• Home
  • popular
  • Events
  • Submit New Event
  • Subscribe
  • About
  • News
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Home + Design
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • Innovation
  • Sports
  • Charity Guide
  • children
  • education
  • health
  • veterans
  • SOCIAL SERVICES
  • ARTS + CULTURE
  • animals
  • lgbtq
  • New Charity
  • Series
  • Delivery Limited
  • DTX Giveaway 2012
  • DTX Ski Magic
  • dtx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Your Home in the Sky
  • DTX Best of 2013
  • DTX Trailblazers
  • Tastemakers Dallas 2017
  • Healthy Perspectives
  • Neighborhood Eats 2015
  • The Art of Making Whiskey
  • DTX International Film Festival
  • DTX Tatum Brown
  • Tastemaker Awards 2016 Dallas
  • DTX McCurley 2014
  • DTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • DTX Beyond presents Party Perfect
  • DTX Texas Health Resources
  • DART 2018
  • Alexan Central
  • State Fair 2018
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Zatar
  • CityLine
  • Vision Veritas
  • Okay to Say
  • Hearts on the Trinity
  • DFW Auto Show 2015
  • Northpark 50
  • Anteks Curated
  • Red Bull Cliff Diving
  • Maggie Louise Confections Dallas
  • Gaia
  • Red Bull Global Rally Cross
  • NorthPark Holiday 2015
  • Ethan's View Dallas
  • DTX City Centre 2013
  • Galleria Dallas
  • Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty Luxury Homes in Dallas Texas
  • DTX Island Time
  • Simpson Property Group SkyHouse
  • DIFFA
  • Lotus Shop
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Dallas
  • Clothes Circuit
  • DTX Tastemakers 2014
  • Elite Dental
  • Elan City Lights
  • Dallas Charity Guide
  • DTX Music Scene 2013
  • One Arts Party at the Plaza
  • J.R. Ewing
  • AMLI Design District Vibrant Living
  • Crest at Oak Park
  • Braun Enterprises Dallas
  • NorthPark
  • Victory Park
  • DTX Common Desk
  • DTX Osborne Advisors
  • DTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • DFW Showcase Tour of Homes
  • DTX Neighborhood Eats
  • DTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • DTX Auto Awards
  • Cottonwood Art Festival 2017
  • Nasher Store
  • Guardian of The Glenlivet
  • Zyn22
  • Dallas Rx
  • Yellow Rose Gala
  • Opendoor
  • DTX Sun and Ski
  • Crow Collection
  • DTX Tastes of the Season
  • Skye of Turtle Creek Dallas
  • Cottonwood Art Festival
  • DTX Charity Challenge
  • DTX Culture Motive
  • DTX Good Eats 2012
  • DTX_15Winks
  • St. Bernard Sports
  • Jose
  • DTX SMU 2014
  • DTX Up to Speed
  • st bernard
  • Ardan West Village
  • DTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Taste the Difference
  • Parktoberfest 2016
  • Bob's Steak and Chop House
  • DTX Smart Luxury
  • DTX Earth Day
  • DTX_Gaylord_Promoted_Series
  • IIDA Lavish
  • Huffhines Art Trails 2017
  • Red Bull Flying Bach Dallas
  • Y+A Real Estate
  • Beauty Basics
  • DTX Pet of the Week
  • Long Cove
  • Charity Challenge 2014
  • Legacy West
  • Wildflower
  • Stillwater Capital
  • Tulum
  • DTX Texas Traveler
  • Dallas DART
  • Soldiers' Angels
  • Alexan Riveredge
  • Ebby Halliday Realtors
  • Zephyr Gin
  • Sixty Five Hundred Scene
  • Christy Berry
  • Entertainment Destination
  • Dallas Art Fair 2015
  • St. Bernard Sports Duck Head
  • Jameson DTX
  • Alara Uptown Dallas
  • Cottonwood Art Festival fall 2017
  • DTX Tastemakers 2015
  • Cottonwood Arts Festival
  • The Taylor
  • Decks in the Park
  • Alexan Henderson
  • Gallery at Turtle Creek
  • Omni Hotel DTX
  • Red on the Runway
  • Whole Foods Dallas 2018
  • Artizone Essential Eats
  • Galleria Dallas Runway Revue
  • State Fair 2016 Promoted
  • Trigger's Toys Ultimate Cocktail Experience
  • Dean's Texas Cuisine
  • Real Weddings Dallas
  • Real Housewives of Dallas
  • Jan Barboglio
  • Wildflower Arts and Music Festival
  • Hearts for Hounds
  • Okay to Say Dallas
  • Indochino Dallas
  • Old Forester Dallas
  • Dallas Apartment Locators
  • Dallas Summer Musicals
  • PSW Real Estate Dallas
  • Paintzen
  • DTX Dave Perry-Miller
  • DTX Reliant
  • Get in the Spirit
  • Bachendorf's
  • Holiday Wonder
  • Village on the Parkway
  • City Lifestyle
  • opportunity knox villa-o restaurant
  • Nasher Summer Sale
  • Simpson Property Group
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2017 Dallas
  • Carlisle & Vine
  • DTX New Beginnings
  • Get in the Game
  • Red Bull Air Race
  • Dallas DanceFest
  • 2015 Dallas Stylemaker
  • Youth With Faces
  • Energy Ogre
  • DTX Renewable You
  • Galleria Dallas Decadence
  • Bella MD
  • Tractorbeam
  • Young Texans Against Cancer
  • Fresh Start Dallas
  • Dallas Farmers Market
  • Soldier's Angels Dallas
  • Shipt
  • Elite Dental
  • Texas Restaurant Association 2017
  • State Fair 2017
  • Scottish Rite
  • Brooklyn Brewery
  • DTX_Stylemakers
  • Alexan Crossings
  • Ascent Victory Park
  • Top Texans Under 30 Dallas
  • Discover Downtown Dallas
  • San Luis Resort Dallas
  • Greystar The Collection
  • FIG Finale
  • Greystar M Line Tower
  • Lincoln Motor Company
  • The Shelby
  • Jonathan Goldwater Events
  • Windrose Tower
  • Gift Guide 2016
  • State Fair of Texas 2016
  • Choctaw Dallas
  • TodayTix Dallas promoted
  • Whole Foods
  • Unbranded 2014
  • Frisco Square
  • Unbranded 2016
  • Circuit of the Americas 2018
  • The Katy
  • Snap Kitchen
  • Partners Card
  • Omni Hotels Dallas
  • Landmark on Lovers
  • Harwood Herd
  • Galveston.com Dallas
  • Holiday Happenings Dallas 2018
  • TenantBase
  • Cottonwood Art Festival 2018
  • Hawkins-Welwood Homes
  • The Inner Circle Dallas
  • Eating in Season Dallas
  • ATTPAC Behind the Curtain
  • TodayTix Dallas
  • The Alexan
  • Toyota Music Factory
  • Nosh Box Eatery
  • Wildflower 2018
  • Society Style Dallas 2018
  • Texas Scottish Rite Hospital 2018
  • 5 Mockingbird
  • 4110 Fairmount
  • Visit Taos
  • Allegro Addison
  • Dallas Tastemakers 2018
  • The Village apartments
  • City of Burleson Dallas

    Taco News

    New taqueria at Union Dallas building treats tacos and margaritas right

    Teresa Gubbins
    Feb 19, 2019 | 5:51 pm
    Taco Lingo Tacolingo
    And the word is: tacos.
    TacoLingo

    The new Union Dallas building at 2300 N. Field St. has lured in some buzzy eateries. That includes the official debut of TacoLingo, the new concept from veteran restaurateur Rich Hicks.

     

    Hicks is currently known as the founder of Pie Tap, the upscale pizza chain with locations in the Design District and on Henderson Avenue, which won Best New Restaurant in CultureMap's 2017 Tastemaker Awards.

     

    But Hicks was also a taco pioneer when he founded Tin Star, one of the first gourmet taco chains, back in 1999.

     

    TacoLingo is his next-generation taqueria concept, and it will open at the Union building in March, where it will join The Henry, the newly-opened neighborhood restaurant from Fox Restaurants, as well as a new location of its sibling North Italia, coming soon.

     

    The taco field may be crowded with chains like Torchy's and Tacodeli, but Hicks says he's confident that he can bring something new to the genre, just as he was able to accomplish with Pie Tap, despite dozens of pizzerias having opened in the past decade.

     

    One key move was to hire chef Stan Rodrigues as culinary director. A native of New York, Rodrigues moved to Dallas eight years ago and was previously with Front Burner, where he worked at Whiskey Cake in Plano and helped develop and conceive Sixty Vines, the pizza-and-wine concept.

     

    Hicks' offer gave Rodrigues the opportunity to work on what could potentially be a larger operation with multiple locations, something he wanted to tackle.

     

    "When Rich opened Tin Star in the 90s, it was so ahead of the curve with high-quality ingredients, good cocktails, in a nice atmosphere," Rodrigues says. "The bar is higher now, but we want to recreate what Tin Star did, to elevate that style of taco dining."

     

    That means using Wagyu beef for their steak; chicken that's brined and marinated; and hand-pressing their tortillas.

     

    "Our vision is, can we make some bad-ass tacos that make people want to try them all, with a pitcher of margaritas in a nice setting," Rodrigues says.

     

    The menu includes familiar items like queso and guacamole, but with the best ingredients, and salsas whose recipes they've carefully refined.

     

    "We are still working on our chips and salsa, so that when it hits the table you recognize that it's something different," he says. "Our barbacoa won't follow the standard model of using brisket, we're doing ours with short rib instead, to give it a little more texture."

     

    They'll have nine taco options including two vegetarian items. "One is an avocado taco where we fry the avocado in tempura and serve it with a slaw," he says. "And a fun thing we'e doing is barbacoa mushroom, where we take crimini mushrooms and toss them in a barbacoa marinade. It gets seared at a high heat with onions, and is served with arugula salad and queso fresco. Even if you are a meat lover, you are still going to love that taco."

     

    In addition to tacos, TacoLingo will have regular entrees including fajitas, New York strip steak, mahi mahi, and a carnitas-style porchetta.

     

    "It's flexible — you can order an appetizer and then tacos, or order tacos to share and then some main entrees," he says. "The tacos are fun, composed dishes on a tortilla. We worked hard on our tortilla recipe. Our goal was to find a corn tortilla with the flavor and flexibility and durability of a flour tortilla, and I think we're there."

     

    They'll have a more casual atmosphere than the other restaurants at the Union, with great music, late-night hours, tacos, margaritas by the pitcher, and service industry nights.

     

    Their cocktail program is equally serious, and they have the guy to run it: Andrew Stofko, a nominee for Best Bartender in CultureMap's 2017 Tastemaker Awards who was most recently at Ida Claire and previously at ground-breaking Victor Tangos, now closed.

     

    "He talks about cocktails the same way I talk about food and Rich talks about restaurants," Rodrigues says.

     

    None is concerned about the idea of opening in what some might call a saturated market.

     

    "People in Texas see tacos as a staple," he says. "I can eat tacos every day. The important thing is to push the limits and ask if you can make it better. That's our model. Can you take the time to worry about the balance of flavor, the quality of ingredients, the consistency of your product? If you can do all three, with good service and a good atmosphere, I feel confident a restaurant can do well."

     

    tacos
    news/restaurants-bars
    CULTUREMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME
    Get Dallas intel delivered daily.

    Smoothie News

    Healthy smoothie chain from the Northeast makes Dallas-area debut

    Raven Jordan
    Jul 18, 2025 | 4:01 pm
    Fresh Monkee
    Fresh Monkee
    Fresh Monkee smoothies

    A smoothie chain from the Northeast has landed in Dallas-Fort Worth: Called Fresh Monkee, it's a chain from Connecticut that made its DFW debut in Richardson at 3501 Custer Pkwy. #119, in the Custer Creek shopping center, where it opened July 1.

    Fresh Monkee was founded by entrepreneur Judy Flynn in Wethersfield, Connecticut in 2014. It has since expanded to 20 locations across 15 states. Four locations are planned for Texas, including Austin and Houston. The Richardson location is from franchisees Anam and Omer Nawab.

    In a release, Flynn notes that many smoothie places rely on sugary fruit blends and "strange" powders.

    "Most juice bars strip away the fiber from fruits and veggies, which is essential for a healthy gut and feeling satisfied," Flynn says in a press release. "I was convinced we could do better."

    Their menu includes 30 varieties: fruit smoothies, green smoothies, chocolate smoothies, and coffee smoothies, with seasonal flavors such as the summer-ready watermelon strawberry limeade shake.

    Notable options include:

       
    • Chunkee Monkee — milk, chocolate or vanilla protein powder, banana, and peanut butter
    • Filthy Monkee — milk, chocolate protein powder, brownie protein bar, and peanut butter
    • Coffee Buzz — milk, a splash of cream, chocolate protein powder, coffee cubes, vanilla extract, and Stevia
    • Orange Cream — milk, orange juice, vanilla protein, and a whole orange
    • Maui Colada — coconut milk, orange juice, vanilla protein, unsweetened coconut shreds, pineapple, and mango
    They also carry a protein ball snack with peanut butter, oat flour, chocolate whey protein, and maple syrup, rolled in coconut oil and chocolate chips.

    Each location has indoor seating, including couches and tables, but they're mainly a to-go concept.

    Another pair of franchisees, Clarence Gadapati and Karuna Annavajjala, are opening a location in Arlington, at 5904 S. Cooper St. #120, in the Sublett Corners center, where it will open in August.

    openings
    news/restaurants-bars

    most read posts

    Vila Brazil to bring affordable Brazilian steakhouse to Cedar Hill

    Oak Cliff Dallas address says bye Swank and hello Indian restaurant

    Family-owned cafe to serve empanadas and Argentinian food in McKinney

    Loading...