Home Cooking News

Homey restaurant with rock-star cred opens in Dallas' Casa Linda Plaza

Madison King will Be Home Soon in Casa Linda Plaza.

dallas.culturemap.com

There's an exciting restaurant with rock star credentials coming to a venerable East Dallas center: Called Be Home Soon, it's a new concept opening at Casa Linda Plaza, where it will serve a highly personal twist on home cooking.

The restaurant is from Madison King, a onetime Dallas musician-turned-chef who envisions a warm, comfortable restaurant with a full bar and menu she describes as "home cooking, no matter where you're from." It'll open in late 2024.

UPDATE 11-19-2024: Be Home Soon is now open.
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Be Home Soon continues King's culinary journey from former sous chef at Frank Underground to founding her own cottage business Munchbox, a fun snacks board concept that will operate as a ghost kitchen out of the restaurant.

"I originally planned to open a bar and restaurant with Jess Barr, who co-owned Twilite Lounge, but he passed away last December," she says. "My partner Russell Kirk and I decided to move forward without him and do this together. Russell was Jess' best friend and had been doing back of the house at Twilite for 10 years, and we felt like this was what Jess would want."

For the menu, she first went down the gourmet path before circling back to what she loved best.

"It's very much home cooking, meaning how I cook at home," she says. "I was initially thinking shared plates with fancy chef touches before I realized that I just wanted to do home cooking."

They'll be open for lunch and dinner with a menu that includes fun appetizers, soups, salads, and sandwiches for lunch, then roll out blue plate specials for dinner — your basic "meat and three style," which they'll change every week, with a modern, global spin on home cooking.

"We'll incorporate flavors from all over the world, like maybe you're getting curry today or maybe pot roast," she says.

Their location is the former Dugg Burger space at 9540 Garland Rd. #407, which it took them more than a year to nail down.

"It's our dream space," King says. "It's a center beloved by the neighborhood, the parking lot is infinite, and after being in Deep Ellum and downtown my whole career, I'm stoked to have a place that I can ride to on my bicycle."

Decor will be warm, a little retro, minimalist with "cool stuff everywhere."

"I guess it's going to look a little like my house," King says. "We're hoping super comfortable and warm and inviting. It's too small for it to be anything else. The energy will come from us."

Although King — who released an album Onward & Upward on State Fair Records in 2014 — is "officially retired" from music, she still writes songs and it's still a major part of her life. It's a legacy that will benefit Be Home Soon diners.

"As I get older, I focus on music that makes me happy, and am finding that my playlist is 100 percent female, so that's what we'll feature at the restaurant," she says."We're taking every female artist and putting in our favorite two to three songs. It's going to be so much fun. Everywhere you go it's the same dudes, I just decided, why not?"

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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 rose-and-cream marble floors from the 1920s and brick walls with signage from prior businesses in the space, 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 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 price is $20 at lunch, $30 at dinner on weeknighs, and $35 all weekend long. (The lobster and crab are available at dinner and weekends only, not at lunch.)

Jashan
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, they 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 — 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 with a slightly chewier, more bready texture than the fluffy texture of a Krispy Kreme, and not as sweet as traditional American doughnuts. Many 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 this 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 also because the Yearby's in Pilot Point made Texas Monthly's 50 Best BBQ list for 2025.

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