Uptown Dining

Super-glam New York restaurant makes boffo Uptown Dallas debut

Dallas diners can anticipate culinary surprises, some of which will have lobster such as this.

Photo courtesy of Circo

A long-awaited restaurant with roots in New York's most glamorous circles has finally opened its doors in Uptown Dallas.

The restaurant is Circo Dallas — pronounced "CHEER-koh," and not like sir-koh which the rest of us have been doing all this time — and it's at 2619 McKinney Ave., on the corner of Routh and McKinney in the One Uptown high rise.

Circo is the Italian word for "circus" (which is NOT pronounced CHEER-kuss). The Circo restaurant concept was originally founded in New York by Sirio Maccioni in 1996. It encapsulates his view of the restaurant experience as a show similar to a European circus where unexpected things are happening all around.

These legendary Italian restaurants by the Maccioni family, including Circo and Le Cirque, have been a fixture of the New York society and fine-dining scene for over 40 years, drawing many awards and and famous guests.

In olden times, it was Frank Sinatra, Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, Andy Warhol, and Jackie Onassis Kennedy. In more recent years, it's names like Sarah Jessica Parker, Kelly Ripa, Jimmy Kimmel, Howard Stern, Barbara Walters, Martha Stewart, and Robert DeNiro.

The restaurants have anchored New York's Mayfair and Palace Hotels, and the Bellagio in Las Vegas. 

This Circo is the first in Texas, and represents a collaboration between the Maccioni family and White Roc Hospitality Group, led by Lauren Santagati.

The Italian coastal menu includes signature dishes from Le Cirque and Circo including lobster salad, creme brulee, and Mama Egi's ravioli, named after Sirio's wife Egidiana. Cool name. Several dishes will be prepared table-side, including tartare and tiramisu.

A release says that some menu items will be exclusive to Circo Dallas, and that diners can anticipate many culinary surprises.

The restaurant has two stories and spans 25,000 square feet. The decor uses neutral undertones adorned with metallic accents, a scheme that will be the model for future locations.

The main dining room displays handwritten letters to Sirio Maccioni collected over the past 40 years from heads of states and countries, dignitaries, celebrities, and royalty.

Signature Le Cirque and Circo accoutrements include original tableware, custom-painted chocolate truffles, bottled estate-grown olive oil, Circo-branded wines, and a maître d’ to welcome guests upon their arrival.

The 9,800 square-foot interior includes a spiral chandelier staircase, and a 180-seat dining room with a glass-enclosed garde manger station for live-action cold dish preparations and seafood display. A fresh selection is flown in daily.

There's an exhibition wine cellar, and a private, social members lounge complete with full bar.

The second-story exterior features a spacious terrace complete with two glass-bottom pools, which can be encased with three custom platforms for events.

Circo also has a membership club where the social and business set can enjoy personalized service and preferred access to private events, cocktail tastings, wine pairings, and entertainment options such as art, fashion shows, or live music.

An individual or corporate membership grants exclusive access to "Circo Beach," an outdoor space with two pools, soothing mini-spa services, cabanas with daybeds, savory bites and sips; and the 70-seat Members Lounge, which sits atop the main dining room with a dazzling view of McKinney Avenue.

The dining room will debut with limited hours: Monday-Saturday 5-8 pm. Beginning October 1, they'll expand to Monday-Thursday 5-10 pm, and Friday- Saturday 5-11 pm. Circo Beach and the Members Lounge’s opening is slated to follow.

Circo Dallas joins the One Uptown development, and is part of a family of global locations in Las Vegas, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Dominican Republic, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi.

Dumpling News

Momo2Go restaurant from Canada debuts in-demand dumplings in Frisco

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A fast-casual restaurant starring momos has debuted in Frisco: Called Momo2Go, it's part of a well-regarded chain from Canada.

The restaurant recently opened at 5500 Preston Rd. #102, in the Preston Lebanon Crossing shopping center, taking over a space previously occupied by Lalo's Cocina Mexicana, which closed in July.

Momo2Go specializes in momos — the dumpling that's a foundation of Himalayan cuisine — and is a spinoff of a family-owned restaurant called Himalayan Kitchen, which debuted in Toronto in 2012. Their momos were so popular that they launched Momo2Go in 2016. They now have 10 including one in Irving, which franchisees Karma Gurung and Tashi Chetan opened in 2023. Frisco is their second location.

The menu features traditional steamed momos, filled with choice of beef, chicken, or veggie; plus fun fusion momos, inspired by momo stands chef Tenzin Dharpo saw while on trips to India and Nepal.

All of their momos can be served "dry," IE pan-fried, without sauce, although the more popular option is to get them with sauce, for a highly comforting bowl.

Signature dishes include:

Butter Chicken Momo, dumplings that summon the traditional Indian dish, with a creamy butter chicken sauce
Delhi Masala Momo, fried dumplings sauteed in a Himalayan sauce topped with mint chutney
Momo65, deep-fried dumplings with a sweet, spicy, and buttery taste, topped with spicy mayonnaise and curry

They offer many vegetarian and vegan non-momo dishes, such as spicy Schezwan Tofu Gravy, with fried cubes of tofu, crunchy and tender, in a spicy hot sauce and gobi Manchurian, which consists of battered cauliflower florets stir-fried with ginger garlic paste. There's an entire section dedicated to "chaap," a chicken-nugget-like alternative made with soybeans.

The menu also has some intriguing fried rice and noodle dishes such as stir-fried noodles with scrambled eggs, as well as a Himalayan-spiced take on chow mein, the classic Chinese stir-fry dish.

And because no restaurant these days can not-have French fries, Momo2Go has them in three options: plain fries; chili fries featuring spiced French fries sauteed with garlic, onions, and special sauce; and honey chili fries, featuring spiced French fries sauteed with garlic, onions, and honey garlic sauce topped with sesame seeds.

The Frisco location has plenty of seating, although they use disposable containers. (To their credit, much of it is paper-based rather than plastic.) A mural of blue sky and puffy clouds with the slogan "I followed my heart and it led me to momo" takes up an entire wall, adding some energy to the space.

According to a spokesperson, the owners chose Frisco for their second location because of its booming Asian population as well as its increasing demand for halal food preparation, meaning that the animals are raised and butchered in accordance with Islamic guidelines — a growing trend in Dallas-Fort Worth.

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