Red white and blue

Dallas restaurants go all red-white-and-blue on 4th of July food & drink

4th of July at SusieCakes

SusieCakes

In a world where good prevails over evil, we'd choose our food and drink based entirely on taste and flavor.

But all bets are off when 4th of July rolls around — a time when Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants go madly patriotic (and mad for red food dye) — giving a red-white-and-blue makeover to everything from basic cupcakes to fruit tarts to milkshakes to margaritas.

Does it taste any better if it's decked out like a U.S. flag? It's your patriotic duty to find out.

Here's where to find the red, white, and blue:

Cantina Laredo margarita Cantina Laredo patriotic margaritaCantina Laredo

Cantina Laredo captures 4th of July in a glass with its USA ‘Rita – a twist on the restaurant’s signature Casa ‘Rita, featuring red, white, and blue layers with Blue Curacao and strawberry puree. The special cocktail is $13 will be available from July 1-4. Participating locations include Addison at 4546 Belt Line Rd. and Frisco at 1125 Legacy Dr.

Empire Baking Co celebrates Independence Day with a slate of limited-edition items including blueberry streusel pie for $30; sugar-sprinkled star-shaped shortbread (package of nine, $11.50); and cupcakes with cream cheese icing and red, white, & blue sprinkles, $17.56 for a 4-pack.

Empie Baking cupcake Empire Baking cupcakeempirebaking.com

Ford’s Garage in Plano has an over-the-top Red, White & Blue Milkshake, featuring strawberries blended with Tillamook vanilla ice cream, topped with whipped cream, blueberries, and a caramel apple cookie, for $10. They'll donate $1 from each purchase to the First Responders Children’s Foundation, which provides financial support to families of fallen police officers, firefighters, medical personnel, paramedics/EMTs, and 911 dispatchers.

Fuzzy’s Taco Shop invites you to cool off with a red, white, and blue treat called the Bomb-a-'Rita, consisting of a frozen strawberry margarita with blue curacao and a classic Bomb Pop, $13.

Fuzzy's Tacos margarita Fuzzy's Taco Stand bomb-a-ritaFuzzy's

Jalisco Norte will offer two patriotic specials for the July 4th holiday: a guacamole and queso combo for $10, and a patriotic red sandia margarita featuring watermelon, for $12 all day.

La Madeleine will offer a red, white, and blue "Liberte Tarte" — consisting of an individual tart filled with vanilla pastry cream, topped with glazed raspberries, blueberries, and whipped cream, for $2.79. It's available June 26 through August 7.

La Madeleine tarts La Madeleine fruit tartsLa Madeleine

La Parisienne is closed on July 4, but the French bistro will offer red, white, or blue macarons with every entree order from July 1-3 and July 5-7.

Punch Bowl Social will celebrate July 4 all weekend, from July 4-7 with various specials including discount bowling for $20 per hour per person (including shoe rental) on July 4. Each day, the team will hide red, white, and blue rubber duckies throughout the restaurant. Guests who find those patriotic ducks will get special prizes.

SusieCakes is offering patriotic sweets (see photo at top) including 4th of July cupcakes (four for $20) cupcake decorating kit ($54 for a dozen); a holiday chocolate chip cookie cake ($34); massive red-white-and-blue snickerdoodles (four for $15); and decorated cakes. June 29-July 4 at Hillside, Preston Center, and Fort Worth.

UnaVida will serve Hamburguesas for $10 and a red-white-and-blue frozen margarita for $13 all day on July 4.

Sushi News

Mizu Sushi opens at Greenville Ave Dallas address with sushi history

Mizu Sushi

A new sushi restaurant has debuted on Dallas' Greenville Avenue at a location with a long sushi history: Called Mizu Sushi & Handroll Bar, it opened in late November at 2014 Greenville Ave. in the space most recently occupied by Kaiyo Sushi but previously, for many years, Teppo, until it closed in 2022.

Mizu is from chef Roy Ahn, a Dallas sushi veteran who has owned or managed sushi restaurants such as Little Katana, Kome Sushi, and Sushi Zen in Southlake; he also owns Otaru, which he opened in the former Lucia Dallas space in Bishop Arts in 2024.

Ahn specializes in good sushi done well and at a fair price, and that formula is in play at Mizu, where the goal was to provide an old-school traditional sushi restaurant that could serve as a relaxed alternative to the current omakase trend, says Ahn's son, Chris Ahn.

"A lot of places that have opened lately have been omakase, but we wanted to offer an option where you don't have to break the bank," Chris says. "Not everyone has $300 — when it's that expensive, it's not easy to be able to indulge all the time."

If you really want omakase, they do have an omakase-style offering — "but we are also there if you don't want a formal experience — if you just want to come in and order a few items a la carte, and in a more casual style," Chris says.

Their menu features traditional sushi and hand rolls, with all the classics from tuna to uni to hamachi. "That's my father's style — to offer a variety of good-quality fish from Japan and around the world," Chris says.

They also have a full bar with cocktails, wine, beer, and sake.

They took over the location from chef Jimmy Park, who opened Kaiyo there in November 2023, but who says he wanted to place all his focus on Shoyo, his award-winning restaurant.

Mizu means water, Chris says.

"Japan is surrounded by water, and if you look inside the restaurant, it has a lot of blue neon lights that are reminiscent of water," he says. "We just wanted to creat a place with music, vibes, good lighting — just a nice place to get traditional sushi," he says.

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