This roundup of dining news around Dallas is heavy on brunch, with some restaurants introducing new brunches and others introducing new brunch menus. Similar but not the same. There's also news of openings, cocktails, lemonades, and Slurpees.

Here's what's happening in Dallas restaurant news:

Thirsty Lion Gastropub opened a new location at Grandscape in The Colony, at 5754 Grandscape Blvd., on April 28. The gastropub features its usual scratch kitchen, with dishes such as green chili chicken & avocado, bacon mac & cheese, sliders, and artichoke spinach dip, to name a few. This location has a two-story layout with "front yard" greenspace for games, plus two, yes two, patios, upstairs and down.

Cava is opening a location at Northpark Center, at 8687 N Central Expwy. #2376, in a former Which Wich location. According to a company spokesperson, it will open in fall 2022. The Mediterranean fast-casual chain does customizable salads and other healthy fare and has been growing around DFW like gangbusters.

Ellie's Restaurant & Lounge at the Hall Arts Hotel has seven, yes seven, new seasonal menus from Executive Chef Dan Landsberg including breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner service as well as a seasonal pre-show Prix Fixe menu and updated Happy Hour and lounge offerings. Breakfast starts at 6:30 am with Banana Bread French Toast topped with candied pecan-banana chip crumble, and Oatmeal with pepitas, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, pistachio, toasted coconut, banana, blueberry, pecans, and house-made basil lavender yogurt. Brunch includes Deviled Eggs topped with smoked bacon marmalade, Quiche Bites, and a Berry Rosé Sangria. Other newbies include Shaved Coppa & Truffle Ricotta Bruschetta, Chilled Minted Spring Pea Soup, Shrimp Louie Salad, and Roasted Golden Beet Risotto with asparagus, spring pea, Texas artisan mushrooms, and chervil-chive pistou. Also Spiced Chicken & Duck Confit Meatballs with roasted carrot ketchup and cilantro essence, and Grilled Australian Spring Lamb Coulotte Steak featuring chimichurri marinated lamb, achiote thumbelina carrots, grilled baby artichoke, and tahini vinaigrette.

Encina in Bishop Arts has expanded its popular Sunday brunch to Saturdays, with a menu that includes blue corn & butterscotch pancakes, house-made English muffins with beef cheek pastrami, deviled egg purée, and pimento cheese. Brunch will be served 10am-2pm and regular dinner service to follow from 5pm-10pm. Reservation are recommended and can be made at www.encinadallas.com.

North Italia welcomes a taste of spring with four new dishes, seasonal changes to beloved menu staples, and nine new cocktails including Caprese Sandwich, Hanger Steak Tagliata (with charred broccolini, roasted cipollini, Tuscan bean ragu), and Sweet Corn & Fontina. New drink selections include Tucano Punch with Jamaican rum, Campari with Peach & Sparkling Rosé, and a Vespa with Japanese vodka, Starlino Rosé Aperitivo, Peach-Limoncello, and Sparkling Rosé.

Jaxon Texas Kitchen & Beer Garden, at the AT&T Discovery District has launched a new lunch and dinner menu. A few staples such as the cheeseburger and the red hot corn dog have remained. highlights include black-eyed pea hummus, chicken nachos, chopped salad, kale salad, jalapeño sausage roll, vegetarian cauliflower po’boy bowl o’ red chili, cheese, fritos, bbq platter lackberry crumble, and german chocolate sheet cake. New cocktails include the Frozen Blackberry Mule, and Juarez Day Dream with mezcal, strawberry, and jalapeño.

Hawthorn, the steak, seafood and raw bar concept in the AT&T Discovery District is now open for brunch Saturdays from 11 am–3 pm, with a menu of classic American dishes ranging from sweet to savory with a unique twist. That means a variety of toasts such as Goat Cheese & Honey, Avocado Toast, Brioche and Toast; and breakfast-inspired pizzas such as the Grand Slam Pizza and the Chorizo & Jalapeño. Entrée highlights include the Sunny Side Burger, Hawthorn Hot Mess, House Made Poptart, Fruity Pebble French Toast, Chilaquiles, Biscuits & Gravy, and Belgian Waffle.

Toussaint Brasserie launched brunch Saturday-Sunday 10 am-3 pm with dishes such as French omelette, avocado tartine, pain perdu, smoked salmon galette, lobster benedict, croque madame, boeuf bourguignon hash, banana macadamia nut pancakes, and blueberry pancakes.

Whiskey Cake Kitchen & Bar has a new line-up of seasonal brunch dishes and cocktails, Saturday-Sunday 10 am-3 pm, including warm cinnamon roll, avocado toast, carrot cake pancake stack with lavender-cream cheese icing, pulled pork benedict, croque madame, farmshuka eggs in a spicy tomato stew, and shrimp & white cheddar green chile grits.

Razzoo's Cajun Cafe recently launched new cocktails: Big Peach Energy and The Zydeco Zombie, and has brought back two dishes available through early July: Shrimp en Brochette with bacon-wrapped shrimp stuffed with jalapeno, and Creole Pork Chops breaded and fried, then topped with jalapeño cheese sauce.

7-Eleven has a new maple-flavored sausage, egg, & cheese taquito, available all day, made with eggs, pork sausage, and cheddar cheese sauce coated with a sweet maple flavored batter, for $1.99. They also have a new lineup of drinks for spring including two new coffee flavors: Salted Caramel Coffee and also Lavender Syrup, an intriguing new syrup with floral notes, ideal for lavender iced coffee for $1; and three rad new Slurpee drinks: Blood Orange Slurpee, a mix of Brisk Iced Tea and a Slurpee with intense blood orange flavors; Mango Lemonade, a blend of mango and tart lemonade; and the vitaminwater XXX: acai-blueberry-pomegranate, which is infused with vitamins B3, B6, and B12, leaving you feeling reinvigorated.

Zubi's, a Dallas-based healthy Latin food company, has launched its plant-based Signature Salsa and Crema de Jalapeño Latin dips at Sprouts across the country. They're made at the company's facility in Athens.

Fatboy has just launched a smaller version of their renowned confectionary favorite Nut Sundae on a stick - Premium Ice Cream Dipped in Milk Chocolate & Roasted Peanuts. Normally available in a 4oz serving, these new miniature versions of the Nut Sundae are 2.5 oz and 150 calories available in 196 Walmart locations.

Pizza Inn has launched the NYXL Pizza, a 16-inch pizza with 8 slices that is its largest menu item to date. It's a New York-style buffet addition topped with extra large deli pepperoni (only available on the NYXL), with mozzarella cheese on a crispy crust with thin and foldable slices. NYXL Pizza is available at the All You Can Eat Buffet, or for delivery or carryout at select locations for a limited time offer of $12.

Chick-fil-A has added a new Cloudberry Sunjoy flavor, combining Chick-fil-A lemonade, sweetened iced tea with flavors of cloudberry and cherry blossom. Their release says that the cloudberry is one of the rarest berries in the northern hemisphere, and is both sweet and tart. This is the first new Sunjoy blend since they debuted Sunjoy — a combination of lemonade and iced tea — last spring. This nationwide rollout of Cloudberry Sunjoy follows a test in Augusta, Georgia last fall. They're also reviving their spicy chicken biscuit, expanding the number of restaurants it's available which you can check here.

Modest Rogers, the small but already acclaimed restaurant off Oak Lawn Avenue, is doing away with Open Table and forthwith will be a walk-in only restaurant. They're still honoring reservations previously made with Open Table but moving forward, the only reservations they'll take is for parties of 6 or more, at modestrogerskitchenandbar@gmail.com.

Roots Market & Juicery is reducing food waste in Dallas through an "ugly" produce program. The Roots team selects produce rejected from chain grocery stores like Whole Foods and Kroger, and sells it in store. Each box contains 20-plus pounds of produce, plus recipes, and is $20. No two boxes are the same as produce changes based on what is available, with a wide range of options in each box. The Produce Boxes can be picked up from the Fitzhugh location only, located at 4164 N. Central Expy.