Pita Party

Taziki's Cafe arrives in Southlake bearing Greek and Mediterranean gifts

Greek food fans should be pleased with the imminent arrival of Taziki's Cafe, a new restaurant chain coming to the Dallas area. The first location opens in Southlake in June.

Taziki's was founded in Alabama by Amy and Keith Richards, who were inspired to open a restaurant after a visit to Greece. The couple has since opened more than two dozen branches across the Southeast. Taziki's follows the fast-casual format, wherein you place your order at a counter and get it delivered by a server, popularized by Pei Wei.

Taziki's menu features half a dozen varieties of gyro sandwiches; entrées with grilled meats and rice; and salads, grape leaves and hummus. The latter is available in regular and gluten-free varieties, with raw vegetables standing in for pita chips.

Overseeing the Dallas-area expansion is JW Mulkin, a young entrepreneur from Birmingham, Alabama who's worked at fast-casual restaurants such as Zoe's Kitchen.

Although Taziki's does do Greek food, Mulkin cautions against typecasting it as a Greek place.

"The good thing about Taziki's is that we don't paint ourselves into a corner as Greek or Middle Eastern," he says. "We are Mediterranean, but we also have a beef tenderloin sandwich and a pasta dish with diced tomatoes, feta cheese, basil and balsamic vinaigrette. We take Mediterranean and go from there."

The best-seller is the signature "Friday's pasta," which is a pasta special that runs Friday through Sunday, says Mulkin.

Mulkin and his father, who is a partner, looked around the Dallas area and came close to launching in Plano but found a better location and more receptive city in Southlake. They're taking over what used to be the Asian restaurant Gingerine and giving it a facelift, including opening the kitchen.

"The last restaurant didn't do well in the space, but it has a lot going for it," he says. "It's right on the corner, so it has great visibility, a great patio and great parking."

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Coffee News

East Dallas coffee shop Killer Joe crackles with sharp New York style

Killer Joe

Killer Joe Coffee

A hip new coffee shop is energizing a busy corner in East Dallas: Called Killer Joe, it's a new shop at 108 N. Fitzhugh Ave. right on the northeast corner of Columbia Avenue, next to (and in the same building as) Pupusas To Go.

Killer Joe is from Christine Sweet and Christian Napolitano, who moved from New York to Dallas in 2022 in search of entrepreneurial opportunity.

"We had been wanting to open up a business in New York for a long time," Christine says. “After the pandemic, it was really hard doing business there. We were looking for a good place to move that offered an opportunity to open our business."

Christine previously worked in travel/destination marketing, living in different places around the world. Christian was in hospitality, having worked in high-end restaurants in Manhattan, most recently at Bond Street Sushi in Soho.

Their goal: to bring a little New York culture to Dallas.

“We are more than a coffee shop — we're a place for foodies and musicophiles, we are really into music and rock & roll. Our shop is not a sleepy, quiet coffee shop," Christine says.

They serve notice of their intentions on the exterior with a quirky, personal mural by Anthony Z. Padilla, rendered in taxicab yellow, with elegant line drawings of the Statue of Liberty and highway-style signs that say "Now leaving New York" and "Welcome to Texas."

The interior is casual-chic, with pale wood furniture and an original cement floor that still sports intentional patches of old paint. The walls have a mix of B&W vintage photos and the occasional cowboy hat. The space was for many years a closed-in bar called Los Dos Reales; but now, the building boasts expansive windows that look out on Fitzhugh and create a bright and sunny space.

For their coffee program, they use organic espresso beans and make their drinks in an Italian Sanremo machine. They serve all the classics plus signature drinks such as French Toast Latte, Sea Salt Caramel de Leche, and Caliente Mocha with a hint of cayenne pepper.

Seasonal drinks include a pistachio caramel matcha latte — featuring toasted pistachios like a baklava, but balanced by the earthiness of the matcha. Other specialty drinks include rose water matcha, orange blossom matcha spritz, and cucumber lemonade.

Panini at Killer JoeKiller Joe

They also serve food, including breakfast all day: steak & eggs, avocado toast, and bagels with plain, scallion or vegan cream cheese. The "Spaghetti Western" is a twist on the traditional ham & cheese sandwich with spicy capicola, roasted tomato, Calabrian pepper sauce, and chimichurri on toasted ciabatta.

Bread is from Empire Baking Company and the bagels are from Shug's.

At lunch, they serve an umami tuna melt; a "K-Pop Cuban" with ham and cheese, plus kimchi pickles and wasabi mayo; and The Texican, with soyrizo spicy sausage, cheddar roasted poblano peppers, tomato, and avocado.

Reeves Family Farm in Princeton provides fruits and vegetables, and DiveDWN brings their microgreens. Pastries are baked in house and sauces such as black olive pesto and Killer chipotle sauce are made from scratch.

“We are trying to blend our edgy New York style with a Southern Texas flair," Christine says.

They're open daily from 7am-3 pm, with a late-hour program every second Saturday featuring live DJs; people gather inside and outside the shop for music, food, and drinks.

"This community is just so great, very eclectic, and has really embraced our style," Christine says. In fact, a few customers had a tattoo made at neighbor Franklins Tattoo and Supply with the coffee shop's skull logo.

"I had to follow and get one done too," she says.

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