Hot Chicken News

Fort Worth gets first taste of Nashville hot chicken chain from L.A.

Behold, Dave's.

Photo courtesy of Dave's

A Nashville hot chicken place from Los Angeles is making its move on Fort Worth: Called Dave's Hot Chicken, it's a fast-casual chain which will open its first restaurant in Tarrant County at 4608 Bryant Irvin Rd. #430, in a former Schlotzsky's, which closed in 2020.

According to a company representative, the restaurant will open on November 11.

Dave's was founded by chef Dave Kopushyan and three friends in 2017, who opened it initially as a parking lot pop-up. There are now locations up and down the West coast, plus Toronto, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Denver.

They made their Texas debut in Dallas in 2021, and have since opened locations in Plano and Houston, met with the kind of buzz that can only be generated by #1 a concept from California, and #2 a hot chicken concept. Those two together make for an incendiary mix.

Dave's specializes in hot chicken tenders and sliders, plus sides such as kale slaw, mac & cheese, crispy fries, and cheese fries.

A No. 1 combo comes with two tenders, crinkle-cut fries, bread, and pickles. No. 2 is sliders with fries: They put those tenders on hamburger buns. No. 3 is one of each, tender and slider.

There are the obligatory spice levels, although Dave's exceeds the standard 3 or 4 spice levels you find at these places with seven spice levels, beginning with no spice, which is really not a spice level at all, followed by lite mild, mild, medium, hot, extra hot, and reaper, which one presumes is extra extra hot. Imagine being behind an indecisive person trying to decide between lite mild, mild, and medium, you know it's going to happen.

They also have milkshakes with real ice cream in your basic choc-van-straw trio of flavors.

Dave's Hot Chicken is being brought to Fort Worth by franchisee Patrick Woodson. The plan is to open 12 locations in Tarrant County, and there's already another in the works: on Cockrell Avenue near TCU coming in late 2021.

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Doughnut News

Luscious doughnut shop Duck Donuts makes Fort Worth debut

Photo courtesy of Visit Addison

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A decadent new doughnut shop is coming to Fort Worth: Duck Donuts, a North Carolina-based chain known for serving doughnuts made to order, will open a shop at 6387 Camp Bowie Blvd. #A within the Ridglea Plaza Shopping Center in Fort Worth.

According to a release, the shop will open on Saturday December 21 at 7 am.

Duck Donuts opened its first locations in 2007 in the beach resort towns of Duck and Kitty Hawk, North Carolina with the intention to create an oasis for vacationers. They're now headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and began franchising in 2013, with more than 150 locally owned and operated shops across 26 states and international locations. There was previously a DFW location in Addison on Belt Line Road that opened in 2020 but it did not survive the pandemic.

The Fort Worth shop is owned and operated by husband-and-wife Justin and Morgan Thomas.

“We are delighted to be opening in Fort Worth,” Justin says in a statement. “The community has been patiently waiting for us to open our doors, and now we cannot wait to sprinkle happiness to all with our warm, delicious and made-to-order doubhnuts.”

The 1,035-square-foot shop reflects the franchise’s reimagined design which gives a modern twist on their iconic beach theme and family-friendly atmosphere. Upon entering the store, customers are greeted by the aroma of warm, light vanilla cake doughnuts.

Customers can create their own combination by choosing from coatings, toppings, and drizzles, including traditional favorites such as chocolate icing with sprinkles and more adventurous creations such as maple icing with bacon.

Key to their appeal is the viewing area where children and adults alike can watch their doughnuts being made.

Many of their flavors have a beachy theme such as the Beach, a cake doughnut with vanilla icing dusted with cinnamon sugar; the Sunrise with lemon icing and raspberry drizzle; and the Beach Ball with vanilla icing, rainbow sprinkles, and chocolate drizzle.

They rotate in seasonal offerings such as the current lineup of mint-flavored flavors including chocolate icing with mint buttercream. The doughnuts themselves are limited to vanilla and chocolate cake; the flavors come primarily from icing.

In addition to doughnuts, the Fort Worth location will serve coffee, doughnut breakfast sandwiches, doughnut sundaes — in which a doughnut is topped with ice cream and syrup — plus frozen beverages and milkshakes.

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