Baguette News

French bistro La Parisienne to bring tea and Tiffany style to Addison

La Parisienne

A French restaurant with an elegant, Tiffany style is coming to Addison: La Parisienne French Bistro, specializing in French fare and tea, will open a location at The Village on the Parkway in a former jewelry store at 5100 Belt Line Rd. #700.

According to a release, it's set to open in early 2025. UPDATE 11-7-2025: The restaurant is now open.
____________________________________

This will be the second location, following the success of the first restaurant at The Star in Frisco. La Parisienne comes from founder Mondi Tag, an attorney who also opened Spatch Kitchen & Cocktails in Addison, and Fiatto in the West Village.

“With Addison, we’re looking forward to bringing that same Parisian charm and exceptional dining experience to a new community, while also expanding on our dinner service and a more upscale dining space,” says Tag in a statement. “We can’t wait to welcome both new and familiar faces to our Addison location.”

The menu will feature classic French dishes with modern touches for lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch. One new feature in Addison location will be an expanded dinner service, offering a more robust menu for evening dining with items such as an $18 Parisienne burger with brie and arugula to the Loup De Mer served with potato soubise — each dish is designed to transport diners to the streets of Paris.

Lunch and brunch items include $25 spicy rigatoni, bouillabaisse — a seafood dish of scallops, mussels, and salmon — $15 quiche Lorraine, and $18 tomato tart. Dessert features house-made French pastries such as triple chocolate mousse, crepes, and tarts.

They'll also install a private tea room, for afternoon tea Monday-Wednesday from 11 am-2 pm with $49 special menus featuring sandwiches, scones, and tea pastries.

Tying it all in, there will also be a bar featuring a cocktail program with a French twist, wine, and champagne. Drinks include Parmida La Vie En Rose and The Parisienne Old Fashioned, served in ornate glassware.

The restaurant is larger than the original Frisco location, coming in at 4,800 square feet, which includes the dedicated tea room as well as a private dining room. Design is by Mayavian Creative Studios, including Tiffany Blue accents, chandeliers, multiple water features, ample seating, and a patio facing an outdoor fountain.

openings

Dumpling News

Asian soup dumpling chain Ugly Dumpling to open location in Allen

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."