Where to Eat Now

Where to eat in Dallas right now: 10 best restaurants for new brunch

Feeling pretty gung ho about brunch.

Photo courtesy of Gung Ho

Whether spring or fall, summer or winter, Dallas always wants its brunch. Seeing the writing on the wall, these 10 restaurants have answered the call for brunch — whether they're veterans introducing a new brunch, or newly-opened eateries adding that final, essential piece to their mealtime puzzle.

For the October edition of Where to Eat, here are 10 brand new brunches to try:

Cool River Cafe
Southwestern restaurant in Las Colinas celebrates its 20th anniversary by launching a new brunch menu with 10 fab new items added on to the lunch menu. Blueberry pancakes come with Nueske's bacon and Chambord Mascarpone cream. Chicken & waffle has a fried chicken breast on a Belgian waffle with cinnamon brown sugar butter. Paleo hash has two eggs on a roasted sweet potato with spinach. Other options include B&E sandwich, crab quiche, eggs benedict, quiche Lorraine, and chicken-fried pork & gravy, with eggs & grit cake. Saturday-Sunday 11 am-3 pm.

Gung Ho
Lowest Greenville Avenue restaurant just launched brunch with a menu of American brunch staples with a Chinese twist, plus Chinese brunch favorites with an American twist. So many twists! Dishes include orange chicken & waffles, toasted coconut waffles with spiced pineapple, fried rice burrito, and a dish called "not biscuits & gravy," with crispy rice cake, mushroom gravy, sunny-side eggs, and fermented greens. There is also dim sum with matcha-orange sticky bun, coconut cream egg rolls, and lo bak go tots topped with sweet & sour pork belly. Drinks include the yuzu breakfast martini. Saturday-Sunday 10 am-3 pm.

Jack's Kitchen
Lakewood restaurant specializing in biscuits now offers brunch. There are biscuits with gravy, with fried chicken, with bacon & eggs, with brisket, and with blueberries. But there's also shrimp & grits tamales, a granola bowl with yogurt, and a "bubba benedict" on a jalapeño-cheddar cornbread waffle with shredded pork. Cinnamon & sugar "doscuits" are a special thing: deep-fried doughnut-cut biscuits rolled in cinnamon sugar. Mimosas are complimentary during brunch hours. Sunday 10:30 am-2 pm.

Mirador
The restaurant atop Forty Five Ten has launched a weekend brunch which in this case means Saturdays. Features include the everything brunch bagel (topped with sausage, bacon marmalade, eggs, and cheddar), buttermilk pancakes with candied pecans, and a yogurt bowl with honey and dried fruit. French omelet is served with mornay sauce, with the option to add caviar. For lunchier brunch items, there's smoked trout salad and cavatelli carbonara with poached egg. New cocktails for brunch include an "Eggs & Bacon" cocktail combining bourbon with lemon, maple syrup, egg whites, and bacon. Saturday 11 am-2:30 pm.

Pinstack
The entertainment-centric eatery just introduced brunch at all three locations in Allen, Plano, and Las Colinas. In addition to basics such as eggs benedict and stuffed French toast, there are novel creations such as wheat toast with avocado spread, hard-boiled eggs, and arugula; and a foot-tall pancake tower. Mimosas can be ordered by the carafe, or you can build your own Bloody Mary from a bar with mixes, toppings, and spicy sauce. Saturday-Sunday 11 am-2 pm.

Perle on Maple
Restaurant at the Stoneleigh Hotel has a new Sunday brunch event called Bubbles & Brioche, with a French-inspired "le brunch" menu featuring champagne and French Bistro classics with a Texas twist. Dishes include duck confit pancakes, eggs mimosa, brioche French toast, and the signature perle avocado toast. Order a la carte or in a two-course prix fixe menu with choice of one starter and one main dish for $30. Sunday 10 am-2 pm.

Street's Fine Chicken
The Forest Lane location of this local chicken chain has a new weekend brunch, featuring a variety of dishes, many with chicken. There's Texas toast stacked with boneless fried chicken breast, jalapeño gravy, sweet potato, pickled onion and a fried egg; a duo of biscuit sliders, one with fried chicken, the other with bacon, egg, and jalapeño cheddar. There's biscuits & gravy, chicken-fried bacon sandwich, brioche French toast with cream cheese, blackberry compote, and applewood smoked bacon, and a breakfast burrito with fried chicken, scrambled egg, and pimiento cheese fritters. Mimosas are $3. Saturday-Sunday 11 am-4 pm.

Velvet Taco
Dallas-based taqueria chain now has a brunch menu with a total of four items: Chicken & Waffle with chicken tenders, peppercorn gravy, green apple slaw, maple syrup, peppered bacon, red chili aioli, and chives atop a waffle tortilla. Bacon & Eggs comes with tater tots and smoked cheddar on a corn tortilla. Monte Cristo is a sweet and savory taco twist with strawberry jam, honey ham, gruyere, and strawberry jalapeño salsa on a French toast flour tortilla. Steak & Eggs features potatoes, hollandaise, and arugula in a flour tortilla. Available all day every day which contradicts the idea of brunch but hey, brunch.

Vidorra
Now that this new restaurant and rooftop bar in Deep Ellum has its bearings, it's introduced a weekend brunch. You gotta ease into brunch. Highlights include a Mexican egg casserole with chorizo, tortillas, black beans, corn, and fried avocado; and green chile eggs benedict with sweet potato hash, veggies, chorizo, poached eggs, and green chili hollandaise. Churro toast is like a cinnamon sugar-dusted French toast with golden agave syrup and fried banana slices. Cocktails include a mimosa with pineapple, cilantro, coconut, jalapeño, St. Germaine, Cantarino, and bubbles. Saturday-Sunday, 10 am-3 pm.

Zoli's Pizza
Ital-American restaurant in Addison recently introduced a new brunch menu of stick-to-your-ribs dishes. There is chicken and maple waffle, brisket and grits, and a calzone with sausage, ham, spinach, and scrambled eggs. Cinnaknots are rolled in cinnamon and sugar and glazed with cream cheese frosting. There are two brunch pizzas: one with bacon, eggs, ham, and potatoes; and another with scrambled egg, chorizo, and jalapeño ranch. A frittata has eggs, onions, spinach, feta, and pepper. Fortunately, they are still doing their trademark zeppole, aka doughnut holes, served with caramel. Saturday-Sunday 11 am-3 pm.

brunch where-to-eat

Spring Arrival

West Dallas gets new Spanish-Peruvian restaurant with big-name chef

Photo courtesy of Ulloa's

Paella will be on the menu.

A new restaurant with a high-profile culinary director will bring Spanish and Peruvian flavors to West Dallas: Called Ulloa’s, it is coming to 727 Fort Worth Ave., with a projected opening in March 2027.

The concept is from philanthropists Susan and Woodrow Gandy, who were previously investors in the historic Belmont Hotel just around the corner. They've teamed up with Dallas celebrity chef Kent Rathbun as culinary director, along with Christopher Tunnell as general manager to lead the front of the house.

Rathbun is a name Dallas diners know well, with a resume that includes The Mansion on Turtle Creek, the Landmark Restaurant at the historic Melrose Hotel, Seventeen Seventeen at the Dallas Museum of Art, Abacus, Jasper's, Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen, and more. He's won numerous awards and made multiple appearances on Food Network. He was most recently behind the launch of On The Rocks, an Italian bistro in Burleson.

Chef Kent Rathbun will be the culinary director of Ulloa's. Photo courtesy of Kent Rathbun

Tunnell’s background spans both culinary direction and front-of-house operations. He worked at Los Angeles hot spots Ketchup, Geisha House, and Les Deux, as well as the Mandalay Bay and The Mirage in Las Vegas, before moving to Dallas to open The Mexican, the upscale restaurant in the Design District.

“I am truly excited to partner with Chef Kent Rathbun, whose reputation is amazing — not only in the DFW Metroplex, but in the culinary world,” Tunnell says. “He has been with this project since the beginning, helping develop it; this will be a very chef-driven, culinary-forward restaurant.”

The team's vision for Ulloa’s is both culinary and urban, with hopes of anchoring the corridor and attracting other businesses to Fort Worth Avenue — a stretch connecting downtown Dallas with Oak Cliff that remains somewhat underdeveloped despite its panoramic skyline views.

The restaurant is named for Spanish explorer, astronomer, and scientist Antonio de Ulloa, who spent extensive time in the Mexican peninsula before becoming Louisiana’s first governor. During his travels, Ulloa documented a fogbow — a circular rainbow formed when sunlight meets mist that causes silhouettes standing between the sun and fog to appear ringed in light, a phenomenon known today as “Ulloa’s Rings.”

That vibrant phenomenon inspired both the restaurant's identity and logo. The concept promises "bold, worldly flavors in a welcoming neighborhood setting inspired by exploration and discovery,” the owners say.

Ulloa's Rendering of Ulloa's.Rendering courtesy of Ulloa's

While the menu remains in development, Tunnell describes the culinary direction as “Spanish soul with a Peruvian heart.” The kitchen will merge the coastal flavors of both traditions — ranging from paellas and ceviches to crafted cocktails and signature adaptations by Rathbun.

The 200-seat, two-story space will feature a downstairs dining room, a large bar, and an outdoor patio. Upstairs, plans call for a secondary bar, a private dining room, a patio, and an expansive balcony patio, offering views of the city's skyline and of the Margaret Hunt Hill and Margaret McDermott bridges.

While the upstairs space will be available for private events, the owners intend for it to operate primarily as an organic extension of the main restaurant. The buildout will include a guest elevator along with ample parking, including both self-parking and valet options.

The team says the restaurant will have have an aesthetic that's “warm, theatrical, generous, elegant but alive, with the energy of a great Spanish tapas bar and the soul of Peruvian hospitality.”

Ulloa’s plans to launch with dinner service first, followed by lunch and weekend brunch.

restaurants bars peruvian flavors west dallas oak cliff kent rathbun