Fried Chicken News

Hot chicken concept The Cookshack to open in prominent Dallas location

Fried chicken from Cookshack.

Photo courtesy of Cookshack

A new hot chicken experience is coming to Dallas: The Cookshack, a fast-casual concept that premiered in Fort Worth in 2019, will open a location at 5456 E. Mockingbird Ln. in the former BurgerFi space.

Cookshack is a concept from two veterans of Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen: Mark Rogers, who is also the son of Cheddar's founder, and chef Stephen Payne.

Spokesperson Jason Sessions confirmed that construction on the location began in June and said that the restaurant would open in late 2023.

The restaurant does hot chicken in a variety of heat levels, in dishes that include chicken tenders, chicken & waffles, and a chicken sandwich. A basic order is $7 for 2 tenders, choice of side, and a slice of bread.

They use a dry rub on the chicken, and offer a choice of six sauces that include ranch, sweet heat, BBQ, buffalo, and Cookshack sauce, IE thousand island.

"We want to be 'Texas' hot chicken, not Nashville, because it is different," Rogers says.

Their hottest level has three peppers (scorpion, ghost, and Carolina reaper) and is called "AMF," which Rogers says is a spinoff of a ski run in Aspen. The ski run is called "Adios Mother-____". They've made AMF into the more family-friendly "Adios My Friend." This is in keeping with the tradition with these places where the hottest heat level always has to have some kind of cutesy gimmick.

Sides include mac & cheese, coleslaw, French fries, sweet potato fries, spicy "Dragon" French fries and "Texas caviar," aka black-eyed pea salad with corn, tomato, and bell pepper.

In addition to fried chicken, they serve smoked ribs, which you can get solo or in a chicken-rib combo.

They're particularly proud of their salads including one with chicken, avocado, dates, almonds, goat cheese, tomatoes, and corn; and a chicken kale salad with peanuts, tomatoes, cabbage, mint, cilantro, and parmesan cheese.

Their signature dessert is called Aunt Peggy's ice cream sandwich, one of those super-thick ice cream sandwiches made with oatmeal cookies and vanilla ice cream. The recipe is from Payne's aunt.

They also serve fresh lemonade, beer, wine, and margaritas, either frozen, on the rocks, or swirls.

Since their Fort Worth debut, they've opened locations in College Station, Houston, Katy, McAllen, San Antonio, Spring, and Webster.

But they'd always had Dallas on their radar, and were just waiting for the right location in a high-traffic area. BurgerFi, which opened in 2018, closed during the pandemic. It's centrally located near Mockingbird Station, US-75, and SMU, in the Mockingbird Central center at the corner of McMillan Avenue.

"It just so happened that the first location we could find was Fort Worth, bu it was always a race as to which would open first, Dallas or Fort Worth," Rogers says.

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Chocolate News

Richardson dessert shop Chocolate Drip lays out eye-catching treats

Chocolate Drip

Chocolate bear with pistachio sauce at Chocolate Drip

A dessert shop in Richardson has become the toast of the sweets world: Called Chocolate Drip, it opened in August at 1057 S. Sherman St., in a center east of US-75 near Spring Valley Road, where it's rolling out some eye-catching chocolate treats.

Chocolate Drip is a passion project from Mohammad Quzmar, a Palestinian-born owner who moved to Dallas four years ago and taught himself to cook through tinkering. That experimentation has translated into a constantly evolving menu, with new creations appearing whenever inspiration strikes — earning him a growing reputation as something of a modern-day Willy Wonka.

"Chocolate is my passion. I just love being in the kitchen and creating,” he says.

The cafe's offerings are extensive, from sweet breakfast staples like pancakes and waffles to off-menu items teased on the café’s Instagram, such as the Dubai Drip platter — an interactive fondue plate with fruit, brownies, waffles, marshmallows, to be dipped into melted chocolate and pistachio cream.

Many of his items have the kind of eye-catching twists and table-side presentations that draw attention on Instagram, such as the cruffle (a waffle made from a croissant) topped with spaghetti-like strands of gelato, which a server extrudes through a potato ricer right before your eyes.

Other signatures include a teddy bear made of chocolate mousse and kanafa, finished with pistachio sauce for $13.30, and crepes filled with a brownie, with pistachio and chocolate sauce for $15.

Prices are not cheap but these are ultra-decadent items with generous portions, often meant for sharing.

The drink list is ambitious, spanning coffee, matcha, smoothies, milkshakes, and nonalcoholic mocktails. It's obvious Quzmar is having fun, rolling out his versions of viral items like the famous s'mores hot chocolate pioneered by New York dessert shop Glace, which features a cap made of marshmallow meringue that’s torched and topped with a chocolate bonbon.

There are also a few savory offerings like egg-and-cheese crepes, a salmon croissant, and a turkey waffle. Those in the know also come to order Middle Eastern treats like salab, a creamy milk drink topped with cinnamon; and Om Ali, a sugary pudding with nuts, dried fruit, and coconut.

Named after the Gen Z slang for “cool” or “stylish,” Drip is meant to be a hangout spot more than a quick dessert stop, Quzmar says — a place to linger over brunch, then return late night to a place that feels buzzy and fun sans alcohol.

“Everyone who works here is either family or treated like family and everything is homemade with love," he says.

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