Fried Chicken News

Dallas-based Bonchon fried chicken debuts in Addison with lots of extras

Their chicken is unique in a crowded field.

Photo courtesy of Bonchon

Fried chicken is on in Addison with the opening of Bonchon, the international brand known for its Korean fried chicken, which opens a location at 4980 Belt Line Rd. #140 on February 25.

The restaurant is going into a former Smashburger and will be the second Bonchon in the area, joining a location in The Colony.

Bonchon was founded in South Korea in 2002, then came to the U.S. in 2006. Their chicken is notable for two reasons:

It's double-fried, giving the crust a satisfyingly chewy note
It has a unique red sauce that's garlicky, sweet, and a little spicy

The menu includes wings, drumettes, and boneless strips. There are also Korean tacos, which you can get with chicken or with bulgogi/marinated beef, plus fried rice, fries, coleslaw, and a kimchi coleslaw.

The Addison location will debut new menu items that include:

Mac & Kimcheese
Korean Street Corn
Fried Chicken Sandwich, with choice of spicy or soy garlic sauce

The Addison location also represents the debut of a new fast-casual restaurant model: It's a 2,200-square-foot space, located a short distance from Bonchon's new corporate headquarters, with a cutting-edge design, eye-popping colors, modern furniture, and street art inspired graphics.

"Bonchon Addison is unique among our 370+ global locations as it is the debut of an exciting new restaurant model designed for a fast-casual experience," says Bonchon CEO Flynn Dekker in a statement. "We believe this new design will enhance and streamline the guest interaction while offering our team an improved operating environment. Bonchon Addison will also double as our corporate test kitchen. Dallas area residents will have the unique experience to be able to try out new dishes and new signature sauces not found at any other Bonchon restaurant."

Dekker, a former marketing chef for Wingstop, was named CEO of Bonchon in 2019.

Bonchon Addison will offer online ordering and delivery through bonchon.com and the Bonchon USA app. Curbside pickup and dine-in also available. They can also be found on 3rd party delivery platforms like DoorDash, UberEats, and Favor.

They'll do a big grand opening event on March 15, and are hosting an online contest to win a year's supply of Bonchon Korean fried chicken. The winner will be announced on March 23.

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BBQ News

Houston barbecue restaurant Levant BBQ opens spinoff in Dallas area

Levant BBQ

Spread from Levant BBQ now open in Frisco.

A Houston barbecue restaurant with a distinctive twist has expanded to the Dallas area with a location in Frisco: Called Levant BBQ, it just opened at 3211 Preston Rd. #3, in the former Genghis Grill, where it's doing a halal version of barbecue, an increasingly popular style in Texas in recent years.

Levant BBQ was founded in Houston in 2024 by Mohamad Kharboutli, a restaurateur who grew up in Aleppo, Syria, and worked at Mediterranean restaurants across Moscow and Jordan, followed by Houston, when he moved there in 2009. Frisco represents their second location, although Kharboutli has plans to open more.

The restaurant is named for the Levant area of the Middle East, located along the eastern Mediterranean shores. Kharboutli's goal was to give Muslims a place to enjoy Texas barbecue.

"After years serving the Levantine table, he felt a craving no restaurant could answer — halal barbecue with the depth of Texas pit tradition and the aromatic soul of the Levant," says the restaurant's website.

Kharboutli elaborates in an Instagram post explaining the Frisco expansion, stating that "a lot of people couldn't eat the barbecue because they missed the halal food."

Halal refers to a style of processing meat according to Islamic dietary laws with rules on how the animals are slaughtered; it also forbids the consumption of pigs — halal barbecue places do not serve pork.

More halal barbecue places have opened in DFW as a response to the area's growing Muslim population, including Yearby's Barbecue and Waterice in Plano and Kafi BBQ in Irving.

Levant's menu combines Texas staples like brisket with Mediterranean options — a combination they dub "Halal-b-que." They use the same post oak wood used by Texas barbecue restaurants but add seasonings like cardamom, Aleppo pepper, and pomegranate molasses.

There's brisket and beef rib by the pound for $36 to $37; plus turkey breast and half or whole chicken. In place of pork, Levant spotlights lamb, with offerings such as lamb chops, leg of lamb, and smoked lamb sausage.

Sides include potato salad, mac & cheese, creamed corn, coleslaw, and okra — but also hummus and saffron rice. There is a smoked potato for $6, which you can get in a loaded version topped with brisket, cheese, and BBQ sauce for $15; plus loaded fries for $17.

Three shareable dishes include "The Levant Feast" — a $99 spread that feeds 3-4 with brisket, turkey, chicken, sausage, four sides, bread, pickle & onion, and BBQ sauce.

In an email, Kharboutli calls Frisco "the perfect fit" for what Levant does.

"Frisco felt like the perfect fit for Levant BBQ because of how fast the area is growing and how diverse the community is," he says. "We’ve had so much support from people in DFW asking us to bring our food closer to them! We also felt Frisco has a great food scene and community atmosphere that aligns really well with our brand and what we’re trying to build."

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