Restaurant News
Ice cream and late-night nachos summer up this Dallas restaurant news
It's not quite summer yet, but you can spot the early signs surfacing in restaurants around Dallas. There's new late-night nachos, ice cream, and a casual eatery opening in Deep Ellum.
Here's what's happening in Dallas dining news:
Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, the Louisiana-based company known for chicken fingers, is opening a restaurant at 701 W. Illinois Ave. in September. This will be the second location in south Dallas, the 53rd in Dallas-Fort Worth, the 153rd in Texas, and the 469th system-wide. Raising Cane's was founded in 1996 by Todd Graves, who named it for his yellow Labrador. In addition to chicken tenders, they do crinkle-cut fries, coleslaw, and Texas toast.
Muchacho is a new Tex-Mex restaurant from Dallas chef Omar Flores, owner of Whistle Britches restaurant and winner of best chef in CultureMap's 2018 Tastemaker Awards. Flores will open Muchacho at the Plaza at Preston Center, taking over the old Taco Diner space, and will open in the summer. According to Escape Hatch Dallas, the menu will include enchiladas, tacos, guacamole, and fajitas, plus a smoker and wood-burning grill for steaks and meats.
Fauna, the private tasting room inside Stephan Pyles Flora Street Café at Hall Arts, has opened. Fauna features a 12-course menu with two levels of wine pairings. Dishes include the TX Fare with beef cheek for a reenactment on a Frito pie, and a Caesar salad turned into a two-bite course. The dining room has art by Dutch Dallasite Arie Van Selm, a dramatic chandelier, forest-like elk antlers, a nature-inspired video installation, silver-plated cutlery, dynamic crystal, and fine linens. Five tables all have a view into the open kitchen where chef Diego Fernandez and sous chef Liam Byres, son of Tim Byres, prepare and plate each course.
Ebb & Flow is a new restaurant in Deep Ellum from Clint and Whitney Barlow, who own the Bomb Factory and Trees. They are opening it with another couple, Laura and Eric Bradford, who both work with the Barlows already. They've taken over the space at 2651 Commerce St. that used to be Parlor on Commerce, and according to a Facebook post, plan to open in the next couple of weeks.
Milk Bar, the sweet shop from New York pastry chef Christina Tosi, is doing a two day pop-up in Dallas, serving out of a vintage ice cream truck set up at Emporium Pies in the Bishop Arts District, June 29-30. According to Eater, the menu will include cereal milk soft-serve, compost cookies, cake truffles, and Milk Bar Pie (formerly known as Crack Pie). The shop is hitting five cities, starting in Austin, then Dallas, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Miami.
Original ChopShop has opened a location in Plano's Preston Park Village. The menu includes protein bowls, salads ("chops"), sandwiches, juice, protein shakes, acai bowls, breakfast items, and parfaits. Original ChopShop entered DFW in 2018, opening its first shop in Las Colinas, followed by The Shops at Legacy and University Park. Other Dallas-area locations are planned to open this year in Dallas at Lakewood Village and in Allen at US 75 and Stacey Road.
Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar, the family-run upscale casual chain, is opening a location in Allen 1851 Central Expy. North, in July. Open for lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch with a full bar program that includes unique and approachable specialty cocktails. Lazy Dog has 30 locations throughout California, Colorado, Illinois, Nevada, and Texas with more on the way.
Philly Pretzel Factory has opened a store in Richardson at 1920 N. Coit Rd. #211. In addition to soft pretzels, Philly Pretzel Factory also serves Pretzel Dogs, Pretzel Cheesesteaks, Pepperoni Pretzel Melts, and Cinnamon Pretzel Twists along with a variety of flavored dips and Pepsi products.
Dough Society Pizza in Plano has closed. The pizzeria restaurant opened in 2018 using traditional Italian techniques in their dough to make a crust that was hot and crispy on the bottom, pillowy soft on top. They announced their closure on Facebook, stating that they had "permanently closed" on June 10. From the comments, the problems seemed to be a lack of marketing and issues with the location, including construction and difficult parking.
Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar has three new limited-time menu items available through August. Pig Candy Grilled Cheese has bacon candy, pork belly, Havarti, goat cheese, cream cheese, and hatch pepper jelly on grilled parmesan sourdough toast. Jackfruit falafel tacos have crispy jackfruit patty seasoned with Baharat spices, hummus, feta, cucumber-tomato-caper relish, and green goddess dressing served in lettuce wraps. Pork belly pancakes have pork belly, hoisin sauce, and spicy carrot slaw on four mini charred corn and scallion pancakes topped with micro cilantro. There are also beverages: watermelon margarita, spiced peach tea, and an elderflower gin and tonic.
Spiral Diner, the most famous vegan diner restaurant chain in Dallas-Fort Worth, has significantly expanded its hours. It's now open not only for breakfast, serving grab-and-go breakfast tacos and pastries from 7-11 am, it's also staying open later: until 11 pm on Fridays and Saturdays for some late-night nacho action.
Public School has new summer dishes including a Southwest chicken bowl, an ahi tuna poke bowl, and the Impossible Burger arugula, tomato jam, peppered mushroom, truffle aioli, and a parmesan crisp on a brioche bun. There are new fish tacos, cast iron chicken, a pig & pineapple pizza, and the Hot Mess Sandwich with smoked turkey, white cheddar, caramelized onions, and pickled jalapenos in a hoagie roll. Limited-edition summer refreshers made with San Pellegrino Essenza come in a kid-friendly version or for adults, with tequila, bourbon or vodka, in flavors that include blackberry pomegranate, strawberry tangerine, or lavender mint, all prepared with fruit chunks and cane sugar.
Sweet Daze, the dessert shop in Richardson, has added scoops to its cold dessert lineup. They're making some of their best soft-serve flavors in scoop form, which you can get in a cone for a traditional ice cream cone experience. Flavors include ube, chocolate brownie, vanilla, Thai tea, cold brew coffee, Oreo mint, and peaches & cream.
Mixt, the healthy restaurant in Uptown Dallas, has a new summer menu. The sandia salad has Romaine, watermelon, grilled corn, cubumbers, and Oaxacan cheese. The Impossible picnic salad has Romaine, Greek-seasoned ground Impossible plant-based beef, feta cheese, carrots, and tomatoes. The elote salad has butter lettuce, cabbage, chicken, corn, tomatoes, cotija cheese, avocado, pumpkin seeds, and jicama.
Original ChopShop, the healthy chain from Phoenix, is now offering two beet items: Red Beet Chop has spring mix, arugula, red beets, pine nuts, and feta cheese, topped with red beet hummus. Upbeet Juice is made from red beets, ginger, turmeric, carrots, and green apples. Don't delay: They're available through July 8.
Liberty Burger is now serving weekend brunch at their Addison location on Keller Springs. Dishes include the Walk of Fame, a patty topped with eggs scrambled with ground beef, bacon, cheddar cheese, and queso blanco, stuffed between a fresh glazed donut; The Hash Stack, a fried hash brown nest layered with a beef patty, bacon, one scrambled egg, and cheesy gravy; and the breakfast relleno, a roasted poblano pepper stuffed with eggs scrambled with ground beef, bacon, cheddar cheese, and queso blanco.
Bartaco has a new dish, the crispy lobster taco, available at the Preston and Fort Worth locations until July 1, then again between July 10–August 4. That's complicated. It's a crispy blue corn taco with a base of guacamole topped with chipotle corn and lobster salad, garnished with cilantro and onion, in a citrus sherry vinaigrette.
Tacodeli has launched a limited-edition menu through June that includes the breakfast Conquistador Machacado, with pork shoulder, chile, basil pasilla mojo sauce, onion, cilantro, avocado, and scrambled eggs from Vital Farms. At lunch it's pistachio-crusted salmon with pistachio salsa and habanero escabeche.
Hero by HG Sply Co in Victory Park is now serving weekend brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am- 3 pm. Standout items include drunken grapefruit, deviled egg salad & ham toast, smoothie bowl, HG breakfast of champions, cornfried bread, and ham steak. Brunch cocktails include individual drinks as well as large-format cocktails. Individual drinks are mimosas, peach Bellini, bloody Mary, elderberry spritz, cold brew Irish coffee, hipster elixir, and frozen Aperol Dreamsicle. Large-format cocktails include strawberry mojito, watermelon cooler, cucumber collins, mega mosa, and mega mule.
Zaytinya, the Mediterranean restaurant in Frisco, is celebrating summer with a new rosé brunch, featuring two courses of mezze, dessert, and guest’s choice of rosé flight for $35 per person. Choices include hummus, fattoush, falafel durum, menemen, soujouk pide, pork gyro, Greek yogurt apricots, and mini Turkish delight. It'll be available Saturdays-Sunday June 1–August 11. And throughout the summer, Zaytinya will offer an extensive collection of Mediterranean rosés by the glass and bottle.
Omni Dallas Hotel is hosting the "summer of passion fruit" with drinks and dishes, such as passion fruit mojitos, passion fruit margaritas, passion fruit hummus with kettle chips, soba noodle shrimp salad with passion fruit dressing, tandoori shrimp wrap with passion fruit raita, and frozen macarons for dessert with passion fruit ice cream. That is a lot of passion fruit.
Pizza Hut has brought back its Cheesy Bites Pizza. The appetizer-and-pizza-in-one is a Pizza Hut menu cult classic with 28 cheese-filled bites in the place of traditional crust.
Jinya Ramen Bar in Victory Park has eight variations of cold sake, bringing a unique mix of sweet and fruity, floral flavors, from light Suishin “drunken heart” cold sake, to Wakatake Onikoroshi “demon slayer” sake, to lightly sweet Jinya Nigori.
Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse in Uptown has a new executive chef Mario Hernandez, who has introduced new Uptown-only summer menu items: Pacific Coast Cobb with Little Gem, avocado, egg, bacon, tomato, gruyere, and choice of chicken or lobster; seared scallop & frisee with truffle deviled eggs and asparagus; a vegetarian maitake mushroom melt with caramelized onion, arugula, Havarti, and tomato jam on toasted focaccia; roasted Heirloom cauliflower steak with shiitake mushrooms, farro, charred asparagus, and cilantro Chimichurri; and rainbow poke bowl with king salmon, ahi tuna, ivory lentil hummus, red quinoa, cauliflower, beets, pickled fennel, and red onion.
The Adolphus has hired Ruben Toraño as its new executive pastry chef. Toraño will oversee the pastry program for the entire hotel including The French Room, City Hall Bistro, Otto’s Coffee & Fine Foods, banquets, and events. Toraño's 23-plus years of industry experience include Nobu, The Hilton Anatole, Hotel ZaZa, and Headington Companies where he opened The Joule, and most recently, Commissary.
American Airlines has unveiled a new lineup of wines in its Admirals Club lounges, Flagship Lounges, and Flagship First Dining. According to a release, the goal is to provide diversity of choice and serve wines that appeal to varying tastes and palates. Each location/airport has a different lineup, with wines that are relevant to the region. In Dallas, the sparkling and rosé selections include Krug Grande Cuvée Champagne, yum, plus five cocktails that include the strawberry spritz, with Aperol, sparkling wine, strawberry syrup, and soda water.
Behold the Cristo Amann.Photo courtesy of Sugar & Sage Bakery
SusieCakes is offering Dolly Parton-themed cupcakes through September 13. Photo courtesy of SusieCakes 
Salt & Straw's Churro Ice Cream Taco and Chiller for Taco Bell. Photo courtesy of Taco Bell 