Today's Bowls News

Plano food hall unfolds new bowls restaurant with curious name

Chef bowls are coming soon.

Photo courtesy of Tight Quarters

There's a new restaurant coming to Legacy Hall, the food hall in Plano, that'll serve up healthy bowls, which have become so buzzy these days.

It has an interesting name — Tight Quarters — and an even more-interesting creator: name-brand chef Tim Byres.

Byres is known for doing food like fried chicken (Chicken Scratch) and smoked meat (Smoke); he's also the author of a 2014 cookbook called Smoke: New Firewood Cooking, which won a James Beard Award.

For this meat-centric chef, healthy bowls definitely represent a departure.

According to a release, Tight Quarters — which, I'm sorry, really sounds more like a T-shirt shop, or am I wrong here — will be located on the first floor of Legacy Hall, between Bavazo Peruvian Rotisserie and Blist'r Naan Wraps. It'll open June 25.

Menu items run from $11-$13 and include: a vegetarian bowl with poached egg, cauliflower cashew grits, charred shallots, pickled celery, lemon, and baby kale; a beef and spicy quinoa salad with pickled veggies, olives, radish, and baby greens; and salmon and zucchini noodles, with tomato broth and arugula.

There's also a menu of "vitamin packed" drinks still to come.

The release offers this colorful description of the new concept:

"Tight Quarters will be a small, no frills, rock n’ roll way of better living. At Tight Quarters guests won't have to compromise between a flavorful, filling meal and a nutritious experience. The power bowls at Tight Quarters will be bursting with flavor and natural ingredients that will have both attitude and style. These bowls will not only be the better choice, they will be your first choice."

Byres' statement is equally vivid:

"After spending 25 years in a level 10 stress environment — the restaurant industry — I started to look for ways to add balance to my life," he says in the release.

"I believe that finding balance is something that a lot of people desire, so I wanted to offer a fast, easy and wholesome dining experience that would allow guests to find equilibrium between a busy life and a better-for-you life," he says. "It's about living your best life, at the age you are; the best you right now, without compromise or counting calories. A good life is about making better choices if it looks and feels good, and not holding yourself back with a rigid diet. Eat better, act natural, be alive."

So yeah, go bowls.

To see the full list of foodstuffs at Legacy Hall, visit legacyfoodhall.com/food-stalls.

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Coffee News

New Dallas coffee shop opens with good coffee — and great hair

Common Good

Common Good coffee and good vibes

A new coffee shop with some serious styling has opened near downtown Dallas: Called Common Good, it's located at 1619 N. Hall St., right off Ross Avenue, in what was previously a retail outlet for Rakkasan Tea Company, who left the space in mid-2024.

Common Good is more than just a coffee shop – it's a coffee shop-hair salon from Christopher Bermudez, a stylist who previously owned Ellum Salon in Deep Ellum which he sold in 2022. Their motto: "Good coffee, good hair, good vibes."

Bermudez was born in Mexico City and moved to Dallas when he was one year old but remained close to his culture and often travels to Mexico City, where he found the inspiration behind this new concept.

"I was inspired by the multiuse spaces in my hometown of Mexico City: coffee shops that turn into a nightclub or tequila tasting rooms in the evening. Great vibe is what we are going for," he says.

The coffee shop is in the front, while the hair salon is in the back, divided by a large glass. The salon has eight stylists, including Bermudez.

The shop also features all-vinyl jam tables where guest DJs play music most weekends, creating a cool atmosphere. The décor resembles listening rooms that are popular in South Korea, with custom-made wooden walls and modern furniture.

Good vibes at Common Good Coffee and hair salonCommon Good

Heading the coffee operation is Jesse Nava, who recently worked at Xaman Coffee in Oak Cliff, and they're partnered with Lemma Coffee for beans and barista training. The shop offers a small but solid menu, with espresso and coffee classics, plus some specialty drinks including pistachio matcha, cardamon rose latte, espresso freddo, and a Mexican mocha.

“We want to stay consistent with a small menu — we want to get it right, then eventually add to it," Bermudez says.

They plan to add food, as well, working with a local bakery still to be decided for muffins, croissants, kolaches, cookies, and bagels.

They're open Tuesday-Saturday from 7 am-7 pm, with shorter hours Sunday and Monday, from 7 am-2 pm, since the salon portion is closed those days.

They've witnessed a big demand for coffee, since the center they're in had coffee history: The storefront on the corner at 1623 Hall St. was once Method Coffee, then Fiction Coffee, which closed at the end of 2023. (It's now home to Black Swan Saloon, the resuscitated bar from acclaimed mixologist Gabe Sanchez.)

They see themselves as a neighborhood coffee shop, where residents of the multiple apartment complexes around can become regulars. They are dog-friendly, serving pup cups.

"I always believed that if you have a good product people will come," Bermudez says.

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