Taco News

Taqueria has designs on downtown Dallas location left by Stephan Pyles

Tortaco will have an upscale version of the tacos like those served at cousin concept Taqueria La Ventana.

Photo via Yelp

The downtown Dallas address that was formerly home to Stephan Pyles’ San Salvaje restaurant has a new tenant: Tortaco, a new Mexican concept with tacos and more from restaurateur Mike Karns.

Tortaco is part of the Firebird Restaurant Group, which includes El Fenix, Meso Maya, and Taqueria La Ventana.

The concept, which is also opening a branch in Fort Worth, is a casual restaurant with a chef-driven menu developed by chef Nico Sanchez of Meso Maya and Taqueria La Ventana fame. The menu will be a step up from Taqueria La Ventana, with tacos and more. Tortaco will also feature a full bar with signature cocktails.

Karns, who also owns the Snuffer's burger chain, was unavailable for comment. But a spokesperson for 2100 Ross Avenue, where the restaurant will open on the ground floor, predicted that Tortaco would open "in the next few months." The space sits on a corner in the Arts District, with a street-side patio.

Karns has a big stake in downtown Dallas, where he already runs Meso Maya and Taqueria La Ventana, near the Perot Museum, and he has opened a Taqueria La Ventana at the Dallas Farmers Market.

But Dallas isn't the only downtown on his radar: He's also opening a Meso Maya in downtown Fort Worth. Both Meso Maya and Tortaco will open there later in 2016. And a Meso Maya will open at Mockingbird Lane and Abrams Road in June.

San Salvaje was Pyles' Latin-Peruvian restaurant, which closed in October 2015 a little more than a year after it opened. Before that, the space was Samar, Pyles' global-cuisine restaurant with interesting food and good specials.

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Pizza News

Donatos Pizza totes its unique crust to new location in Flower Mound

dallas.culturemap.com

Donatos

A pizza chain with a quirky obsession on its crusts is coming to Flower Mound: Donatos Pizza, the franchise famous for spreading its toppings to the very edge of the pizza, will open a location at 1400 Long Prairie Rd. #160.

According to a release, it'll open on December 17.

Donatos Pizza was founded by Jim Grote in Ohio in 1963 from a single stand, and remains family-owned. Their signature is to place the toppings on their pizzas "edge to edge" — for clueless diners who do not like plain crust edges. (Come on, the crust is the best part.)

Their menu features more than a dozen varieties of pizza such as veggie, four cheese, and pepperoni with hot honey. Their signature crust is a thin-crust but they also offer thicker alternatives as well as a cauliflower crust. Pizzas come in a 7-inch individual and go all the way up to a 14-inch large. Prices range from $15 to $25.

Fans appreciate their better-than-average ingredients and describe it as more flavorful compared to other corporate pizza chains, with a crisp thin crust and generous toppings.

In addition to pizza, Donatos' menu includes oven-baked wings, sub sandwiches, including meatball and Italian cold cuts, plus appetizers and salads.

The Flower Mound location will be a family affair, owned by Lynne and Ralph Pence, whose son Travis will oversee day-to-day operations. The Pence family has deep connections to Donatos including the fact that Lynne's sister used to work for the company, while her brother-in-law still does.

"We're from Columbus, Ohio — it is where our kids grew up and where our family is—it also happens to be the hometown and birthplace of Donatos Pizza," Lynne says. "Our daughter in Oklahoma found out Donatos was coming to Edmond, where she lives, and called us. She was so excited that Donatos was finally coming down south and we wanted to be a part of it."

This is the second Donatos in the Dallas area: a location opened in Frisco in November — the first in Texas.

There are currently 470-plus locations in 28 states. That includes 175 stores plus nearly 300 non-traditional locations nationwide, including select Red Robin restaurants, sports, and entertainment venues.

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