News You Can Eat

Tastes of summer refresh this rendition of Dallas restaurant news

More brunch and cocktails at Del Frisco's Grille.

Photo courtesy of Del Frisco's Grille

This rendition of Dallas dining news is filled with the joys of summer: summer menus, refreshing cocktails, and boozy shakes.

Here's what's happening in Dallas restaurant news this week:

Rio Mambo, which is sort of Tarrant County's version of Mi Cocina, closed its only Dallas-area location in Addison. Located on the corner of Belt Line and Runyon, it opened in October 2015. The other Mambo locations are in southwest Fort Worth, north and south Arlington, Addison, Colleyville and Weatherford.

Meccha Matcha, a tea shop "obsessed" with matcha green tea, has opened in Plano, at 2001 Coit Rd., with matcha-infused items that include lattes, shaved ice, soft serve ice cream, floats, lattes, and smoothies. They also do parfaits which you can layer with granola, whipped cream, matcha jelly, mochi balls, and matcha chocolate.

Rush Bowls has signed three leases to bring its meals-in-a-bowl with fruit, vegetables, granola, proteins, and other ingredients. Opening in summer 2018 are Dallas at 5331 E. Mockingbird Ln., and Flower Mound at 2400 Lakeside Pkwy. A Keller location will open at 242 Rufe Snow Dr. in the fall.

Creamistry, the California-based chain specializing in liquid nitrogen ice cream, will open in The Colony at 5733 SH 121 on July 2, with a grand opening celebration on July 7. Creamistry also has limited-edition flavors that include honeycomb toffee, lemon cookie, and oranges 'n' cream.

Cedars Socíal has added a taqueria concept open Monday-Friday from 11 am-3 pm. Tacos feature ingredients such as pork belly, redfish, and lengua, along with elotes, chicharron nachos, quesadillas, and what owner Monica Greene calls very large tortas.

Snooze an A.M. Eatery has a new summer menu with what a release calls "a peppy new pancake," a new benedict, and four cocktails. Starburst Pancake has a buttermilk lemon poppyseed pancake topped with lemon anglaise, blackberries, citrus mascarpone, and toasted almonds. Smashed avocado benny has an English muffin topped with avocado, green chili, parmesan cheese, tomatoes, poached eggs, and smoked cheddar hollandaise. Cocktails include a sparkling strawberry mimosa, and a strawberry margarita with jalapeño-infused tequila and strawberry-jalapeño puree.

Pinstack, the dining-entertainment destination, has new monthly specials for July including watermelon-BBQ chicken wings, tomato and white bean soup, the Impossible plant-based burger, and a surf-and-turf with flat iron steak, shrimp, goat cheese-mashed potatoes, and asparagus.

Tommy Bahama Restaurant & Bar has new menu items including shrimp and grits, mojo chicken with charred sour oranges and andouille sausage, miso-glazed salmon with shiitake mushrooms, mahi mahi with a crispy furikake rice cake, and ceviche with snapper or halibut.

Omni Dallas Hotel is focusing on mango for the summer in cocktails and dishes. A spicy mango margarita has a spicy mango infused syrup. Mango Paloma combines tequila with mango and grapefruit juice. Mango hummus has smoked jalapeño dressing, smoked paprika, and charred mango cubes.

Bowen House has a summer menu with loads of elaborate drinks and new dishes that include the avocado elote toast with grilled corn; a cold grain salad bowl with grains, carrots, radish, and peas; ginger-pork empanadas; and Mom's Russian salad with English peas and pickles. A new summer wine menu includes some great selections such as La Luca Prosecco, Moet Imperial Brut, Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc, AIX Rose, and Meiomi Pinot Noir.

Yogurtland has three new flavors including their first ever light ice cream, for a limited time: Butter Pecan light ice cream, blue raspberry sorbet flavored with Jolly Rancher, and Cookies and Crème Smores frozen yogurt.

Da Mario in Frisco is now offering an "espresso lunch" for those short on time. It's a three-course menu for $25 with choice of salad, entree, and dessert including kale salad, Caesar, pizza, pasta, chicken, gelato, and sorbet.

Thirsty Lion Gastropub & Grill at Toyota Music Factory has new items on its brunch menu including berry waffle, spicy fried chicken and waffles, Greek yogurt chia bowl, salmon cake benedict, and avocado toast.

Ocean Prime Dallas is offering a pre-theatre menu Monday-Friday from 4-6 pm for $55. You get soup or salad, a surf option (shrimp scampi, crab cake, or sea scallops) with an 8-ounce filet, and a savory side dish, plus a bag of truffle popcorn to go. Options include French onion soup, house or Caesar salad, and sides such as broccoli, corn, creamed spinach, jalapeño au gratin, whipped potatoes, and truffle mac and cheese.

Cow Tipping Creamery has launched a "boozy shake" collaboration with Cane Rosso, which combines Cow Tipping Creamery's soft serve and toppings with Cane Rosso's cocktails. Piña cow-lada has blue curacao, pineapple juice, rum, whipped cream, and gold sprinkles; cookie shake has rum, Kahlua, Bailey's Irish Cream, whipped cream, and cookie butter drizzle. They're $12.

Starbucks has a new mango-dragonfruit refresher drink, with pieces of real red-fleshed dragon fruit. You can get it in a creamier version with coconut milk instead of water.

news-you-can-eat

Hot Dog News

Shorty's Coneys & Cocktails to dish sophisticated hot dogs in McKinney

thembites.com

Coney-style hot dogs will be on the menu at Shorty's Coneys & Cocktails.

A fun casual restaurant concept from a savvy player is coming to McKinney. Called Shorty's, it'll open in McKinney's charming Historic Downtown Square at 109 N. Kentucky St., where it will channel a quintessential Northeast-style hot dog shop.

According to owner Bryan McVay, it'll open in mid-March.

McVay is a food & beverage veteran who's worked in management and corporate finance for hospitality groups such as FB Society. He's also a native of Pittsburgh who worked at such a shop in his teens.

"In that part of the country, every town has a hot dog shop, and I worked at one through my high school days," McVay says.

But Shorty's is more than a hot dog shop. The full name is Shorty's Coneys & Cocktails, and it will surely serve hot dogs — but also burgers, sandwiches, and bar-style appetizers like fried pickles, not to mention a full bar.

McVay's approach is informed by the street-style food culture of big cities like New York. "I'm keeping in mind portability, where you grab a bite, and that's how we'll package everything," he says.

Mostly everything on the menu will be priced at $10 or less.

"Downtown McKinney has plenty of nice sit-down restaurants but we wanted to provide something not already offered, with good-quality food," he says.

During the day, Shorty's focus will be primarily on food: a place for McKinney visitors, couples, and families with kids to grab a bite. Later in the day, the emphasis will shift to a pre-date-night destination, a place to get a cocktail before or after dinner.

"We've kept the menu narrow, but with a goal to do everything at the highest level," McVay says. To that end, he recruited chef John Franke to consult. The centerpiece of the menu will be a Coney-style hot dog.

"Our Coney dog comes topped with chili, chopped white onions, and mustard," McVay says. "Although it's associated with Coney Island in New York, we're doing a style often found in Detroit. Our goal is to offer a fantastic Coney-style dog, but a cheffed-up version."

Other menu items include:

Smashburgers including one with hot pepper, bacon, BBQ sauce, and chili cheese
Chicken ranch sandwich
Filet O'Whitefish
Philly cheesesteak
Classic BLT
Haley's Killer Chili — "In Texas, they'll kill you if you put beans in your chili — well this chili has beans in it," McVay says.

Plus sides and snacks such as fried pickle chips, mozzarella bites, poutine, chili cheese fries, and "fancy fries" — cooked in trendy beef tallow.

This circa-1920 photo shows the facade of 109 N. Kentucky St. in McKinney Historic Square with the original "Drinks Lunches" sign.Shorty's/City of McKinney

The vision
McVay began his hospitality career with Hard Rock Cafe, and has worked for concepts such as House of Blues, Fox Sports Grill, and FB Society, where he lent a hand in the creation of Legacy Food Hall in Plano.

"Along the way, I always had this itch to do my own thing — connecting to my early days, and what made me fall in love with the restaurant industry, which was the idea of creating your own brand," he says.

The idea of Shorty's is rooted in nostalgia.

"My idea was to do a Northeast shotgun-style bar that has evolved over time so you feel the nostalgia around you," he says.

The right location was important. It took him four years to find the McKinney storefront, most recently a coffeehouse called Snug on the Square which closed during the pandemic, and previously home to an antique store, a rug store, and a bakery & coffee shop.

"Many of the buildings in downtown McKinney are 150 years old," he says. "Retrofitting a building that old and figuring out how to add modern necessities like ventilation and grease traps can be a challenge."

But it also means that the building comes with vintage treasures — from pressed tin panels on the walls to an original wood floor. McVay worked with the Texas Historical Society to preserve elements of the facade and retain some of the building's original character.

Over the entry, he's installed a cool retro "Coneys & Cocktails" sign that looks like it was made in the 1930s.

"I worked with two longtime sign makers who crafted the sign in the old-school style with blown glass," McVay says. "It took a few tries to get a sign that met the approval of the city of McKinney. We found a photo of the downtown square from decades ago which showed an original neon sign on the building. It said 'drinks & lunches.' So we recreated that sign — the exact same look, shape, and feel — but it says 'Coneys & Cocktails' instead."

"I'm trying to recreate what it might have looked like if it was a bar, 150 years ago," he says.

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