News You Can Eat

Scads of restaurant openings set us abuzz in Dallas dining news

This rendition of dining news in Dallas-Fort Worth is cheerful, upbeat, with opening after opening after opening, and special attention for Deep Ellum and Fort Worth. Open wide for a spoonful of good restaurant news:

The third location of Wild About Harry's will open on August 21 in Deep Ellum, at 111 Hall St., at the corner of Commerce in the old Theo's Diner space. It'll serve a similar menu as the Knox original, with frozen custard, hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches. Wild About Harry's opened a location in Burleson in July.

Brick & Bones is open in Deep Ellum with a menu featuring fried chicken, in 3-piece, 6-piece and 10-piece bucket options, plus chicken tenders, and chicken & waffles. Homey sides include deviled eggs, poblano potato salad, jalapeno biscuits & gravy, Mexican corn and more, all priced between $3 and $5. There's a veggie pasta and two salads, a beet and a wedge.

Casa Dolores Tex-Mex opened at 4906 Maple Ave., a location that has seen much anonymous turnover including Mark & David's, Izap Thai & Sushi Bar and Rice & Wheat. "Dolores" is sister to the owner of Mia's, and the menu has a family resemblance with brisket tacos and other Tex-Mex staples.

Coffee in Fort Worth part 1: Avoca Coffee will open a second location in the West 7th area at 835 Foch St. in the fall. It will unveil its cold brew on tap, available in house or to-go in a refillable growler. They'll feature Rick Wakeman-style battling espresso machines that include a 1979 La Marzocco GS2 and a newer model La Marzocco Lines PB2 Group.

In addition to the coffee and tea drinks served at their original Magnolia Ave. location, they'll have an expanded selection of bakery treats from Boopa’s Bagels, Le Chat Noir Cupcake Bordello and Bakery, McKinley Bakery & Cafe, Stir Crazy Baked Goods and Swiss Pastry Shop, plus vegan pastries from Spiral Diner.

Coffee in Fort Worth part 2: Mudsmith will open a branch at the So7 development in the fall, serving coffee, beer and food. Mudsmith owner Brooke Humphries already has a Barcadia in that complex.

Dagwoods Grinders & Growlers will open in Fort Worth, at 1736 Mall Circle, with a menu designed by chef David Hollister of Gas Monkey Bar & Grill and Yucatan Taco Stand fame.

Industry Alley Bar opens in the Cedars District on August 20. It comes from Charlie Papaceno, formerly co-owner of the Windmill Lounge.

A bar with a golf range called Goat Ranch will open at 723 Haskell Ave. near Fair Park this fall. It's from Craig Spivey and Dillon McDermott, who own Bowlounge in the Design District. The owners claim that a goat ranch is an old term for a rough-hewn golf course, and vision it as a dive-bar TopGolf. The hitting bays will be built into shipping containers. An adjacent beer garden will feature picnic tables, retro video games and corn hole.

Noble Rey Brewing Company is open in the Design District four days a week, with 26 taps featuring beverages from other brewers such as Lakewood Brewing and Jester King from Austin, as well as Bishop Cider Co. They're releasing their own brews such as their SteamPunk Steam Lager in a gradual manner and will also do growlers to-go. 4 to 9 pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays, 4 to 10 pm on Fridays, and Saturdays from noon to 10 pm.

Pie Five Pizza opens a location in Flower Mound at 3701 Justin R. at The Shops at Highland Village on August 21. This is Pie Five's 16th location around DFW and its 58th location nationwide. The chain debuted in Fort Worth's Montgomery Plaza in 2011.

RA Sushi has summer specials including a lobster-strawberry roll, tuna guacamole and watermelon shrimp salad. Three summer drinks include watermelon-and-blueberry martini, coconut sakerita and grape crush. A branch of RA Sushi will open mid-September at Park Village in Southlake.

Paul Martin's American Grill is open for lunch daily at 11 am with $12 specials such as pork chili verde enchiladas; vegetable pasta; grilled salmon sandwich; and a BBQ pork sandwich.

Cast Iron at the Omni Fort Worth Hotel is featuring Hatch chile pepper specials through September 27, including a watermelon & Hatch chile gazpacho, brisket Hatch chile & white cheddar empanada, halibut sautéed with Hatch chile, pork chop with Hatch chile potatoes and a Hatch chile crème brulee. Those Hatch chile potatoes sound good.

The Omni Fort Worth Hotel is offering a "Broadway at the Bass" package which includes pre-theater dinner at Cast Iron, transportation to and from Bass Hall and breakfast the next morning. The pre-theater menu includes chicken tortilla soup, grilled marinated skirt steak, grilled shrimp chipotle fettuccini, Cast Iron bread pudding or artisan apple pie.

Thomas "TJ" Lengnick, Jr. is the new executive chef at Steel. He's been working there since June, and was previously at Shinsei and Whiskey Cake in Plano. New menu items include Korean BBQ short rib with glass noodles; scallops with corn-sake purée, mushrooms, five-spice popcorn and soybeans; salmon with forbidden rice and Brussels sprouts; and pork belly with steamed buns and citrus slaw.

Monkey King Noodle Company has joined the Caviar delivery service, which means noodles, dumplings and more delivered from the Deep Ellum restaurant to your door. Other recent Caviar signees include Green Door Public House, Coal Vines, and Le Taco Cantina.

Two coffee spots opening up have us buzzing.

Photo courtesy of Mudsmith

Two coffee spots opening up have us buzzing.

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