New Asian Eats

Asian restaurant adds mega lobster tail roll to Frisco's must-eat list

Pretty presentation is key.

Photo courtesy of Meso Asia

A new Asian restaurant featuring Chinese and Japanese cuisine side-by-side has opened in Frisco, with a mission to be in it for the long haul. Called Meso Asia, it's a family-owned restaurant with a chef trained in Taiwan, and a glamorous ambience, as befits its Frisco location.

The restaurant is located at 4235 Preston Rd., in a busy strip north of SH 121 and south of Lebanon Road, where it's serving sushi and sashimi along with well-loved local staples such as General Tso's chicken and Mongolian beef.

There's also a decent wine list and creative cocktails such as a lychee martini, sake sangria, and a "Tokyo iced tea."

Owner Benjamin Zhu has been in the hospitality business for 25 years, first in the Northeast where he owned restaurants in New York and New Jersey, and then in Tyler, Texas, where he owns eateries such as Yamato Japanese Steakhouse and Mikoto Ramen and Sushi, which also has locations in Houston and Corpus Christi.

He came to North Texas to join family members who moved here including his sister Tina Zhu, who is helping him run Meso Asia.

They've brought in chefs from Taiwan and Hong Kong to make sure that the dishes have an authenticity in execution that other area restaurants do not.

"But we're not doing just traditional Chinese food," Tina says. "Diners want more, so we've combined dishes from several countries. 'Meso' means combination. It's not just Chinese or Japanese or Thai, it's a combination of three."

That includes a sushi bar manned by a chef who previously worked at Bluefish Sushi for many years. They also take a page from Japanese cuisine to make the presentation of all their dishes artful, regardless of what it is.

There is beef and tuna tataki, in which the meat is lightly seared on the outside and ultra rare in the center. There is a tuna tower, that precursor to poke, with tuna tartare ladled over a base of sushi rice, avocado, and crab. There is ramen.

Sushi options include a $25 lobster roll with an entire lobster tail, asparagus, and avocado; and a roll with a fried chicken tender in the center.

There are soft bao buns; spicy chicken lettuce cups; and tempura-fried green beans, served in a clever Belgian-style newspaper-patterned cardboard cone.

Tina, a CPA who is married with children, says that one of the benefits of having her brother nearby is that it creates a bigger community for their family.

"Our parents are in Plano," Tina says. "We'd get together for gatherings at their house where my 75-year-old mom would do all the cooking. We said, 'Benjamin, you need to open a restaurant here so our mom doesn't have to cook!'"

openings

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