Indian Restaurant News

Upscale Indian restaurant Sanjh opening soon in Irving unveils full menu

Sanjh

There's a date for a new Indian restaurant in Irving: Called Sanjh, it's an upscale fine-dining place with a stellars team that will open in Las Colinas at 5250 N. O'Connor Blvd. #146 on January 18.

Sanjh is from Dallas entrepreneur Sanjay Joshi and Prob Arora, who was co-owner of The Saffron House, the acclaimed Indian restaurant that was in Addison for 14 years.

Chef is Balpreet Singh Chadha, who has a lustrous history working at hotels and restaurants around the world including India, United Arab Emirates, and Michelin-starred restaurants in Spain.

Highlights from the opening menu include shared dishes such as Shakargandi Amrak Chaat, a Delhi street food with sweet potatoes as the star of the dish; and Bharwan Paneer Tikka, a North Indian starter dish featuring Indian cheese, nuts, spices, herbs and cream.

Soups and salads include a Delhi Style Chicken Shorba and Dal Shorba; and Sanjh Insalata Caprese.

Many dishes are shareable including

Tandoori Jhinga, a prawn starter from the Southern region of India
Scallops Recheado, a take on the famous Goan dish with roots dating back to the time when Goa was under Portuguese rule
Bhatti Da Kukarh, AKA tandoor chicken, one of the most iconic Indian dishes
Masaledaar Chaampan, a lamb chop dish prepared with a blend of Punjabi spices

"We have strived to show every part of India on the menu wherever we could," Chadha says in a statement. "Our team of chefs has worked across the country, all bringing a little piece of each region with them to our restaurant.”

There's also a big selection of vegetarian options such as

Paneer Makhni, a Punjabi dish with paneer, tomatoes, cashews, spices and cream
Hing Dhaniya Ke Chatpate Aloo, the potato dish from Delhi featuring multi-colored baby potatoes flavored with Indian coriander seed, pungent asafoetida and dry mango powder
Methi Chaman, a gravy based dish from the Kashmiri pandit cuisine

A dish called the Fish Roast is marinated in curry leaves and sambar onion, then steamed inside a banana leaf and pan seared. to Lucknawi Duck Dhaniya Qorma features pan seared duck in a qorma sauce. Old Delhi Butter Chicken is Chadha’s take on the beloved classic.

Desserts include Indian favorites such as Laddoo, Ghevar, and Katli, and they also have Indian-inspired cocktails such as the Monsoon in Meghalaya with gin, bay leaf, clove-bay cordial, citrus, and black pepper essence; and the Kollam Sour with Kerala cashew-infused Indian whiskey, vetiver, date syrup, and citrus, offering a nod to one of the oldest ports on the Malabar Coast which was once the port of international spice trade.

The dining room is a modern space with clean lines that avoids Indian restaurant stereotypes, featuring a neutral palette, satin brass, and marble. A shimmery gold decorative tree serves as the focal point for the dining room.

Sanjh will open for dinner first, with lunch and brunch added at a later date.

openings

Tex-Mex News

Get Tex-Mex and bargain margs at Alexander's Cantina in North Dallas

A Mexican restaurant with a killer happy hour has debuted in North Dallas: Alexander's Cantina & Cocina, a family-owned restaurant and bar, has opened at 4805 Frankford Rd. #105, a space most recently occupied by Casa Don Luis Tex-Mex and before that, a Corner Bakery.

Alexander's is a bigger-and-better spinoff of Alexander's Mex Cuisine, a restaurant opened in Plano in 2023 by Bernardo Garduño and his family, featuring Tex-Mex and street food from his hometown Mexico City.

Garduño worked for many years in the service industry before coming to Dallas in 2015. He crafted Alexander's menu by drawing on his restaurant experience, along with recipes from his mom.

Signature dishes include:

Pambazo — Mexican bread dipped in chili sauce, filled with potatoes, chorizo, and queso, then fried
Alambre — steak, ham, and bacon with onion, peppers, and cheese
Bistek a la Mexicana — steak tips, onion, and bell pepper simmered in a spicy tomato sauce until it turns into a stew

Other crowd-pleasers include chicken mole, brisket tacos, birria, fajitas, enchiladas, and more. They have a big selection of seafood including tacos with salmon and coconut shrimp, plus vegetarian options such as veggie fajitas and spinach enchiladas. One favorite extra: Their chips come not only with salsa but also black bean dip.

The new location has given them room to grow in a way they were unable to do in Plano, Garduño says.

"Plano is doing very well but that location is small, and there was no room to expand," he says. "We did extensive renovations at the Dallas location that included the addition of a bar, as well as room for parties and entertainment, like salsa on Fridays and Saturdays."

The menu at the two locations is basically the same but Dallas has a few new dishes such as mojarra frita, a whole tilapia fried and served with rice, plus carnitas, and a few more tacos, he says.

One item they recently dropped: soft-serve margaritas. Garduño was quick to jump on that early 2026 trend, and Alexander's made many a "soft-serve margarita" list, but the trend turned out to be short-lived.

"It did well for a month, but people went right back to regular margaritas," he says. "Those drinks are fun but they're very sweet. The mix has to be highly sugared in order to get the texture correct. The ingredients and equipment to make it were expensive, which meant we had to charge more for it — $16 as opposed to $10 for our regular margaritas."

Garduño has kept an eye on the trend. "We're not the only place no longer doing it," he says.

Besides, it was not a good fit with Alexander's generous happy hour, featuring $5.50 house margaritas, $6 flavored margaritas, and $4 beer, available from 11 am-6 pm every day at the Plano location, and Sunday-Thursday at Dallas.

"Our happy hour has become one of our trademarks," he says.

tex-mex openings