Sweet home Chicago

Chicago-style tavern D.L. Mack's debuts in Uptown Dallas' West Village

D.L. Mack's features Windy City-inspired pizza and more.

Photo courtesy of D.L. Mack's

A Chicago tavern-style restaurant is opening at West Village: It's a third location of D.L. Mack's, the classic American tavern concept from Vandelay Hospitality Group, and it's opening at 3699 McKinney Avenue, Suite 106, AKA the former Midici space.

According to release, doors will open on Wednesday, March 4.

D.L. Mack's made its debut at 6501 Hillcrest Ave. in 2021 from Vandelay, whose other concepts include East Hampton Sandwich Co., Hudson House, Drake's Hollywood, Brentwood Restaurant & Bar, and The Anchor Bar. A second D.L. Mack's followed, at Preston Royal, in 2022.

The menus feature classic American dishes with a Windy-City theme. The centerpiece: their Chicago-style cracker crust pizza, as well as martinis, which are a Vandelay motif.

The West Village location will feature Chicago tavern-style cracker crust pizzas such as the Honey Truffle Chicken with white sauce, chili flakes and arugula; Return of the Mack with sausage, giardiniera, and sweet onions; and Spicy Vodka with ZaZa sauce, basil and Chicago peppers.

Return of the Mack pizza.Photo courtesy of D.L. Mack's

Additional menu items include:

D.L. Mack’s Famous Chicken Tenders
Mozzarella bites
Spicy rigatoni
The Chopped McCarthy (salad with chicken, bacon, beets, cheddar, egg, and ranch dressing

New menu items will include:

Jalapeno Queso Dip served chilled with chips
The Hickory Burger with cheddar, Canadian bacon, jalapeno, onion, hickory sauce
Grilled Chicken Burger fully loaded with mustard and truffle aioli
The Truffle Burger with gruyere, bacon, gorgonzola, onion, arugula, and truffle aioli

In addition to martinis, the bar will serve hand-crafted classics such as The Gimlet, Manhattan, Paloma, Peach Bellini, and more. Happy hour is a daily thing, from 4-6 pm at the bar, with $10 martinis and half-price wine.

Happy hour is a daily occurrence at the bar.Photo courtesy of D.L. Mack's

Decor in the 4,600-square-foot restaurant will be a throwback to a retro Chicago-style pizzeria, featuring a nostalgic color scheme of white, black, maroon, and kelly green; Tiffany-style lighting pieces; artwork showcasing historic Chicago scenes; and sports memorabilia.

“D.L. Mack’s is exactly the kind of neighborhood tavern I’ve always loved — the kind of place that feels familiar the second you walk in,” says Hunter Pond, founder, chairman & CEO of Vandelay Companies, in the release. “The response from our guests has confirmed what we believed from the start: Dallas connects with that timeless, Chicago-inspired nostalgia. West Village is a natural fit for us — it’s energetic, walkable, and right in the heart of it all."

This is the second recent West Village opening for Vandelay; a location of Hudson House debuted at the Uptown Dallas development on February 4. They clearly like the fourth day of the month.

Reservations can be made now at the restaurant's website. Once doors open on March 4, hours of operation will be 11 am-9 pm Monday-Thursday, 11 am-10 pm Friday-Saturday, and 11 am-9 pm Sunday.

---

Teresa Gubbins contributed to this story.

pizza west village uptown vandelay hospitality chicago openings

Dumpling News

Momo2Go restaurant from Canada debuts in-demand dumplings in Frisco

s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com

A fast-casual restaurant starring momos has debuted in Frisco: Called Momo2Go, it's part of a well-regarded chain from Canada.

The restaurant recently opened at 5500 Preston Rd. #102, in the Preston Lebanon Crossing shopping center, taking over a space previously occupied by Lalo's Cocina Mexicana, which closed in July.

Momo2Go specializes in momos — the dumpling that's a foundation of Himalayan cuisine — and is a spinoff of a family-owned restaurant called Himalayan Kitchen, which debuted in Toronto in 2012. Their momos were so popular that they launched Momo2Go in 2016. They now have 10 including one in Irving, which franchisees Karma Gurung and Tashi Chetan opened in 2023. Frisco is their second location.

The menu features traditional steamed momos, filled with choice of beef, chicken, or veggie; plus fun fusion momos, inspired by momo stands chef Tenzin Dharpo saw while on trips to India and Nepal.

All of their momos can be served "dry," IE pan-fried, without sauce, although the more popular option is to get them with sauce, for a highly comforting bowl.

Signature dishes include:

Butter Chicken Momo, dumplings that summon the traditional Indian dish, with a creamy butter chicken sauce
Delhi Masala Momo, fried dumplings sauteed in a Himalayan sauce topped with mint chutney
Momo65, deep-fried dumplings with a sweet, spicy, and buttery taste, topped with spicy mayonnaise and curry

They offer many vegetarian and vegan non-momo dishes, such as spicy Schezwan Tofu Gravy, with fried cubes of tofu, crunchy and tender, in a spicy hot sauce and gobi Manchurian, which consists of battered cauliflower florets stir-fried with ginger garlic paste. There's an entire section dedicated to "chaap," a chicken-nugget-like alternative made with soybeans.

The menu also has some intriguing fried rice and noodle dishes such as stir-fried noodles with scrambled eggs, as well as a Himalayan-spiced take on chow mein, the classic Chinese stir-fry dish.

And because no restaurant these days can not-have French fries, Momo2Go has them in three options: plain fries; chili fries featuring spiced French fries sauteed with garlic, onions, and special sauce; and honey chili fries, featuring spiced French fries sauteed with garlic, onions, and honey garlic sauce topped with sesame seeds.

The Frisco location has plenty of seating, although they use disposable containers. (To their credit, much of it is paper-based rather than plastic.) A mural of blue sky and puffy clouds with the slogan "I followed my heart and it led me to momo" takes up an entire wall, adding some energy to the space.

According to a spokesperson, the owners chose Frisco for their second location because of its booming Asian population as well as its increasing demand for halal food preparation, meaning that the animals are raised and butchered in accordance with Islamic guidelines — a growing trend in Dallas-Fort Worth.

asian asian cuisine dumplings frisco openings