Opening News

The Star in Frisco reboots with 5 new restaurants and bars

Chimichurri cheeseburger at Sidecar Social in Addison

Worry not, there will be burgers. There are always burgers.

Photo courtesy of Visit Addison

The Star District — the entertainment district at the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters and practice facility at The Star in Frisco — is debuting five new restaurants and bars that include Italian, seafood, Indian, and cocktails, opening in 2022.

The complex has not had an easy time since it unveiled its first dozen restaurants in 2016, and the pandemic has not helped.

This newest batch includes an Italian restaurant from the Lombardi family and an outdoor venue, plus new concepts and cocktail lounges from local restaurateurs.

Lombardi Cucina Italiana - 6655 Winning Drive #605
Well here's some florid press release wordage: "The atmosphere at Lombardi Cucina Italiana will remind you of an open-air villa in Italy surrounded by olive trees, Italian marble, and Venetian chandeliers."

The menu will be "authentic Italian cuisine with a modern touch," led by culinary director Alfio Longo and chef Ty Thaxton, with pastas be produced daily in an open style ‘pasta laboratorio’ — how much you wanna bet that translates into "pasta laboratory"? — plus nonpasta categories such as fish, meat, and produce.

The Glen & Monarch Stag - 6655 Winning Drive, #600
Derek and Sheree Simms of Simms Hospitality Group, which owns J. Theodore and Rare Books Bar, are debuting not one but two new concepts: a restaurant called The Glen and an adjacent scotch bar called the Monarch Stag.

The inspiration is pretty arcane: They say that it's from The Monarch of the Glen, a British painting originally commissioned in 1851 for the Palace of Westminster.

The Glen will feature "hand-pressed" craft cocktails, wine, scotch, and seafood. It will also offer "experiential layers," including aerial performing artists and entertainers. Wow-wee.

Monarch Stag will have food, live music, cigar lounge, and scotch whisky and bourbon selections from around the world.

Sidecar Social - 6770 Winning Drive
Sidecar Social is the fun outdoor concept from On Deck Concepts, founded by Brent Tipps, founder of BoomerJack’s sports bar. The first Sidecar Social debuted in Addison in August 2019. This will be the second location.

Set to open in fall 2022, it'll be a massive 15,000-square-foot space featuring craft cocktails and bites, games, karaoke, live music, TVs, and an all-season patio.

Snowbird Cocktail Lounge & Kitchen - 6765 Winning Drive, #800
Bar and hospitality experts David Nguyen and Sobe Ahmed are partnering to debut a new concept, Snowbird Cocktail Lounge and Kitchen.

They describe it as an upscale Art Deco-inspired lounge with a "tantalizing array of mixology cocktails," small bites, and music.

It is surely not named for the flock of retirees who escape the cold in the Northeast every winter and head for Florida.

Roti Grill - 3675 Gaylord Parkway, #1105
Fresh Indian food restaurant is relocating from its original location in The Star District on Winning Drive and will reopen in early 2022 on Gaylord Parkway with an updated menu and enhanced interior including a new bar, and a large storefront patio for outdoor dining.

openings

Escargot News

New all-day French bistro in downtown Rockwall is all from scratch

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Belle View Bistro Rockwall

An all-day French bistro has made its debut in Rockwall: Called Belle Vie Bistro, it’s a new mom-and-pop in the charming historic downtown district, at 112 E. Rusk St., the former home of The Fatted Calf restaurant, where it opened its doors on November 12.

Belle Vie is from Luis and Iliana Marquez, a hard-working couple who also own Los Marquez, a popular taco--themed food-truck-turned-restaurant in Rockwall they first debuted in 2019. In May, the couple took over the former Fat Chicken space to open a brick and mortar location of Los Marquez, where they serve well-made Mexican food like tacos, burritos, and quesadillas, but also burgers & fries. They open for breakfast with breakfast tacos, and run a daily lunch special, often creative, always popular, such as birria ramen with choice of beef or lamb for $11.

But the couple had a bigger vision of creating a place where chef Luis could stretch and showcase his skills.

"Luis has a lot of culinary experience, and it’s something that he’s been putting aside,” Iliana says. “We were just waiting on the perfect time to bring this to life.”

"This is something exciting and new for us, it’s something that we always wanted to make,” Luis says.

Like Los Marquez, Belle Vie is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, serving classics like French onion soup, moules frites, escargot, and duck confit. There are also comforting and American dishes like spinach-artichoke dip, crab cakes, and fish & chips.

Lunch features Cobb salad, a French dip, and chicken & Brie panini, while an extended breakfast -- which runs from 7 am to 4 pm — includes pancakes, waffles, eggs benedict, beignets French toast, and crepes, plus pastries and breads made from scratch.

Mural on the wall at Belle Vie Bistro RockwallFacebook

The bakery counter is a delight, with eclairs, croissants, scones, fruit tarts, and cake slices in flavors like carrot cake and white chocolate raspberry. There's also a serious coffee program with espresso drinks such as lattes.

"We pride ourselves on making everything from scratch," the duo says. "Our bread—whether for sandwiches, paninis, hamburgers or anything listed on our menu is made fresh just for us by our incredibly talented pastry chef and baker. The same care goes into our pastries and desserts ensuring every bite is special and crafted with love."

The dining room is warm and cozy with dark wood chairs and plush booths and a full-wall mural depicting a street in Paris. They also have a full bar, with cocktails and beer on tap. Prices are reasonable, ranging from $9 for a Belgian waffle during breakfast to $45 for prime ribeye at dinner.

For now, they're not taking reservations — it's first come, first serve.

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