News You Can Eat

Health food and cupcakes pump up this round of Dallas restaurant news

You eat the good stuff first and then get your dessert.

Photo courtesy of Nature's Plate

It's been too long since Dallas has welcomed a new cupcake shop, but the time has arrived. There are restaurant openings, new menus, revivals of favorite dishes, and a celebrated stromboli. Here's what's happening in Dallas restaurant news:

Sprinkles, the famed cupcake company from Los Angeles, will open its second DFW location in Plano at Legacy West on May 31. The store will feature cupcakes, cookies, ice cream, and the brand's popular Cupcake ATM. Plano will be the fourth Texas location, there are also branches in Austin and Houston.

Stellar is a new restaurant-bar from the team behind such clubs as ‎Trophy Room, Trophy Club, Wholesome Grub, Quartermane Salon, Trophy Ranch, HighTide, and Club Roar. It's located at 2810 N. Henderson Ave., in the space that was previously Vickery Park. The menu includes such dishes as blackened salmon tacos, protein bowls, and poutine with smoked brisket.

The team is also opening a Trophy Park Sports Lounge at the Cowboy Star in Frisco.

Sumo Shack, sister restaurant to Wabi House, opens oh-so-softly on May 4 in the former Banh Shop space. Under the culinary direction of chef Dien Nguyen, Sumo Shack has a quick and modern menu of 20 items, all $10 or less, including Katsu corndogs, Sumo fries, Japanese hot dogs, steamed baos like brisket bao or pork belly bao, and ramen, which can be ordered to-go (unlike Wabi House, which has a strict rule against it).

Crafty Irishman, the downtown Dallas pub, will begin serving breakfast and coffee on May 15. This is not just any coffee. It's a collaboration with Noble Coyote for a new blend called "Top O The Morning," as well as nitro iced coffees. Breakfast fare includes tacos, chicken and waffles, and its original Irish breakfast with eggs, sausage, and beans.

Americano, the Italian-ish restaurant at the Joule hotel, has added a new late-night menu featuring beer, wine, artisanal pizza, and a special exclusive: chef Matt Ford’s celebrated stromboli. Not saying it's not gonna be aces, but how do you have a celebrated stromboli if it's only just been introduced? It has Calabrese soppressata, mortadella, sopressa, provolone picante, mozzarella, Taleggio, and olive relish. The late-night menu is available 10-11 pm Monday through Thursday, and 10 pm-midnight Friday and Saturday.

Fuzzy's Taco Shop is taking three formerly limited-edition dishes and making them permanent. There is jalapeño-cilantro queso; jalapeño bottle caps, made from battered-and-fried jalapeño slices served with avocado ranch; and the burrito bowl with choice of fajita chicken, beef, or grilled veggies on cilantro-lime rice and black beans, topped with guacamole, pico de gallo, cheese, lettuce, and cilantro.

Nature's Plate, the healthy to-go concept, has new spring-summer menu items including breakfast burrito bowls, carrot cake cookies, carrot-feta salad, enchiladas with cheese sauce, lemon poppy seed muffins, and chocolate pudding. These join globally inspired items such as Buffalo chickpea wraps, chana masala, veggie mac, pesto bowls, red Thai tofu, red beans and rice, and African bean soup. All meals are 100 percent vegan and many are gluten-, soy- and nut-free.

CBD Provisions has new dishes for the spring. At brunch there are biscuits & rye gravy, sausage, grilled peppers, and eggs; and oatmeal crepes with lemon curd, yogurt, rolled oats, and berries. At lunch there is grilled cucumber salad with pea tendrils, goat cheese, fried sourdough, and ham; green chickpea hummus, with green garbanzos topped with blanched peas; and beef tartare with pea chimichurri, pickled mushrooms, cured egg yolks, pea tendrils, and sourdough. New cocktails include one with lemon and lemon bitters, Kai black tea syrup, and Elijah Craig bourbon.

Max's Wine Dive has a new menu coming out in May that represents a collaboration between all of its chefs. The chain will preview two menu items: salmon with dill compound butter, English peas, and asparagus risotto, and spicy coconut quail wings with crispy coconut-curry marinated quail legs and honey-red chili garlic sauce.

East Hampton Sandwich Co. has launched a breakfast menu at all Dallas locations. The menu has five items that can be ordered as a taco or croissant sandwich, with fried chicken; bacon, egg, and Jack cheese; ham, egg, avocado, and Jack cheese; and lobster, egg, and Jack cheese. There are three toasts: avocado, banana, and eggy toast with bacon, eggs, and cheese.

Lovers Seafood and Market is doing brunch. The menu includes shrimp migas, avocado-charred corn migas, crab cake benedict, crème brûlée French toast with lemon-fig jam and candied pecans, shrimp and chorizo tacos, and lobster-kale omelet with Maine lobster, kale, and Parmesan. The raw bar and regular menu are also available, plus bottomless mimosas.

Black Walnut Cafe has new dishes for the spring. They include: banh mi sandwich, blackened salmon risotto with risotto-style cauliflower, chunky chicken salad, chicken tenders, tuna tacos, and Asian chicken nachos. For breakfast and brunch, there is steel-cut Irish oatmeal, dressed-up grits with bacon and eggs, a benedict with chicken-fried steak, a fajita steak omelet, and turkey club benedict.

Subway has adopted a new policy on where and how it gets its chickens. By 2020, the sandwich chain will use third-party animal welfare audits; switch to healthier breeds; and give birds more space, natural light, and enrichment. Subway joins companies such as Burger King, Panera Bread, TGI Fridays, and Red Robin. But it's a real big deal for Subway, since it is the most ubiquitous restaurant chain in the U.S.

Starbucks has a new Frappuccino flavor: Midnight Mint Mocha. It's a layered beverage with coffee, extra-dark cocoa, milk, and ice, infused with mint sugar crystals and cut with a layer of whipped cream, then topped with more whipped cream and a dusting of dark cocoa. The beverage taps into the dark food trend popular in social media, such as black macarons and charcoal ice cream.

Hopdoddy's has an over-the-top limited-edition dish called 7 Layer Loaded Fries, available May 3-9. It's a large order of fries served with a side of house-made seven layer dip, which has: black beans with bacon, cheddar cheese, green chile queso, guacamole, pico de gallo, and cilantro. It gets poured all over the fries to create the magical seventh layer. To seal the deal on this amazing $9 special, it comes with two mini frozen margaritas, or two ice-cold Mexican Cokes.

Central Market will host "Taste the South," with flavors from the southern United States, including Carolina blue crab, Carolina wreck fish, Benton’s ham and bacon, Joyce Farms chicken, Sally Lunn bread, and Carolina Gold rice pudding. The chef’s case will feature Brunswick stew, hoppin’ John with Carolina gold rice, collard greens, southern ham, pickled okra, boiled peanuts, and Frogmore stew. It'll run May 17-30.

news-you-can-eat

Closure News

The original Dick's Last Resort in Dallas closes after 40 years

Dick's Last Resort

A venerable destination in the downtown Dallas area has closed: Dick's Last Resort, the notoriously saucy restaurant and bar at 2211 Lamar St., has closed permanently, after 40 years.

According to a representative from the Nashville-based chain, the final day for the Dallas location was November 30.

"Business at that location had been declining, and they were facing an increase in rent, so they made a decision to close," the representative said.

Dick's Last Resort was founded right here in Dallas in 1985 as a winking, impudent good-time spot with good bar food and cold beer, at a time when leg warmers and mullets were the rage.

The concept was hatched by bon vivant "Buffalo George" Toomer and Richard "Dick" Chase, centered on a saga about a bad boy named Dick whose big-league plans had failed and who pivoted to open a laid-back bar full of attitude and dick jokes. The restaurant featured gruff staffers and a Southern-style menu in a rowdy roadhouse environment.

It became a huge success, with customers coming eagerly to be insulted, get pelted with napkins and straws, and wear paper hats with crude comments and insults written in a sharpie such as "I've nailed more wood than HGTV." That atmosphere made it a popular destination for bachelorette parties and other group events, and it was a big tourist draw at its then-location in the West End. (It relocated to its current location close to American Airlines Center in 2005.)

Although the food took a backseat to the atmosphere, the menu — written on the wall — featured ribs, chicken, wings, and burgers, served casually in paper and buckets. In its heyday and for many years, it remained lodged on the TABC Top 10 list for beer sales in Dallas.

Chase was ousted for embezzling by the financial backers, who went on to grow the concept into a national chain, with locations in Boston, Chicago, and London. Those are now closed, but there are currently a dozen Dick's across the southeast in Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, as well as Las Vegas and a longtime location in San Antonio on the Riverwalk.

Dallas restaurateur Mike McRae, who currently owns restaurants such as Dodie's Cajun Diner in Rockwall, Stan's Blue Note, and McRae's Bistro in East Dallas, worked for Dick's for 23 years and owned the Dallas location for 12 years.

"I was hired as their general manager 18 months after it opened," McRae says. "Richard Chase was kind of a hothead. He would fire people on the drop of a pin. We had a pink plastic flamingo with a light inside behind the bar, and he was adamant that the light be on all the time. He once fired a GM because the light was off."

Dick's was owned by Steven Schiff, a Dallas entrepreneur who was in real estate and oil, but had no experience in the restaurant industry.

"Steve talked to Norman Brinker and said, 'I've got this place but I don't want to be in the restaurant business — how do I sell this?'" McRae says. "Norman said, 'You need to open two more locations in different cities.' So we opened the location in San Antonio and a third in downtown Chicago. Both were wildly successful — way more than Dallas. These places were netting over $1 million in yearly profits, which was a lot of money back then. We opened one in London, Boston, San Diego, Myrtle Beach, they were in major cities all over the U.S."

McRae eventually became director of operations and they kept it running until 2009 when they sold the company to its current ownership group based in Nashville. McRae bought the Dallas location in 2010, later joined by his partner Gabe Nicolella; they owned it for 12 years before selling it back to the corporate owners in 2021.

"We did some crazy things in those days, like creating a fake restroom with a pair of tennis shoes visible and a tape recording of farting sounds," McRae says. "We only hired people who had been class clowns, who couldn't get jobs anywhere else. We served food in buckets and the placemats were torn-off butcher paper — things you couldn't get away with now."

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