Stadium Eats

Grand pan-Asian restaurant to debut at Loews hotel near Arlington stadium

Branzino and sushi roll from Soy Cowboy

Soy Cowboy

The cowboy has arrived: Soy Cowboy, the Pan-Asian concept that will serve as the signature restaurant of Loews Arlington Hotel and Convention Center, will after much anticipation open on June 27.

Soy Cowboy anchors the ground level of the new Loews Arlington Hotel, at 888 Nolan Ryan Expwy., fortuitously situated between two sports stadiums and connected to the new Loews Arlington Convention Center.

The name may be slightly iffy but is said to give a nod to a buzzy street in Bangkok, Thailand called Soi Cowboy. The concept is from Houston-based restaurateur Benjamin Berg, a New York native who founded Berg Hospitality Group, a culinary group responsible for B&B Butchers & Restaurant in Houston and Fort Worth, plus 13 more concepts in Houston.

"With Soy Cowboy, we're bringing a fresh Pan-Asian concept to Arlington that blends bold flavors from across the continent with a playful Texas twist,” Berg says in a statement. “Our goal is to create a vibrant dining experience that captures the energy of Asia while incorporating ingredients sourced locally."

"From sizzling woks to creative cocktails, we want Soy Cowboy to be a place where guests can escape to and explore exciting tastes in a lively, welcoming atmosphere," Berg says.

Food
Soy Cowboy is an upscale and sophisticated Pan-Asian concept that incorporates the flavors of China, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan. The menu includes shareable plates exploring classic Asian cooking techniques including sushi, tempura, wok, robatayaki, hibachi, and teppanyaki, as well as Korean barbeque.

As with Berg’s original concept, B&B Butchers & Restaurant, attention is paid to butchering, aging, preparing, and grilling meat: from beef to game to seafood, with items like A5 Kobe Beef and an Australian Wagyu Tomahawk and NY Strip or Wagyu Beef Tsukune.

The restaurant also boasts a Dim Sum menu with items like Lobster Wontons, Wagyu Gyoza, Nigiri, Sashimi, Omakase, and caviar; plus innovative cocktails, wine, and sake.

Soy Cowboy’s lead chef is Berg Hospitality Group Regional Culinary Director Alisher Yallaev, who comes fresh off the opening of Berg’s Houston restaurant, Prime 131. Born and raised in Uzbekistan, Yallaev left home at 19 working his way up from dishwasher to stage at eight Michelin Star concepts to top Miami kitchens and kitchens across the U.S.

Soy Cowboy interiorSoy Cowboy

Decor
Soy Cowboy’s interiors were designed by Gail McCleese of Houston-based design firm sensitori, in collaboration with iCrave. The design features an immersive experience evoking natural settings found in China, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan: a dark forest setting with preserved bamboo, a ceiling filled with fiber optic stars, custom-designed lighting beneath a glass floor to evoke the color and texture of flowing water, and so on.

A color scheme of green, gold, merlot, and dark hues integrate with varying textures to represent the different cultural influences across Asia. The bar and indoor patio feature a custom-painted red trellis and teak furnishings. A separate outdoor patio, sushi bar, and teppanyaki bar contribute three additional dining areas.

At the heart of the formal dining room, a water vapor installation is suspended above Soy Cowboy’s flame emblem.

In all, the restaurant has 12,770 square feet of interior space and 2,145 square feet of exterior space.

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