Supermarket News

The second-longest-running Tom Thumb in Dallas gets a makeover

The store is also one of the smallest.

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One of the oldest Tom Thumb stores in Dallas has been given a makeover. The store is at 10455 N. Central Expy., in the Meadow Central Market center, located right off US-75 on the west side of the freeway, just below Royal Lane.

The store has received the following upgrades:

expanded beer and wine selection
new product offerings across the center of the store
newly added full-service seafood department
significantly expanded bakery department
remodeled produce, dairy, and meat departments

At about 30,000 square feet, it's one of the smallest stores for the chain, a little more than half the size of a current store.

According to a release, the center and the store opened in 1972 to serve what was then a newly growing residential area. It's the second-longest continuously running Tom Thumb store in its original shopping center (the longest running store is at Preston and Royal).

It's considered valuable because it's in an established, affluent residential area that continues to grow. More than 170,700 people with an average household income of approximately $127,000 live within a three-mile trade area.

It's also getting encroached on by competitors like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, both just a couple highway exits down on US-75. Plus, don't forget H-E-B, entering the DFW market, for now still in the suburbs, but surely it's only a matter of time. Thus the renovation.

Tom Thumb is remodeling other older locations as well, most around the Park Cities, including Snider Plaza, Plaza at Preston Center, and Inwood Road.

According to the release, the renovation of the Meadows store has prompted a makeover to the entire 108,778-square-foot center, home to a mix that includes CVS Pharmacy, Edible Arrangements, The UPS Store, Centrum Health, Gabriela & Sofia's Tex-Mex, Sylvan Learning Center, Preston Royal Animal Clinic, Ephesus Mediterranean Grill, Studio Salon Suites, and other restaurants.

There's a new façade, signage, landscaping, parking, security, accent LED lighting, seating, arbors, green space, and other pedestrian-friendly enhancements.

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Deep Ellum News

Seafood boils spot Boil Daddy from Calif. swims into Deep Ellum Dallas

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Your standard red boiled seafood spread via Boil Daddy.

A Cajun seafood restaurant has opened in Dallas' Deep Ellum: Called The Boil Daddy, it's a California chain specializing in seafood boils, now open in the former Tiki Loco space at 2639 Elm St. #100, in the former Tiki Loco vegan restaurant which closed in 2023.

Boil Daddy was founded in 2020 by Jun Cho, a young South Korean immigrant who launched it as a delivery-only concept with one location in downtown Los Angeles. It now has 20 locations across five states, including California, Florida, Texas, Maryland, and Colorado.

The menu features seafood boil bags by the pound or half pound, with choice of shellfish including crab legs, clams, crawfish, and shrimp, with add-ons such as sausage, potatoes, linguine noodles, and jasmine rice.

Prices range from $14 to $93 for a family meal with lobster tail, a snow crab leg cluster, shrimp, corn, potatoes, and sausage.

The chain first debuted in Texas in Garland, where it operates a takeaway-only location out of Revolving Kitchen, the ghost kitchen concept.

Deep Ellum is the second in Texas, and was designed to be the area flagship, offering dine-in, pickup, and delivery, plus space for private events — serving as a testing ground to gauge its success in a high-traffic community as well as refine recipes, Cho says.

“Seafood boils are known to be a dinner menu where your family gets together, but we’ve been working on quick lunch entrees,” Cho says.

They're offering items not available from the Garland location, such as shrimp pasta, fish & chips, shrimp basket, and chicken wings. There are po' boy sandwiches, garlic fries, clam chowder, and mac & cheese.

They also have individual bowl versions of their boils, perfect for lunch, such as Daddy's shrimp bowl over rice and the Hawaiian-style crispy mahalo shrimp or fish. ("Daddy's sauce" is a mix of garlic butter and Cajun sauce.)

"We've got all kinds of chefs, Asian cuisine, Cajun cuisine, Italian cuisine," Cho says. "So, we're trying to combine the cultures."

deep-ellum openings