News You Can Eat
True Food Kitchen comes to Dallas and more dining morsels
True Food Kitchen is coming to the Plaza at Preston Center this summer.Photo by Rachel Nobrega
Sprinkles Ice Cream will open next to Sprinkles Cupcakes at the Plaza at PrestonCenter.Photo courtesy of Sprinkles Ice Cream
Wicked Po' Boys finally opened its second branch at — wait for it — PrestonCenter.Photo courtesy of Wicked Po' Boys
Trentino Gelato launched in Dallas with a series of flavors created by notableDallas chefs.Trentino Gelato/Facebook
True Food Kitchen boasts an uber-healthy menu, a collaboration between AndrewWeil, M.D., and Sam Fox.True Food Kitchen/Facebook
From salads to doughnuts, this week's dining scene roundup has a bite for everyone. Preston Center keeps looming as the center of the Dallas restaurant universe. And if you're looking for lunch, do we have news for you.
The much-anticipated True Food Kitchen, the restaurant chain whose menu represents a collaboration between health and nutrition author Andrew Weil, M.D., and restaurateur Sam Fox, will open its first branch in Texas this summer in the Plaza at Preston Center at the southeast corner of Preston Road and Northwest Highway. Part of the Arizona-based Fox restaurant group, True Food is not a vegetarian place but they have tons of cool-sounding veggie items such as edamame dumplings, shiitake and tofu "lettuce cups," and a "TLT" with tempeh standing in for bacon. Also grass-fed steak, turkey burgers and craft beers.
Speaking of the Plaza at Preston Center, it'll also get Sprinkles Ice Cream, an ice cream offshoot of the cupcake chain, opening next to Sprinkles Cupcakes in June. This will be first Sprinkles Ice Cream outlet outside of southern California. We are special. Sprinkles Cupcakes will also add its novel "cupcake ATM" concept this summer, a self-serve window that is restocked day and night with freshly baked cupcakes.
Full Circle Tavern is a "modern pub" opened by caterers Jennifer Bonner and Lara Whittington in the South Lamar neighborhood, at 1319 S. Lamar St. According to the release, it has an extensive beer list, including the now-omnipresent local brews, plus sandwiches, comfort sides, veg-friendly items, and house-made chips with rotating flavors like truffle and bloody Mary.
The Wine Poste is a wine retailer in the Design District from James Jordan and Matthew Thompson. Jordan worked for Red Coleman’s, Wine Market and More, and Dallas Wine Company; Thompson is a certified sommelier and wine writer. The Wine Poste does sales onsite and online, and will host in-store tastings and winemaker and celebrity chef dinners. If you buy online, shipping is only $5; and if you buy a case, you get 10 percent off.
Salata Uptown has its grand opening on Thursday, April 18, when it will charge a mere $5 for all salads and wraps. It took over the space that was once Campagna Pizza.
Houston-based Trentino Gelato, started by former software exec Marcello Kreindel, has begun distributing its gelato and sorbet to Dallas. For its launch, it collaborated on flavors with a quartet of "chefs": pop-up specialist David Anthony Temple, Oak pastry chef Sarah Green, FT33 chef-owner Matt McCallister and bartender Eddie "Lucky" Campbell. That is one fascinating lineup, and so are the flavors, including black garlic pistachio and caramel buttered popcorn. Find the gelato at Central Market stores.
A doughnut shop called Glazed Donut Works will open in Deep Ellum in May, in the old Man Bites Dog production studio from former Man Bites Dog owner Darren Cameron. He told Eater he was inspired by the long lines at Voodoo Donuts in Portland, Oregon, because there is nothing more inspiring than a long line. Apparently he has not heard of Glazed Doughnut Cafe in south Arlington; otherwise he surely would not have taken its name? Flavors include the ever-popular bacon, but it will stand out by keeping late-night hours.
Wicked Po' Boys finally opened its second branch in Preston Center, on Luther Lane. Menu is the same as the Richardson original, with charred oysters, beignets, and a slew of po' boys, including one with ham and eggs.
MENU MANIA
Hedary’s Mediterranean Restaurant in Fort Worth changed its lunch to quick-service, with build-your-own wraps ($6.50), plus the signature "Frarej" lemon and garlic chicken with roasted potatoes. For $9.95, get a sampler platter with choice of chicken, kafta, gyro or falafel, plus sides like tabbouleh, hummus, baba ghanoush, grape leaves and rice.
Seems like only yesterday that Seasons 52 was announcing a "spring" menu. Now it's a new lunch menu. Seasons 52 is into menus. For lunch, there are now turkey wraps, tuna burgers, turkey burgers, and buffalo burgers with blue cheese, plus a trio of soft tacos with blackened mahi mahi, chimichurri steak and black bean.
The Palm restaurant has a new lunch menu that gets you in and out in one hour. No more leisurely three-martini lunches. The menu introduces dishes that are easier on the wallet and the waistline, including sandwiches such as chicken and avocado and lobster BLT, filet mignon medallions, steak salad, and soup-salad-sandwich combos.
Blue Mesa continues its special menu series with items created by Bolsa chefs Jeff Harris and Matt Balke. The theme is goat, with goat cheese and ham croquettes; chunky avocado dip with fennel, endive, grapefruit and goat feta cheese; goat ricotta tostada; goat tamale; and goat's milk cheesecake. The Bolsa menu is available at all Dallas-Fort Worth Blue Mesa Grills throughout April.
A full case of cakes at Pietro's. Photo courtesy of Pietro's