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

Spring Arrival

West Dallas gets new Spanish-Peruvian restaurant with big-name chef

Photo courtesy of Ulloa's

Paella will be on the menu.

A new restaurant with a high-profile culinary director will bring Spanish and Peruvian flavors to West Dallas: Called Ulloa’s, it is coming to 727 Fort Worth Ave., with a projected opening in March 2027.

The concept is from philanthropists Susan and Woodrow Gandy, who were previously investors in the historic Belmont Hotel just around the corner. They've teamed up with Dallas celebrity chef Kent Rathbun as culinary director, along with Christopher Tunnell as general manager to lead the front of the house.

Rathbun is a name Dallas diners know well, with a resume that includes The Mansion on Turtle Creek, the Landmark Restaurant at the historic Melrose Hotel, Seventeen Seventeen at the Dallas Museum of Art, Abacus, Jasper's, Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen, and more. He's won numerous awards and made multiple appearances on Food Network. He was most recently behind the launch of On The Rocks, an Italian bistro in Burleson.

Chef Kent Rathbun will be the culinary director of Ulloa's. Photo courtesy of Kent Rathbun

Tunnell’s background spans both culinary direction and front-of-house operations. He worked at Los Angeles hot spots Ketchup, Geisha House, and Les Deux, as well as the Mandalay Bay and The Mirage in Las Vegas, before moving to Dallas to open The Mexican, the upscale restaurant in the Design District.

“I am truly excited to partner with Chef Kent Rathbun, whose reputation is amazing — not only in the DFW Metroplex, but in the culinary world,” Tunnell says. “He has been with this project since the beginning, helping develop it; this will be a very chef-driven, culinary-forward restaurant.”

The team's vision for Ulloa’s is both culinary and urban, with hopes of anchoring the corridor and attracting other businesses to Fort Worth Avenue — a stretch connecting downtown Dallas with Oak Cliff that remains somewhat underdeveloped despite its panoramic skyline views.

The restaurant is named for Spanish explorer, astronomer, and scientist Antonio de Ulloa, who spent extensive time in the Mexican peninsula before becoming Louisiana’s first governor. During his travels, Ulloa documented a fogbow — a circular rainbow formed when sunlight meets mist that causes silhouettes standing between the sun and fog to appear ringed in light, a phenomenon known today as “Ulloa’s Rings.”

That vibrant phenomenon inspired both the restaurant's identity and logo. The concept promises "bold, worldly flavors in a welcoming neighborhood setting inspired by exploration and discovery,” the owners say.

Ulloa's Rendering of Ulloa's.Rendering courtesy of Ulloa's

While the menu remains in development, Tunnell describes the culinary direction as “Spanish soul with a Peruvian heart.” The kitchen will merge the coastal flavors of both traditions — ranging from paellas and ceviches to crafted cocktails and signature adaptations by Rathbun.

The 200-seat, two-story space will feature a downstairs dining room, a large bar, and an outdoor patio. Upstairs, plans call for a secondary bar, a private dining room, a patio, and an expansive balcony patio, offering views of the city's skyline and of the Margaret Hunt Hill and Margaret McDermott bridges.

While the upstairs space will be available for private events, the owners intend for it to operate primarily as an organic extension of the main restaurant. The buildout will include a guest elevator along with ample parking, including both self-parking and valet options.

The team says the restaurant will have have an aesthetic that's “warm, theatrical, generous, elegant but alive, with the energy of a great Spanish tapas bar and the soul of Peruvian hospitality.”

Ulloa’s plans to launch with dinner service first, followed by lunch and weekend brunch.

restaurants bars peruvian flavors west dallas oak cliff kent rathbun