Mexican Cantina

New Addison restaurant elevates Tex-Mex with from-scratch approach

T. Blanco's Mexican Cantina is debuting a second branch in Addison.

Photo courtesy of T Blanco's

A new taste of Tex-Mex comes to the Dallas area via T. Blanco's Mexican Cantina, a restaurant from Longview that's debuting its second branch in Addison in late fall.

The restaurant will open in the space at 15207 Addison Rd., most previously home to Buttons, which closed in 2015, but it's probably better known as the former Sambuca space.

Co-owner Mason White, who founded the restaurant with his father Thomas, says that they'd been thinking about opening in the Dallas area but pulled the trigger after they were offered the location. "We'd looked at a couple of places, but once the Sambuca building came up, we went from there," he says.

Lest you think this is just another Tex-Mex spot, White offers intel that would indicate otherwise.

"It's more of a scratch gourmet kitchen than your normal Tex-Mex," he says. "Everything is made fresh in-house daily, from our own products."

They also have a couple of signature items that are unique.

"We do a fried avocado that we're well-known for," he says. "It's an avocado stuffed with whatever meat you want, and jack cheese, and then deep-fried. We serve it with a creamy jalapeño sauce."

There are also cocktails, oh yes, there are cocktails. "We have three frozen items including our house margarita, but the drink a lot of people at our Longview restaurant love is our frozen Crown and Coke, like a spiked slushie. For Addison, we'll be doing more frozen drinks and a more elaborate bar menu, including lots of different tequilas."

Addison, you are on notice. "Addison is restaurant row," White says. "We figured, if we're going to try this, it's the place to do it."

tex-mex openings

Coffee News

East Dallas coffee shop Killer Joe crackles with sharp New York style

Killer Joe

Killer Joe Coffee

A hip new coffee shop is energizing a busy corner in East Dallas: Called Killer Joe, it's a new shop at 108 N. Fitzhugh Ave. right on the northeast corner of Columbia Avenue, next to (and in the same building as) Pupusas To Go.

Killer Joe is from Christine Sweet and Christian Napolitano, who moved from New York to Dallas in 2022 in search of entrepreneurial opportunity.

"We had been wanting to open up a business in New York for a long time," Christine says. “After the pandemic, it was really hard doing business there. We were looking for a good place to move that offered an opportunity to open our business."

Christine previously worked in travel/destination marketing, living in different places around the world. Christian was in hospitality, having worked in high-end restaurants in Manhattan, most recently at Bond Street Sushi in Soho.

Their goal: to bring a little New York culture to Dallas.

“We are more than a coffee shop — we're a place for foodies and musicophiles, we are really into music and rock & roll. Our shop is not a sleepy, quiet coffee shop," Christine says.

They serve notice of their intentions on the exterior with a quirky, personal mural by Anthony Z. Padilla, rendered in taxicab yellow, with elegant line drawings of the Statue of Liberty and highway-style signs that say "Now leaving New York" and "Welcome to Texas."

The interior is casual-chic, with pale wood furniture and an original cement floor that still sports intentional patches of old paint. The walls have a mix of B&W vintage photos and the occasional cowboy hat. The space was for many years a closed-in bar called Los Dos Reales; but now, the building boasts expansive windows that look out on Fitzhugh and create a bright and sunny space.

For their coffee program, they use organic espresso beans and make their drinks in an Italian Sanremo machine. They serve all the classics plus signature drinks such as French Toast Latte, Sea Salt Caramel de Leche, and Caliente Mocha with a hint of cayenne pepper.

Seasonal drinks include a pistachio caramel matcha latte — featuring toasted pistachios like a baklava, but balanced by the earthiness of the matcha. Other specialty drinks include rose water matcha, orange blossom matcha spritz, and cucumber lemonade.

Panini at Killer JoeKiller Joe

They also serve food, including breakfast all day: steak & eggs, avocado toast, and bagels with plain, scallion or vegan cream cheese. The "Spaghetti Western" is a twist on the traditional ham & cheese sandwich with spicy capicola, roasted tomato, Calabrian pepper sauce, and chimichurri on toasted ciabatta.

Bread is from Empire Baking Company and the bagels are from Shug's.

At lunch, they serve an umami tuna melt; a "K-Pop Cuban" with ham and cheese, plus kimchi pickles and wasabi mayo; and The Texican, with soyrizo spicy sausage, cheddar roasted poblano peppers, tomato, and avocado.

Reeves Family Farm in Princeton provides fruits and vegetables, and 4DWN brings their microgreens. Pastries are baked in house and sauces such as black olive pesto and Killer chipotle sauce are made from scratch.

“We are trying to blend our edgy New York style with a Southern Texas flair," Christine says.

They're open daily from 7am-3 pm, with a late-hour program every second Saturday featuring live DJs; people gather inside and outside the shop for music, food, and drinks.

"This community is just so great, very eclectic, and has really embraced our style," Christine says. In fact, a few customers had a tattoo made at neighbor Franklins Tattoo and Supply with the coffee shop's skull logo.

"I had to follow and get one done too," she says.

coffee openings