pizza news

Beloved Dallas pizza chain Cane Rosso to open location in Lake Highlands

Cane Rosso spread

Cane Rosso Austin/Facebook

One of Dallas' most acclaimed pizzerias is opening a new location: Cane Rosso, the chain that debuted in Deep Ellum in 2011, will open a location in Lake Highlands, at the Lake Highlands Town Center at the intersection of Skillman and Walnut Hill, in a former Taco Diner space, at street address 7150 Skillman St. #190.

This will be the first Cane Rosso opening since the North Dallas Cane Rosso location opened in 2022 - a relatively long timespan for the burgeoning chain. According to a release, founder Jay Jerrier hopes to have it open in April.

UPDATE 6-17-2024: The restaurant will open on June 19. It'll debut a few new menu items from Chef Christian Petroni including the return of Cacio e Pepe (after a long hiatus), an updated spicy Penne All'Amatriciana pasta, a revamped Cheesy Garlic Bread — to reflect the garlic bread Petroni currently sells at Yankee Stadium — and a new Chicken Milanese sandwich on wood-fired bread.
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Cane Rosso does Neapolitan-style pizzas, wood-fired in traditional ovens, plus salads, pastas, desserts, and cocktails. They do a monthly pizza such as their current Misti featuring mozzarella, salami, red onion, arugula, and balsamic reduction.

They've appeared on The Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri, and have received many media accolades. They've also been a game-changer in terms of spreading the word of Neapolitan-style pizza and improving pizza standards across DFW. The chain currently has seven locations throughout Texas in Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, and Frisco.

Simultaneous to the new locations, they've appointed a new head of culinary: Christian Petroni, a Brooklyn-born chef who's been on TV, has his own line of products, and has a cookbook due out in 2024 called Parm to Table.

Petroni, who spent summers of his youth cooking with his family on the island of Ponza off the coast of Naples, Italy, is eager to bring his Italian roots to refresh Cane Rosso’s menu offerings, as well as work on the menus at sibling concepts Zoli's and Thunderbird Pies.

In a statement, he says he has been “very careful in getting back into this game in the right way. I’ve known Jay for many years now, and I saw such great potential in coming down to Dallas, Texas to bring what I do, from my New York food upbringing, to my time in Ponza or to my mother cooking for me at home, to this incredible community that my friend Jay has built. It was honestly a no-brainer to join.”

"Working with Christian has been a dream of mine for 10 years, and I'm pumped that I was finally able to get him down to Texas," Jerrier says. "His passion for authentic Italian cuisine falls in line with our commitment to delivering a fun and unique dining experience at our restaurants…AND he has committed to bringing REAL NEW YORK WATER with him when he comes down.”

pizza openings

Asian Food News

Asian restaurant in Carrollton imports new malatang trend to Dallas

Tanghuo

Tanghuo Kungfu Malatang serves three dishes: malatang, stirfry hot pot, and pork.

An Asian restaurant has opened in Carrollton, bringing a fresh new trend: Called Tanghuo Kungfu Malatang, it's the first location in Texas of a chain from Korea named for malatang, a popular street food from China.

The restaurant is open at 2701 Old Denton Rd. #164 in a center just north of the Bush Turnpike, where it's specializing in mala tang, a dish originally from China that is similar to hot pot, with ingredients cooked to order in a broth.

Both hot pot and mala tang consist of a broth in which ingredients are cooked quickly.

However, in hot pot, ingredients are brought by servers to your table, for you to share with your party. At malatang shops, it's self-serve, with customers selecting fresh ingredients that are displayed on shelves — almost like a supermarket — which they pile into a bowl and take to the counter to be cooked for them in a spicy broth.

That communal experience of choosing your own raw ingredients, very hunter-and-gatherer, as well as the freshness it implies, is what makes it unique.

At Tanghuo Kungfu Malatang, you choose your own ingredients.Tanghuo

At Tanghuo, the menu has only three items and everything is charged by the pound:

Mala Tang is a spicy hot mala soup, cooked in a broth, and is $15 per pound.
Mala Xiang Guo is a spicy stir fry (which they call hot pot) and is $19/pound.
Gua Bao Rou is sweet and sour fried pork: Pork tenderloin served with a tangy sweet sauce, $19 for 8 pieces and $27 for 14 pieces.

Ingredients include seafood, beef, noodles, mushrooms, bok choy, fish balls, tofu, squash, Napa cabbage, all cut into sizes that will cook for the same length of time.

While $15 to $19 per pound may not sound "cheap," they push the affordability aspect, including the fact that the self-serve approach means it's "no tipping."

The Carrollton location of Tanghuo Kungfu Malatang is from Yoon Mun, a native of Daegu, South Korea who has been in Dallas for 13 years, working in tech operations. He discovered the unique concept on a trip to Asia and was shocked to discover it had not arrived in the U.S.

“I want to make malatang a trend here in the U.S., just like pho and ramen is," he says. "It is a trend right now everywhere as it provides an affordable, personal and enjoyable culinary experience. It is all fresh ingredients, great quality, and we try to make it affordable."

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