finish their rooftop patio.
Hat Creek Burger Company will open a location in Rowlett at 3318 Lakeview Pkwy. at the end of February. This will be their 10th location. Founded as a food truck in Austin, the chain is known for burgers, creative milkshakes, gluten-free chicken flashers, and a family-friendly focus which includes a unique playscape for children.
Roy's Restaurant, the chain that specializes in Hawaiian and Japanese fusion cuisine, has three new entrees: Asian stuffed chicken breast with coconut black rice and Thai curry peanut sauce; a 14-ounce New York strip steak with lobster mac and cheese; and Moroccan spice grilled swordfish with edamame farro, baby kale, and yuzo soy truffle vinaigrette. Roy's was founded in Hawaii 30 years ago by Roy Yamaguchi, who became known as the ambassador of fusion cuisine. There are now 17 locations.
Jalisco Norte, the authentic Mexican restaurant on Oak Lawn Avenue, is offering a rotating, monthly menu with creative dishes crafted by chef Jose Meza. February's menu includes aguachile de camaron; suckling pig tacos; escamoles; and carne asada. The monthly specials could include snacks, large plates, desserts and everything in between.
CBD Provisions has a new dinner menu featuring Texas steak, including Wagyu cuts from A Bar N Ranch and 44 Farms grass-fed Black Angus beef. Each steak is served with a signature popover topped with Gruyere cheese and chives. New family-style sides range from potatoes prepared four ways to simple vegetables and house-made shells. The wine list has new cabernets from Napa and Bordeaux options in addition to reserve wines.
TGI Fridays has new fire-grilled meats, part of plan to execute a complete overhaul of its menu front-to-back by the end of 2018. Choices include a 6-ounce center-cut sirloin seasoned with a hickory smoked sea salt, topped with parmesan butter; half-rack of Fridays big ribs; dragon-glazed salmon filet brushed with sweet and spicy Korean BBQ sauce; two skewers of three large jumbo shrimp, wrapped in bacon; and an improved parmesan-crusted chicken topped with white poblano queso.
Taco Cabana is executing a plan to reinvigorate its menu, starting with the debut of loaded grilled shrimp tacos. They're available in three flavors, featuring shrimp seasoned with fajita spice and wrapped in a flour tortilla. Rancho is topped with jalapeño ranch. Diabla is drizzled with spicy chipotle diabla sauce and topped with jalapeño-pickled red onions and queso fresco. Pina is topped with a new pineapple pico de gallo salsa. Guests can purchase their favorite for $2.99 or mix-and-match any three tacos for $7.99.
Kenny's Burger Joint is offering a shrimp po'boy with breaded shrimp on a French roll through March 31.
Fuzzy's Taco Shop has introduced a limited-edition shrimp dippers dish, consisting of a basket of crispy shrimp with mango-habanero and honey-chipotle sauce, for $5.99, available until March 11.
Urban Donut has a new Ghirardelli brownie with walnuts, peanut butter cups, and cream cheese filling. You can also design your own brownie or ask for the Ghirardelli brownie to be added to a milkshake.
SĒR Steak + Spirits, the restaurant at the Hilton Anatole hotel, has a new chef: Thomas Gray. A seasoned chef with nearly a decade of culinary experience, Gray oversees the entire culinary operation of SĒR, new menu development, food quality, and presentation. Before joining Hilton Anatole, Gray was chef at Jack Ryan's Steak & Chophouse in Tyler, and a chef instructor at The International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Dallas. Gray is also a third level sommelier and will use his wine education to elevate the culinary offerings.