Mexican Diner

Sultry new restaurant adds LA spin to DFW Tex-Mex scene

Water Street in Irving is attracting some exciting eateries.

Water Street

A new restaurant that summons a Southern California-style Mexican diner is coming to the DFW area, from a restaurant group known for great pizza. Called El Famoso, it'll open in the Gables Water Street development, a mixed-use development at the northeast corner of Las Colinas and O’Connor boulevards, across the street from the famed Mustangs of Las Colinas.

The restaurant is owned by Charlie Green, responsible for bringing Olivella's, the third oldest pizza family in America, to Dallas-Fort Worth. His goal is to create a kind of Mexican restaurant not currently found in the area.

"My idea is like a greasy spoon Mexican diner with a great bar," Green says. "The spirit will be casual, with a price point that's reachable by anybody, with most items on the menu between $10 and $13. It'll be a fun place to go, that feels right and with food that's as amazing as what we do at Olivella's."

The restaurant will open in 2018, so the menu is not finalized. But Green has a vision.

"Imagine a Mexican family opened a diner in Los Angeles in the 1930s with their old family recipes for tacos, burritos, and such," he says. "And then kept adding their take on American favorites like burgers, cheese steaks, mac and cheese, and chili."

There will also be a fusion of California Mexican and Tex-Mex in many dishes, including Tex-Mexicali tacos, chili con queso, and carne asada fries.

Water Street has been in the works since 2012. The development will have residential, retail, numerous restaurants and bars, plus green space and sight lines of Lake Carolyn. It's walking distance to the convention center as well as a DART Rail station.

El Famoso joins as another exciting entry along with Jinya Ramen Bar, a ramen restaurant from California, which will open its first branch in the DFW area at Water Street. Other already announced eateries include Twisted Root burger and The Londoner pub.

openings

Thai Food News

Novel Thai restaurant in north Fort Worth comes with its own market

Bangkok Thai

A mom-and-pop Thai restaurant in north Fort Worth comes with a unique twist: Called Bangkok Thai Street Food & Market, it’s a restaurant serving traditional Thai food but also a market selling all sorts of goods, from cooking ingredients to clothing to household gear.

Bangkok Thai, which opened in December 2023 at 5801 Golden Triangle Blvd. #121, is owned by married couple Sirikanya and John Brown. John is a retired vet who worked in IT. Sirikanya moved to the U.S. from Thailand 11 years ago and previously worked in Thai restaurants across Fort Worth.

The concept sprung out a business that Sirikanya started out of their home, John says.

"About five years ago, she started an online market selling Thai products while working in Thai restaurants on the weekends," he says.

At the same time, Sirikanya missed the authentic flavors of the Thai food she grew up with, so she pitched the idea of opening a restaurant. Most of the recipes are inspired by the cooking of Sirikanya’s mother and ingredients from Thailand.

To capture those flavors, that means using traditional ingredients like tamarind instead of vinegar, and palm sugar in place of cane sugar.

“She's from Bangkok, and she worked in her mom’s restaurant, which is where she learned how to cook,” John says.

The menu features Thai classics like pad Thai, tom yum soup, green and red curry, and chicken satay with housemade peanut sauce. There are soups: boat noodle soup with beef broth, tofu soup with minced pork & Chinese cabbage, and a spicy Tom Kha.

There are also other Asian essentials like edamame and dumplings, plus their twist on chicken wings served with a Thai sweet chili sauce. They do not serve alcohol but there are teas, boba teas, and limeade.

Prices are affordable and average $6 for appetizers and $12 for curry and noodle dishes.

The market is inside the restaurant, next to the dining area, featuring shelves stocked with international items, such as clothing, rice baskets, refrigerated drinks, sauces, and noodles.

"A lot of it is imported from Thailand and some of it is sourced locally," John says. "Pretty much everything that you need, we have the ingredients for. Sirikanya also sells her own chili paste, and we often have other house-made dishes depending on the day."

They also host cooking classes, usually twice a month, such as a recent Thai curry cooking class where everyone learned how to make curry paste from scratch, cooked their own curry dishes. The classes are $60 a month and they’ll be taking a break during December but the classes will resume in January 2025.

openings