Corn News

Drive-thru restaurant in East Dallas dotes on Mexican-style street corn

Locura does Mexican-style street corn in many flavors.

A restaurant that's all about the elotes has opened in East Dallas: Called Locura, AKA Locura Small Bites, it's a woman-owned drive-thru spot whose signature is Mexican-style street corn, conveniently located just off I-30 at 3766 Samuell Blvd.

Locura is from Laura Carrizales and Mel Arizpe, who initially opened this elote-centric concept in West Dallas in the former Trompo space on Singleton Boulevard in 2020.

The restaurant did well until construction in the area started in 2021. A looming rent increase inspired them to relocate. In November, they moved into this new spot, a small stand across from Tenison Park.

The building is owned by DeLeon Provisions, a caterer who uses the kitchen during the day, while Locura operates from 4-9 pm.

Their menu is centered on elote cups in a variety of flavors:

Truffle: Truffle, lemon, and parmesan
Takis: Lime crema, cotija, and Takis
Za’atar: Lime crema, cotija, and middle Eastern spice
Lemonpepper wing: Lemonpepper, wing sauce, and parmesan
Traditional: Lime crema, cotija cheese, and chili powder

In addition to elotes, they have a few unique menu items including pork belly bites served on purple cabbage with chimichurri sauce, and a pozole Frito pie featuring pork, hominy, Jack cheese, and Fritos.

For those who don't want to mess with a cob, they offer La Bamba, featuring fried corn, cut from the cob in long curly ribs, in a honey-butter chile.

They also rotate in limited-edition items such as their Mexican twist on a banh mi, or their tuetano (bone marrow) elote, a dish they encountered on a trip to Mexico City.

Carrizales is a Dallas native who's a graduate of El Centro's culinary program as well as TWU, where she earned a degree in food management. Arizpe is a Brownsville native who graduated from UNT with a degree in sociology. In addition to Locura, the two are also part of a karaoke duo called Mi Diva Loca.

They also serve a Concha French toast made using concha, the sweet Mexican bread which makes for an especially rich version of French toast, which is available on weekends only.

"We are still trying to figure out what we should offer given the diversity of the neighborhood, with Lakewood and Hispanic East Dallas," says Carrizales, who designed the menu. They're also considering expanding their hours to stay open later at night.

For now, they operate as a drive-thru place with a pick-up window and a small patio, where customers can wait for the food or grab a quick bite if they can't wait to get home.

openings

Supermarket News

Cult grocer Trader Joe's plots 3 new locations for Dallas-Fort Worth

In massive supermarket news, Trader Joe's, the cult grocery chain from California, is expanding in North Texas with plans to open a trio of new locations across Dallas-Fort Worth. One alone would be cause for celebration, never mind three.

The potential new stores include two in Collin County and one in Fort Worth, as follows:

Plano, at 5900 Preston Rd.
Wylie, at 2710 E. FM 544 #110
North Fort Worth, at 9052 North City Dr., just south of North Tarrant Parkway

The chain has filed plans with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation to begin construction at these sites. That alone is not a confirmation, since companies sometimes file plans that do not come to fruition.

But Trader Joe's spokesperson Nakia Rohde has confirmed that the company plans to open three new stores in these cities, although no timeline has been defined. Because the stores are still to be built, the exact addresses could change, too.

Construction on all three stores is currently slated to be complete by June 2027. Plano and Fort Worth are set to break ground in December 2026, while the Wylie store will do so in March 2027. The three stores will average 12,500 square feet, according to the filings.

The Plano store will be advantageously located across from an H-E-B — the DFW area's second — which opened in 2022. Located at the corner of Spring Creek Parkway, this will be Plano's second Trader Joe's. The first opened back in September 2012 at 2400 Preston Rd., just two miles south at Park Boulevard.

The Wylie store will be a block west of Wylie High School and a Kroger Marketplace, and two miles east of a constellation of markets that includes an Aldi, Sprouts, Target, and a recently opened H-E-B store in Murphy.

The Fort Worth store will be across from Target and Costco, in an area loaded with restaurants, just west of a Portillo's, which opened in 2023. It will be the second Trader Joe's in Fort Worth; the first opened at 2701 Hulen St. in June 2012.

There are currently 26 locations of Trader Joe's in Texas — six in the Dallas area and the one in Fort Worth.

collin county openings supermarkets