Opening News

New restaurants opening in Dallas are a ray of sunshine on a COVID day

Palmer's Hot Chicken is about to open.

Photo courtesy of Palmer's Hot Chicken

When the coronavirus gets you down and you feel blue, Dallas restaurants come to the rescue. They're not letting this pandemic thing stop them from moving forward, onward, upward. They're opening for business, COVID or not. Be inspired by their optimism, and of course go eat their food.

Here's new openings this week:

Palmer's Hot Chicken
Nashville hot chicken concept is opening on Monday October 19. In the race to do Nashville hot chicken, Palmer's might have an edge: It's from Palmer Fortune, a Texas native who lived in Nashville and knows the real deal. His recipes pay homage to Nashville hot chicken creator Thornton Price, with four spice levels. They'll also offer roasted chicken, tenders, fried catfish, fried or grilled shrimp, sandwiches, tacos, wraps, and salads.

Basic Taco
Basic Taco opens October 13 in a killer location in Deep Ellum at 2901 Commerce St., a former gas station listed on the Texas Historic Commission website. Owner Joel Roland (who also owns Real Nice Place, a friendly breakfast-and-lunch spot in downtown Dallas) is doing a simple menu with eight tacos: four street tacos, including al pastor, carne asada, asada chicken, and veggie, plus gourmet tacos including shrimp and smoked brisket. Basic also houses a little hidden bar-within-the-restaurant called Yellow Rosa, with tequila and mezcal. They'll be open late: 3 am on weekends, and launch brunch at Yellow Rosa in November.

La Casita Bakeshop
Acclaimed mom-and-pop bakery in Richardson is reopening its doors to the public. What that means is, they'll be open again on Saturdays. Short history: La Casita used to be a wholesale bakery, but then started doing popups, and the popups were such a smash that they moved to this storefront in Richardson where they were open to the public on Saturdays. Then COVID-19 came along. So they switched to an arrangement where you order online after Wednesday at 12 noon but before Friday at 12 noon, and pick up your order on Saturday. They'll keep doing all of that. But now, in addition to ordering ahead, they'll be open on Saturdays so that, if you forgot to order, you might be able to pick up a thing or two which they'll have at the ready.

Scrambler Cafe
Independently-owned breakfast and lunch spot opened on October 7 in Plano, in a former Mooyah Burgers location at 7000 Independence Pkwy, #104B. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and brunch, with a pretty extensive and creative menu that goes beyond the usual bacon & eggs. The namesake dish is scramblers, which feature scrambled eggs mixed with things. The Tuscan scrambler, for example, has spinach, onion, red pepper, kalamata olive, and feta cheese. There are also "skillets" with hash browns, seven kinds of benedicts, four kinds of French toast, plus corned beef hash, biscuits & gravy, CFS with eggs, a breakfast burrito, omelets, and this is just breakfast. Lunch includes sandwiches, paninis, burgers, salads, and wraps.

Velvet Taco
Small Dallas taco chain opened its second location in Plano, at 5013 W. Park Blvd.; there's also one at Legacy Hall. The dining room features murals by Dallas tattoo and mural artists Caleb Cannon and Eder M. An 825 square-foot covered patio has outdoor seating for more than 50. There's also a drive-thru window and very handy indoor digital order shelf with contactless service. The menu has more than 20 tacos, including new beer-battered cauliflower, and they also serve alcohol, a big plus. This follows a location that just opened in Addison, making eight locations in the Dallas area and 16 across the U.S.

Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers
Chicken tenders chain has made its Mesquite debut, opening a location at 1980 N. Town E. Blvd. Along with being the first location in Mesquite, it's also special because it has a multi-lane drive-thru, so post-COVID-19. It's near North Mesquite High School, Town East Mall, and four major highways.This is the 166th Raising Cane’s in Texas and four more are coming to Texas in 2020.

openings

Matcha News

Calif bakery-cafe with creative drinks and snacks makes Dallas debut

Smoking Tiger

Garlic cheese bread and matcha latte from Smoking Tiger

A buzzy coffee shop and cafe from Southern California has made its Texas debut: Called Smoking Tiger, it opened in June in Carrollton, at The Great Oasis plaza at 2225 Old Denton Rd. #100, where it's serving Korean pastries, breads, coffee, and beverages.

Adored by Korean-Americans and possibly everyone on Instagram, the cafe is part of a chain founded in 2020 in Buena Vista, California, that encompasses both coffee shops as well as bakeries. The Carrollton location — full name "The Smoking Tiger Bread Factory" — is one of their most expansive, offering coffee, pastries, breads, and sandwiches.

Carrollton will be the first in the DFW area, but a spokesperson says it won't be the only, although they do not have specifics on other locations or timetable for opening.

Drinks
Their beverage menu is notably rich and creative, leading with the Tiger Latte, their signature brown sugar latte with caramel and frothed oat milk. The Smokin Spaniard is a twist on latte combining espresso, condensed milk, hazelnut, and cinnamon.

Other options summon favorite Korean flavors such as

banana milk latte
honey bori latte with barley milk and salted honey cold foam
sweet corn latte, with sweet corn milk and corn cold foam
chai latte
misugaru — a roasted rice latte served slightly sweetened over choice of milk

… plus matcha lattes including strawberry matcha latte; jeju matcha latte sweetened with maple syrup; hojicha latte, featuring jeju green tea — a green tea grown in South Korea — sweetened with vanilla.

Latte prices average about $6.50.

Other irresistible-sounding drinks include the Pineapple Express, featuring jasmine tea and pineapple concentrate, shaken with ice for a smooth texture; and "YSL" — Yuzu Sparkling Lemonade, featuring yuzu syrup, sparkling water, and lemon.

Garlic cheese bread at Smoking TigerSmoking Tiger

Food
Food options are equally as creative, led by three signature goodies:

Cream Cheese Garlic Bread — a large round roll with a heavy dose of garlic and cream cheese baked inside
Original Salt Bread — sort of like a cross between a roll and an everything bagel
Kimchi Musubi Croissant, featuring a croissant filled with a slice of Spam and kim chi, with a sheet of seaweed baked onto the top of the croissant

Plus "sconkies" — a cross between a scone and a cookie — in flavors such as Oreo or lemon earl grey. For Texas only, they also introduced a special menu of breakfast sandwiches such as a slider with scrambled egg, cheese, and habanero aioli on grilled King's Hawaiian rolls.

According to marketing director Andy Lee, part of its appeal is the way it channels similar cafes in South Korea offering both bread and coffee.

"We wanted to essentially create a space where people could experience modern Korean culture in a very authentic and approachable way," Lee told The Dallas Morning News.

That extends to the decor: They've outfitted the Carrollton location with vertical mahogany wood panels, often seen in cafes in South Korea and traditional Korean houses called hanoks.

coffee openings