Restaurant Closure

Healthy Asian restaurant chain closes down first Dallas-area location

Tokyo Joe's, we'll miss you in Richardson.

Photo courtesy of Tokyo Joe's

After two years, healthy Asian restaurant chain Tokyo Joe's is closing its original branch in the Dallas area. That would be the location in Richardson, on Campbell Road near US-75, and it closes on June 22.

Company president and CEO Mark Davis sent out a personal letter to the restaurant's most loyal customers, thanking them for their support and saying he was "deeply saddened" by the closure. It's the first Tokyo Joe's to close since it was founded in 1996.

"This location unfortunately just did not take for us, a first in 20 years of business," Davis says. "For whatever reason, we weren't able to be successful at the Richardson location, despite our efforts over the course of two years."

Tokyo Joe's was founded in Colorado by Larry Leith, a professional skier and cyclist who was ahead of the game in "clean eating" by creating a concept without preservatives where the food was steamed not fried, healthy yet affordable.

They were early in addressing diners with special requests, with dishes for vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, and sugar-free. Calories are listed for each item. One cool thing they offer is a choice of white meat chicken or dark, in dishes such as their yakitori bowl with ramen noodles, spinach, broccoli, carrots, zucchini, red pepper, yakitori sauce, and peanuts.

The Richardson location was in a revamped center and neighbors to Snuffer's, Zoe's Kitchen, and Torchy's Taco.

"Since we announced the closure, we've received feedback from customers who loved that the food was healthy and flavorful, but I think the demographic there overall was a little tougher for us," Davis says. "Some of the comments we got previously were that the food would be better with more sauce. It almost seemed like it was too healthy? It's a surprise, because we've discovered that what we do works just about anywhere."

That includes the chain's other three area branches on Custer Road in McKinney, near Hulen Mall in Fort Worth, and on Collins Street in Arlington.

Davis, who previously worked with Panera Breads, has been with the company since 2015.

"We're coming up on 50 locations, and our menu has popular dishes like sushi, poke bowls, rice bowls, and salads," he says. "I'm not sure that a healthy alternative was what Richardson was looking for."

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Escargot News

New all-day French bistro in downtown Rockwall is all from scratch

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Belle View Bistro Rockwall

An all-day French bistro has made its debut in Rockwall: Called Belle Vie Bistro, it’s a new mom-and-pop in the charming historic downtown district, at 112 E. Rusk St., the former home of The Fatted Calf restaurant, where it opened its doors on November 12.

Belle Vie is from Luis and Iliana Marquez, a hard-working couple who also own Los Marquez, a popular taco--themed food-truck-turned-restaurant in Rockwall they first debuted in 2019. In May, the couple took over the former Fat Chicken space to open a brick and mortar location of Los Marquez, where they serve well-made Mexican food like tacos, burritos, and quesadillas, but also burgers & fries. They open for breakfast with breakfast tacos, and run a daily lunch special, often creative, always popular, such as birria ramen with choice of beef or lamb for $11.

But the couple had a bigger vision of creating a place where chef Luis could stretch and showcase his skills.

"Luis has a lot of culinary experience, and it’s something that he’s been putting aside,” Iliana says. “We were just waiting on the perfect time to bring this to life.”

"This is something exciting and new for us, it’s something that we always wanted to make,” Luis says.

Like Los Marquez, Belle Vie is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, serving classics like French onion soup, moules frites, escargot, and duck confit. There are also comforting and American dishes like spinach-artichoke dip, crab cakes, and fish & chips.

Lunch features Cobb salad, a French dip, and chicken & Brie panini, while an extended breakfast -- which runs from 7 am to 4 pm — includes pancakes, waffles, eggs benedict, beignets French toast, and crepes, plus pastries and breads made from scratch.

Mural on the wall at Belle Vie Bistro RockwallFacebook

The bakery counter is a delight, with eclairs, croissants, scones, fruit tarts, and cake slices in flavors like carrot cake and white chocolate raspberry. There's also a serious coffee program with espresso drinks such as lattes.

"We pride ourselves on making everything from scratch," the duo says. "Our bread—whether for sandwiches, paninis, hamburgers or anything listed on our menu is made fresh just for us by our incredibly talented pastry chef and baker. The same care goes into our pastries and desserts ensuring every bite is special and crafted with love."

The dining room is warm and cozy with dark wood chairs and plush booths and a full-wall mural depicting a street in Paris. They also have a full bar, with cocktails and beer on tap. Prices are reasonable, ranging from $9 for a Belgian waffle during breakfast to $45 for prime ribeye at dinner.

For now, they're not taking reservations — it's first come, first serve.

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