Art News

West Dallas parking lot to become art park with hot dogs, frozen drinks

Former parking lot becomes outdoor park.

Photo courtesy of Trinity Groves

Trinity Groves, the one-time restaurant incubator in West Dallas, has added Art Park, a dedicated spot for outdoor drinking with family and pets that will take over the old parking lot running along Singleton Boulevard.

It'll come with a menu of bar food from Trinity Groves corporate chef Jay Valley, including Hoffman Hots hot dogs, burgers, chicken wings, fries, onion rings, and Spaghetti O fritters served with spicy Italian red sauce. A frozen drink bar made from shipping containers will sell icy cocktails.

The food will be served out of the former Off Site Kitchen restaurant, which will now be dedicated to serving the Art Park.

Guests can also order and pickup food from Saint Rocco’s or Beto & Son.

According to a release, the park will open in June.

The al fresco space has been transformed into an all-day hangout, with artificial grass, brightly colored tables and chairs, and nearly 30 TVs. Visitors can turn watch local sports, or enjoy views of the downtown skyline and Margaret Hunt Hill bridge.

The space is decorated with graffiti murals from West Dallas local street artists, who were given free rein to paint whatever they wanted.

The area is uncovered, but trees have been planted and there are also umbrellas.

"Trinity Groves already has a lot to offer diners, but we’ve always wanted to anchor the space with a comfortable place where people could hang out all day long, enjoying food, drinks and fresh air, whether or not they’re eating at one of our other restaurants,” says owner Phil Romano. “Art Park is the culmination of that idea, and it brings a wholly new concept to Trinity Groves and West Dallas.”

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Spicy Food News

New restaurant Dallas Spicy Chinese Cuisine does it for real in Plano

Dallas Spicy

Fried rice and chicken at Dallas Spicy Chinese Cuisine

An authentic Chinese mom-and-pop restaurant has debuted in Plano: Called Dallas Spicy Chinese Cuisine, it opened in late 2025 at 4140 Legacy Dr. #310, at Coit Road, in the same center as Sprouts, taking over a space previously occupied by 369 Chinese BBQ, a long-timer that closed in 2025 after more than a decade.

Dallas Spicy Chinese Cuisine stands apart in the Chinese restaurant field thanks to a trio of elements:

Unusual dishes
They offer an array of Sichuan, Shanghai, and Taiwanese dishes, some not commonly found in DFW, such as:

Hot & Spicy Crayfish
Cumin Beef
Sweet & Sour Pork Ribs
Sauteed Bullfrog with Pickled Peppers

Dishes like their humongous Braised Lion’s Head Meatballs, a Huaiyang-style dish from Eastern China featuring pork meatballs simmered with Napa cabbage, and their Spicy Stinky Tofu — a Chinese tofu dish often sold as a snack at roadside stands — are earning raves for their home-cooked authenticity.

The menu has a big assortment of vegetable dishes, mostly stir-fries such as stir-fried shredded cabbage and stir-fried green beans with garlic, which has emerged as a major crowd-pleaser.

There are rice and noodle dishes such as chow mein, beef noodle soup, and dan dan noodles, a Sichuan classic with noodles, minced pork, scallions, and peanuts. An "American Chinese" category on the menu offers familiar staples such as honey walnut shrimp, orange chicken, and broccoli & beef.

Set price
A second distinction at Dallas Spicy is their "set price" dinner, like a Chinese version of omakase, featuring 10 dishes for about $150. It can be ordered in spicy or non-spicy versions.

The pandas
Dallas Spicy is obsessed with pandas: They've made pandas their decorative them, putting them everywhere: panda wall stickers, panda condiment shakers, and a massive installation featuring dozens of stuffed panda toys tacked to the wall in a heart shape.

The owners are hard to reach; they rarely answer the phone. But they'll provide attentive service if you dine in. They vow to be more than just a restaurant. According to their manifesto, they're a place "where stories are told through taste."

Dallas Spicy decor Pandas rule the decor at Dallas Spicy Chinese.Yelp

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