Dessert News

Sweetest restaurant Sugar Factory opens in Dallas with red-carpet hoo-ha

Smoking drinks are just the tip of the iceberg.

Photo courtesy of Sugar Factory

The sweetness has arrived: Sugar Factory American Brasserie, the restaurant known for over-the-top sweets, is opening its first location in Texas in Dallas, at 1900 Cedar Springs Rd., in a former Ruth's Chris.

According to a release, it's opening on November 5 with a celebrity appearance and some red-carpet pizzazz.

Sugar Factory was originally founded as a candy store in 2009 before owner Charissa Davidovici, a former schoolteacher, expanded it into a candy store-restaurant combo. Dining there means larger-than-life smoking goblets, insane milkshakes, and interactive experiences designed partially for eating and drinking but also very much for Instagramming.

Atmosphere
The Dallas location features a main dining area with 200 seats, plus colored flower walls perfect for posing, and an elaborate 3D floral ceiling.

A private dining room is available for parties of up to 66 people. The bar has 20 seats and 40 high-top tables, with full menu service available. An indoor-outdoor lounge has fire pits and retractable storefront windows.

The retail store is off the dining room, reachable through a display of candy hearts, which contains more than 50 types of sweets on a floor-to-ceiling candy wall.

Food
Sugar Factory covers brunch, lunch, and dinner, with burgers, pastas, entrees, salads, desserts, and colorful rainbow dishes. Popular menu items include:

Flaming Hot Cheetos Burger, an 8-ounce Angus burger topped with Flaming Hot Cheetos, pepper jack cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomato, crispy onions, chipotle mayo, and served on a brioche bun coated with Flaming Hot Cheetos dust
Black Angus Filet Mignon, served with mashed potatoes, green beans almondine and garlic herb butter
Chicken or Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo with garlic, butter, cream, parmesan, and Romano cheese
Salmon with a Yukon gold mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, and bacon herb sauce
Black Angus Filet & Lobster Surf and Turf
Big Cheesy Angus Burger topped with melted white cheddar, creamy mac & cheese, bacon, and BBQ sauce on a toasted potato bun.

A seasonal item for November will be the Gobble Gobble Insane Milkshake topped with a slice of pumpkin pie.

Sweets
Guests can inject a pop of color into their dessert order with Sugar Factory's Insane Milkshakes, which are lavishly decorated and served in chocolate-covered mugs. Favorites include Giggles Snickers Milkshake, Princess Make A Wish Milkshake, and the Campfire Spiked S’Mores Milkshake.

A fondue with warm milk chocolate is served with toasted marshmallows, strawberries, bananas, cheesecake bites, red velvet cake, gummy bears, and brownie bites.

But their most legendary dessert is the King Kong Sundae, which serves up to 12 people and features 24 scoops of ice cream covered with sprinkles, gummy bears, caramel sauce, fudge sauce, giant whirly pops, and sparklers.

The bar
The restaurant's elevated white marble bar seats provide full-menu service, with signature smoking cocktail goblets like the Lollipop Passion, garnished with lollipops and candy necklaces; and the Watermelon Patch featuring Pitbull’s Voli 305 Vodka and sour watermelon gummies.

Other celebrity-stamped goblets include:

The Rock’s Soul Man with his Teremana Tequila
50 Cent’s Candy Shop with Branson Cognac
Mamitas Hurricane made with Mario Lopez’s Casa Mexico Silver Tequila and Brody Jenner’s Mamitas Seltzer
Travis Scott’s Strawberry Hustle with Cacti Spiked Seltzer
Bruno Mars’ Watermelon Piña Colada and Mai Tai made with SelvaRey Rum
Nick Cannon’s Big Clouds Goblet
Snoop Dogg’s Tropical Fruit Punch made with his Indoggo Gin
Nick Jonas and John Varvatos’ Strawberry Cadillac Reposado Margarita made with Villa One Tequila

Events
To celebrate the grand opening, Sugar Factory Dallas is bringing in the big names with two celebrity events, open to the public.

November 5 at 9 pm will be a D set from comedian, rapper, actor, and TV personality Nick Cannon, currently oh-so buzzy as the host of The Masked Singer. The red-carpet action starts at 8 pm.

November 13 at 9 pm will be a DJ set from Sugar Factory’s official DJ, Pauly D, American television personality and one of the stars of MTV show Jersey Shore.

Sugar Factory Dallas will be open Monday-Thursday 11 am-12 am; Friday 11 am-1 am; Saturday 10 am-1 am; Sunday 10 am-12 am. For reservations, call 469-382-5737.

More Sugar Factory locations are opening in Houston and San Antonio in December 2021.

openings

Blending cultures

Dallas Matcha Club brings community together over trendy green tea

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Matcha

Members of a unique Dallas social club are bonding over the world's trendiest drink: matcha. The Dallas Matcha Club (DMC) aims to foster a community through a shared love of matcha, while supporting local businesses and making new friends.

Matcha is rapidly growing in popularity worldwide, with the global market projected to reach $6.35 billion by 2029. The tea has its origins in China, but it was developed and refined in Japan; tea leaves are ground into the green powder that's used for matcha lattes and smoothies, whose appeal has skyrocketed in recent years — especially among Gen-Z.

DMC Founder Aaliyah Iwamoto created the social club in October 2024 after moving to Texas from Hawaii.

“Since I'd just moved, I wanted to get to explore the city,” Iwamoto says. “I figured trying new cafes was the perfect way to do it ... I was hoping to meet new people."

Iwamoto, who is of Japanese heritage, says matcha had been a part of her life long before it became buzzy. Whenever she visits Japan, she brings back matcha tins from Nishio — and on a previous trip, even toured a matcha farm.

“When I first started [DMC], I didn't know that [matcha] was going to get as big as it did and have such a global impact,” Iwamoto says.

Now she is parlaying her love of matcha into a social experience with dozens of other matcha enthusiasts in North Texas.

On "matcha meetups," club members visit local coffee shops and matcha hot spots together, from downtown Dallas to Fort Worth to McKinney.

The group also hosts events at which members can gain new skills and hobbies. Matcha-specific activities have included classes where they've made chawans, or “matcha bowls,” as well as matcha-whisking workshops. They've also hosted more general-interest events such as paint and sips, Pilates classes, bracelet making, picnics, yoga sessions, and more.

Their most recent event was a Matcha Winter Market with La Maison Bleue Cafe, which included a Christmas toy drive for Children’s Health Plano.

The Dallas Matcha Club on one of their meetups.Photo courtesy of Dallas Matcha Club

While some events have drawn as many as 150 attendees, most see about 30 to 50 people. Members are a diverse group of primarily 20- and 30-somethings at various stages of life — from parents who come with their kids to college students.

“I feel like there's a good mix of people from all different places, too, not just Texas," Iwamoto says.

What makes matcha such a community connector is its ties to a culture, she says.

“'It’s not just a drink. There's a whole process that goes into making the matcha, and a whole process into making your latte at home,” Iwatmoto says. “People are learning about the different tools that you use to make matcha, which are all Japanese ... people are learning through enjoying matcha."

The club’s Instagram page, which has nearly 5,500 followers, proclaims, "Whether you’re an avid matcha lover or matcha newbie, the Dallas Matcha Club is the community for you!"

Iwamoto underscores that DMC is a welcoming group for anyone.

“Most of the people that attend like matcha, but there are some people who are new to it," she says. "There's also some people who just tag along with their friends and they're more of a coffee person. Anyone's welcome."

Anyone interested in joining the Dallas Matcha Club can follow their Instagram @dallasmatcha and fill out the membership form, which is linked in their Instagram bio. There is no fee to become a member of the DMC.

club matcha tea coffee