News You Can Eat

Long-awaited pizza opening tops this slice of Dallas restaurant news

There's new pizza in the works and a healthy dining option opening near downtown Dallas. Here's the latest round of Dallas restaurant news:

Pie Tap Pizza Workshop + Bar has opened its long-awaited second location on Henderson Avenue. As the name implies, they specialize in pizza and beer. The pizza has a crisp thin crust, there are house-made pastas, and 25 craft beers and 15 wines on tap. This follows the opening of the inaugural branch, which debuted in the Design District in August. Menu highlights include the prosciutto pizza with dates, pistachio, arugula, ricotta, and Parmigiano-Reggiano; a mushroom option with bacon, egg, caramelized onions, and fontina; and a calabrese salami pizza with fennel sausage, pepperoni, bacon, Calabrian peppers, tomato sauce, and mozzarella. Starters include chicken meatballs and prosciutto-wrapped fontina.

Grabbagreen has opened its first location in Dallas, on the ground floor of the Gaston Medical Office building, at 3417 Gaston Ave. The Arizona-based chain does a fresh and healthy version of fast food, serving mostly organic items, like antibiotic- and hormone-free beef and poultry, whole food, fresh juice, and smoothies.

I Love Juice Bar makes its North Texas entry, with three branches coming in the next few months. The first will open in Plano on December 2, to be followed by a branch in Allen in mid-December, and another branch in Dallas at the Shops at Park Lane in spring 2017. This Nashville-based chain was founded in 2013 and has branches in Florida, Indiana, Utah, and Missouri. They do catchy drinks such as "We got the Beet" with carrot, apple, lemon, ginger, and, of course, beet juice.

Kitchen LTO is now serving lunch Tuesdays through Fridays, from 11 am-3 pm. Starters include crudite, smoked salmon, and pimento cheese with chicken biscuit crackers. Salads include tuna tataki chopped salad and a buttermilk frisée. Sandwiches include fried oyster BLT, short rib with pimento cheese and apple butter on sourdough bread, Texas Akaushi burger, banh mi, and a steak sandwich.

The Second Floor has a new fall menu featuring dishes such as orecchiette pork ragu with pork jowl and guanciale; toasted farro with roasted vegetables, squash, and Parmesan; vegan chocolate mousse with Valrhona chocolate and toasted almond brittle; and a dolce Manhattan with bourbon, honey cinnamon, and cream.

Salum has a new winter menu available throughout December, featuring dishes such as coq au vin, clam ceviche, radicchio salad, seared scallops with purple cabbage and bacon, and, best of all, pumpkin ravioli with sautéed shrimp and sage brown butter.

The Cookery, the new culinary school in the Design District, will open December 8 and is now accepting reservations from novice and expert cooks. Classes include a "winter dinner party" with short ribs and chocolate pots de crème, and "bahn Thai," with pad Thai, soup, and coconut black rice pudding. Other classes focus on sushi, pasta, and weekend brunch.

Empire Baking Co. has a new set of seasonal offerings, including its own creations and some classic holiday goods. Those include stollen, the German Christmas bread filled with dried and candied fruit and soaked in Meyers rum; and Texas pecan rings, a Danish made with Plugra butter, filled with Texas fancy pecans, and braided, with powdered sugar icing on top. There is also gingerbread and chocolate-cherry bread. The "bread of the month" for December is the cranberry paisano.

Hopdoddy Burger Bar has a new chicken-fried steak burger for $12, with two Angus beef patties chicken-fried in buttermilk batter with cayenne pepper and Frank's Red Hot sauce, topped with bacon, beef cream gravy, and bread-and-butter pickles. Cookie butter shake features spiced cookies crushed into a buttery spread, swirled with spiced vanilla ice cream, and topped with cinnamon sugar. Both are available until December 18. A hot apple cider with mulled cider and Grand Marnier is on the menu through December 28.

Kenny’s Burger Joint has a limited-edition burger, available during December only. The Kobe beef burger features a half-pound patty, garnished with spinach, roasted tomatoes, and melted provolone. It's $14.99 at lunch and dinner.

Sea Breeze Fish Market & Grill now has not one but two kinds of lobster rolls. There is the original Maine-inspired lobster roll, featuring a buttered bun filled with cold lobster salad. And now it's added a Connecticut-style lobster roll, served on a baguette filled with 5 ounces of warm lobster and served with melted butter. Who knew.

Kabuki Japanese Restaurant, inside the Galleria Dallas, has new happy hour specials, served Monday-Friday from 3-6 pm, with cocktails, sake, wine, and beer. Dishes such as the Tokyo steamed bun, the Baja roll, dumplings, chicken wings, sesame chicken, and mixed tempura are also offered at discount prices during this three-hour window.

Houndstooth Coffee has a set of limited-edition winter specialty drinks at both Henderson and Sylvan | Thirty cafes. There is a rum-nut cappuccino, with rum extract and hazelnut, and cinnamon spice cappuccino with cinnamon extract and anise.

Grayson Social, the new spot in downtown Dallas, has launched a weekend brunch with Southern fare and tall drinks, Saturdays and Sundays from 7 am-2 pm. Dishes include white chocolate croissant bread pudding with ancho-chili caramel; chicken-fried quail and waffles with Chantilly cream, white gravy, maple syrup, and berries; and nicoise with Bay of Fundy salmon, haricot vert, mixed greens, red potato, sunny quail egg, and warm bacon dressing. There's also a weekday happy hour from 5-7 pm, with $5 cocktails, such as an old fashioned with bacon bourbon, maple syrup, orange, and orange bitters, and a smoked Negroni with gin, cherrywood smoke, Campari, and vermouth.

Barley & Board in Denton has a new fall menu, with dishes such as burrata cheese with beets; roasted cauliflower flatbread; vegan soba noodles with acorn squash, bok choy, cashews, and coconut milk; and lamb shank with barley salad.

Pie Tap is open on Henderson Avenue.

Photo courtesy of Pie Tap

Pie Tap is open on Henderson Avenue.

news-you-can-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