Bar News

Deep Ellum hipster honky-tonk opens second outlet outside Dallas

Honky-tonk on the move.

Photo courtesy of Mama Tried

A honky-tonk in quotes from Deep Ellum is opening a second location, this one in an entertainment zone to the west.

Mama Tried, the Nashville-style honky-tonk from veteran bar owner Brooke Humphries, will open a location at the Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

According to a release, it'll open in August, occupying a corner space next to the performance stage in Texas Lottery Plaza. It'll be open for lunch, happy hour, dinner, late-night dining, and Sunday brunch, with Southern cuisine and comfort food.

Humphries says in a statement that she's thrilled to be joining the ranks at Toyota Music Factory, calling it a "natural fit" for the second location.

She opened the first Mama Tried in 2018 as a combination restaurant-bar, dance hall, and live music venue spotlighting classic country, dance party, no pop country, outlaw country, bluegrass, and Kentucky bluegrass. She and her team invested much sweat equity transforming the location at 215 Henry St. at the corner of Canton Street into a funky-cool bar with accompanying outdoor space.

Humphries says that Mama Tried is "a good time if you enjoy good ol' country music."

"I'm real proud of it," she says. "There's nothing like it around here, and country is all I listen to these days, so I'm stoked."

Humphries has the golden touch with a diverse portfolio of bars and restaurants that includes trailblazing bars, such as Barcadia and Beauty Bar; her dance bar in East Dallas, It'll Do Club; her coffee shop, Mudsmith; and her fun American concept, Pints & Quarts, located at the Centrum in Oak Lawn.

Noah Lazes, president and CEO of ARK Group, the developer at Toyota Music Factory, says Mama Tried is a fine addition to their lineup.

"Brooke's knowledge and experience in the DFW bar, restaurant, and music scene is second to none," Lazes says. "New involvement of smart, local creative operators like Brooke is a big feather in our cap, as they add even more diversification to the already massive offering of entertainment and restaurant concepts at the Toyota Music Factory."

Mama Tried joins two other local concepts on the venue's plaza. Frisco Cajun restaurant Green Gator opened in March; Reservoir, a gastropub from Fort Worth, opened a location in April.

The entertainment and dining destination has a concert venue, an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema multiplex movie theater, and many restaurants and bars.

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Churro News

Global churro chain Churro Mania takes hold of Dallas with 3 locations

Churro Mania

A delicious new dining treat has come to Dallas: Called Churro Mania, it's a chain of places dedicated to churros and it opened a location in Lewisville at 801 W. Main St, where they're promising the best churros around.

They have basic churros covered with sugar or cinnamon; bites, both crispy and filled with caramel. They have an oversized fat single churro called Big Mania. You can also get them stacked up in a churro cake, or in an ice cream sandwich, with ice cream set between two circular piped churros.

There's another category called "salted" that features tequeños, AKA cheese sticks: dough filled with melted cheese, in either mini or jumbo sizes. A Churro Dog is as it sounds: a unique salty churro topped with a sausage, which you can get topped with potato stix.

There are also savory empanadas, filled with choice of cheese, shredded meat, or chicken, for $3.50 each. The churros range from $8 to $13.

Churro Mania launched their first location in 1997 in Venezuela. They developed a franchise operation, and subsequently opened more than a dozen locations across Venezuela.

They made their U.S. debut in 2001 with a location in Miami, then in 2012, they formed a partnership with Walmart to open outlets inside Walmart stores.

They currently have five locations in the Miami area and one in Houston.

Founder and CEO is Ariel Acosta-Rubio, who worked in industries such as collections, sales, and real estate, where he learned valuable traits such as customer service, marketing, and how to create a sustainable business.

Happily for DFW, the churromania won't stop in Lewisville. According to a spokesperson, they're opening at least two more locations starting with Dallas at 3636 Frankford Rd. #320, and Irving, at 4100 W. Airport Fwy.

openings desserts