Opening News

Gloria's Latin Cuisine to bring the margaritas and pupusas to Plano

Gloria's Latin Cuisine

A venerable Dallas-based Latin restaurant chain is expanding north: Gloria's Latin Cuisine, the pioneering Salvadoran and Tex-Mex concept, will open a location in Plano, on the southwest corner of Preston Road and SH-121.

According to a release, it'll open in 2025.

It'll be a newly constructed location, representing Gloria’s fourth stand-alone restaurant, and will replace the current Frisco location on Gaylord Parkway. A representative says that moving to Plano gives the company a chance to be in its own space rather than being a tenant as they are in Frisco. However, Frisco will remain open until the very last day before Plano opens.

Gloria’s Latin Cuisine was founded in 1986 by Gloria and Jose Fuentes, born out of the traditions of El Salvador, with their original location in Oak Cliff on West Davis Street before relocating to a former firehouse they renovated in 2011.

They currently have 23 locations across Texas including Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio — all of the cities where CultureMap also has bureaus. Smart!

They're famous for their black bean dip, pupusas, and margaritas, plus signature dishes like Platano Frito, consisting of fried plantains served with black beans; and Mariscada, their seafood soup with shrimp, scallops, red snapper, mussels, lobster tail and vegetables.

Over the years, they've added some Tex-Mex for diversity on the menu, which the release kindly says "skirts the line between tradition and innovation," when what it should say is that some customers see "Latin" and ask for Tex Mex.

The new location will be 9,200 square feet and have a design that incorporates expansive use of natural light, custom ceramics, and Salvadoran-inspired art. The restaurant will include a big outdoor patio dining space, and an upscale bar with a large scale tequila display.

“We’re excited to bring a modern dining experience to our guests in the Plano and Frisco areas," says owner Gloria Fuentes in a statement. “We look forward to debuting our restaurant design that has unexpected use of art forms and color making the space feel serene and welcoming. We can’t wait to share this new experience with our guests.”

openings

Dumpling News

Chef Sun's Chinese restaurant steams into McKinney with noodles and dumplings

Chef Sun's

Chef Sun's rainbow dumplings

There’s a Chinese restaurant serving steamed dumplings and hand-pulled noodles in McKinney: Called Chef Sun’s Noodle and Dumpling, it’s in the former Fork and Fire space at 7540 SH 121, #150 at Hub 121, where it opened in February.

Chef Sun’s is from Richard Sun, who previously operated restaurants in Houston and China before moving to Dallas. He opened the first location of Chef Sun's Noodle and Dumpling in Plano in 2024.

He's joined by executive chef Jianmin Xiao, another native of China who also has extensive restaurant experience. Sun is from northeastern China, and Xiao is from Sichuan. They met in Houston six years ago and reconnected when Sun had plans to move to Dallas and open the Plano Chef Sun's location. Sun's daughter Cassie Sun is also part of the team, serving as general manager.

"After my dad finished culinary school in China, he'd travel around to different cities there and learn how to make different cultural foods, such as Sichuan and dim sum (Cantonese dumplings)," Cassie says. "All of our chefs also have 20-30 years of experience."

The menu at both locations is the same, featuring popular soup dumplings, rainbow dumplings, and house biang biang, a chewy and wide hand-pulled noodle dish.

The Sichuan region of China uses a lot of Sichuan pepper and chili peppers in dishes, while northeastern fare is milder. Xiao has his own stir-frying process: for the three-flavor pepper chicken, he stir fries the pepper first, then adds dried chili peppers to layer the spiciness of the dish, then adds the chicken.

Chef Sun's does baked or fried piggy buns.Chef Sun's

While they take their dumpling making seriously and turn out an impeccably authentic version, they also do cute specialty dishes, like the baked or fried piggy buns filled with red bean paste and designed with pig faces on the outside. Dumplings are typically $13 and noodles are $12-S18.

While Plano is more casual, the new McKinney spinoff has an elevated atmosphere with counter seating and hanging chandelier lights ideal for date nights and family gatherings, plus a patio.

They don't serve alcohol but one thing that enhances the dining experience at Chef Sun's is the open kitchen where customers can watch through a small window as dumplings are prepared.

chinese restaurant handpulled noodles mckinney sichuan region steamed dumplings