Dallas suburb's hot housing market tops this week's 5 most popular stories

This week's hot headlines

Photo courtesy of City of McKinney

Editor's note: A lot happened this week, so here's your chance to get caught up. Read on for the week's most popular headlines. Looking for the best things to do this weekend? Find that listhere.

1. North Dallas neighbor takes new title as No. 1 U.S. housing market, report says. When it comes to places to buy a house, you can't do any better than McKinney. So says WalletHub's highly anticipated 2023 report on the best real estate markets in the U.S.

2. New pizzeria in Garland will add another style of pizza to Dallas' list. A Dallas restaurant team better known for their burgers and craft beer are moving into the buzzy category of pizza with a new restaurant called Fortunate Son. Named for the Creedence Clearwater Revival song, the concept will open in downtown Garland.

3. Construction begins on new DART station in Plano as part of Silver Line. Construction of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) 12th Street Station in Plano is about to begin. The DART 12th Street Station will provide transfer options between the Red and Orange lines and the future DART Silver Line, providing greater access to the rest of the DART light rail network.

4. Where to eat in Dallas right now: 7 most inviting new restaurants. The August edition of Where to Eat, our monthly feature of restaurant recommendations, is a fun and fabulously diverse mixed bag. There's fancy Chinese, cozy Italian, a Mexican hidden gem, top chef fare, an indie Asian coffee shop, and an authentic French bakery.

5. Dallas F&B vets to open martini lounge with some of that swing. A new lounge coming to old East Dallas will pay tribute to a Dallas institution: Called Columbian Country Club, it'll open in the former Bar and Garden space at 3314 Ross Ave., where it will honor an iconic Dallas golf club that closed in 2004 after 125 years.

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New pizzeria in Garland will add another style of pizza to Dallas' list

Pizza News

A Dallas restaurant team better known for their burgers and craft beer are moving into the buzzy category of pizza with a new restaurant called Fortunate Son.

Named for the Creedence Clearwater Revival song, the concept will open in downtown Garland at 500 Main St. and is from the folks behind Goodfriend Beer Garden & Burger House in East Dallas: Matt Tobin and Josh Yingling, with Goodfriend chef David Peña serving as culinary director, Floyd Gaiser as chef, and Josh Uecker overseeing the bar.

They're bringing a new kind of pizza to the table: New Haven-style pizza, a thin-crust, coal-fired Neapolitan style popularized in New Haven, Connecticut.

"The idea was to bring one of those styles of pizza that isn't already here in Dallas," says Peña. "We've got Detroit, we’ve got Neapolitan, but we don't have New Haven."

Tobin is from Connecticut but otherwise no one else on the team has experience with this style. Peña describes it as being large pizzas with 16- or 17-inch crusts, comprised of "high-hydration dough."

"It's a little difficult to work with," Peña says. "but it gives you a crust that will get crispy, but still have a nice chew to it. They use really good tomatoes and really good mozzarella, and they cook the pizzas to a nice char on the crust."

Tasting Table says that New Haven style is similar to Neapolitan, with one difference being that Neapolitan is baked using wood while New Haven uses coal, which is a challenging method. The closest in Dallas would be Grimaldi's or Coal Vines, although neither of those chains uses coal ovens exclusively.

In addition to pizza, the menu at Fortunate Son will include Italian-American dishes like chicken parmesan and clam spaghetti, with pasta made in-house.

It's not set to open until late in 2023, but according to this subscription-only story in the DMN, the planning is big and long-term, since the new concept is part of a revitalization project in downtown Garland Square.

"Garland has been very forthright with what they want to do, and their focus and their vision–and we're really happy to be a part of it," Pena says.

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Halo Pizzeria serves true-blue artisanal New York-style pizza to Frisco

Pizza News

A new pizzeria has opened in Frisco that does it New York style: Called Halo Pizzeria, it's in a new building at 11220 Panther Creek Pkwy. #400, where it opened in late June with pizza, fun starters, wine, and beer.

Halo is from a quartet of local owners: Adam Warshaw, Ugo Nnodu, Farzad Fatemi, and Julian Ordas all live nearby and wanted to provide an authentic pizzeria in their own neighborhood. Some come with New York and pizza credentials; Ordas, for example, who was born and raised in New York and comes from a restaurant family, including his brother Tony who owns a pizzeria in New York.

At Halo, they craft every element of their pizza, starting with the dough: They use fresh yeast only, and employ cold ferments for at least 24 hours. This is key. Their cheese is made from buffalo milk. Salads, dressings, and desserts are made in-house, and they serve sodas with cane sugar.

Even further: To achieve an authentic taste, they've built a water system they say replicates water from New York, their secret formula and the key to their pizzas.

Pizza options are above the norm, with good ingredients and combinations such as

The Scott, with a garlic butter base, mozzarella, bacon, spinach, mushrooms, and onions
The Tadlock with tomato sauce, mozzarella, chorizo, and jalapenos
The Rockhill with a garlic butter base, mozzarella, chicken, feta cheese, tomato, avocado, and cilantro
The Sem, with prosciutto, fig jelly, arugula, and balsamic glaze

There are two sizes, 14-inch and 18-inch, and prices range from $18 to $26 for a large pizza with chorizo and Serrano ham.

There's a stellar quartet of salads including Caesar, arugula with goat cheese & pecans, and walnut gorgonzola with mixed greens; and an extensive selection of starters including garlic knots, pepperoni rolls, wings, meatballs marinara, fried cheese puffs, a charcuterie board, and a "chopped Caprese."

During an extended lunch hour from 11 am-4 pm, they offer pizza by the slice, with a lunch special featuring two slices, salad, and a drink for $10 or $11.

Four desserts include a luscious tiramisu and two dessert pizzas: one topped with mascarpone, Nutella, cookie butter, and sugar cookies; and another with Nutella, strawberries, and bananas.

There's wine by the glass and bottle, and prices are reasonable with many bottles under $30.

Bellagreen

Top Dallas restaurant news celebrates limited-edition summer specials

News You Can Eat

This roundup of restaurant news around Dallas is all about the season, with lots of new dishes celebrating summer, available for a limited time, adding that sense of urgency that if you don't go and order it now, then you may never get it. Seize the day or lose it completely.

Here's what's happening in Dallas restaurant news:

Sickies Garage Burgers & Brews, a garage-themed burger concept that originated in 2012 in Fargo, ND, has opened its first DFW location in Irving at 3165 Regent Blvd. Menu items include a bacon-cheeseburger served between two grilled cheese sandwiches for buns; and the Glazed Doughnut Burger with bacon and American cheese on a glazed doughnut bun. Plus wings and boozy milkshakes. There are currently nine locations in the Dakotas, Vegas, and Kissimmee.

Zaap Kitchen Lao & Thai Street Eats opened a location in Lake Highlands at 6770 Abrams Rd. #110, in the same shopping center as Alamo Drafthouse, in the space previously occupied by Sugarfire Smoke House, which closed in December 2022. Zaap is the family-run restaurant from husband-and-wife Tony and Manichanh Moe Singharaj that's famous for serving both Laos and Thailand cuisine. It's been on a growth kick, opening locations in Plano and Las Colinas. Their menu includes sizzling Lao sausage, heavenly beef jerky, crispy wings, pork shoulder bites, pineapple fried rice, and Laotian fried rice. They follow a fast-casual service model and their to-go business is brisk.

Toasted Yolk has opened a new location at 4580 Belt Line Rd. near Addison in the former Remington's Grill space. The breakfast chain serves breakfast, brunch, and lunch classics with a full bar from 7 am-3 pm. Favorites include Churro Donuts, Cowboy Scramble, West Coast Arnold, and Club Sandwich, while the bar serves mimosas, frozen Bellinis, Bloody Marys, Rise ‘N’ Shine Punch, and Jackie’s Morning Rita.

Fortunate Son is a new pizzeria opening in beautiful downtown Garland from the owners of Goodfriend Beer Garden and Burger House, the East Dallas burger spot that was a Best Burger nominee in the 2023 CultureMap Dallas Tastemaker Awards. It'll serve New Haven-style pizza, a thin-crust version baked in a coal-fired oven like Grimaldi's that's popular in New Haven, Connecticut. That name, though. Can you imagine yourself saying "Hey, let's go grab a pizza at Fortunate Son"? According to the DMN, it's named for a Creedence Clearwater Revival song. Oy. How about Bad Moon Rising. Or Lookin' Out My Back Door. Or Down on the Corner, that makes way more sense.

Montecito's is an Italian restaurant from Vandelay Hospitality Group inspired by the lifestyle of Northern California’s quiet beach towns that's opening in Dallas' Snider Plaza in 2024. It's going into a new building right on the Snider Plaza main drag, across from Kuby's in a space whose street address used to be 6606 Snider Plaza, in a cool low-slung '50s building that sported the actual words Snider Plaza and used to have a row of small storefronts. The restaurant will be a platform for chef Kashawn Cruell, previously at Carbone Vino, a nominee for Rising Star Chef in CultureMap Dallas' 2023 Tastemaker Awards, and now newly discovered by Vandelay founder Hunter Pond.

Milk & Cream, the shop dedicated to the "milky bun" — a cross between a filled doughnut and an ice cream sandwich — that opened at 5420 Ross Ave. at Greenville Avenue in 2016, is relocating. According to owner-founder Man Ho, the shop will move into the old Creamistry space at 1929 Greenville Ave., with an opening targeted for late November. Ho is seeking more space, not only for a catering component but also to add new items that customers have been requesting including milkshakes, ice cream by the pint, and a Blizzard-like concoction featuring the ice cream mixed with crushed toppings.

Cantina Laredo has a new trio of coconutty cocktails at its Addison and Frisco locations through October 2. Passion Fruit Piña Colada has Rum, Coco Reàl Cream of Coconut, Monin Red Passion Fruit, lime, and pineapple juice. Coco Loco ‘Rita has coconut rum, Blue Agave Tequila, and Cointreau Orange Liqueur. Tropical Bliss has Coconut Rum, Don Q Cristal Rum, Fireball Whisky, Coco Reàl Cream of Coconut, and OJ, served with Red Bull Yellow Edition.

Yogurtland opened a new location in Plano at 1900 Preston Rd. #108, between Snooze and Panera Bread. The frozen yogurt chain has more than 200 flavors and a variety of toppings. They currently have more than 220 locations across the U.S. and internationally. They also have a new Watermelon Lemonade Sorbet, made with watermelon and lemon, which is both vegan and non-fat.

Thirsty Lion Gastropub has launched its summer menu featuring: grilled artichoke, spicy shrimp ceviche with habanero peppers, Wagyu beef burger with bacon jam and Muenster cheese, seafood paella (with prawns, salmon, mussels, linguiça sausage, chicken, & saffron rice); Southern Peach Crumble; and a Raspberry Mint Mule-jito. They also have a new Wine Wednesdays with half-price bottles, through August 30. Served at four DFW locations in Grandscape, Preston Hollow, Irving, and Euless.

Bellagreen is launching breakfast at its Plano location. The menu includes challah French toast with strawberries, Greek yogurt pancakes, power protein bowl with sweet potato, spinach, black beans, & a fried egg, Avocado Toast, Yogurt & Granola Parfait Breakfast Plate with eggs & potatoes o’brien. They'll be open for breakfast 7-11 am seven days a week. According to Bellagreen CFO Eric Easton, this is the only location that has breakfast for now. “We wanted to test a new daypart at a location that has a good mix of business and residential, and Plano fits the bill. We first test in one location because it is critical to closely monitor the traffic build of a new daypart and the impact of extending hours of operation on labor and sales," Easton says.

Original ChopShop, which has bowls, salads, and sandwiches, has added Citrus Thai Chop salad to its permanent menu. Previously a limited-run salad, it has greens, orange segments, roasted red pepper, pickled carrot, jicama, cucumber, green onion, peanut, cilantro, sesame seed, and Thai peanut dressing. They're also extending the Hot Honey Chicken + Hummus Protein Bowl, a limited-edition item, through the end of the summer. It has brown rice, spring mix, cucumber, tomato, banana pepper, red pepper hummus, chicken, hot honey, and Greek yogurt.

Ford’s Garage, the burger joint inspired by the heritage of the Ford Motor Company, is serving a limited-edition menu of BBQ items including BBQ shrimp mango salsa; black Angus burger with candied pork belly, pepper jack cheese, & BBQ sauce; a BBQ plate with baby back ribs, brisket burnt ends, & Andouille sausage; mac & cheese with cavatappi pasta tossed in Ford’s Beer Cheese and topped with steak, tomato, and green onions; and baked beans in BBQ Sauce with garlic, onion, & bacon.

SusieCakes is making Barbie-themed cakes with Barbie dolls and choice of cake flavor from vanilla, vanilla confetti, chocolate, or red velvet; and choice of icing from SusiePink, SusieBlue, white vanilla, or chocolate buttercream. They're in Dallas 6100 Luther Ln. or 6441 E. Mockingbird Ln. # 150, and Fort Worth at 1621 River Run.

Eatzi's has three new items for the summer including Lemon & Blueberry Cake a lemon-soaked chiffon cake with lemon curd and blueberries; Nightingale Ice Cream Sandwiches; and Jeni’s Ice Cream, in flavors such as Cookie Monster, Brown Butter Almond Brittle, and Lemon Blueberry Parfait available at select locations.

Church’s Texas Chicken has two limited-edition summer items through August 24: Mini Churros covered in cinnamon & sugar with chocolate dipping sauce; and Bourbon Black Pepper Smokehouse half chicken coated in bourbon black pepper sauce, available on its own or in a meal with mashed potatoes and a biscuit. Drinks include Strawberry Blast Sprite, tea, or lemonade.

Dive Coastal Cuisine has specials for July including Shrimp Lettuce Wraps with carrots, cucumber, mint, cilantro and chives; Watermelon Arugula & Feta Salad with garlic citrus vinaigrette and micro greens; Green Goddess Soup with avocado and roasted pine nuts; and Copper River Salmon with succotash.

Fogo De Chão has a limited-time menu of Brazilian favorites including Picanha and Fraldinha (Brazil’s popular cuts) and pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread puffs) for $39, at Dallas, Addison, and Plano locations.

The Salty doughnut shop in Oak Cliff is featuring two Christmas in July specials on July 22-23: Eggnog Cinnamon Roll — 24-hour raised brioche rolled in cinnamon-sugar, filled with eggnog custard, and topped with cream cheese glaze; and "Reindeer Food" Donut Holes — six brioche holes rolled in sugar cookie crumbs and red & green sprinkles.

Birdcall, the Denver-based fried chicken chain, has a new BBQ chicken sandwich topped with brisket, coleslaw, and chipotle sauce. They now have two DFW locations: Carrollton and Frisco.

Wetzel's Pretzels has a new Guava Mangonada drink: a mango and guava slushie mixed with Taijn Fruity Chamoy Hot Sauce made with natural chilies, lime juice, sea salt, and apricot, topped with mango puree and dashes of Tajin Clasico Seasoning. Available through October 22.

The Dolly Llama, the waffle and ice cream shop has a new waffle featuring Chunky Chips Ahoy! Cookie Pieces available through July, consisting of a Belgian OG Liege Waffle topped with salted caramel ice cream, Chunky Chips Ahoy! Cookie Pieces, hazelnut and cookie butter sauces, and a Chunky Chips Ahoy! Cookie.

DQ has a featured Blizzard of the month for July: Cake Batter Cookie Dough Blizzard consisting of soft serve with cake batter flavor, confetti cookie dough pieces, and sprinkles. This summer, participating DQ restaurants in Texas also will feature five more new blizzard flavors: Peanut Butter Puppy Chow, Oreo Brookie, Cotton Candy; S’mores, and Choco-Dipped Strawberry.

McDonald's has released a new Cheesy Jalapeño Bacon Quarter Pounder with Cheese, otherwise known as the QPC. Make a note of it. The new Cheesy Jalapeño Bacon QPC features American cheese, bacon, and pickled jalapeño slices. You can get it in a double-patty version. And in an off-menu venture, some locations are adding Cheesy Jalapeño to the Sausage McMuffin with Egg. It's a limited-time item, available through mid-August.

Cicis Pizza has a new Pepperoni Deep Dish Stuffed Crust, part of their cheese-filled crust line which they launched in 2015, but with pepperoni on top. The photo on their website seems to indicate it's a rectangular pie. It runs through August 6.

On Rotation Brewery has a new beer called Peachy Queen, a saison with 6.7 percent ABV with a touch of floral, tart, and peach sweetness. Available on tap, it's a collaboration with and benefits the North Texas Chapter of the Pink Boots Society, an organization dedicated to assisting, inspiring, and encouraging women and non-binary individuals in the fermented/alcoholic beverage industry to advance their careers through education.

Manhattan Project Beer Co., which won the 2023 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards for Brewery of the Year, has collaborated with CBD Provisions, the brasserie at the Hotel Joule, on a new beer exclusive: The Joule Blonde Ale is a neutral, yet complex light-body ale with notes of guava and stone fruit, sweet but not syrupy, with a crisp, dry finish that doesn’t linger. In celebration, CBD Provisions has launched a summer burger + beer feature: a pint of Joule Blonde Ale and the new Southern Juicy Lucy Burger with 44 Farms beef, lettuce, Swiss, jalapeño peppers, bacon, and barbecue sauce on poppyseed brioche, for $16.

Windmills, the India-born brewery and restaurant that opened its first stateside location at Grandscape, has six new beers: Sonidero, an American Amber Lager; Strange Reunion, a tart, lightly smoky wheat ale inspired by German Lichtenhainer; Gold, a crisp lager with a slightly sweet finish; Lunar Wilderness, a New England-style hazy IPA; Strike Three, a slightly hazy Imperial IPA; and So Wit, a traditional Witbier brewed with a unique yeast strain and spiced with coriander and bitter orange peel.

El Chico has a new Tropical Parrot-dise cocktail made with Parrot Bay Coconut Rum, Coco Reàl Cream of Coconut, pineapple juice, and Myers’s Original Dark Rum. Tropical Parrot-dise will be available for $7 through October 2 at El Chico locations in Rockwall, North Richland Hills, and Granbury.

The Porch on Henderson Avenue has a new dog-centric program on their fully covered, air-conditioned patio. For every party that brings their dogs, The Porch will donate 10 percent of the check to Operation Kindness, the animal shelter. It'll be in effect whenever you dine, throughout the summer.

Restaurant Week is returning for its 27th year this August, benefiting the North Texas Food Bank and Lena Pope.The list of more than 100 participating restaurants is now live at DFWRestaurantWeek.com.

Pizza Jukebox

Pizza 'jukebox' with pizza made by robots to debut at Walmart in Frisco

Pizza News

There's a new twist on pizza opening in Frisco: Pizza made by robots. Called the Pizza Jukebox, it's a new concept from Brix Holdings, which owns the Red Mango frozen yogurt chain, and it's opening inside the Walmart at 16066 TX-121.

This concept will feature an automated pizza-making robot, side-by-side with a Red Mango frozen yogurt stand. A release promises that customers can watch the Pizza Jukebox robot create pizza with "spectacle you'll have to see to believe."

The spectacle involves the sight of a robot making your pizza with a high-tech "pizza jukebox" that spins the pizza, assembles the toppings, and pops it in the oven, ba-da-bing ba-da-boom, one to three minutes later, pizza is ready to go.

Robot servers became a bit of a darling in the restaurant industry during the pandemic, inspiring wonder and delight, even if the actual service sometimes paled next to humans. Brix Holdings CEO Sherif Mityas says they're seizing some of that wonder and delight, but with better performance.

"We're seeing so much innovation with robots and Artificial Intelligence," Mityas says. "This is a robot that actually makes pizza with no human intervention."

They partnered with L2F, a California company who helped develop the technology, and have been testing it for the past few months.

"We're just having some fun," he says. "Everyone's used to having pizza delivered. But part of the fun of restaurants is going out. After the pandemic, people want a reason to come back out to restaurants, so we're trying this out with our friends at Walmart."

You can choose from a 16-inch pie or a 7-inch personal pizza. The crust is placed into a machine and spins - "like a record, that’s why it's called a jukebox," Mityas says. "It then puts whatever topping you've ordered, it slices the pepperoni, it's not pre-sliced."

The robot places the pizza in the oven, where it bakes almost instantly: 3-1/2 minutes for the 16-inch, and 1-1/2 mins for the 7-inch. "You can see your pizza made and listen to your song played on the jukebox while you wait," Mityas says.

Finally, a human steps in to place the pizza into a box, and ring up your order, and then you can get your Red Mango for dessert.

They're aiming to open in mid-June, when they'll share a full menu, and plan to follow with more locations in other Walmart stores.

“We’re so excited to launch such an innovative concept,” Mityas says. “You can’t just get this experience delivered, you must come to see and taste it to believe it. I think that was part of our motivation, to get people to come out to restaurants again."

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Where to drink in Dallas right now: 5 best new happy hours

Where to Drink

Maybe because it's fall or maybe because we're just lucky, but it's an especially rich time right now for happy hour offerings, with five spots that have either just debuted new happy hours (or are about to debut). There's a chef take at a restaurant-bar on Greenville Avenue; a fun music bar in Bishop Arts; a chance to sneak into a upscale steakhouse in a Dallas high-rise; and a restaurant-bar overlooking a tranquil golf course in Frisco.

Here's five hot new happy hours for our latest installment of Where to Drink:

Quarter Acre
Greenville Avenue restaurant has a new “Garden Hour” happy hour program Tuesday-Friday from 5-6:30 pm on the patio or at the bar, featuring snacks, three for $11, such as the Watermelon Bite, Crispy Pork Belly with avocado whip and sour lime, Half Shell Oyster with kiwi bubbles and rosé mignonette, and Mushroom Croquette with goat cheese. Select cocktails are $8 including the Front Deck Spritz with Aperol, passionfruit, and bubbles; and Bumble Bee’s Knees with Ford’s Gin, honey, and lemon. Three bottles of wine are $40: Pierre Sparr “Brut” Cremant d’Alsace, Mahua Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2022, or Black Cottage Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2021.

Revelers Hall
New Orleans-style bar in Bishop Arts has a new summer happy hour Monday-Friday from 4-7 pm, with good deals: half-price food, $6 wines, $5 well drinks, and $4 beers. They also have live music daily, featuring a variety of genres including jazz, bebop, Cumbia, and Latin jazz. Plus indoor and outdoor seating, and now is the time of year for that.

Ryder Cup Grille
Restaurant-bar at the Omni PGA Frisco Resort — one of 13 restaurants and bars at the resort — has a new happy hour with postcard-worthy views overlooking the Fields Ranch golf courses. It's an early one, running Monday-Friday from 2-5 pm and includes some domestic beers for $6, house wines for $10, and Ranch Water for $13. Food specials include Parmesan fries ($7), a guacamole and salsa flight ($9), chicken tenders with Buffalo sauce, Deep Ellum blue cheese dressing, and ranch ($11), nachos with brisket and refried beans ($12), and Cobb salad ($12).

SER Steak & Spirits
Steakhouse on the 27th floor of the Hilton Anatole has a Social Hour Tuesday-Thursday from 5-6:30 pm with $10 cocktails, $10 wines by the glass. A new bar menu features oysters, beef tartare, and gochujang chicken, priced from $9 to $23. They also have two new cocktails: Fall Berry Bush with tequila, Chambord, lime, rosemary, and sage; and a boozy lemonade with vodka, lavender, dill, lemon juice, and soda water.

Whiskey Cake
A new $7 Social Hour begins September 26, and runs Monday-Friday 3-6 pm with cocktails like the Old Fashioned, Margarita, Daiquiri, and a CYOM (create your own martini) with vodka or gin, clean or dirty, wet or dry, shaken or stirred, with a twist of lemon or olives, all for $7. House wines are also $7 and beers are $5. A menu of bar bites includes Wagyu corn dogs, BBQ spiced pork rinds, and blue cheese kettle chips.

Famous doner kebab restaurant makes Dallas debut with location in Frisco

Kebab News

A big name in doner kebabs is coming to Dallas-Fort Worth: German Doner Kebab, famous for pioneering gourmet doner kebabs in the UK and worldwide, will open its first location in Frisco, at 12025 E. University Dr. #100.

According to a release, it'll open on September 25, with seating for 77, making it the brand’s largest North American restaurant in terms of capacity.

Doner kebabs are a street food, centered on meat cooked on a rotating vertical spit. The name comes from two Turkish words: 'Doner' meaning rotate, and 'Kebap' meaning grilled meat. It's similar to a gyro, but döner meat is made from lamb or pork, while gyros are lamb or chicken.

German Doner Kebab, abbreviated GDK, is known for its distinctive waffle bread, in which the pita-like bread is imprinted with a waffle pattern. The company opened its first restaurant in Berlin in 1989 and is headquartered in Scotland. There are now 100-plus locations across UK, Europe, and the Middle East.

They made their U.S. debut in 2021 and have locations in New Jersey, Astoria, Queens, New York, and Sugar Land, Texas, outside Houston, which opened in 2022.

Their menu features doner kebabs made with toasted waffle bread, halal meat, vegetables, and signature sauces. GDK locations have an open kitchen so you can see the food being prepared to order.

In addition to the waffle bread, you can get the doner as a wrap, a panini, or in quesadilla form. Other items include a burger topped with Doritos and cheese sauce - like chips & salsa on top of doner meat, but all inside a bun; a black bean veggie burger; spring rolls; jalapeno poppers; and fries in a quartet of options including cheese fries, flaming fries, and curry fries.

“Many Americans are familiar with gyro, shawarma, and shish kebabs, however our ‘doner kebabs’ will be a new experience in both taste and format to most," says GDK North America managing director Nigel Belton in a statement.

Secret find market in North Dallas sells exclusive Italian foodstuffs

Shopping News

There's a food market in North Dallas that's like a secret find for shoppers seeking Italian victuals.

Called Olio & Olive, it's an online gourmet store specializing in high-end Italian gastronomic products — with a retail outlet located off the beaten path at 14217 Proton Rd. It's a minimalist space, open Wednesday-Friday from 1-6 pm, featuring shelves stocked with olive oil, crackers, tomatoes, pesto, antipasti, sauces, truffle products, pasta, cheese, vinegar, olives, candy, and chocolates.

The store is a unique addition to Dallas' Italian market scene, alongside institutions Jimmy's Food Store in East Dallas and Eataly at NorthPark Center.

"We call it a showroom,” says Marco Filippi, who founded Olio & Olive in 2004 with his wife Gaia Guidi Filippi. “It is not a typical grocery store or a shopping center, but more boutique."

Olio & Olive started out as a warehouse based in California, fulfilling mail orders and servicing L.A. restaurants seeking cured meats, Italian cheeses, and other rare specialty goods. The Filippis relocated from Los Angeles to Dallas in 2014.

"We moved here for the business and to live, and I am very glad we did it," Marco says. "The cost of living there was very high and we saw a growing market in Dallas."

Marco is a native of Italy who's able to leverage his connections to European suppliers, expanding his pursuit of unique offerings by attending trade shows in Italy. Gaia, who recently founded Dallas-based interior design company Gaia G Interiors, grew up in the business: Her Italian-American family owns Guidi Marcello Ltd., a longtime import, wholesale, and Italian market in Los Angeles.

The store's allure lies in its deep bench of hard-to-find treasures: Castelvetrano olives, Caciocavallo Irpino cheese, chestnut spread, and chocolates by Caffarel.

"We get unusual requests, like someone who wanted to buy raw olives," Marco says. "Unless you have an olive tree in your backyard, you aren’t going to be able to acquire something like that."

About half of Olio & Olive’s business comes from wholesale and service to restaurants, which range from mom and pops in Venice, California to Las Vegas resorts. The other half of its commerce is online and retail, which brings one back to the on-the-ground chase for specialty cravings.

Among the top sellers on the retail side is their private-label line of fresh frozen ravioli, with fillings such as butternut squash, braised short rib, five-cheese, and mushroom.

The benefit of having a retail outlet is that customers might come in for one thing and learn about another.

“They see the products on the website and appreciate when they come here and see something unique,” he says.

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