News You Can Eat

Sexy sandwiches and salty beer top this stack of Fort Worth restaurant news

Southlake gets sandwiches and house-made chips via new arrival East Hampton Sandwich Co.

Photo courtesy of East Hampton Sandwich Co.

In this chapter of Fort Worth restaurant news, Tarrant County gets a new sandwich shop, and there's a new bar from one of the city's favorite breweries. Here's the latest dose of dining news:

East Hampton Sandwich Co. will open its most westerly location so far in Southlake, at 2211 E. Southlake Blvd., on September 2. This is the fifth location that founder Hunter Pond has opened since 2012, with a sixth set to open in North Dallas in the fall. The menu stars sandwiches such as the lobster roll, turkey bacon avocado, fried chicken, and balsamic tenderloin. Other signatures include housemade chips and white sangria. Salad options include chicken Caesar, Cobb, and golden pear pancetta, along with beer and wine.

Snuffer's Restaurant & Bar is introducing a new burger on September 11 called the Dakburger, an homage to Dallas Cowboys quarterback Rayne Dakota "Dak" Prescott. "Chefs in Snuffer's Arlington restaurant have been working on the Dakburger since late April, after discovering a promising recipe on a scouting trip to Mississippi," says the release. It has bacon, barbecue sauce, cheddar cheese, and red onions and is $7.79. It will be on the menu for the next 10 weeks.

Martin House, Fort Worth's scenic brewery, has released its second wine-barrel-aged brett beer, called Thunder Horse, which they describe as possibly their "most brutal creation yet." They start with a base of their Pretzel Stout beer, which is poured into Cabernet barrels and aged with brettanomyces for eight months. The wine and brett flavors are said to come through on the nose, with a slightly salty character on first sip. The finish is roasty and boozy, as the dark malts blend into the red wine barrels. With an ABV of 9.24 percent, it's not for lightweights.

Pollo Campero, the Latin chicken restaurant chain, has opened its fifth branch in Dallas-Fort Worth, at 1380 W. Belt Line Rd. in Richardson, in what was once a Hollywood Video store. Video stores, remember those? According to a release, the chain will open at least two more restaurants in the area this fall, including one in Lewisville and another in Arlington.

Dunkin' Donuts has introduced a fall menu which includes coffee, lattes, and macchiatos in two limited-edition flavors: pumpkin and salted caramel, served hot or iced. In perhaps even bigger news, they're now offering almond milk as a nondairy alternative to milk and cream. On the edible side, there's a glazed pumpkin doughnut, glazed pumpkin doughnut holes, and a pumpkin muffin topped with white icing and streusel.

Pizza Hut is introducing a new pizza box with a playable Flick Football Field on top. It has goal posts, football triangles, and a score card. The game of flick football, aka paper football, finger football, Chinese football, or tabletop football — boy that is a lot of names — has historically been played for fun. But Pizza Hut is doing a free pizza contest you can win by posting videos of your flick football talents on Twitter, tagging @PizzaHut and using the hashtag #PizzaHutHut. The free pizza is from their $5 menu, so that's a lot of free advertising you're giving for a cheese pizza.

Breakfast News

White Rock Cafe in North Richland Hills is a breakfast & lunch gem

White Rock Cafe

A family-owned cafe is serving Mexican eats and coffee in North Richland Hills: Called White Rock Cafe, it's located at 7640 NE Loop 820 #110, in North Hills Village, in a former event space called Eventfully Yours, where it opened in May.

Not to be confused with White Rock Coffee or White Rock Lake, White Rock Cafe is named after a location in Oaxaca, Mexico — Rosa Blanca — and the ancestral hometown of sisters Jenny and Stephanie Pantoja, who own the restaurant with their cousin Kevin Nazario.

"It's where my father grew up," Jenny says. But she and her sister and her cousin all grew up in NRH.

“We decided to open in North Richland Hills because even though we live on the edge of Fort Worth, we kind of grew up here and are familiar with the people," Jenny says. “That’s why we decided this would be the perfect community to open a breakfast place.”

Their menu ranges from Mexican breakfast to comfort food to burgers and chicken-fried steak. There are all your bacon-and-egg-and-pancake combos with choice of potatoes or grits, but there are also crepes, topped with berries, and a Mexican Benedict, featuring an English muffin topped with grilled red onions, green peppers, seasoned chorizo, poached eggs, avocado, and Hollandaise sauce.

They also have a coffee program including brewed coffee, espresso, white coffee, hot chocolate, and hot teas.

White Rock CafeWhite Rock Cafe

Lunch has a homey home-cooking vibe, including a daily special with dishes like chicken fried steak and pot roast with two sides and Texas toast for only $8. There's a perfect California club with crisp bacon, red tomato slices, and fresh Romaine on toast, neatly trimmed, for $10; and that DFW classic combo of grilled cheese sandwich served with tomato-basil soup.

Prices are low, topping out at $14 for chilaquiles. They're open every day from 7 am-3 pm.

Jenny works in a surgery program most days when she’s not at the restaurant. She got her start working at a breakfast restaurant and grew to appreciate the hours and the culture, inspiring her and her family to open this breakfast cafe of their own.

It's a friendly, tidy place, with black vinyl booths and a lovely mural on the wall that summons the Mexican area for which it is named.

“My father used to work at a Cracker Barrel and other breakfast places, then he had the dream of opening his own place,” Jenny says. “That was the same for me too."

breakfast openings