Chicken So Hot Right Now

Chicken restaurant with speakeasy bar beckons Dallas' suburban hipsters

Lewisville is getting in on the chicken trend.

Courtesy photo

It's been said before, and it'll surely be said again, but chicken is so hot right now. Latest evidence: Prohibition Chicken, a new restaurant-bar opening in Lewisville, from restaurateurs Josh Babb and Sean Clavir, and chef Roger Kaplan. Prohibition will open at 201 W. Church St. on April 25.

The restaurant will serve a family-style menu of comfort food with Prohibition-era cocktails, and has a motto: "Come for the poultry. Stay for the party." Mottos are cool. It'll also have a "speakeasy" with a bar menu, located at the rear of the restaurant with access through a hidden door that is made to look like an old phone booth. Old phone booths are cool.

Prohibition's menu offers chicken done in a variety of ways, along with tri-tip steak, trout, home-style sides, and stiff drinks. Biscuits are also a big thing. The bar menu boasts 40-plus different whiskeys, 11-plus scotches, and a cocktail menu of modern and classic recipes.

Kaplan and his partners are raising their own chickens through Dunbar Hollow Farms, an operation based in Texas. Kaplan says in a release that it was important they know where their chickens come from. "We work closely with Dunbar to raise antibiotic-free, humanely nurtured, and handled chicken delivered fresh to us everyday," he says.

The main dining room has a U-shaped bar in the middle, and a biscuit-bar showcasing a large wood stone oven serving chef Kaplan’s homemade biscuit recipe. A large covered patio and open-air greenspace will offer additional seating.

Babb and Clavir met when they both worked for The N9NE Group in Victory Park. They're amassing quite the portfolio, including Shooters, Three Squares, the Chop Shop, Musume, and Chop Shop Live in Roanoke, opening in winter 2017.

Prohibition Chicken will be open seven days a week and offer local live music on the weekends.

Babb says that they like the location's old country town feel. "Lewisville captures that essence and is also only minutes away from Denton, Plano, Frisco, and Flower Mound," he says.

trends openings

Bagel News

Cute shop Saved by the Bagel to bring hand-rolled bagels to Plano

Saved By the Bagel

There’s a new bagel shop rolling into Plano soon: Called Saved by the Bagel, it’s going into the former JuiceTime Cafe at 6921 Independence Pkwy. #170, where it will open on December 21.

Saved By the Bagel is a family-owned shop from Altrim Vinca, who co-owns the shop with his sister and brother-in-law, Fortesa and Thomas DiFonzo, and childhood friend Veton Hani.

The shop, which is inspired by New York City hand-rolled bagels, boasts an assortment of handmade bagels, bagel spreads, and breakfast and lunch sandwiches.

Though this is their first food shop that they’ve owned, Vinca says they previously worked in restaurants. The inspiration behind opening a bagel shop came from a desire for more family-owned bagels and variety in the Dallas area.

“We have always loved bagels,” Vinca says. “We started making our own bagels at home for our family to enjoy, and they loved it and encouraged us to bring our bagels to the public.”

Menu items include the tuna melt, the reuben with pastrami and Russian dressing, lox, bacon, egg, and cheese, and the avocado smash. For the spreads, they offer house-made plain, strawberry, scallion, honey almond, lox, veggie, and vegan.

"We grew up watching reruns of Saved by the Bell as kids, so it’s super nostalgic for our generation," Vinca says. "While we were brainstorming ideas, we had a random episode playing in the background and my brother-in-law said, “I got it— Saved by the Bagel.'"

Sandwiches typically range from $9 - $13, but they also have a couple of lox sandwiches that are about $19. For the bagel lovers who crave more than a couple bagels, a half dozen goes for $12.50 and a dozen goes for $21.

They'll also offer a selection of espresso, drip coffee, and soft drinks to wash down those bagels.

As far as the atmosphere of the shop goes, it's designed to have a "nostalgic, 90s-inspired vibe that brings back the 90s with a modern twist."

"We have many friends who live in and own businesses in Plano, so we know the area well," Vinca says. "Our goal is to not only offer a new, quick-serve breakfast spot for families to enjoy, but also to bring back memories of childhood with every bite of our bagels."

breakfast openings