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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.

Spring Arrival

West Dallas gets new Spanish-Peruvian restaurant with big-name chef

Photo courtesy of Ulloa's

Paella will be on the menu.

A new restaurant with a high-profile culinary director will bring Spanish and Peruvian flavors to West Dallas: Called Ulloa’s, it is coming to 727 Fort Worth Ave., with a projected opening in March 2027.

The concept is from philanthropists Susan and Woodrow Gandy, who were previously investors in the historic Belmont Hotel just around the corner. They've teamed up with Dallas celebrity chef Kent Rathbun as culinary director, along with Christopher Tunnell as general manager to lead the front of the house.

Rathbun is a name Dallas diners know well, with a resume that includes The Mansion on Turtle Creek, the Landmark Restaurant at the historic Melrose Hotel, Seventeen Seventeen at the Dallas Museum of Art, Abacus, Jasper's, Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen, and more. He's won numerous awards and made multiple appearances on Food Network. He was most recently behind the launch of On The Rocks, an Italian bistro in Burleson.

Chef Kent Rathbun will be the culinary director of Ulloa's. Photo courtesy of Kent Rathbun

Tunnell’s background spans both culinary direction and front-of-house operations. He worked at Los Angeles hot spots Ketchup, Geisha House, and Les Deux, as well as the Mandalay Bay and The Mirage in Las Vegas, before moving to Dallas to open The Mexican, the upscale restaurant in the Design District.

“I am truly excited to partner with Chef Kent Rathbun, whose reputation is amazing — not only in the DFW Metroplex, but in the culinary world,” Tunnell says. “He has been with this project since the beginning, helping develop it; this will be a very chef-driven, culinary-forward restaurant.”

The team's vision for Ulloa’s is both culinary and urban, with hopes of anchoring the corridor and attracting other businesses to Fort Worth Avenue — a stretch connecting downtown Dallas with Oak Cliff that remains somewhat underdeveloped despite its panoramic skyline views.

The restaurant is named for Spanish explorer, astronomer, and scientist Antonio de Ulloa, who spent extensive time in the Mexican peninsula before becoming Louisiana’s first governor. During his travels, Ulloa documented a fogbow — a circular rainbow formed when sunlight meets mist that causes silhouettes standing between the sun and fog to appear ringed in light, a phenomenon known today as “Ulloa’s Rings.”

That vibrant phenomenon inspired both the restaurant's identity and logo. The concept promises "bold, worldly flavors in a welcoming neighborhood setting inspired by exploration and discovery,” the owners say.

Ulloa's Rendering of Ulloa's.Rendering courtesy of Ulloa's

While the menu remains in development, Tunnell describes the culinary direction as “Spanish soul with a Peruvian heart.” The kitchen will merge the coastal flavors of both traditions — ranging from paellas and ceviches to crafted cocktails and signature adaptations by Rathbun.

The 200-seat, two-story space will feature a downstairs dining room, a large bar, and an outdoor patio. Upstairs, plans call for a secondary bar, a private dining room, a patio, and an expansive balcony patio, offering views of the city's skyline and of the Margaret Hunt Hill and Margaret McDermott bridges.

While the upstairs space will be available for private events, the owners intend for it to operate primarily as an organic extension of the main restaurant. The buildout will include a guest elevator along with ample parking, including both self-parking and valet options.

The team says the restaurant will have have an aesthetic that's “warm, theatrical, generous, elegant but alive, with the energy of a great Spanish tapas bar and the soul of Peruvian hospitality.”

Ulloa’s plans to launch with dinner service first, followed by lunch and weekend brunch.

restaurants bars peruvian flavors west dallas oak cliff kent rathbun

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