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Restaurant News

News Bites: Nick Badovinus Pop-Ups Abound and Stephan Pyles Struts His Pizza Skills

SideDish’s weekly digest of need-to-know dining happenings in Dallas.
By Reagan Williamson |
Takeout containers with bread rolls, broccoli, vegetables, and more.
Courtesy Hatchways Cafe

Welcome to SideDish’s weekly dispatch of need-to-know News Bites, from quiet closures to opening updates and everything in between, including coronavirus-related intel.

Hatchways Cafe Adds Healthy Dinner Takeout
Hatchways Cafe in Victory Park is launching a new dinner program called SUPPER with a home-cooked, health-focused to-go menu—think enchilada casserole and 7-layer dip. The evolving menu from chef Keith Cedotal (former pastry chef of Mirador, Americano, and CBD Provisions) will be available for delivery and contactless pick up every night of the week from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Pick a Pie, Support Future Chefs
Local chefs are pushing the boundaries of pie this October to support the next generation of culinary talent. From October 12 to 25, you can bid on innovative pie masterpieces like avocado, spaghetti and meatball, and “strawberry and burnt ends” pie. These acts of pastry art are brought to you by DFW culinary stand-outs like Dean Fearing of Fearing’s, Anastacia Quiñones of José, and many others. Bidding starts at $75 and all proceeds go to FestEvents Foundation’s “Chefs of Tomorrow” scholarship program, which helps students pay for culinary educations at local institutions. Moral of the story: open your pie-hole and help young chefs.

Pop-Ups on Pop-Ups on Pop-Ups
Is it just us, or are the Nick Badovinus pop-ups multiplying like bunnies? The inventive restaurateur we know and love from Desert Racer, Montlake Cut, and Neighborhood Services seems to launch a new pop-up concept every week. It all started with Vantina, which has taken over the patio space at Desert Racer with ceviche, burgers, and bottled cocktails. Then, in addition to Vantina’s original offerings, Badovinus added the pop-up Burrito Jamz ’03 on Tuesdays out of the same space (a pop-up within a pop-up, how meta). Now, Badovinus’ restaurant group FlavorHook has announced its two latest concepts Fajita Monster and Solid Gold Fried Chicken. Fajita Monster offers fajita options (chicken, steak, shrimp asada, or a combo) out of Neighborhood Services in Addison and Solid Gold Fried Chicken serves up—you guessed it—fried chicken at Montlake Cut. Both are available out of their respective brick-and-mortars for pick-up or delivery Tuesday through Sunday.

Good News for Pyles-Philes
After  Flora Street Cafe closed in January, you’d think chef Stephan Pyles wanted to take a step back from the kitchen. Doesn’t seem so. He will pop-up at Fireside Pies locations across North Texas, toting with him 10 new menu items. After debuts in Lakewood and Plano, the “Fireside by Pyles” menu will be available at the Fireside Pies in Grapevine today and conclude in Fort Worth on October 1. Pyles will introduce his international additions—smoked tomato gazpacho, Oaxacan Clayuda, and Vietnamese pizza, to name a few—in person during each dinner service.

Ross & Hall Replacement Opens October 8
The casual brewpub that held it down at 3300 Ross Avenue was among the many closures this year. Co-owners Jason Caswell and Shawn Corley (also biz partners in Turkey Leg Paradise and The Chuggin’ Monk) made the call in May to shut down permanently. Now, a trio of  food entrepreneurs are taking on the roomy 5,400-square-foot restaurant and patio space. The project from Will Stroud of Stroud Companies and Mark and Chris Beardon of Twinning Concepts: Dahlia Bar & Bistro. The food will skew “Southern European inspired cuisine accented by Italian, French, Spanish, and Mediterranean seasonal flair,” which sounds an awful lot like your classic continental fare (beet salad, cacio e pepe, butternut squash ravioli, seared scallops with mushroom risotto, steamed mussels…). Drinks will nod to its titular flower, meaning you’ll see lots of floral inspirations in the cocktail menu, as well as the use of herbs. Dahlia opens October 8 for dinner service Tuesday through Friday starting at 4, with weekend brunch service starting at 10:30 p.m.

Hang in There, Texas State Fair
The new drive-thru version of the State Fair got off to a particularly slow start last weekend, though not for lack of attendance. Drive-Thru Fair participants experienced wait times between three and five hours—triple what was projected. Photos of fairgoers with gas cans ran rampant on social media on Saturday as the long wait in the parking lot drained gas tanks. State Fair spokeswoman Karissa Condoianis apologized for the wait times, though she felt confident that people did enjoy the experience inside the fairgrounds, just not the wait to get in, reported the Dallas Morning News. The drive-thru is closed during the week but will reopen October 2. Condoianis stressed that they are working hard to reduce wait-times, but maybe bring a gas can, just to be safe.

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