Here Is Thy Beef
Los Angeles' Top Round restaurant brings the beef to Dallas-Fort Worth
A beefy new restaurant is coming to Texas, bearing roast beef sandwiches and curly fries. Called Top Round Roast Beef, it's a Los Angeles-based concept that will open its first Texas location at Toyota Music Factory in Irving in November.
Founded in Los Angeles in 2013 by chef Steven Fretz and partners Anthony Carron, Noah Ellis, and Jamie Tiampo, Top Round Roast Beef describes itself as "chef-driven fast food" with a commitment to all-natural, freshly prepared ingredients at an affordable price.
A graduate of the California Culinary Academy, Fretz spent much of his culinary career in fine dining, including Fifth Floor in San Francisco and Michael Mina's XIV in Los Angeles, where he won Angeleno Magazine's "Best New Chef" award.
At Top Round, that translates into roasting the roast beef for those sandwiches for 10 hours in-house. The curly fries are hand-cut from Idaho potatoes and fried in 100% beef fat; this is not a place for vegans.
There are also crispy chicken sandwiches, in which the chicken is marinated in buttermilk and pickle juice. Pickle juice is very chef-driven.
According to a release, the chain is "nostalgic of what fast food used to be," where everything is freshly prepared to order using all-natural ingredients." Is that really what fast food used to be? Fast food has always seemed kind of junky from the get-go. Nostalgia can sometimes add an unrealistic haze.
Following four successful years in Los Angeles, Top Round is now expanding with Top Round franchises in Dallas, San Francisco, and Louisville, and more locations on the horizon.
