News You Can Eat
Brunches and lunches fatten up this hunk of Dallas restaurant news
This roundup of restaurant news around Dallas includes new brunches, new lunches, and news about margaritas. It's all good.
Here's what's happening in Dallas dining news this week:
Porcinos, the new restaurant in Addison from the owners of Edith's in Mockingbird Station, is now open, with veteran chef Damian Edmos, most recently at Princi Italia. Porcinos will feature comfort cooking with Southern influences in an upscale farmhouse atmosphere. Porcino is an Italian word that refers to swine, and pork will appear in numerous menu items, including their signature baby back ribs and irresistible rolled pork roast stuffed with lemon and herbs and paired with grits.
Malibu Poke has added vegan bowls to its menu. You can build your own bowl and skip the fish. Malibu also has a new tropical chimichurri sauce, which has no sugar, soy, or dairy. Opened in 2018 by Jon Alexis (TJ's Seafood) and entrepreneur-investor brothers Eric and Ben Kusin, Malibu Poke was inspired by the casual beach chic of its namesake city.
Mille Lire, the Italian restaurant at the Centrum building off Cedar Springs, has launched brunch, with a prosecco bar and a live DJ. The menu includes Italian delicacies like polpette d'agnello featuring baked eggs with tomato-braised lamb meatballs, and Italian takes on American dishes like the Italian benedict served with parmacotto ham and truffled parmesan fonduta. Saltimbocca are an assortment of Neapolitan-style pizza sandwiches, made with traditional ingredients like prosciutto di parma, burrata, and truffle paste. The prosecco bar blends Italian sparkling wine with fruit purée mixes, like passionfruit and rosemary. One entrée and a pitcher of prosecco is $39.
Paul Martin's has a new brunch menu with short rib hash tacos, a monte cristo sandwich, brioche French toast, crab cake benedict, grill benedict with Canadian bacon, and frittata with avocado and blistered tomatoes. Cocktails include Champagne lemonade with house-infused Meyer lemon vodka, and raspberry nartini with house-infused raspberry vodka and sweet vermouth. It's available Saturday-Sunday, 11 am-3 pm.
Main Event Entertainment has launched a new chef-driven menu featuring burgers, appetizers, pizzas, and seasonal cocktails. Main Event is most excited about its new Angus beef steakburger and Signature Burger Sauce that will be featured on all of its specialty burger builds. There's also a turkey burger, honey sriracha BBQ wings, cheddar cheese bites with marinara sauce and ranch, bite-sized pretzels with warm cheddar cheese queso, and pizza. Drinks include Tito's spiked lemonade and a mai tai. The menu was created by Mark Boyton, the company's new director of menu innovation, who joined in early January.
Sushi Marquee in Frisco is open for lunch every day from 11 am-3 pm. A "power lunch" menu is divided into poke bowls, bento boxes, and salads, and is designed to get diners in and out in 30 minutes. Choose from the signature bowls, bento boxes and salads, or customize your own poke bowl or burrito from the extensive selection of rice, proteins, sauces, veggies, and extras.
Pok the Raw Bar at the West Village has added maguro tacos to its menu. Each taco features fresh maguro (tuna) topped with tofu cream dressing and jalapeño aioli and is served with a side of shiso guacamole. Two tacos are $5.
Hopdoddy Burger Bar has created its first breakfast burger, with Angus beef, breakfast sausage, smoked ham patty, scrambled eggs, three strips of Applewood smoked bacon, American cheese, potato hay, and herbed mayo on a homemade brioche bun.
Blue Sushi Sake Grill has three variations of lunch specials, all under $20 and served with miso soup or a house salad. Choice of two maki rolls is $13.50. One maki roll and one order of nigiri is $14.50. One maki roll and one order of sashimi is $16.50. Guests can choose from over 32 maki rolls, including 11 vegetarian options and 22 nigiri/sashimi options, making the combinations endless. It's dine-in only, Monday-Friday, 11 am-2 pm.
Thirsty Lion Gastropub & Grill is launching a new brunch program on Saturday-Sunday with items that include Irish whiskey French toast, Spanish chilaquiles, breakfast burrito, spinach and feta cheese omelet, corned beef hash, farmers hash, and pulled pork and sweet potato hash. Much hash. Cocktails include sriracha bloody Mary, wasabi bloody Mary, Irish coffee, and a greyhound with fresh pressed grapefruit juice.
Ocean Prime has a new "lunch card" with three new offerings: a King salmon Greek salad with mixed greens and marinated vegetables, served with toasted pita and hummus for $24; chicken salad sandwich ($14) with Waldorf dressing on multigrain bread, served with a side salad for $14; and crab fried rice for $28.
City Hall Bistro in downtown Dallas has a new Express Menu for lunch that features two menu items for $13, with a guarantee to be in and out in 35 minutes. The menu includes salads such as lacinato kale, yellow beets, avocado toast, pork "secreto" sandwich with Swiss and sauerkraut, and short rib panini.
Bisous Bisous Pâtisserie, the McKinney Avenue sweet spot, is now open on Mondays. They're known for their variety of French-style pastries including macarons, tarts, éclairs, croissants, cruffins, and cakes. The original creations are made from scratch daily using the finest ingredients.
Applebee's is reprising its Dollarita special, $1 for a margaritas. All 65 Applebee’s in Austin, Dallas, East Texas, Fort Worth, Houston, Waco and surrounding locations will offer margaritas for a dollar during April.
Peticolas Brewing Company, the acclaimed Dallas brewery, will begin distribution to Austin on July 1 and plans to take its kegs back to Dallas at the end of the month. The're calling it a beer vacation; it's the firs time they'll distribute outside of their 39-mile radius.
Greenville Avenue Pizza Company owner Sammy Mandell was named the Young Entrepreneur of the Year by Pizza Today magazine. He'll receive a trophy and free tuition to Tony Gemignani’s International School of Pizza. Plus, Pizza Today will travel to Dallas to feature GAPCo in an upcoming issue of the magazine.