It's a good week for Dallas restaurant openings, covering all sorts of cuisines and neighborhoods. There's also new menus, longer hours, and a burger battle underway.
Take it away, Dallas restaurant news, here's what we got:
Foxyco is a new restaurant from Jon Stevens and Melissa Green, owners of Stock & Barrel in Oak Cliff. The restaurant is located in the Design District, at 921 N. Riverfront Blvd. and will open on May 16. The restaurant features shared plates — whatever you do, don't call them tapas — like olives, artichokes, and crab dip, plus dishes cooked over coal.
Tacqui is the new Japanese-style taqueria in Richardson from Austin chef and Top Chef winner Paul Qui, who recently got charges dropped from a domestic violence incident in 2016. Tacqui's menu includes tacos, tostadas, and quesadillas, with options such as lamb, chicken yakitori, pork belly, filet mignon, Wagyu short rib, tempura shrimp, shiitake mushrooms, and Japanese eggplant. They also do bento plates with fried chicken karaage, miso-glazed salmon, filet mignon, and veggie with the above-mentioned eggplant and shiitakes.
Liberty Burger continues its North Texas expansion with a new location set to open in Carrollton in June at 3450 East Hebron Pkwy. That location joins recent openings in Las Colinas and at The Star in Frisco, for a total of 10 locations, with nine in North Texas and one in Wyoming. There's one new burger in town.
Hat Creek Burger Co., the Austin-based fast-casual burger chain, has opened a location in Dallas at 8185 Walnut Hill Ln. Other openings in the works include Austin, Temple, Waco, and Houston. The chain currently has 10 locations with the most recent addition being Rowlett, which opened in February. That's another new burger in town.
Poke O is a new poke restaurant opening at Mockingbird Station, across from Urban Outfitters. Customers can build their own bowl or select from five signature dishes including the Mediterranean bowl with salmon, couscous, yellow radish, pineapple, onion, mint, avocado, and lime-chile sauce; or the ponzo yellowtail bowl with yellowtail, cabbage, green onion, kale, cucumber, cilantro, red bell pepper, and Asian vinaigrette sauce. They'll also serve wine, beer, and sake. The owners have big, very big dreams of opening several locations in the US and Chile.
Taco Borracho, the downtown taqueria right off the DART Rail line, is expanding its hours to give late-night diners a crack at their grub. On Saturdays, they'll stay open from 10:30 pm-2 am. If the Saturdays work out, owner Misty Shields Trammell says she'll consider adding more nights.
Movie Tavern has a new chef-inspired menu, with more than two dozen new entrées, starters, cocktails, and more. Please to consider: tomato goat cheese fondue with marinara dipping sauce and baguette slices; red pepper hummus with pita bread, celery, red peppers, and carrot sticks, topped with fried garbanzo beans; or rigatoni with spinach, portabella mushrooms, artichoke, and fontina cheese, topped with a panko Parmesan crust. Of course they have a burger — the Tavern burger, a classic with pickles. Drinks include a frozen Modelo 'rita with a Modelo Especial and a frozen margarita combined in a jumbo jar.
Pinstack has new seasonal dishes available for a limited time including lemon chicken noodle soup, glazed salmon with jasmine rice, and an over-the-top version of a BLT with pork belly, pimento cheese, and fried green tomatoes. The dishes are available at all three Pinstacks, in Plano, Las Colinas/Irving, and Allen.
Taco Cabana is launching two menu enhancements: chicken without antibiotics, and USDA Choice inside skirt steak. Both releases demonstrate a commitment that Taco Cabana has made this year to improve the quality and freshness of its ingredients.
Maple Leaf Diner, the restaurant in North Dallas with a Canadian vibe, is serving a limited-edition menu item in honor of Memorial Day that is also educational. Called the Decoration Day Burger, it's named for Memorial Day's original namesake, Decoration Day. It is also, yes, another burger. This one has an Angus patty, mozzarella cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and Canuck sauce, and is topped with mozzarella sticks and marinara sauce on the side.
3Eleven, the new restaurant in Dallas' West End, is offering a "build your own bowl" feature at lunch. Options include proteins, starches, vegetables, and flavorful sauces such as sweet Thai chile, ginger-herb, avocado verde, citrus lime vinaigrette, and fresh crema.
Union Bear Brewing, the restaurant-brewery that recently opened at Plano's The Boardwalk in Granite Park, has introduced weekend brunch on Saturdays and Sundays, from 10 am-3 pm. Chef Sean Sanders' offerings include crawfish benedict, skillet hash, flatbreads, spicy cornbread and gravy, and steak and eggs. Drinks include a bloody Mary, frosé, jalisco fuego, and the signature Baja Bear.
Water Grill, the seafood restaurant in Uptown Dallas, has launched a new express lunch menu for $25 per person, available from 11 am-5 pm Monday-Friday. The new menu offers an assortment of fish preparations, some seasonal. Highlights include shrimp and grits with Merguez sausage ragout, steak frites, blackened Texas redfish with dirty rice, clam chowder, wedge salad, shrimp Louie salad, and Caesar salad, to which you can add chicken or salmon if you must, but really, Americans get more protein than they need.
Bullion, the upscale restaurant in downtown Dallas from chef Bruno Davaillon, has introduced a weekly must-drink event called Mag Mondays. Beverage director Andrew Schawel opens a carefully-chosen magnum bottle from the restaurant's expansive wine collection and sells it by the glass until it's gone, affording a unique opportunity to taste something special from Bullion's wine cellar. Their premiere pour, now drained for good, was Pierre Peters Cuvée de Réserve Blanc de Blanc Champagne, offered at a stunning $20 a glass. The festivities begin at 4 pm, and you can order snacks from their special lounge menu.
Petro Tower Grill, the restaurant-bar in the newish Cambria Dallas Downtown hotel, has a new chef: Nathan Enders. His resume is deep, with more than 10 years of culinary experience, including the Cambria Chicago Magnificent Mile, the DoubleTree by Hilton in Downers Grove, Illinois, and the Hotel Arista in Naperville, Illinois. Before joining the hotel industry, Enders worked at Moto, a fine-dining and molecular gastronomy restaurant on Fulton Market in Chicago. He earned a culinary degree at Western Culinary Institute - Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland, Oregon.
Grubhub now has a partnership with Jack in the Box to provide delivery for hundreds of locations across the country, including Dallas. Grubhub will be offering Dallas Jack in the Box fans delivery of curly fries, burgers, and two tacos right to their door. Dallas is one of 20 markets to score the online ordering and delivery from Jack in the Box via Grubhub along with Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Phoenix, Denver, St. Louis, and Las Vegas.
Visit Dallas, an independent, not-for-profit organization that promotes Dallas, has introduced a free app called the Margarita Mile which leads players on a margarita scavenger hunt to discover Dallas' most unique and/or kitschy margaritas. Places on the list range from downtown Dallas to North Dallas and Lakewood, but all are within the city limits.
Mesero founder and chef Mico Rodriguez has settled a lawsuit with his former business partners, Trey Dyer, Matt Fleeger, and Ryan Rogers, who sued him for $1 million in April. Rodriguez will keep the original Mr. Mesero on McKinney Avenue, but will have to change the name. Mesero Restaurant Group get to keep the name and the other five restaurants.
