Keto News

Quirky limited-edition items give this Dallas restaurant news some flavor

Cream of asparagus, now served at Bulla Gastrobar.

Photo courtesy of Bulla

Spring's a good time for new things, and this roundup of Dallas restaurant news has plenty. There are new restaurants, new dishes, and new drinks. Some are here for a limited time, some are here for spring.

Here's what's happening in dining news:

Kessaku is a new sushi and sake lounge located above Monarch, on the 50th floor of The National in downtown Dallas. It's a creation of chef Danny Grant and chef Hari Chan that serves nigiri, sashimi, and rolls.

Fairgrounds Craft Coffee & Tea has opened its first Dallas location at 4514 Cole Ave., with coffee from a dozen roasters including Ascension, Greater Goods, Colectivo, Verve, and Counter Culture, plus tea, cold brew, kombucha, sparkling tea, and matcha whipped to order. Food includes breakfast, lunch, and grab-and-go such as Breakfast Sammies, Breakfast Tacos, salads, and sandwiches.

Keto Kitchen Creations, an independently owned concept offering grab-and-go meals that are compatible with low-carbohydrate, ketogenic, or gluten-free lifestyles, has opened at 9500 Ray White Rd. in Fort Worth.

Hatchways Café has reopened in Victory Park following a hibernation since November. They have a new menu with bowls, salads, sandwiches, flatbreads, daily specials, and favorites from the original menu. Highlights include Crispy Potato & Kale Burrito, Harvest Veggie Bowl, Lean Green Smoothie, Market Greens Mezze Salad with falafel, Roasted Chicken Club, and Tomato, Pesto, & Burrata Flatbread with arugula. The coffee program featuring a custom locally roasted blend from Full City Roasters has also been reinstated.

Cafe 43 at the Bush Center is reopening April 20, coinciding with the public debut of President Bush's new exhibit Out of Many, One, his portraits of immigrants.

Bulla Gastrobar, the upscale Spanish restaurant at Legacy West in Plano, has a new spring menu faeturing cream of asparagus, fried eggplant, Basque fish stew (with shrimp, fish, clams, steamed rice, and green peas), Iberian ham arepas, and caramel apple mousse. Plus two cocktails: Blueberry Breeze Cocktail with Tito’s vodka, blueberry syrup, and lemon juice; and a lavender margarita cocktail with Luna Azul Tequila.

BarNone Bar & Restaurant has opened a space for outdoor dining, and inroduced new menu items such as empanadas with choice of chicken tinga, short rib, shredded pork, meat combo, or potato & cheese; hummus with pita chips; and avocado toast on hippie grain bread. Plus beef stew, Oaxacan-style chicken soup, Cobb salad, cheesy grits, sautéed spinach & mushrooms, and a loaded baked potato.

Toasted Coffee + Kitchen has expanded its cocktail and bar menus at both locations on Lower Greenville in Dallas and Crockett Row in Fort Worth adding coffee-infused drinks, pizza-themed toasts, and a veggie board, to appeal to an evening crowd. New toasts include sausage & shallot, cheesy tomato, artichoke & arugula, and Balsamic peach. New coffee cocktails include an espresso martini and a cold-brew coffee drink with, gin, honey, and tonic.

Commons Club at the Virgin Dallas hotel has a new menu with locally-sourced spring ingredients, shareable plates, and botanical cocktails. Highlights include garden crudites, croquettes, ricotta gnudi, spring rack of lamb, beef tartare, and a fried chicken sandwich.

Dragonfly at Hotel ZaZa has a new menu that includes a Mediterranean flatbread, a hydro Bibb BLT with green goddess dressing and blue cheese crumbles, and the Superfoods Bowl with tri-color quinoa, sliced avocado, roasted sweet potato, sliced jalapeño, radish sprouts, and lemon-tahini sauce. They've also brought back their epic weekend brunch.

Whataburger has brought back Buffalo ranch chicken for a limited time, available as a sandwich or a salad with Red Roma lettuce blend, carrots, bacon, tomato, Buffalo Sauce drizzle, and blue cheese crumbles. There's also a new Cobb salad that's a regular menu item, with Red Roma lettuce, carrots, cheddar, bacon, tomato, and hard-boiled egg. Both salads can also be ordered with choice of grilled chicken, Whatachick’n, or spicy chicken filet.

Dog Haus the hot dog chain has partnered with TV personality Chris Oh on the Buldogi, a limited-run all-beef dog with Korean barbecue beef, kimchi mayo, pickled vegetables, egg, scallions, and furikake on Hawaiian rolls, available April 1–May 16. It's part of their series to team up with chefs to craft limited-time items.

Owl's Brew, a boozy tea, will be available for the first time in Texas starting April, sold in a 6-pack for $11 in flavors such as Matcha, White Tea, Raspberry, & Watermelon flavors at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Sprouts.

7-Eleven has a wacky new latte flavor: Peeps Marshmallow, a rich, sweet marshmallow-flavored coffee treat. Customers also can find limited-time flavors of 7-Eleven private label cookies, snacks, and candies including giant frosted shortbread cookies, multi-flavored mini-gummi candies, pretzels in strawberry coating, and sandwich crème cookies with new flavors like Carrot Cake, Pineapple Upside Down Cake and Banana Cream Pie.

openings

Bar News

Rodeo Dallas bar takes party to Uptown Dallas at new location

Rodeo

Rodeo bar is open in Uptown

A bar with Deep Ellum roots is expanding to Uptown Dallas: Called Rodeo Dallas, it'll open at 2922 N. Hall St. in the space previously occupied by Palms Bar. According to co-owner Joseph "JD" Ybanez, it'll open on November 28.

The first Rodeo location in Dallas opened in 2023 at 2724 Elm St. from Ybanez and partner Josh Reagan, a pair of hospitality veterans whose prior venues include Longshots in Dallas, plus two locations of Varsity Tavern, in Fort Worth and in Tempe.

Ybanez' first bar was Trophy Ranch in Fort Worth which had a mechanical bull. "That's where I learned how popular it was," he says. (He also became familiar with Fort Worth's bar scene and went on to open a Rodeo spinoff in Fort Worth's West Seventh district in 2024.)

In August 2025, the Deep Ellum location became the focal point of neighborhood concerns about crime and was closed via an order from the Dallas city attorney. Ybanez says the city is scapegoating Rodeo for other problems in the neighborhood, and that the Deep Ellum location isn't going anywhere.

“This is not a relocation,” he says. “We maintain an ongoing legal dispute with our landlord Asana Partners regarding the re-opening of our Deep Ellum establishment. The Uptown location represents an expansion of the brand.”

Prior to opening Rodeo in Deep Ellum, they opened a predecessor in Tempe in 2018, called Rodeo Ranch. It served as a template for the concept, with an "adult playground" with mechanical bull, bottle service, girls in bikinis, DJs, dancing, and light show.

According to Ybanez, visitors to the Uptown location can expect to take these factors to the next level.

“The Uptown space offers an expansive back patio,” Ybanez says. “This area will feature a massive video wall, optimizing it for communal sports viewing. Furthermore, we have executed a comprehensive refinement of our food menu, which we are confident will elevate the guest experience."

The menu is rendered by Donde Los Tacos, the highly regarded Mexican taqueria in Oak Clifff, with $3 and $4 tacos, like trompo, barbacoa, and suadero. The Uptown location will also serve brunch with dishes such as chilaquiles.

"We have meticulously preserved the core of the Rodeo experience: the unparalleled atmosphere and vibes, our commitment to genuine hospitality, the homegrown character of the brand, and the inclusive spirit that welcomes every member of the community," Ybanez says.

uptown openings