News You Can Eat

Dallas restaurants play with food and more newsy tidbits

Dallas-area restaurants are going crazy with summer menus this year. Seasonality is surging as a bigger, more mainstream trend, and restaurants are becoming more nimble and responsive. Seasonal dishes give diners the chance to enjoy a restaurant they already know, as if for the first time.

Dig in to this summer 2016 roundup of restaurant news:

Edoko Sushi & Robata is now open at CityLine in Richardson. The menu combines sushi from executive chef Chikao Kikuchi, who trained in Tokyo more than 30 years ago in the traditional art and principles of sushi, with French techniques and Western influences. Edoko serves sashimi, nigiri, and robata, along with Western-style entrées such as green-tea chicken and udon noodles with sake-cream and pork belly.

At Stampede 66, chef Stephan Pyles has added his four most signature dishes to the menu: bone-in cowboy rib-eye with onion rings, tamale tart with garlic custard and peekytoe crab, Caesar salad with jalapeño polenta croutons, and the heaven and hell cake. These were on the menu at Pyles' eponymous restaurant, which he closed in April; he opened Flora Street Cafe in early June. "These dishes were created at my previous restaurants, Routh Street Café, Baby Routh, and Star Canyon, and have since become local classics," Pyles says. "As I wanted Flora Street Cafe to showcase all newly created fare, I decided to send these Dallas culinary icons to Stampede, so my guests could still enjoy them."

At Oak, chef Joel Harrington has added new dishes to the menu, including heirloom tomatoes, red snapper crudo, and mushroom cannelloni. According to a release, chef Harrington sources from a farm in Hawaii when he needs fresh hearts of palm for the crudo and uses mushrooms that are domestically and locally foraged, which develop the cannelloni’s inimitable flavor. New entrées include jerk pork chop with molasses and dark rum, and halibut with corn, potatoes, bacon, and Ipswich clams.

Also, Oak is open for lunch with a "2 for $20" power lunch menu featuring dishes such as tacos, spinach salad with blue cheese and pecans, and salmon sandwich.

Design District lounge Quill has a Roaring '20s-inspired dinner menu with items such as Waldorf salad bites with apples, walnuts, raisins, and endive; chicken tacos; barbecue pork buns; crab Louie; and eggplant hummus.

Public School 214 has a new summer menu featuring dishes such as watermelon and heirloom tomato stack; salmon harissa over grilled asparagus and zucchini; and a veggie pizza with zucchini, onion, roasted tomatoes, kale, mozzarella, and provolone.

Steel Restaurant has a new summer lunch menu with crispy rock shrimp; Thai chicken salad, Vietnamese bun; pad Thai; and bento boxes with truffle teriyaki chicken and Korean bulgogi beef, served with a California roll, egg roll, or spring roll, rice, and a mixed green salad.

Savor Gastropub has a new pre-show three-course menu from 5-6:30 pm, where guests can dine in an hour for $60 per person. Starters include lamb meatballs, shrimp and calamari, chopped salad, or heirloom tomato salad. Entrées include salmon, chicken, or short rib. Desserts range from ooey gooey chocolate cake to caramel banana pudding.

For the summer, CBD Provisions is doing "fried chicken Fridays" during lunch on Fridays, from 11 am-3 pm. You get two pieces of fried chicken, cornbread, coleslaw, and french fries for $14. CBD has also updated its brunch and breakfast menus. New at breakfast: smoked salmon tartine on rye bread with scrambled eggs; Carolina rice and grain bowl; and a thick slab of griddled potato bread with cultured butter and jam. Brunch highlights include potato and chorizo quiche, fried chicken sandwich, and pecan buns with cream cheese frosting.

Kent Rathbun Concepts' The Kitchen at 6130 catering spot is opening to the public for lunch every Friday during July, through July 29. It's a $7 lunch with offerings such as pulled pork and brisket, in your choice of sandwich or taco, served with chips and black beans.

Americano is doing a new family-style dinner menu on Sunday nights, from 5-10 pm. You get a choice of mixed greens or Little Gem Caesar; Margherita or pepperoni pizza; lasagna or spaghetti and house-made meatballs (not the store-bought kind); and gelato for dessert. It's $28.

Del Frisco's Grille is celebrating summer with a $6 happy hour menu that includes cocktails, wine, $5 craft beer, and a food menu of old favorites like cheesesteak egg rolls and new items like wagyu corn dogs, pulled-pork nachos, and French onion dip. Hours are weekdays from 4-6:30 pm in the bar and on the patio.

The Kitchen Table at the downtown Sheraton Dallas hotel has a new menu, with lunch and dinner options. Those include crab and scallion hush puppies, kale and mozzarella salad, snapper, St. Louis ribs, Maryland crab cake, pecan pie, tres leches cake, and chocolate-peanut butter bliss.

Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar in Addison has new summer menu items. Starters include street corn, ceviche, grilled cheese sticks with tomato soup, bison meatloaf, summer squash and bacon pizza, portabello burger, peach crumble, and Key lime cheesecake. There's also a strawberry French toast for brunch.

R Bar & Grill has a new summer menu. There are blackened scallops with jalapeño cheddar grits; spinach and strawberry salad; Italian salad with salami and pepperoni; a BLTC sandwich with cheese on jalapeño cheddar bread; a lobster club sandwich also on jalapeño cheddar bread and with Havarti cheese, what's up with all the cheese already; fried chicken wrap; and a Mediterranean pizza with olives, feta cheese, tomatoes, capers, and mixed cheeses. So much cheese.

Baskin-Robbins has a new "polar pizza," an ice cream treat with ice cream served on a cookie crust that looks like a pizza. It comes in four flavors: Oreo cookies 'n cream, peanut butter 'n chocolate, jamoca almond fudge, and chocolate chip cookie dough. You can also create your own polar pizza by combining a chocolate chip cookie or double fudge brownie crust with your choice of ice cream flavor and toppings.

Starbucks is busy with new stuff. That includes a new iced coconut-milk mocha macchiato, featuring espresso shots poured over chilled coconut milk and combined with white-chocolate mocha sauce. It's also doing an "affogato-style" Frappuccino inspired by the classic Italian dessert. The barista pours a shot of espresso over a finished Starbucks Frappuccino, and the hot espresso mingles with the icy Frappuccino to create creamy pockets of coffee.

Victor Tangos has promoted bartender Andrew Stofko to bar manager. Stofko was a server at Nodding Dog Coffee before joining Victor Tangos.

Del Frisco's Grille corn dogs with honey mustard and chipotle ketchup.

Photo courtesy of Del Frisco Grille

Del Frisco's Grille corn dogs with honey mustard and chipotle ketchup.

news-you-can-eat dinner

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