Mex-Mex News

Fantastic Mexican restaurant Hugo's Invitados is coming to Uptown Dallas

Hugo's Invitados is fantastic.

Courtesy photo

An excellent restaurant doing authentic Mexican food is coming to Uptown Dallas: Hugo's Invitados, which has been doing authentic Mexican food at its inaugural location in Las Colinas since October 2018, will open a second in Dallas, in the McKinney & Olive luxury tower.

According to a release from Crescent Real Estate LLC (Crescent) and J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Hugo's will open in 2020, along with a separate restaurant whose details are still to come.

Hugo's and the other still-unnamed restaurant will bring a total of eight options at various price points to the building.

"We're extremely proud that McKinney & Olive has not only maxed out its office leasing with exceptional customers, but we've also filled our retail space with premier restaurant and retail operators," says Crescent Real Estate managing director John Zogg.

Hugo's will build a flagship location in the 11,000-square-foot end space opposite of Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse in McKinney & Olive.

Hugo's is a partnership between entrepreneur Mark Hulme and restaurateur Hugo Miranda, who was previously with Meso Maya.

It represents an incredible addition to the Dallas dining scene, with fantastic drinks, appetizers, entrees, vegan items, it's just a fantastic place. It's so good, I've driven to Las Colinas to eat there.

Helming the kitchen in Dallas will be chef Natalio Charles, who brings 21 years of experience.

The new Dallas Hugo's Invitados will also house a fast-casual concept within the restaurant offering street tacos and organic margaritas.

As for the final ultra-mysterious restaurant – whose identity will be revealed in coming months – it will offer an all-day menu of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

As noted in the release, McKinney & Olive was the first to bring to Dallas fresh concepts that include Roti Modern Mediterranean, Mixt, Starbucks Reserve, and Doc B’s Fresh Kitchen.

Both Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse and Hugo's Invitados chose the luxury tower for flagship locations.

The building is also home to Malibu Poke, the poke restaurant from Jon Alexis; CycleBar, an indoor cycling class; and Drybar, which does blowouts.

Other retail offerings include CrossFirst Bank; The Marketplace, offering fine wine and sundries; Voila Dry Cleaning & Laundry; an electric car charging station; a car detailing service; and a shoe-shine service.

The 20-story McKinney & Olive opened in August 2016 and was the first commercial building in Dallas to be designed by an internationally acclaimed architect, the late Cesar Pelli and his architectural firm Pelli Clarke Pelli, since the '80s. It's at 2021 McKinney Ave.

uptown tex-mex

Ice Cream News

Kwality Ice Cream shop to bring creamy exotic desserts to Frisco

Kwality

Kwality Ice Cream

An ice cream chain with an Indian flair is dipping into Dallas-Fort Worth: Called Kwality Ice Cream, it's a concept founded in New Jersey that specializes in traditional Indian ice cream and cold drinks, and it's opening a location in Frisco, at 13089 Main St. #500, in a new shopping center.

According to franchisee Raju Vikey, the shop will open sometime in 2025. It joins two DFW locations already open: Irving at 8600 N. Macarthur Blvd., and Euless, at 1060 N. Main St. at Harwood Crossing shopping center, which opened in April.

Kwality Ice Cream was founded by food scientist Dr. Kanti Parekh and his son Anand, in New Jersey in 2003. It has expanded with 38 locations in 14 states including Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas, where there are three locations in Houston and one in Austin.

“The idea was to create a South Asian-specific ice cream, which is more known for fruits and nuts,” Anand says. “As a Ph.D. in food and nutrition, my father’s background and expertise were in flavor. He used that to create very unique flavors and top notes to give a really good mouth feel and experience.”

They have close to 50 ice cream flavors with classics like cookies & cream, chocolate supreme, and butter pecan; but South Asian and Indian flavors dominate the menu with exotic options like green guava, lychee, and Nuttie Tuttie Fruitee, a berry-flavored ice cream with nuts and candied fruit.

There is also kulfi, a frozen dessert that's like ice cream but with less added air so it has a stiffer, creamier texture. It's served in slices and comes in popular Indian flavors like pistachio, mango, and rose.

Other novel frozen treats include cassata, an ice cream cake with three flavors of ice cream layered over sponge cake.

As with many Asian desserts, they're often less sweet than American-style confections. Wild inventions include the mawa rabdi cup, with ice cream, rice noodles, basil seeds, and rose syrup, topped with nuts and candied fruit; and Thandai ice cream, a staple at Indian festivals, consisting of almonds, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, watermelon seeds, rose petals, pepper, cardamom, saffron, milk, and sugar.

Rabdi is like a pudding, believed to have originated during the 1600s. Kwality makes it following the traditional method of slow-cooking milk until it thickens and reduces, enhancing its sweetness and creaminess, then adding ingredients like cardamom, saffron, and pistachios.

Pints of ice cream and frozen desserts range from $8-$11, and cassata ice cream cake slices are $7.

ice cream openings desserts