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Paula Deen visits Dallas to christen her first restaurant in Texas

Paula Deen and her Southern cuisine are coming to Texas.

Southern celebrity chef Paula Deen is about to open her first restaurant in Texas. Called Paula Deen's Family Kitchen, it'll open on March 26 at Fairview Town Center, according to a Facebook post.

And in possibly even bigger news, Deen herself will make a personal appearance at the restaurant, one month after its debut.

According to a representative, Deen will visit the restaurant on April 20.

Deen's previous visits to Dallas include a 2013 appearance at MetroCooking Dallas, a two-day food exhibit at the Dallas Convention Center.

Fairview Town Center is the shopping complex at the northeast corner of US 75 and Stacy Road in Fairview. The restaurant will be located at 163 Fountain Ct., the space left vacant some time ago by the doomed Guy Harvey's Island Grill.

The restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner, and will come with a companion Paula Dean Store, for your merchandising needs.

In a release, Deen says, "I adore all my fans in Texas, and bringing my Southern cooking to the Lone Star State is something I have dreamed about for years. This is the perfect place to bring together family, friends and great Southern food — three of my favorite things!"

The restaurant's menu consists of Deen family recipes, including Southern fried chicken, spare ribs, and fried catfish. Meals are served family style, and guests can order endless portions of Southern-style entrees, side dishes, and desserts. Endless portions.

It'll also serve alcohol including sangrias, margaritas, peach bellinis, wine by the glass, and beer.

Deen offers a colorful quote about the restaurant's complimentary bread.

"I have taken my favorite recipes and brought them to life in an atmosphere that feels just like my own home," she says. "When you come in and are taken to your table, the first thing you're gonna get is biscuits and sweet potato butter that'll make your tongue wanna slap your brains out."

Guests can dine in the 250-seat dining room; browse retail items from Paula's home, kitchen, and lifestyle collection; and enjoy a unique interactive cooking experience at a full-scale replica of Paula’s kitchen called "Cooking with Paula." The restaurant's Facebook page will post updates about how to reserve your experience.

Current Paula Deen's Family Kitchen locations include Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and another is opening soon in San Antonio. A release says that this new location will be located in the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States with a population in excess of 7,000,000. Is that a dig on Pigeon Forge? Hey small town, we're bigger than you.

Deen has another restaurant, The Lady & Sons, which opened in Savannah, Georgia in 1996.

Matt Gallo, a senior VP for landlord Lincoln Property Company, says they're thrilled. "Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen will further position Fairview Town Center as the place to dine in Northern Collin County — there will truly be something for everyone," he says.

The center has a Dillard's, Macy's, JCPenney, The Container Store, Old Navy, Buckle, Express, Versona Accessories, Gloria’s, Wild Salsa, Cane Rosso, Splitsville Luxury Lanes, Whole Foods Market, and iPic Theaters.

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Dallas hospitality pros team up for new restaurant in Inwood Village

Rendering courtesy of

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Dallas restaurateur Bob Sambol, who brought Bob's Steak & Chop House to the city in the 1990s, is partnering with a prolific Dallas hospitality group to open an intimate new eatery called Charlie’s in Inwood Village.

Planned for spring or summer of 2027, Charlie's - a partnership between Sambol and Vandelay Companies - will take over the space at 5450 W. Lovers Ln. #225 formerly occupied by longtime Dallas favorite Adelmo's.

The restaurant will be small, with about 30 tables, and will serve dinner only. It will also take reservations the old-fashioned way: by landline phone in the restaurant.

Specifics about the menu, chef, and exact opening timeline will be announced closer to the restaurant's debut. But a rendering included with the press release shows a white brick exterior with black shutters, and text beneath the restaurant name that suggests the involvement of "steak," "chop," and "seafood."

Sambol describes Charlie's as "low-key" and "quietly sophisticated," with a "warm palette" and calls this a "very personal" project, which will be built in the spirit of small East Coast neighborhood dining rooms of the past, such as a place his father once owned called The Continental in New Jersey.

“After 30 years, I wanted to create something that feels humble and familiar with great hospitality, a beautiful room, people you know and a restaurant you want to return to again and again," Sambol says in the release. "Nothing overly complicated. Just a really special place for the neighborhood.”

Charlie's restaurant owners Vandalay Companies' Hunter Pond and Rick Dunlap flank Bob Sambol.Photo by Samantha Marie Photography

Sambol says he's had a longtime friendship with the Vandelay Companies' Hunter Pond and Rick Dunlap, whose restaurants include Hudson House, Anchor Sushi, Drake’s, and a variety of other brands. He says he’s watched the restaurant development investors grow up and make a name for themselves in Dallas hospitality.

“I’ve known Hunter and Rick since they were in grade school, and seeing what they have built is truly remarkable. It’s a surreal moment to partner with them on such a personal project” Sambol says.

Pond calls the partnership with Sambol a "fun and unique project ... that no one in Dallas has done in quite some time."

Charlie’s will be "deliberately different" from many of the big city's large-scale "highly produced" restaurants, the owners say, adding that it "will embrace an understated, old-school elegance."

“Charlie’s isn’t about trying to make the biggest restaurant or the loudest statement. It’s about creating a timeless one," Pond says. "That restraint is what makes the project so exciting to us.”

As for Charlie's predecessor at the coveted Inwood Village address, Adelmo's — known for its Italian food "with accents" of French and Mediterranean — occupied the space for 10 years before closing in December 2025 and reopening this year in the Preston Valley Shopping Center, at the southwest corner of Preston Road.

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Paula Deen visits Dallas to christen her first restaurant in Texas

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