Big Big Ideas

Savvy global-fusion restaurant to open at McKinney waterfront village

The Quay McKinney

The Quay

An upscale global-fusion restaurant is about to debut in McKinney: Called The Quay, it specializes in American and Asian dishes, and will open in the former Waterfront Restaurant at 6601 Mediterranean Dr., in Adriatica Village, on February 27.

The Quay comes from restaurateur and chef Saicharan Shankar, who's no stranger to the Adriatica Village: In 2024, he opened Tantra Modern Indian Bistro, an upscale Indian restaurant with craft cocktails.

He's a big fan of the center. "This location was chosen because of the exquisite Mediterranean Village setting and its panoramic waterfront view," he says.

While Tantra specializes in Indian food, The Quay is an ambitious multi-cuisine concept featuring Mediterranean and pan-Asian dishes, inspired by his love of dining at premium restaurants around the world.

Signature dishes include the "Hotstone Wagyu," featuring A5 Wagyu beef cooked on a hot stone; and the Ruby Beet Chèvre, a a stunning pink goat cheese tinted by red beets, with microgreens and candied walnuts.

The restaurant offers two tasting menus with seven courses for a set price in two options: vegetarian for $89, and non-vegetarian for $109.

"It's a 7-course tasting menu that uses the finest ingredients and premium meats, including Wagyu imported from Japan," Sai says.

Other intriguing dishes include chicken schnitzel with mushroom sauce, risotto with prawns and truffle aioli, halibut with spinach sauce, Thai spring rolls, and vegetable curry. Young and savvy, Shankar is well acquainted with vegetarian tricks and techniques such as using mushrooms in place of meat in a veggie version of schnitzel using king oyster mushrooms.

Decor is upscale and they have a full bar mixing up a slate of colorful cocktails, such as the Lychee Martini; the Quay Old Fashioned with Redemption bourbon, maraschino liquor, and Angostura bitters; and the Oaxaca Duet with Tres Generacions Reposado Tequila, Cointreau, and aquafaba (chickpea water) — another trendy vegetarian ingredient.

Presentation is whimsical and over-the-top, such as the old fashioned, which is delivered in a glass cube filled with smoke which oozes out when the cocktail is removed; and a tropical drink mixed and poured into a partially rotating globe. If you're going to dream, why not dream big.

Cocktail at The QuayThe Quay

openings

Sake News

Festival dedicated to sake will be staged at select Dallas restaurants

Photo courtesy of Japanese Sake & Food Festival

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A special event dedicated to sake is coming to Dallas: Called Sake Week, it'll take up residence at select restaurants across the city, with sake pairings and special sake cocktails. For four days, it'll be sake sake sake, everywhere you turn.

Held from March 20-23, the event is sponsored by the Sake Brewers Association of North America, a promotional group founded by North American sake brewers in early 2019, and the National Tax Authority of Japan, with a goal to highlight the tradition of sake and its culinary adaptability.

The first Sake Week took place in Dallas in 2024. In 2025, it returns with an expanded footprint: an accompanying Sake Week in Austin as well.

A word about sake
Sake fans appreciate it as a versatile and food-friendly beverage — but one that is perhaps overlooked outside Japanese restaurants. They know it's brewed with rice, water, yeast, and koji, a fermentation ingredient that creates alcohol, and can be an ideal partner for all flavors, not just sushi: barbecue, seafood, even spicy dishes.

Sake Week events
The campaign will launch in Dallas with two events on March 3, which all participating restaurants are required to attend, ahead of the event, and include an interactive, hands-on educational sake seminar at Dallas College Culinary Institute, 11830 Webb Chapel Rd #1200, and an industry gathering at Lady Love 310 W. Seventh St. in Bishop Arts.

In Austin, there'll be a similar event on March 4 at Texas Sake Co., at 440 E. St. Elmo Rd. — bringing together sake experts, sommeliers, media, and hospitality professionals with information on the pairing potential of sake.

Throughout Sake Week, participating restaurants will offer sake flights, pairings and sake cocktails. Dallas restaurants include Lady Love and Asian Mint. In Austin, participating restaurants include Lao'd, Fukumoto, and Texas Sake Co.

The confusing element is that they say it's "Sake Week" — when it seems to be "Sake Weekend" — since it runs from Thursday, March 20 to Sunday, March 23. But according to a spokesperson, the team felt that "Sake Week" sounded better than "Sake Weekend." We live in a world where the meaning of words does not matter as much as how they sound.

Weston Konishi, President of the Sake Brewers Association of North America president Weston Konishi says in a statement that their mission is "to educate and inspire a new generation of sake enthusiasts—to show them that sake is not just for Japanese cuisine, but for an entire spectrum of culinary experiences, much like fine wine and craft beer."