Duffer News

Ice House beer garden and golf lounge swing into PGA Frisco Resort

Drizzle that sauce on your BBQ at PGA Frisco.

Kathy Tran

PGA Frisco, the golf-themed entertainment district located in, yes, Frisco, is welcoming two new dining concepts, including a buzzy Austin-style beer garden and a lounge.

Located at 3255 PGA Pkwy., they offer a casual, indoor/outdoor venue, to as well as indoor space featuring simulated golf.

PGA Frisco is the public/private partnership between the PGA of America, Omni Hotels & Resorts, the City of Frisco, and the Frisco Independent School District. The campus includes golf courses, Omni hotel, and the Monument Realty PGA District, an entertainment and retail zone.

On to the new venues!

Ice House
Ice House is a casual indoor/outdoor beer garden open for lunch and dinner daily with frozen drinks, draft beers, BBQ, and burgers.

Monument Realty PGA District executive chef Adam Solowitz describes it as "a space meant for families and friends to kick back and relax, play games, sip on cold drinks and enjoy delicious food meant to be shared."

They have an in-house pitmaster, along with frozen margaritas, spiked iced tea, and lemonade. Menu highlights include

Smoked meat plate - half pound of smoked ribs, sausage, brisket, or chicken
Smothered fries with choice of smoked meat, brazos gouda, fennel slaw, sour pickle, chipotle-pineapple kewpie
Pitmaster Burger with slaw, bacon jam, fried onion, pepper jack, kewpie, on brioche bun

Chopped Salad contains iceberg, Romaine, avocado, river whey bleu, cherry tomato, pickled onion, charred corn, and blackberry vinaigrette. Dessert is a Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwich.

"Texas-sized" frozen drinks include the Frozen Transfusion with Tito's Handmade Vodka, Owen's Transfusion mix, and concord grape juice; and the Frozen Palmer with Deep Eddy Lemon Vodka and Kelvin Slush Citrus plus tea mix.

Regular cocktails include the Dirty Shirley with Tito's Handmade Vodka, Liber & Co. grenadine syrup, lemon-lime soda, and cherry popsicle.

There's seating for 300 inside and outside, overlooking the Toptracer driving ranch and The Swing short course; yard games including cornhole and connect four; and six hitting bays with Toptracer technology and stunning views.

Lounge by Topgolf
The Lounge by Topgolf is an indoor elevated sports bar equipped with Topgolf Swing Suite technology and a library of virtual games. The menu includes craft cocktails, chef-driven fare, in a atmosphere designed to be fun for golfers and non-golfers alike.

The menu features salads, pizzas, local draft beer, and elevated cocktails. According to chef Solowitz, they pulled inspiration for the menu from popular foods where golf courses are located around the world.

Standouts include:

Deviled Eggs with pickled beets, pork belly and harissa remoulade
Queso Fundido - chorizo, heirloom tomato, pickled onion, pepitas
Green Pea Hummus - labneh, spring vegetables, dukkha, served with grilled naan
Smokehouse Pizza - house BBQ sauce, brisket, brazos smoked gouda, escabeche
SmashBurger - brazos cheddar, LTO, pub sauce, on a brioche bun
Salmon - served with couscous, pea puree, vadouvan, tzatziki

Cocktails include the Rabbit Hole in One, with Rabbit Hole Boxer Grail Rye, Amaro Montenegro, Liber & Co. Caramelized Fig Syrup, black walnut bitters, and Filthy Black Cherry.

Games offered include hockey, golf, and bowling with simulation bays for small gatherings with friends and family.

The space seats 200 people and features modern interpretations of traditional golf elements. It's also open daily for lunch and dinner.

PGA Frisco
The restaurants are part of PGA Frisco's 660-acre campus, combining playability, practice, and fun programming, centered on The Home of the PGA, and which includes:

Fields Ranch, with two 18-hole championship golf courses and a state-of-the-art clubhouse
Omni PGA Frisco Resort, with 500 guest rooms, suites, 10 four-bedroom villa-style Ranch Houses, three pools, a spa, and a meeting/event space
Monument Realty PGA District, which features The Swing, a lighted 10-hole short course; The Dance Floor, a lighted 2-acre putting course; and a retail and entertainment district, including outdoor area for concerts and events.
The Jerry J. Ransom Northern Texas PGA Golf House.

Burger News

Family-owned Patty Lou's Smashburgers will open in old downtown Plano

Photo by Sara Aurora Cimminiello on Unsplash

Smashburger

A new restaurant starring a buzzy burger is coming to old downtown Plano: Called Patty Lou's Smashburgers, it will feature the namesake smashburger, and will open at 1004 E. 14th St. #105, in a historic location that was most recently home to a Starbucks.

Patty Lou's is a new concept from Urban Family Concepts, the hospitality company whose other restaurants include Urban Seafood Co., Urban Rio Cantina & Grill, and Italian restaurant Urban Crust, all located in the downtown Plano area.

Patty Lou's is their burger entry, a quick-service spot serving smashburgers, the flattened version of a burger with crisp edges that's been a hot trend for the past year.

According to Urban Family Concepts partner and spokesperson Dana Blaugrund, the restaurant will open in late spring.

Patty Lou's is also a sweet homage to a family member — named for Patty Lou Peters, of "Patty Lou and her Texas Sweethearts" fame, an all-female country & Western / Western swing group founded in the '40s, when female groups were a rarity.

Patty Lou was the mother of Bonnie Shea, who co-founded Urban Family Concepts with her husband Nathan Shea. Infusing the personal touch into everything they do is part of the company DNA, says Urban partner Michael Lee.

"Urban is generally driven by what we like," Lee says. "Urban Rio, our Mexican concept, came about because Bonnie loved that cuisine, and Urban Seafood Company, Nate loves seafood. Burgers are a favorite of their son-in-laws."

Their version of the smashburger will feature American cheese and onions that melt into the meat, Lee says. They'll be served on potato buns, and there'll be some toppings — but they won't go too crazy.

"It'll have onions, lettuce, and pickle, but we're going to stay minimal, with additional toppings on the side," he says. "Going overboard with ingredients can get complicated. Our goal is, very simple burgers that taste very good, at a value price, so that everyone can enjoy coming back and getting a burger."

The menu will also feature smashed chicken burgers, hand-cut French fries skin on, lightly battered onion rings, and milkshakes. They'll also serve alcohol, including bottled beers, wine by the glass, and a signature frozen cocktail. Eventually, they'll add specials like a burger of the month.

The location was originally home to the Ice House, built in 1917, an institution that provided ice products to Plano residents and businesses, says Urban partner Payton Hickey.

"You could pull up and get a block of ice from workers with tongs," Hickey says. "During remodeling, we could still see the raised floor where the freezer was, where they kept the ice."

They operated a licensed location of Starbucks in that space until 2024, when Starbucks opened a store nearby with a drive-thru in the former longtime Jack in the Box at 15th Street and US-75.

Decor at Patty Lou's will embrace a diner feel with counter seating, while incorporating elements from Patty Lou Peter's life, Blaugrund says. (It's a nice coincidence that her name syncs up with "hamburger patty.")

"We'll have her original guitar and some memorabilia in the restaurant — a cool mixture of country music and burger restaurant," Blaugrund says.

burgers openings

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Burger News

Family-owned Patty Lou's Smashburgers will open in old downtown Plano