Opening News

Ultra-buzzy Dallas team fires up new restaurant Flamant in Plano

Flamant

Opening day is here for Flamant, a new concept from an award-winning restaurant family that will open at the Boardwalk at Granite Park, at 5880 SH-121 #103b on June 10.

Flamant is described as a European live fire cocktail bar and bistro that's a sibling to Rye and Apothecary on Greenville Avenue, from restaurant team Tanner Agar (CEO and creative director) and executive chef Taylor Rause.

The duo has earned multiple accolades including a "Recommended" status in the 2024 Michelin Guide Texas.

The food at Flamant is designed to be a little more familiar than the ultra-creative menus at Apothecary and Rye — rooted in the culinary traditions of Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy, with food cooked over an open flame.

Menu items include

Faux Gras — a vegan foie gras made from cashews, with blackberry, preserved lemons, and served with wood fired bread
Scallop Crudo, with scallops, spirulina, lemon, oil, Italian liqueur, notable because the spirulina turns the broth ocean-blue
Ricotta Dip — a ricotta spread accompanied by ricotta shells for "dipping"
Ragu Bianco featuring gnocchi in pork ragu
Wood Fired Wagyu Burger with chuck, cheek, and ribeye, topped with fontina, Spanish tomatoes, garlic whip and chive

Flamant ricotta dip Ricotta dip at Flamant.Flamant

Dessert includes Crème Brûlée Cheesecake with crème fraîche cheesecake, red wine caramel, and duck fat cookie crumble; and Chocolate Cake with hazelnut & almond meringue, chocolate mousse, and chocolate glaze.

Drinks include the Salt & Pepperoncini (pepperoncini and herbal French liqueur margarita), espresso martinis plural, a Sgroppino (engine organic gin, limoncello, prosecco float), and the Vespa (vesper martini with charred lemon and bombay murcia lemon gin).

The space seats 52 inside and 68 on the patio and includes velvet banquettes, an open kitchen, and a large red stone bar top. Diners can gaze at the Picasso-esque 315-square-foot mural by local artist Jennifer Kindert or watch the live fire through the open kitchen.

Agar says in a statement that "coming back to North Dallas is exciting for us as we've missed being a part of this community since the fire at our McKinney restaurant in 2022."

"For me Flamant is especially exciting as it allows me to revisit the flavors of my time working in both Spain and France as a young chef," Agar says. "Like my favorite restaurants from there, we've created a menu that's more affordable and familiar than Rye and Apothecary while still being rooted in the creativity, passion, and warm hospitality that define our company. With live fire cooking, cocktails, and lively energy, we've built a place where a European vacation can happen everyday."

chefs openings

Ice Cream News

Kwality Ice Cream shop to bring creamy exotic desserts to Frisco

Kwality

Kwality Ice Cream

An ice cream chain with an Indian flair is dipping into Dallas-Fort Worth: Called Kwality Ice Cream, it's a concept founded in New Jersey that specializes in traditional Indian ice cream and cold drinks, and it's opening a location in Frisco, at 13089 Main St. #500, in a new shopping center.

According to franchisee Raju Vikey, the shop will open sometime in 2025. It joins two DFW locations already open: Irving at 8600 N. Macarthur Blvd., and Euless, at 1060 N. Main St. at Harwood Crossing shopping center, which opened in April.

Kwality Ice Cream was founded by food scientist Dr. Kanti Parekh and his son Anand, in New Jersey in 2003. It has expanded with 38 locations in 14 states including Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas, where there are three locations in Houston and one in Austin.

“The idea was to create a South Asian-specific ice cream, which is more known for fruits and nuts,” Anand says. “As a Ph.D. in food and nutrition, my father’s background and expertise were in flavor. He used that to create very unique flavors and top notes to give a really good mouth feel and experience.”

They have close to 50 ice cream flavors with classics like cookies & cream, chocolate supreme, and butter pecan; but South Asian and Indian flavors dominate the menu with exotic options like green guava, lychee, and Nuttie Tuttie Fruitee, a berry-flavored ice cream with nuts and candied fruit.

There is also kulfi, a frozen dessert that's like ice cream but with less added air so it has a stiffer, creamier texture. It's served in slices and comes in popular Indian flavors like pistachio, mango, and rose.

Other novel frozen treats include cassata, an ice cream cake with three flavors of ice cream layered over sponge cake.

As with many Asian desserts, they're often less sweet than American-style confections. Wild inventions include the mawa rabdi cup, with ice cream, rice noodles, basil seeds, and rose syrup, topped with nuts and candied fruit; and Thandai ice cream, a staple at Indian festivals, consisting of almonds, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, watermelon seeds, rose petals, pepper, cardamom, saffron, milk, and sugar.

Rabdi is like a pudding, believed to have originated during the 1600s. Kwality makes it following the traditional method of slow-cooking milk until it thickens and reduces, enhancing its sweetness and creaminess, then adding ingredients like cardamom, saffron, and pistachios.

Pints of ice cream and frozen desserts range from $8-$11, and cassata ice cream cake slices are $7.

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