News You Can Eat

Steaks and speakeasies jazz up this round of Dallas restaurant news

News of two steakhouses.

Photo courtesy of Perry's Steakhouse

Dallas has seen loads of action in the restaurant world, with restaurant openings, special Lent menus, and a closing or two.

Here's what's happening in Dallas dining news:

Akai is new speakeasy bar in Dallas' Arts District located inside Musume, the upscale Asian restaurant from Josh Babb and partner Sean Clavir of Rock Libations. In fact, in order to get to Akai, you walk through the kitchen at Musume. Akai is a collaboration between Rock Libations & SBBC, the team behind bars such as Truth & Alibi, The Tipsy Alchemist, and Punk Society.

Eggsquisite Café, a local breakfast-and-lunch chain with locations in McKinney and Allen, has opened its third, this one in Frisco, at Hall Office Park at 6801 Warren Pkwy. Eggsquisite serves all your breakfast faves, plus burgers, sandwiches, salads, and such.

Bubba's Cooks Country has opened its location in Frisco, at 4585 Preston Rd. This is only the second location for Bubba's, which has been doing fried chicken in Snider Plaza in a converted 1929 Texaco gas station since 1981. Bubba's is the sibling of Babe's, but Bubba's has a drive-through and opens at 6:30 am.

The Flying Saucer, the local chain from Shannon Wynne dedicated to craft beer, will open a new location at Cypress Waters, the Billingsley Company’s 1,000-acre master-planned development. This will be the fifth Saucer in the DFW area. The restaurant is posting help wanted ads, but Wynne could not confirm an opening date, stating that "the notion that you look in want ads just kind of creeps me out."

Saltgrass Steak House is opening a location in East Plano, at 3320 Central Expy. There are currently 18 locations in DFW including a newly opened location in The Colony. According to a representative from the restaurant's parent group Landry's Restaurants, it will open in late March.

Even Stevens, the Utah-based sandwich shop, has closed its location at the troubled-ish Richardson Restaurant Park. However, the chain is opening a location in East Dallas in a new shopping center on Northwest Highway at Abrams Road. Even Stevens opened with a charitable model in which they would donate to deserving groups, but the chain ditched that six months ago.

Roy's Plano has a new three-course tasting menu inspired by Roy's Japanese heritage. Appetizers include a choice of hamachi sashimi or short rib and mushroom dim sum. Entrees include Mongolian glazed pork chop with wasabi mashed potatoes, or a togarashi spiced seared salmon with mushrooms, edamame, and nori vinaigrette. Dessert choices include yuzu curd. The full menu can be found here. It's available through April 30.

Bonefish Grill is offering "fish frydays" from March 8-April 19, with tempura-style cod, sea scallops, shrimp, French fries, and coleslaw, for $20. They also have a new limited-edition four-course dinner with bang bang shrimp, choice of house or Caesar salad, potatoes au gratin, jasmine rice, seasonal vegetable, Atlantic salmon, cobia, and shrimp & scallop skewer. It's available March 5-April 19 for $50.

Morton's The Steakhouse is offering twin lobster tails for $39 through April 12.

Fine China at The Statler hotel is keeping their Chinese New Year specials as permanent lunch menu items, available Tuesday-Friday from 11 am-3 pm. They include Egg Fried Rice, Chicken Rice Bowl, Vietnamese Shrimp Noodle Bowl, Dan Dan Noodles, Wok Fried Flat Noodle, Braised Pork Belly & Egg Rice Bowl, Chicken Lettuce Wraps, and cold Brewed Iced Tea.

Thirsty Lion Gastropub has St. Patrick’s Day seasonal menu specials including Beer Braised Corned Beef & Cabbage, Irish Shepherd’s Pie, Corned Beef Mac & Cheese and Oven Roasted Lamb Shank, available through March 17.

Spin Pizza has a new cauliflower crust available in 7-inch and 12-inch pizzas. The price is the same as Spin's gluten-free crust: $3 upcharge for a 12-inch or $1.50 for a 7-inch. They've also added a larger 14-inch pizza, two deli sandwiches, a new Double Pepperoni pizza, and the permanent addition of a Chicken Cobb salad.

Carl’s Jr. is bringing back its Kellogg’s Froot Loops Mini Donuts. First launched in 2018, the doughnuts are a rainbow kind of deal, good for photos, tinted in five colors: red, blue, green, purple, and yellow. They'll be available for a limited time at participating Carl’s Jr. locations starting at $1.99.

Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille Uptown is relocating into a larger, two-story restaurant space into the Park District development at 2100 Olive St., where they'll occupy the two-story space below the Residences at Park District at the corner of Woodall Rodgers Freeway and Olive Street. The move happens in late 2019.

Bob’s Original Steak and Chop House founder Bob Sambol on Lemmon Avenue has left Trinity Groves and returned to the original Oak Lawn location.

news-you-can-eat

Spring Arrival

West Dallas gets new Spanish-Peruvian restaurant with big-name chef

Photo courtesy of Ulloa's

Paella will be on the menu.

A new restaurant with a high-profile culinary director will bring Spanish and Peruvian flavors to West Dallas: Called Ulloa’s, it is coming to 727 Fort Worth Ave., with a projected opening in March 2027.

The concept is from philanthropists Susan and Woodrow Gandy, who were previously investors in the historic Belmont Hotel just around the corner. They've teamed up with Dallas celebrity chef Kent Rathbun as culinary director, along with Christopher Tunnell as general manager to lead the front of the house.

Rathbun is a name Dallas diners know well, with a resume that includes The Mansion on Turtle Creek, the Landmark Restaurant at the historic Melrose Hotel, Seventeen Seventeen at the Dallas Museum of Art, Abacus, Jasper's, Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen, and more. He's won numerous awards and made multiple appearances on Food Network. He was most recently behind the launch of On The Rocks, an Italian bistro in Burleson.

Chef Kent Rathbun will be the culinary director of Ulloa's. Photo courtesy of Kent Rathbun

Tunnell’s background spans both culinary direction and front-of-house operations. He worked at Los Angeles hot spots Ketchup, Geisha House, and Les Deux, as well as the Mandalay Bay and The Mirage in Las Vegas, before moving to Dallas to open The Mexican, the upscale restaurant in the Design District.

“I am truly excited to partner with Chef Kent Rathbun, whose reputation is amazing — not only in the DFW Metroplex, but in the culinary world,” Tunnell says. “He has been with this project since the beginning, helping develop it; this will be a very chef-driven, culinary-forward restaurant.”

The team's vision for Ulloa’s is both culinary and urban, with hopes of anchoring the corridor and attracting other businesses to Fort Worth Avenue — a stretch connecting downtown Dallas with Oak Cliff that remains somewhat underdeveloped despite its panoramic skyline views.

The restaurant is named for Spanish explorer, astronomer, and scientist Antonio de Ulloa, who spent extensive time in the Mexican peninsula before becoming Louisiana’s first governor. During his travels, Ulloa documented a fogbow — a circular rainbow formed when sunlight meets mist that causes silhouettes standing between the sun and fog to appear ringed in light, a phenomenon known today as “Ulloa’s Rings.”

That vibrant phenomenon inspired both the restaurant's identity and logo. The concept promises "bold, worldly flavors in a welcoming neighborhood setting inspired by exploration and discovery,” the owners say.

Ulloa's Rendering of Ulloa's.Rendering courtesy of Ulloa's

While the menu remains in development, Tunnell describes the culinary direction as “Spanish soul with a Peruvian heart.” The kitchen will merge the coastal flavors of both traditions — ranging from paellas and ceviches to crafted cocktails and signature adaptations by Rathbun.

The 200-seat, two-story space will feature a downstairs dining room, a large bar, and an outdoor patio. Upstairs, plans call for a secondary bar, a private dining room, a patio, and an expansive balcony patio, offering views of the city's skyline and of the Margaret Hunt Hill and Margaret McDermott bridges.

While the upstairs space will be available for private events, the owners intend for it to operate primarily as an organic extension of the main restaurant. The buildout will include a guest elevator along with ample parking, including both self-parking and valet options.

The team says the restaurant will have have an aesthetic that's “warm, theatrical, generous, elegant but alive, with the energy of a great Spanish tapas bar and the soul of Peruvian hospitality.”

Ulloa’s plans to launch with dinner service first, followed by lunch and weekend brunch.

restaurants bars peruvian flavors west dallas oak cliff kent rathbun