Spongebob News

10 Dallas restaurants now serving Spongebob Krabby Patty spinoffs

Spongebob Squarepants Krabby patty at Oomi Kitchen.

Oomi Kitchen

A national promotion to hype the anniversary of cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants kicks off on October 8, with the participation of 10 restaurants across Dallas.

Called the Krabby Patty Kollab, it's a program with restaurants doing spinoffs of the Krabby Patty, the signature dish of Spongebob Squarepants, the cartoon that first debuted on the Nickelodeon channel in 1999.

The Krabby Patty Kollab program has more than 100 renditions — dumplings, falafel, burgers, doughnuts, ice cream — in 250-plus restaurants across 12 cities: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Las Vegas, Toronto, London, and Mexico City. The promotion will end on October 27.

Strangely, the promotion — orchestrated by a secretive company called Off the Menu — forbade any restaurant from using seafood, which seems odd given the undersea theme of the cartoon. The promotion also required that restaurants include a side. And they all have to be served in a Krabby Patty-branded box, reminiscent of a Happy Meal.

The major player is Wendy's, which is doing a dull quarter pounder with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion, and secret sauce, plus a pineapple-mango Frosty shake. Some others did the same: a straightforward burger on a bun with a secret sauce.

But some came up with creative spins including vegetarian burgers since the original Krabby Patty was meatless.

Starship Bagel Krabby Patty Vegetarian Krabby Patty from Starship Bagel with a Spongebob-like backdrop.Starship Bagel

Participating restaurants in Dallas and their Krabby Patty offerings include:

Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer - Victory Park/Dallas location of this New York-based burger & beer chain is doing a fried cheeseburger on a stick: a burger with American cheese, sauce, pickles, wrapped in dough and fried, served on a stick, with a side of potato salad. (Other participating Black Tap restaurants include New York, Miami, and Las Vegas at The Venetian.)
Brooklyn Dumpling Shop - Dallas location of this New York-based dumpling chain is doing bacon cheeseburger dumplings — dumplings filled with ground beef and cheese — and "choice of side."
Cris and John - Vietnamese street food shop in Richardson is doing an Asian-inspired take, featuring two smash patties with American cheese, seaweed aioli, and pickled Asian cucumbers, served with fries drizzled with spicy mayo and seaweed flakes.
Hat Creek Burgers - This Austin burger chain with 11 Dallas-area locations is serving a dialed-in offering similar to an item already on their menu, with two patties, white cheese, onions, and a "happy" sauce on a pretzel bun.
Le Reve Gelato & Patisserie - North Dallas shop is the most TikTokky by using sweet ingredients to mimic burger components: vanilla sponge cake bun, pineapple patty, crêpe lettuce, tomato made of strawberry mousse, puff pastry sticks for fries, and strawberry ketchup. It's reminiscent of shokuhin sampuru, the Japanese tradition of creating plastic replicas of dishes.
Lubbies Bagels - East Dallas bagel shop is doing a vegetarian burger featuring housemade seitan on a sesame kaiser roll with lettuce, tomato, onion, B&B pickles, miso mayo sauce, and a side of twice-fried fingerlings with kimchi mayo.
Oomi Kitchen - Digital kitchen is doing a smashed beef patty, with cheddar cheese, grilled onions, tropical slaw, and pineapple aioli on a Hawaiian King roll, served with crinkle-cut bacon cheese fries.
Pacheco Taco N Burger - Burger pop-up inside Four Corners Brewery is doing a standard burger with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, cheese on a sesame seed bun with a secret sauce featuring horseradish and srirarcha.
Serious Eats - Grand Prairie food hall is doing a slider with beef patty, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickles, and Boom Boom sauce, served with sea salt fries. Also offering a pineapple milkshake.
Starship Bagel - Award-winning bagel shop with three locations in Dallas is doing vegetarian version featuring an Impossible patty on a sesame bagel with lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickle, schmear, ketchup, hot sauce, sweet pickle relish, and vinegar. (Remove the schmear and it magically becomes vegan.) Their side is pretzel bites with cheese sauce, and they're doing a "Jellyfish" Strawberry Milk Matcha drink — both available only with the Krabby Patty combo.

(While there are 10 names, some restaurants have more than one location.)

Oomi Kitchen founder Markus Pineyro went above and beyond by turning his storefront at 3510 Ross Ave. into a full blown pop-up, decorating the interior to evoke The Krusty Krab, the fast-food restaurant where main character Spongebob Squarepants works.

He and his team pulled together materials from sites like Etsy.

"This collaboration was a perfect opportunity to go all out, delivering not just a delicious new item, but an immersive experience that brings the magic of SpongeBob SquarePants to life," Pineyro says.

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