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    Readable edibles

    Chef changes, open doors and other hot Dallas restaurant news

    Teresa Gubbins
    Oct 31, 2012 | 4:04 pm
    • Danyele McPherson of The Grape, soon to appear on Top Chef Seattle.
      Photo courtesy of Danyele McPherson
    • This Love Shack in Denton will soon be a steakhouse.
      Photo courtesy of Love Shack
    • If you want a Love Shack burger, you'll have to head to Fort Worth for now.
      Photo courtesy of Love Shack
    • Bowl & Barrel's menu consists of "clever" tavern food like giant pretzels.
      Photo courtesy of Bowl and Barrel

    Dallas-Fort Worth is having such a busy, active, hopping, jumping, lively, sprightly, go-lightly restaurant scene right now that we're deluged with news — from chef changes to new chains coming into the market. Let's make it easy and round it all up in one story.

    Chef changes
    Movin' on up: Danyele McPherson has been bumped up to chef de cuisine at The Grape, where she'll oversee day-to-day operations. The soon-to-be reality TV star joined the Grape as sous chef in May 2011; Ian Starr takes over her sous chef position.

    Movin' on out: Chefs Jeana Johnson and Colleen O'Hare are outski at Acme F&B, having done the proverbial parting of ways with co-owners (and Barcadia empresses) Brooke Humphries and Brianna Larson. Will they install Jenga? Acme's new chef is Norman Grimm.

    Openings now
    No relation to Frida: Kahlo Restaurante, a Tex-Mex place, opened in Addison Circle from the owners of the Lion and Crown pub, also in Addison Circle (in the old Avanti space). Kahlo took over the old Masaryk space, which had authentic Mexican. Will Tex-Mex be more popular than the real stuff?

    And the wind called: Qariah Restaurant is a Lebanese restaurant that just opened on Lower Greenville, on the ground floor of the Vue apartment building; Lauren Drewes Daniels posted a snapshot here. Qariah also has a hookah lounge, for you dozen or so hookah fans.

    Uh-oh, has Jim White been informed? Savour Kitchen & Cocktails is taking over the old Rick Stein's/Tre Amici/Office space off the Dallas North Tollway; that location has the worst karma in the world. Thrillist calls it an "amalgamation of the owners' Savour Social Club and Bonnie Ruth's restos." (Side note: Can we ban the words "amalgamation" and "amalgam"?) The menu is a sprawling thing, from $6 hummus to $38 filet mignon.

    So far we have Ser Food + Spirits and Ocho Kitchen & Cocktails. Now there's Savour Kitchen & Cocktails. Anyone see a trend?

    Openings later
    The B-52s are sad: Tim Love's Love Shack burger stand concept is in crisis! The Love Shack in Denton closed Monday; Love plans to replace it with a steakhouse. But weep not: DFW.com reports a new branch opening on Blue Bonnet Circle in Fort Worth as a quasi-replacement for the Shack that shuttered in Fort Worth's West 7th district.

    When in doubt: Smashburger will open an outlet in Mockingbird Station in November in a previously vacant space that sits between the old Vapiano space (soon to be Mockingbird Taproom) and Sunglass Hut. This will be Dallas' fifth Smashburger.

    No relation to the play: Wicked Po'Boys will open a second branch in January 2013 in Preston Center, next to the new Grip Mediterranean Grill and the also new Hopdoddy Burger Bar. Wicked Po'Boys opened its first branch in Richardson in June. The menu has po'boys, gumbo, étouffée, crawfish and fried shrimp.

    Paging Dr. Weil: True Food Kitchen will open at the Plaza at Preston Center in 2013. True Food Kitchen comes from Fox Restaurant Concepts, with a menu centered on Dr. Andrew Weil’s anti-inflammatory diet and food pyramid. It will be the seventh True Food Kitchen in the United States.

    Fox is a mega-company that owns a slew of concepts, including Zinburger Wine & Burger Bar, Greene House, Arrogant Butcher, Blanco Tacos & Tequila, Olive & Ivy, Wildflower American Cuisine, Modern Steak, Culinary Dropout, Sauce Pizza & Wine, and NoRTH Modern Italian Cuisine.

    Fu to you too: Asian chain Mama Fu's plans to expand to Dallas. The Pei-Wei clone has fast-casual service at lunch but full service at dinner. There are currently 13 Mama Fu's, about half in Austin. The folks bringing it to Dallas include the owners of Egg and I plus Daniel Avery and Tao "Echo" Liu, who own several businesses in Shanghai, and they are moving to Dallas. Really? To run a couple of Mama Fus?

    Menu action
    Define "clever," please: Bowl & Barrel, a bowling alley opening at the Park Lane complex in November, hired chef Sharon Hage to do its menu. It's billed as "clever tavern food," and it includes giant pretzels, cheese and ham boards, oysters, hot dogs, and an "artisanal" bologna sandwich made on Empire sourdough bread with caramelized onions and Gruyère cheese. That's correct, an artisanal boloney sandwich.

    Of all the joints: The Gin Mill on Henderson Avenue has added "upscale, pub-inspired" menu items that include pork shank osso bucco, salt-and-pepper salmon, rib-eye, cioppino and a steak sandwich. Not going away are the flatbreads, Jimmy’s meatball sandwich, banh mi with house-made paté, and fish and chips. True to its name, the Gin Mill offers over a dozen gins.

    Duck for breakfast? Boulevardier now serves Sunday brunch, from 11 am to 3 pm, with dinner-menu items such as the French onion soup and croque madame sandwich, plus eggy things like quiche, eggs meurette (poached eggs, toasted baguette, mushrooms, bacon, bone marrow and red wine sauce), and legs and eggs (duck leg confit, duck eggs, grits cake and huckleberry sauce).

    Internet food: Central 214 launched its fall menu with some ingredients that required Googling: Dorper lamb shoulder with pappardelle and eggplant caponata, Florida hog snapper with artichokes, grapes and ajo blanco; veal breast with "Hokerei turnips," d'avignon radish and celery leaf pistou; duck with quince and lentils; trompetti with olives, mushrooms and piperade; and Countryside Farm's rabbit with castelfranco and mascarpone polenta. I sure hope there isn't a test.

    Mixology spoken here: Cedars Social has new food and cocktail menus from chef Toby De La Rosa and barman Michael Martensen. Those include Akaushi beef tartare; day boat scallops with grapefruit and lemon caramel; Akaushi steak frites with shallots and bordelaise sauce; and a roasted vegetable salad with Benton's 22-month country ham, candied pine nuts and goat-cheese fondue.

    Name change
    The two restaurants formerly known as Brix Pizzeria — located in Fort Worth and Roanoke — have changed their name to Inzo Italian Kitchen. It's the same basic menu, but there are other Brixes out there, and they didn't want to compete, said a manager at the Roanoke branch. Inzo is short for Inzolia, also spelled Insolia, and it's a grape used to make Marsala wine.

    Elvis impersonator department
    Stratos Greek Taverna will host live performances by Kenny as the King, an Elvis impersonator, on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6-9:30 pm. They're busy with the entertainment over there; they already have a belly dance floor show five nights a week, which includes dance lessons.

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    Dumpling News

    Asian soup dumpling chain Ugly Dumpling to open location in Allen

    Teresa Gubbins
    Feb 12, 2026 | 3:46 pm
    Ugly Dumplilng
    Ugly Dumpling
    Colorful dumplings from Ugly Dumpling

    A new dumpling concept is coming to Dallas-Fort Worth: Called Ugly Dumpling, it's a chain specializing in Chinese soup dumplings, and it's opening its first DFW location in Allen, at 213 N. Central Expy., near the intersection of McDermott Road, where it will debut in early fall.

    Ugly Dumpling is from Vertex Hospitality Group, a national restaurant franchise organization whose portfolio includes two other Asian chains, KPOT Hot Pot & Korean BBQ (which has a location in Arlington and another coming to Fort Worth), and Kinya Ramen.

    Buoyed by the success of those two brands, Vertex launched Ugly Dumpling in 2023, opening the first location in Edison, New Jersey. They now list 26 locations on their website, in Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and Texas, although 14 are "coming soon," including one in Austin that's been in the works since 2024.

    Soup dumplings — official name, xiao long bao — are a dish of Shanghai origin that are popular due to their unique combination of a delicate dough wrapper enclosing a tender filling and savory broth, which releases when you take a bite — making for an indelible comfort food experience.

    Ugly Dumpling's menu includes six varieties of dumplings, accompanied by a savory soup broth, as follows:

    • chicken
    • pork
    • pork & crab
    • pork & truffle
    • pork, shrimp, & spinach
    • Szechuan pork

    Porky! They can be ordered in a dumpling sampler, one of each variety, for about $14. No vegetarian options, although they do have a couple of vegan dishes such as vegan wonton soup.

    There are also Chinese classics like spring rolls, cream cheese wontons, hot & sour soup, salt & pepper popcorn chicken, garlic green beans, orange chicken, beef & broccoli, Mongolian beef, Kung pao chicken, and fried rice; plus tempting Asian favorites like edamame and bao buns, and even chicken wings.

    They also serve boba tea and other beverages.

    Bringing the concept to DFW is Grace Zhao, who previously owned Zhao Star Chinese Bistro in Frisco, which she sold. She's all in on Ugly Dumpling — "we're hoping to open more than one location, but Allen comes first," she says.

    A statement from marketing head Margaret Farrell says that "when we created Ugly Dumpling, we wanted to tap into the historical Shanghai street food movement but do so in a way that caters to the modern palette. [Surely she means 'palate'?] Our menu respects Shanghai's centuries-old cooking techniques while cultivating an exciting experience for today's restaurant goer."

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