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

SUDDEN SHUTTERS

Cracker Barrel deal leaves just one Maple Street Biscuit Co. in DFW

Maple Street Biscuit Co./ Facebook

Maple Street Biscuit Co. is done, but Biscuit Belly is still coming to the Heights.

Cracker Barrel is flaking out on its Maple Street Biscuit Co. brand. On Tuesday, July 21, Louisville, Kentucky-based brunch chain Biscuit Belly announced it had acquired 35 locations of the breakfast sandwich favorite. An additional 16 units will close altogether. Just one location in Dallas-Fort Worth is left standing: in Mansfield.

Biscuit Belly published a list detailing which locations were acquired and when the brand expects to convert them. Among those awaiting conversion is the sole North Texas location, at 1660 E Broad St. Ste. 100 in Mansfield. It should be converted by the third quarter of 2027.

In a release, Biscuit Belly says it plans to convert all remaining stores over the next 18-24 months, starting with Cincinnati, Ohio, and Richmond, Virginia.

Maple Street first debuted in DFW in 2018 with a location in Frisco. At the time, Maple Street was a small friendly concept founded in Jacksonville in 2012. They liked the personal touch and bristle against calling themselves a chain, but they then had 29 locations across the Southeast in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas.

Cracker Barrel acquired Maple Street in 2019. At its height in DFW, there were also locations in Dallas, Keller, Mansfield, and two in McKinney.

The restaurant is most known for its oversized biscuit sandwiches like the Squawking Goat with a fried chicken breast, crispy goat cheese, and jalapeno jelly. The chain also serves chicken and waffles and Southern-inspired bowls filled with grits or a potato hash.

Biscuit Belly offers a little more variety with toasted BLTs, pancakes, and yogurt parfaits, but some of the biscuit sandwiches might look suspiciously familiar. The G.O.A.T. has a fried chicken breast, goat cheese, and sweet pepper jelly.

The other key difference can be found in a cup. In addition to a lineup of juices and coffee drinks, Biscuit Belly pours “breakfast cocktails” like mimosas and espresso martinis. It places an old fashioned inside this category, which might require a few extra eggs.

As Cracker Barrel pours one out for Maple Street, it hopes to recover from a plunging stock price and falling revenues. Biscuit Belly, meanwhile, says the acquisition helps it along its 10-year plan to become the “largest gourmet biscuit brand in the U.S.”

“Acquiring an iconic brand like Maple Street, one of the original gourmet biscuit sandwich concepts, was not on my 2026 bingo card," says Chad Coulter, co-founder and CEO of Biscuit Belly, in a release. "Two of the biggest headwinds that growing brands encounter are the time required to find and build locations, and the difficulty of finding great teams. When we looked at Maple Street's geography, footprints, and established teams, a light bulb went off."

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