East Plano Restaurant Spell
Vietnamese restaurant Dalat in Plano closed with hints of what's to come
The Plano branch of Dalat, the mercurial Asian restaurant famed for its late-night hours, has closed. A staffer at the original Dalat in Dallas confirmed that the restaurant closed on August 15.
The closure was abrupt; as recently as August 5, the restaurant was still advertising for kitchen help.
The Dalat empire debuted in 2012 when owner Khanh Nguyen opened Dalat on Fitzhugh with a menu specializing in Vietnamese comfort food. His willingness to stay open until 2 am created a niche for the restaurant as a place to go for late-night dining.
In early 2015, after dabbling in making pizza, Nguyen expanded next door with a sibling restaurant called Zalat that serves kitschy pizzas topped with "outrageous" ingredients such as Sriracha, Mexican-style corn and cold cooked macaroni. It stays open until 4 am. Eater called it a "stoner's fantasy."
A sign posted on the Plano Dalat hinted that the location would turned into a branch of Zalat instead. A staffer at the Zalat in Dallas confirmed that they'd be opening a second branch, but then said, "we don't know what's going to happen yet."
East Plano currently has pizza in Urban Crust, the popular pizzeria from owner Salvatore Gisellu.
The address at 1032 E. 15th St. where Dalat is located would seem to be prime turf, right on 15th Street at the corner of Avenue K. But it hasn't had much luck since the departure of Queen of Hearts, the costume and magic shop that was there for many years. Maybe it cast a spell?
