Craft Beer News

After multiple hurdles, Austin-style beer garden to open in Richardson

A toast! A toast to beer gardens.

Photo by Julia Keim

There's craft beer coming to Richardson in a beer garden setup with a touch of Austin. Called Old 75 Beer Garden, it's a new concept opening at the Richardson Restaurant Park, at 744 S. Central Expy., just north of Spring Valley Road.

UPDATE 3-27-2023: Old 75 will open the first weekend in April.

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Old 75 — obviously named for the adjacent freeway, but seemingly designed to evoke the Americana band Old 97s? — will embrace the classic Texas-style beer garden model, providing an outdoor space for adults and families to relax, drink beer or cocktail, eat food, listen to live music, watch sports TV, and play games.

There'll be a 15,000-square-foot outdoor area with communal seating, under the shade canopy of 12 live oak trees, which the release describes as "magnificent."

The food will include hot dogs, sausages, and burgers from neighboring Dog Haus, plus a "guest kitchen" and food trucks to provide rotating seasonal food offerings.

Drinks will be served from the a repurposed shipping container that provides a unique indoor/outdoor bar experience, with 50 drinks on draft, full cocktail service, and canned drinks.

Guests can also rent cabanas.

Other amenities include:

Game Court
firepit
live stage
big screen TV
20 additional TVs

Owner/operator is Kirk Hermansen, the developer who created Richardson Restaurant Park. It's been a long journey to reach this point, with Hermansen having surmounted hurdles from neighbors and Richardson's City Council to get here.

He recruited hospitality consulting firm Harrison to help conceptualize the beer garden; Harrison previously designed for the brand owners of Dog Haus, also located at the restaurant park.

In a statement, Hermansen summons Austin's most favorite celebrity and also tosses off a German word, Gemütlichkeit, which YouTube says is pronounced "ger-myOOCH-lish-kite." Come on, say it now, ger-myooch-lish-kite. It means "a state of conveying a feeling of warmth, friendliness and belonging."

"We wanted to introduce an outdoor space to the Richardson area that personifies a bit of the Matthew McConaughey-Texas vibe, where locals can come together for any gathering, whether that be a birthday, graduation, work outing and more," Hermansen says.

"We want to capture the essence of what a Biergarten is all about – a community gathering space where everyone is welcome that offers 'Gemütlichkeit'," he says. Ger-myooch-lish-kite.

craft-beer openings

Saucy Summer

Loro Asian Smokehouse bottles fan-favorite sauces for summer in Dallas

Photo courtesy of Hai Hospitality

This lively salsa can now dress up dishes at home.

You can't bottle famed Texas pitmaster Aaron Franklin's meat-smoking skills, but you can bottle the sauce at Loro, his popular Asian Smokehouse founded with Uchi chef Tyson Cole. Three of the restaurant's signature sauces will be available for a limited time this summer, starting June 21 and ending July 5.

A press release promises "bold, smoke-kissed flavors" on offer during the restaurant's "Saucy Summer" event. Guests can pick them up from all Loro locations across Texas. In Dallas, that means 1812 North Haskell Ave. in East Dallas and 14999 Montfort Dr. in Addison. There are also locations in Austin and Houston.

Fans of Loro probably already know these flavors from dipping wonton chips and slathering fried chicken sandwiches.

Loro Hot Sauce Loro's smoked hot sauce and chicken are a perfect match.Photo courtesy of Hai Hospitality

The three sauces for sale are:

Tamarind BBQ: A sweet sauce that's "a little wild" thanks to spicy and fruity flavors. Ingredients include tamarind, honey, soy, pineapple, Thai sriracha, mesquite, and nam tok seasoning — usually a mix of lime, chili flakes, and other standard seasonings like salt and sugar. This one is recommended for brisket, grilled chicken, or brushing ribs in the last five minutes of cooking.
Loro Hot Sauce: Described as "buttery" and "chili-forward." It's also made with Thai sriracha and augmented with dried Thai chili flakes, vinegar, butter, and tallow. The recipe was made with eggs, tacos, fried rice, wings, sandwiches, and spicy spreads in mind.
Green Chili Salsa and Marinade: Be careful with this spicy sauce, which has a "sneaky heat." The overall tone is bright and herbal thanks to green tomato, cilantro, garlic, lime, and ginger, with soybean paste and Thai chili adding oomph. This sauce is great for marinating chicken or shrimp, but it can also be poured right on top of tacos and rice bowls or used to finish veggies and grilled fish.

Each sauce sells for $8, but shoppers can bundle three of them for $20.

Purchases can be made for dine-in or takeout via Toast. Deliveries are available via Door Dash and Uber Eats while the promotion is running. To stay on top of stock, only a certain number of sauces will be sold each day.

Loro Tamarind BBQ Sauce Sauce-lovers can bundle all three sauces for variety.Photo courtesy of Hai Hospitality

Whether or not guests purchase a sauce, they can use the code SAUCYSUMMER to take $10 off to-go orders placed July 3 and 4.

aaron franklin tacos cooking barbecue