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

What Just Opened

Crazy wave of Dallas restaurants and bars have all just opened

Courtesy

1519 Main St.

The Dallas hospitality scene almost never sleeps and right now it's pulling an all-nighter, with a big slate of fresh openings, all of which have debuted within the past days, give or take.

Everyone's hustling to get their doors open in time for the holidays, and these establishments have all made it happen: From a cosmopolitan new lounge in downtown Dallas to a modern Asian restaurant in Plano to a bountiful AYCE Chinese seafood spot in Richardson, there's something here to pique everyone's interest and appetite.

1519 Main
Spectacular lounge is now open in downtown Dallas at 1519 Main St., in a nearly century-old building across from the Joule Dallas hotel where it's serving up stellar drinks in a space that's both cosmopolitan and low-key. The bar is from Hospitality Alliance, the company led by restaurant wunderkind Kevin Lillis, who helped create the original AT&T Discovery District. It's a stunning space with many original features like the rose-and-cream marble floors from the 1920s and the brick walls with signage from prior businesses in the space that dating back decades. The menu has cocktails from Brian Van Flandern, who oversaw the program at Per Se, The Carlyle Hotel, The Plaza Hotel, and Palm Court restaurant, and also has a homage menu featuring recipes from some of the most impactful but now closed cocktail lounges in the country. They're open Thursday-Saturday from 5 pm-12 am.

Centrale Italia
New concept from veteran restaurateur Patrick Colombo (Cru Wine Bar, Princi Italia) opened in November at Preston Hollow Village at Walnut Hill Lane and US-75 with a menu of wood-fired dishes, Neapolitan style pizza, pastas, and gelato made in-house. They're debuting brunch on Sunday December 7 and lunch on Monday December 8, with a menu that includes spicy meatball sub, chicken parm on toasted ciabatta, and a parmesan garlic cheeseburger with Wagyu beef and arugula. Salads include Little Gem Caesar, chopped salad with salami, prosciutto, and soppressata, and an Italian Cobb salad with chicken, Romaine, radicchio, avocado, beets, prosciutto, eggs, and Campari tomato in a creamy gorgonzola.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Restaurant in Richardson which just opened in the former Maxim's space is an all-you-can-eat sushi/seafood buffet featuring a daily rotating menu with 300-plus items from various Asian cuisines. There are oysters, crab legs, lobster, sushi bar, ramen bar, dumplings bar, skewers bar, noodles, stir-fries, and Chinese dishes both Cantonese and Sichuan, such as spicy boiled beef and kung pao chicken. Plus dim sum and desserts such as precision-cut layer cakes and a chocolate fondue station where you can dip strawberries and other fruit. (The lobster and crab are available at dinner and weekends only, not at lunch.) The price is $20 at lunch, $30 at dinner on weeknighs, and $35 all weekend long.

Jashan
Indian ambitious new Indian restaurant with a one-of-a-kind menu offering has opened at Plano's Legacy North with a chef team who are bringing flavors from cities and regions across India, from Dehli's fried potato tikkis to pepper chicken from the south. For those seeking something truly unique, Jahsan also offer a Dil Se menu — an omakase-style tasting, available in 7- or 13-course versions, featuring a procession of these flavors, letting guests discover the stories of these cities in one visit.

La Stella Italian Steakhouse
Stupendous Italian restaurant just opened at a storied North Dallas address at 14655 Dallas Pkwy. in the former Lawry's space, where it stands as a bigger, grander spinoff of its sibling La Stella Cucina, the Italian restaurant in Dallas' Design District. The menu is an expanded version of the original: combining Italian seafood and a chophouse, plus an accompanying music lounge for live entertainment.

LuLu Modern Chinese
Glamorous new Asian restaurant just opened in Plano at 3310 Dallas Pkwy. #121, with a goal is to bring an authentic and modern Chinese American dining experience. The menu features classics like Peking duck, xiao long bao (soup dumplings), and seafood executed with spices and recipes from various regions of China — from Shanghai to the Pan Asian continent. The 4,300-square-foot space features a subtle lounge theme — a place you can dine or grab tequila shots over a soundtrack of '90s hip-hop and pop, plus craft cocktails, and a serious collection of sake and wine — but not what you'd typically find at a Chinese restaurant.

Mendocino Farms
California chain known for creative sandwiches, salads, soups, and other healthy fare, has opened its newest DFW-area location — the sixth — at NorthPark Center, joining Addison, downtown Dallas, Plano, Preston Hollow, and Dallas' West Village. With its casual but upscale menu, featuring staples such as the Chicken & Hummus Crunch Wrap — as well as seasonal offerings like the November to Remember sandwich with turkey, mozzarella, mushroom & turkey sausage stuffing, spicy cranberry chutney, and Romaine on toasted cranberry walnut wheat bread — NorthPark seems like a perfect fit.

Old Ferry Donut
Doughnut shop chain from Korea entered the U.S. in 2023, with five locations in California. Now they've made their Texas debut in Carrollton at 2225 Old Denton Rd. #215, Their doughnuts are unique: They have a slightly chewier, more bready texture than the fluffy texture of a Krispy Kreme, and are a little less sweet than traditional American doughnuts. Many of their doughnuts have fillings, made from premium ingredients. The menu includes old-school flavors such as Boston Cream, Original Glaze, and Cinnamon Sugar — but also new-school flavors like White Chocolate Sesame, Earl Gray, and Matcha Cream.

Roots Chicken Shak
Fried chicken restaurant concept from celebrity chef Tiffany Derry, just opened a location at 3748 Belt Line Rd. #118, in a former Einstein's Bagels on the southeast corner of Marsh Lane. There are chicken wings, tenders, nuggets, and sandwiches on sweet potato buns. Derry opened the first Roots Chicken Shack at Plano's Legacy Food Hall in 2017, but the Addison location is owned by franchisees.

Yearby’s Barbecue & Waterice
Halal BBQ spot which originated in Pilot Point is in soft opening mode at a new second location in Plano at 3201 Alma Dr., just west of US-75, where they'll be open from 11 am–3 pm or sell out. There's likely to be a line, because BBQ places like to have a line, but the Yearby's in Pilot Point also earned a slot on Texas Monthly’s 50 Best list for 2025.