Ice Cream News

A shop with the prettiest gelato in the world is coming to Plano

Gelato as pretty as a flower. Gelo Gel Gelo Gelato i Gelo Gel Gelo Gelato Gelo Gel Gelo Gelato i Gelo Gel Gelo

Photo courtesy of Amorino

UPDATE (January 14, 2019): The Plano shop opened on January 12, and is celebrating with a grand opening party on January 19.

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The prettiest gelato in the world is coming to Plano. Amorino Gelato, the Paris-born chain known for its picture-perfect cones that look like roses, is unfurling its second shop in the DFW area with a location set to open at Legacy West.

Owners German Rodriguez and Giada Merlin are aiming to open before the end of 2018.

Founded in Paris in 2002, Amorino specializes in gelato and sorbet, in 24 flavors such as chocolate, strawberry, gianduia, honey lavender, pistachio, and melon. They also serve coffee, pastries, macarons, and chocolate. Their presentation is unique, with scoops that are formed into "petals," which you can do in mixed flavors.

There are more than 180 locations worldwide, including a dozen in the U.S., where it debuted in New York in 2011. The chain came to Texas in 2016 with a shop in Houston. The first store in Dallas-Fort Worth opened in January 2018 at the Shops at Clearfork in Fort Worth.

Rodriguez says he always felt that Legacy West — with its open-air atmosphere with shopping and restaurants evoked a European environment — would make an ideal spot.

"We've been talking to the developers for more than a year," he says. "Once they tried our gelato, they loved it."

They've begun construction in a new storefront at 7700 Windrose Ave., #G157, that's on the north side of Legacy West, not far from the Starbucks and Legacy Hall, which are surely the center's two most visible landmarks.

They'll have seating inside and out, but this location will differ from Fort Worth in that some of the gelato-making equipment will be in a back room.

"Fort Worth has the machines right there, and we always have music, so it's more vibrant," Rodriguez says. "Plano will be a little quieter."

They'll use the discoveries they've made and the intel they've gathered from customers in the past year to inform their approach for Plano.

"One of the biggest hits has been our mango sorbet," he says. "We get so much positive feedback on that flavor. I think it's because we use a unique mango that's especially sweet."

The vegan thing is big, as well.

"We've been met with a wave of requests from people who want vegan ice cream or who are avoiding dairy, so we always have those flavors," he says. "We do a chocolate sorbet that's more creamy and chocolatey than you could imagine."

They're also looking to fill a serious gelato need. "We have numerous customers who drive from Dallas and Plano, and we're happy we'll soon have a closer location," he says.

desserts ice-cream

Pizza News

Yonx Pizza seduces north Dallas suburbs with New York-style pies

Yonx

Yonx Pizza, by the slice.

A pizzeria with a dedicated following has debuted in Melissa: Yonx Pizza Bar & Co., an indie spot that does New York-style pizzas as well as pizza by the slice, has opened a location at 1521 McKinney St. #700 — an address that had pizza history as it was home for nearly a decade to a Palio's Pizza, which closed in 2025.

Yonx is from Robert Hede, a restaurant veteran who was previously involved with the Village Burger Bar chain, where he was a partner. He switched from burgers to pizza in 2022 when he connected with NY Pizza and Pints, a small local pizzeria chain, opening a location in Wylie at 1125 FM 544 #800. After two years, he broke off from the chain to found Yonx at the same address.

Yonx does the kind of New York-style thin-crust pizza that Dallas-Fort Worth loves, in a standard 14-inch, as well as a massive 24-inch "Kong" size. They also do slices, which can be ordered as a lunch with a Caesar salad for $9.99.

Varieties include familiar favorites like pepperoni, as well as slightly gourmet options with New York-inspired names such as:

Balsamic on Bleeker St., with garlic sauce, mushrooms, shaved ribeye, mozzarella cheese, arugula, and balsamic drizzle
Bronx Bomb, with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, meatballs, mushrooms, and ricotta cheese
Brooklyn, basically a meat-lovers with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, sliced ham, chopped meatball, beef, & pepperoni
Greenwich Garden, a vegetarian with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, red & green bell peppers, white onions, mushrooms, spinach, & black olives

Prices range from $16 for a 14-inch cheese pizza to $46 for a NY Giant Supreme Soho with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, beef, red & green bell peppers, white onions, sliced mushrooms, & black olives.

Yonx Pizza soup in a bread bowl.Photo courtesy of Yonx

There are also sandwiches on house-made toasted focaccia such as the Italian tower with melted provolone cheese, sliced ham, salami, lettuce, red onion, pepperoncinis, & sundried tomato aioli.

Appetizers include comforting soups served in a bread bowl including tomato basil and jalapeno cream soup with charred jalapenos. Plus wings, garlic knots, and "Brooklyn Ballers" — their signature meatballs in marinara, made in-house. topped with whipped ricotta and Parmesan, served with pesto and focaccia ends.

A full bar features frozen margaritas and frozen mojitos made with agave gold tequila. The best day to order those is "Frozen Fridays" from 11 am-10:30 pm when the blueberry mojitos are $6 and the margaritas are $5.

The Melissa location opened in January, with the same menu as the Wylie original, and has been met with an unprecedented wave of positive reviews on Facebook: one comment after another raving over how great the pizza is, and what a godsend it is — positive reviews that began to stack up even before the place had officially opened, the likes of which have been rarely seen.

This location boasts almost double the size of the original in Wylie, with a covered patio where they'll host live music on the weekends outside.

Hede, who has been hands-on at the Melissa location since it opened, says he's all-in on these northernmost suburbs of Dallas.

"I like this area — I feel like all the growth is heading out in this direction, there's just a lot of activity up here," he says.

pizza openings