New Eats

5 new high-profile Dallas restaurant openings happening right now

Meet Dallas' Best New Restaurant, Georgie by Curtis Stone.

Photo courtesy of Georgie by Curtis Stone

Stories about restaurant openings are our bread and butter at CultureMap. We post them all the time.

But sometimes a restaurant emerges as something more bold-faced than the usual debut. When five emerge simultaneously, that can only mean one thing: roundup.

For a variety of reasons, these restaurants all seem destined to blaze brightly as 2019 comes to a close, and give our local dining scene a little pop.

If you like to keep up with buzzy eateries, then this is your list:

The Biscuit Bar
This is the third location of this local biscuit chain, and in any other circumstance, a third location of anything would not make a vaunted list like this. However, the address makes this Biscuit Bar list-worthy: It's opening in Deep Ellum at 2550 Pacific Ave., part of The Epic, the mixed-use project combining office, residential, and boutique hotel. (Which will also, as of now anyway, serve as regional headquarters for Uber.)

All Biscuit Bars serve breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late night, but the Deep Ellum location will have even later late-night hours. Another good reason this is on the list is timeliness: They're hosting a Grand Opening party on Thursday, November 21 from 8-11 pm. Go for the biscuits and tots, stay for the special-event discounted $3 cocktails.

Commons Club
The date draws near for the opening of this new restaurant at the Virgin Hotels Dallas. It's the hotel's "all-day" eatery, open for breakfast-lunch-and-dinner, with a concept/menu/what-have-you called The Kitchen by Matt McCallister.

It has a French-meets-Texan theme, with large-format dishes cooked via live fire in a charcoal-burning oven or wood-fired rotisserie. Dishes include grouper, rotisserie chicken, scallops, tuna & beet crudo, and A Bar N Ranch black pepper-crusted Wagyu ribeye roast, served family-style with pumpernickel rolls.

The opening date is currently targeted as December 15, and with McCallister on board, it'll only be a matter of weeks after that before the predictably gushing review from the Dallas Morning News comes along.

Desert Racer
Chef Nick Badovinus likes to keep things close to the vest and on the down-low, but it's pretty much any day now for this casual cantina, opening in the former Haymaker space on Lower Greenville.

Badovinus, whose other restaurants include Neighborhood Services, Town Hearth, Montlake Cut, Off Site Kitchen, and Perfect Union Pizza, draws his inspiration for Desert Racer from the Baja 1000, the rogue desert racing event held on Mexico's Baja California peninsula since 1967. Think beer, seafood, margaritas, Southwestern- and Baja-inspired cuisine, featuring a live-fire/smoke method of cooking.

The restaurant has a phone number. Help wanted ads have been up for a few weeks. Tick tick tick.

Georgie By Curtis Stone
New restaurant in the Knox District, in the former Villa-O space, comes with the surprise participation of celebrity chef Curtis Stone, as a kind of spinoff of Gwen, a Hollywood butcher shop and restaurant he opened with his brother Luke in 2016.

The menu features Australian Blackmore wagyu, caviar with red wheat blini and crème fraiche, hot smoked salmon, and black cod. A separate bar menu will serve snacks such as beer-braised chicken and fish & chips.

The restaurant is a collaboration between the two brothers and Stephan Courseau, their Dallas-based partner and owner of nearby restaurants Le Bilboquet and Up on Knox. Their website still says "coming soon" but they've already hosted "friends and family" events before opening on November 18, and they're open for Thanksgiving.

Terry Black's Barbecue
BBQ restaurant newly opened in Deep Ellum comes with sterling Central Texas BBQ cred: Brothers Mark and Michael Black have family ties to Terry Black's Barbecue in Austin, Black's Barbecue in Lockhart, and famed Smitty's Market.

They're doing all of the BBQ basics: brisket, chopped beef, pork ribs, sausage, turkey, and their signature beef ribs. In true Central Texas style, the meat is sold by the pound, although you can also get your meat in a sandwich form.

Sides include potato salad, coleslaw, beans, green beans, Mexican rice, mac & cheese, and creamed corn. And like any barbecue restaurant post-BBQ Snob, they have his favorite dessert, banana pudding. Must have pudding for Daniel.

The restaurant opened on November 21 at 3025 Main St., in the former Comedy House space (who were forced to move) and they're also practically across the street from Pecan Lodge. Brass ones!

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Spongebob News

Where to find a Spongebob Krabby Patty spinoff in Dallas

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Krabby Patty

Nickelodeon and Paramount have launched a national promotion to celebrate the anniversary of one of its landmark cartoons: SpongeBob SquarePants — and nearly a dozen Dallas restaurants have been invited to participate.

Called the Krabby Patty Kollab, it's a program involving more than 100 restaurants doing their own spinoffs of the iconic Krabby Patty, the cartoon's signature dish. According to a release, the promotion begins Tuesday, October 8, when select restaurants will offer a variety of interpretations, including dumplings, falafel, burgers, doughnuts, ice cream and more.

“SpongeBob SquarePants began his journey as a fry cook, flipping Krabby Patties in the pilot episode of the series 25 years ago, and the coveted patty has since remained an enduring fixture in Bikini Bottom,” said Sherry Liu, SVP Studio Franchise Strategy & Operations, Nickelodeon and Paramount. “Though its formula remains a secret, SpongeBob SquarePants fans will now be able to enjoy imaginative interpretations of the legendary Krabby Patty through this unique collaboration.”

The Krabby Patty Kollab program brings more than 100 renditions to life in over 250 local restaurants across New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Las Vegas, Toronto, London, and Mexico City, and will be on menus through October 27.

The major player is Wendy's, the only fast-food chain involved, and they're doing a straightforward quarter pounder with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion, and secret sauce, plus a vanilla Frosty with a pineapple mango flavored puree swirl.

But the majority of restaurants participating are independent, with an emphasis on burger joints and bagel shops. Participating restaurants in Dallas include:

Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer - New York-based burger & beer chain is doing a fried cheeseburger: a Prime burger with American cheese, special sauce, pickles, wrapped in housemade dough and fried, served on a stick; and 3-day potato salad, featuring potatoes, eggs, celery, onions, pickles, pickle juice, and mayo. Participating Black Tap restaurants include Dallas' Victory Park, New York, Miami, and Las Vegas at The Venetian.
Brooklyn Dumpling Shop - New York-based dumpling chain
Cris and John - Vietnamese street food shop in Richardson is doing an Asian inspired take with two Angus beef smash patties, American cheese, seaweed aioli, and pickled Asian cucumbers on a toasted sesame seed bun, served with fries drizzled with spicy mayo and seaweed flakes.
Hat Creek Burgers - Austin-based burger chain
Le Reve Gelato & Patisserie - North Dallas dessert shop is doing a cute version in which sweet ingredients are used to mock burger components: a vanilla sponge "Bun," a pineapple “Patty," crêpe “Lettuce," a strawberry mousse “Tomato," pastry cream “Cheese," ganache “Mayo,” puff pastry "Fries," and strawberry “Ketchup."
Lubbies Bagels - East Dallas bagel shop is doing a juicy housemade seitan, with fresh veggie and select ferments, on a sesame kaiser roll with lettuce, tomato, onion, B&B pickles, slathered with a special miso mayo sauce, to be enjoyed with a side of twice-fried fingerlings and kim chi mayo
Oomi Kitchen - Digital kitchen at 3510 Ross Ave. is doing a smashed beef patty, with cheddar cheese, grilled onions, tropical slaw, and pineapple aioli on a Hawaiian King Roll bun, served with crinkle-cut bacon cheese fries. (Oomi is doing a cool differentiator in that they are doing a full blown pop-up by decorating Oomi like The Krusty Krab.)
Pacheco Taco N Burger - Burger pop-up inside Four Corners Brewery is doing a fairly classic burger — lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, cheese on a sesame seed bun — but with a secret sauce whose ingredients just may include horseradish and srirarcha for a little kick.
Starship Bagel - Award-winning bagel shop with three locations in Dallas is doing a sesame bagel with an Impossible patty, lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickle, schmear, ketchup, hot sauce, sweet pickle relish, and vinegar. (This can be made 100 percent vegan just by removing the schmear.)

“The Krabby Patty Kollab” comes as Nickelodeon and Paramount continue to roll out a slate of 25th anniversary programs for SpongeBob SquarePants, including all-new original content across the Paramount ecosystem.

Since its launch July 17, 1999, SpongeBob SquarePants has generated a universe of beloved characters, pop culture catchphrases and memes, theatrical releases, consumer products, a Tony award-winning Broadway musical and a global fan base.

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