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Restaurant News

News Bites: The Foundry Readies a Return and Sweet Daze Gracefully Closes

SideDish’s weekly digest of need-to-know dining happenings in Dallas.
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Holly Nguyen

Welcome to SideDish’s weekly dispatch of need-to-know News Bites, from quiet closures to opening updates and everything in between—and back to coronavirus updates!

Our Sweet Daze Days Are Done

Your sugar dreams, I know, are dashed. The Richardson shop that taught us to cherish unicorn-hued cheesecake and admire trippy rainbow cake slices with sprinkle cascades closed permanently on September 19. (The business’s lease was up, according to one-woman Wonder Woman owner Holly Nguyen). This means no more galaxy doughnuts and geode cake pops; ditto for soft serve and ice cream. What you may not know is that the dessert boutique was Nguyen’s passion project, but she also co-owns OMG Tacos and, like many who wear a few hats, it was a sweet but also a difficult run. In an FAQ page for fans, she answered queries like “Why are you closing?” (It’s complicated but has to do with a need for work-life balance and small-business-owner burnout), “Is there another Sweet Daze?” (No), and “Why are you closing for a taco shop?” (Because: tacos came first). Our Sweet Daze days are over, but it sure was peachy, living la vie en rainbow.

The Foundry Readies a Return

Last week, The Foundry’s new owner—Shane Spillers, Oak Cliff-dwelling owner of Eno’s Pizza Tavern—set an opening date of October 7 for the West Dallas live-music venue and chill-vibed backyard eatery. Good news for those who miss stage-gazing while sitting at picnic tables under strings of patio lights. Perfectly timed, also, for fall weather. Band bookings will commence soon. (And they’re taking requests.) Don’t expect pizza. Instead, the menu will stay close to its Chicken Scratch roots with a bird-centric focus of rotisserie and fried chicken, among other good-for-sharing eats. “It needed a little bit of love, but we’ve got a great team of people. And we’ve got a great community that, frankly, needs that space,” Spillers told the Dallas Morning News earlier this month. I agree.

R.I.P. Texas Veggie Fair

If you were wondering what had happened to the Texas Veggie Fair, CultureMap reports, that, sadly, it will not, in fact, return to assuage those looking for a plant-based alternative to the State Fair. The model was no longer tenable. For many, since its founding in 2010, when it was sorely needed in a vegan-food desert, the free, open-air, volunteer-run festival—held first in a parking lot, then in Reverchon Park, and finally at the Dallas Farmers Market—was a boon. It was the largest and longest-running veg fest in the state. “While the world is not vegan (yet), the progress that has been made since our first event in 2010 has been inspiring,” founder James Scott told CultureMap. I’ll raise a seitan drumstick to that.

Ostrich, Quail, and Emu, Oh My!

As though things couldn’t get strange enough, one of the latest niche openings making our dining scene tick is Firebird Fowl, a restaurant by owners David Taylor and Timothy Summers who, CultureMap tells us, swiveled from Nashville hot chicken to . . . all manner of other fowl. Knock yourself out with queso sprinkled with ground ostrich meat and ground emu meatballs. I’ll add to the list of highly particular openings the ode to pickleball and chicken that’s apparently slated to open in Grapevine next year. Keep them coming. I’m not taking guesses anymore.

The Adolphus Gets a New Chef

The French Room has gone through numerous executive chefs of late. The latest iteration is Jin Lee, who will oversee in-room service and the Adolphus enclaves of City Hall Bistro, the coffee shop Otto’s Coffee and Fine Foods (with its lovely Belgian waffles and other pastries), as well as The French Room. In the dazzling white-plastered dining room, you can sit for tea service. No dinner service yet, but look out for a few pop-ups this fall. We’ve yet to see what stamp Lee brings to the refined space.

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