News You Can Eat
Crazy doughnuts and Chipotle steak lead this Dallas restaurant news
This roundup of Dallas restaurant news is brimming with all of our favorite new coronavirus-inspired routines: takeout, to go, and curbside pickup. But it's not all COVID-19. There's info about a new brunch, a new supper, new doughnuts, new coffee, and lots of new options to get your plant-based beef.
Here's what's happening in Dallas dining news:
Fajita Pete's, the fajita concept chain from Houston, has opened a new location in Dallas, in the Park Cities at 4441 Lovers Ln., in what was once a quick loan place and more recently a dry cleaning delivery chain called Mulberry's. Pete's, which opened a location in Carrollton in 2018, has a simple menu focusing on chicken, beef, or shrimp fajitas, plus quesadillas, chips, guacamole, and queso. They offer delivery and carryout options, with limited dine-in seating—perfect for the times we are in now, as they say.
Hatchways Café at Victory Park is now serving supper. Like its breakfast, lunch, and grab-and-go options, the supper menu was developed by chef Keith Cedotal, who formerly ran the pastry program for Mirador, Americano, CBD Provisions, Sassetta, and Wheelhouse. The menu offers a wide selection of options, including vegan, vegetarian, and allergy-friendly fare. Keeping in mind that take-out is important, they developed the Supper menu so that everything would travels well. You can order online at hatchwayscafe.com and pick up inside the café or via Hatchways Café’s contactless curbside option.
Menu items include:
- Mexican shrimp cocktail with tangy cocktail sauce, avocado, pico de gallo, and tajin-salt whole wheat tortilla chips
- Vegan Caesar Salad with whole wheat croutons on little gem
- Enchilada Casserole with roasted corn and peppers, white cheddar, cilantro, and avo de gallo
- Thai Steak Quesadillas with roasted peanuts, cucumber salad, and peanut dipping sauce
- Whole Wheat Parker House Rolls baked fresh daily, served with salted whipped butter
- Sweet Potato Gratin with Benton’s bacon, parmesan panko, and light béchamel
Uchibā is bringing its Uncommon Ramen series back as a weekly curbside event. Every Monday beginning October 5, they'll showcase a different ramen, inspired by previous collaborations. Uncommon Ramen debuted in 2017 as a monthly pop-up featuring dishes created by renowned chefs from around the country in collaboration with Chef de Cuisine Alex Astranti. The schedule is as follows:
- October - Tommy Lee's sesame tonkotsu, chicken chasu, pickled perilla leaves, egg ($15)
- November - Tyson Cole's chicken shio, spicy chicken confit, pickled cabbage, radish, trinity herbs, egg ($16)
- December - Don Angie's mortadella-cheese tonkotsu, chicken meatball, pickled mustard greens, ajitama egg ($17)
- January 2021 - Chris Shepherd's Harissa-tahini tonkotsu, braised lamb, smoked beets, black lime, marinated egg ($17)
- February 2021 - Aaron Franklin's pho broth, smoked beef, charred mushrooms, pickled red onion, marinated egg, herbs ($16)
- March 2021 - John Tesar's beef broth, prime rib, charred onion, mayu, egg, pickled potato, horseradish ($18)
The Monday menus will also include a recurring vegetarian ramen with mushroom broth, grilled king trumpet, bean sprouts, pickled honshimeji, mapo oil, and egg; plus the Arabiki Dog, which will vary from month to month. Phone lines open at 3:30 pm every day. Reservations can be made online up to a week in advance. Pickup is beween 5-10 pm.
Zalat Pizza opens their ninth location on September 30 in Plano at 3909 W Parker Rd. This will function as another cloud kitchen, serving delivery via third party delivery apps or takeout through Zalat's website. It'll be open Monday–Saturday 11 am–12 am, Sunday 11 am–10 pm. Plano currently has two Zalat locations, in Downtown Plano and at Legacy and Independence.
Cotton Patch Cafe has introduced a Curbside To-Go alcohol program at the majority of its locations, so you can order beer and wine to accompany your to-go food orders. Certain locations will have half-gallon Southern Sippers starting at $20 to include margarita, red wine sangria, hurricane, and Southern sweet tea, including Granbury, Burleson, Frisco, Mansfield, Denton, Flower Mound, Grapevine, Lake Worth, North Richland Hills, Watauga, and Wylie.
Cotton Patch Cafe is also doing a Texas State Fare promotion through October 18, highlighting fried pickles, chicken tenders, and other dishes they say are synonymous with the State Fair of Texas.
Elm & Good, the restaurant at the Pittman Hotel in Deep Ellum, has launched brunch every Sunday from 10 am-3 pm. Menu iems include shrimp & grits, smoked brisket hash with red onion, piperade, Yukon gold potato, and piquillo vinaigrette, and a French-style omelette with parmesan, chives, Yukon gold hash browns, arugula, and lemon vinaigrette.
Perry's Steakhouse & Grille has a new Comfort Menu To-Go, available for curbside pickup daily featuring off-menu items in individual or family portions that include:
- Roasted Lemon Chicken Oregenato ($35) – Airline chicken breast sous vide and roasted with lemon, oregano, leeks, shallots, fingerling potatoes and artichokes
- Truffle Chicken Pot Pie ($29 or family-style serving for $89) – Chicken with black truffles, carrots, and peas, topped with a flaky crust.
- Pork Lasagna ($25 or family-style serving for $89) – Seven-layered pork lasagna made with Perry's Famous Pork Chop, spinach ricotta, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese, and ratatouille-style vegetables, including zucchini, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and garlic
Order and pay online by visiting ordering.app/perryssteakhousegrille.
They've also launched Perry's Steakhouse Online Market, where you can order the Famous Pork Chop and other items delivered nationwide at shop.perryssteakhouse.com.
Fat Straws Bubble Tea Co. is offering three limited-edition boba doughnuts for the Moon Festival on October 1-3. The doughnuts will have boba mixed into the dough. The three flavors include: White Rabbit Milk Candy Boba, Ube Boba, and Pandan Coconut Boba. Pickup and delivery is available at www.fatstraws.co. Pre-order is available for half dozen or a dozen doughnuts. There are four locations including Richardson, Plano, and two in Dallas: Alpha Road by the Galleria, and Preston Road.
Smoothie King has a new Vegan Mixed Berry Smoothie, which they're saying is "the perfect meal replacement to help guests remain committed to plant-based living." One might think that a smoothie would be automatically vegan but some of them contain dairy. The Vegan Mixed Berry offers a new twist with the addition of Califia Farms Oat Milk, a non-dairy alternative which they'll substitute into any smoothie on the menu. It also contains whole strawberries, wild blueberries, raspberries, banana, super grains, Sunwarrior organic plant-based protein, apple blueberry juice blend, and pear juice blend. That's actually pretty good. It has 13 grams of protein and half the recommended daily fiber in a 20-ounce serving.
Maple Leaf Diner in North Dallas will offer a special menu from October 10-12 to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving which is on October 12. A Thanksgiving Plate with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, acorn squash, carrots, green beans, sweet potato tart, roll, and choice of soup or salad is $14.99. There's also a pumpkin pie shake for $6 and fried pumpkin pie with ice cream for $7.
Vestals Catering, the Dallas catering company, has launched customizable meal kits with an instructional video that they say is perfect for team bonding. "By watching the instructional video, employees will learn to create specialty crafted cocktails that they can enjoy virtually with fellow team members." If that's not enough bonding, Vestals can arrange for a live group video call with chef Jordan Swim while everyone cooks together. To order, email catering@vestalscatering.com or call 972-803-3806.
Chipotle Mexican Grill is bringing back Carne Asada. Available from late 2019 to early 2020, Carne Asada was Chipotle's fastest-selling new protein launch in history. It's grilled in small batches, seasoned, hand cut into tender slices, and finished with lime and hand-chopped cilantro. So many hands. The premium steak option will also return to the menu in Canada and make its debut in France. But who cares about them, this is Dallas we're talking about. They're saying it's a limited-edition item, but aren't specifying end date, other than they will "continue to explore options to add the protein option as a permanent menu item in the future." In other words, if it sells, it stays.
Kung Fu Tea is releasing a seasonal Pumpkin Spice Series on October 5 with three special coffee drinks available at select locations:
- Pumpkin Slush - Slushy swirl of pumpkin spice and milk.
- Pumpkin Spice Latte - Pumpkin spice paired with Lactaid milk and cinnamon. Available hot or cold.
- Pumpkin Coffee - Creamy blend of pumpkin spice, milk, and bold espresso. Available hot or cold.
Corner Bakery launched two new menu items featuring meatballs made with Beyond Beef. These plant-based meatballs are hand-crafted - again with the hands - and combine Beyond Beef with herbs, garlic, Parmesan, and breadcrumbs. Corner Bakery tested these Beyond Meat menu items in December 2019 at five locations in Los Angeles. Now they go nationwide. The menu items are:
- Beyond Meatball Panini – Beyond Beef meatballs, provolone, marinara sauce, grilled sourdough
- Beyond Meatball Linguine – Beyond Beef meatballs, Parmesan, linguine, marinara sauce
Beyond Meat has also introduced Beyond Meatballs that are pre-rolled and perfectly seasoned, is available at Target, Walmart, and Sprouts.
Impossible Burger, the other plant-based meat, is rolling out at Target stores across the United States, either fresh or frozen in the meat aisle in 12-ounce packages.
The SPCA of Texas is hosting "Dine to Donate," a month-lon progam in October in which supporters can dine-in or take-out at participating restaurants and a portion of the proceeds will be donated back to the SPCA of Texas. to find out which locations are participating and on which dates, visit www.spca.org/dine2donate. Generous participating restaurants so far include Dickey's Barbecue Pit, Azucar Ice Cream, and Panera Bread.
