The headline says it best: It’s a big week for restaurant openings and closings in Dallas. Sometimes forces come together to make a week like this busy, whether it’s the alignment of the stars or just a Dallas code compliance inspector who finally decides to give a thumbs up.

But along with the good news of openings comes the not-so-good news of closings. Let’s do good news first with openings, followed by closings.

OPENINGS

Alara, a Mediterranean restaurant from Turkish-born chef Onur Akan, has opened in Dallas’ Design District at 1628 Oak Lawn Ave. #120, in the former Pakpao Thai space. Akan, who previously worked as a chef at Nonna and had his own catering company, is calling it “modern Mediterranean,” with twists such as deconstructed baklava and the so-called Caesar salad, whose gem lettuce, fried anchovies, and green goddess dressing make it seem like not a Caesar at all. During lunch, Alara will feature a casual European cafe-style menu with mezze, doner kebab, sandwiches, and salads. Dinner service expands into a larger menu with nightly specials.

Bojangles, the Carolina chicken chain, opened a location in Plano at 3840 SH-121, in a newly-constructed building west of Kroger Marketplace at the corner of Coit Road. Bojangles specializes in fried chicken, biscuits, and Southern sides such as dirty rice, mac & cheese, and Cajun pinto beans. They made their Dallas-area debut in 2023 with the usual fanfare that first surrounds a chain, followed by the usual fading fanfare that surrounds a chain after it has opened multiple locations. In this case, Plano marks the company’s ninth location in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Maman, the New York café chain making a big expansion in Dallas, opens its new location at Hillside Village, the centrally situated center at Mockingbird Lane and Abrams Road, on April 23 in the former Palmer’s Hot Chicken space, with pastries, sandwiches, coffee, and exclusive Texas menu items. Opening day will feature an 8 am ribbon cutting with complimentary cookies for the first 100 customers who make a purchase. They made their Texas debut in November 2025 when they opened a location in the Plaza at Preston Center. There are also plans for locations in Frisco, Casa Linda, and the Design District.

PopUp Bagels, a buzzy bagel concept from the Northeast, will make its Texas debut on April 24, opening its first location in Dallas at Inwood Village, in the former I Heart Yogurt shop next to the Inwood Theatre at 5450 W Lovers Ln. #143. PopUp started as a backyard project during the pandemic. Their menu is limited — no sandwiches— and their bagels are sold whole only, not sliced, leading to their nickname “rip and dip,” in which customers rip the bagels in half and dip them into spreads. (Their texture is softer and lighter than the traditional New York dense bagel, making them easier to “rip.”) On opening day only, they’ll serve a Lemon Pepper Schmear that’s a collaboration with Wingstop.

Portillo’s, the Chicago-based street food chain, opened a location in Frisco at 16499 FM Rd. #423 on April 21, with Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, crinkle-cut fries, salads, shakes, and chocolate cake. Hot dogs come in regular, chili cheese, Polish sausage, and Maxwell Street Polish sausage with mustard and grilled onions. The location features Portillo’s “restaurant of the future” design, comprising a smaller, more efficient footprint. It is the 11th location of Portillo’s in Dallas-Fort Worth and first in Frisco; the first opened at the Grandscape development in The Colony in January 2023.

CLOSINGS

Super Duper Cookie Co., a social enterprise that employs people with disabilities, is closing its storefront in May. The shop, which opened in 2024 in the former Baldo’s Ice Cream space across from SMU at 6401 Hillcrest Rd., will be closing on May 1, according to a post on Instagram. Company founder Benjamin Crosland told the DMN that they’re closing because they couldn’t afford to stay in business. “We are sad to go but we know that we have made an impact in our community,” their post said. “We will be here until May 1, so come and say goodbye and get a cookie and dance under the disco ball one last time.”

Bon bons by Kate Weiser Chocolate. Photo courtesy of Kate Weiser Chocolate

Dozo Omakase. Omakase sushi restaurant at Trinity Groves closed on April 14, after a little more than a year. The sushi spot opened in early 2025 with an embrace of the then-trendy multi-course omakase style of dining, in small or large versions with basically four options: 7 or 15 courses, plus hand rolls and a nigiri-handroll combination, with prices ranging from $28 to $120. They had a cool happy hour with a new menu nearly every month, but it wasn’t enough. In their closure announcement, they said it was a difficult decision but invited fans to visit their sister restaurant Dozo Sushi in Richardson.

Kate Weiser Chocolate, Dallas’ renowned chocolatier famous for its colorful and artistic chocolates, is closing down. That includes all four locations: its flagship at Trinity Groves as well as NorthPark Center, Fort Worth, and Southlake, as well as online sales. Founder Kate Weiser, a pastry chef who founded her chocolate company in 2014 as part of the “incubator” program at Trinity Groves, told the DMN that Trinity Groves’ investors owned 60 percent of the company, and that they hadn’t been profitable in four years. She’s arranged for her signature “Carl the Snowman” hot chocolate kit to have one final Christmas season with Central Market for the 2026 holiday.

Stirr, the brunchy restaurant from Dallas-based Milkshake Concepts, has closed its final location in Addison. According to a post from the owners, they decided not to renew their lease; April 19 was their last day of service. Stirr made its debut in Deep Ellum in 2016, serving chef-driven dishes and cocktails. A second location opened in Fort Worth in 2019, then closed in 2021. Milkshake seems to be in a time of transition. In 2025, they closed Citizen, their lounge on Swiss Avenue and recently replaced it with a dance-music venue called Ctrl Room. They also own the small Mexican chain Vidorra, Serious Pizza, and The Finch, an American grill with locations in Dallas, Grand Prairie, and Nashville.
—
Stephanie Allmon Merry contributed to this story.

First Shift 🏒

For the past four regular seasons, the Stars have the best road record in the NHL.

Through 164 games, Dallas tops the league with a .655 points percentage away from home. It also leads in goals per game at 3.40 and in GAA at 2.70. That spans two different head coaches and several different players, but there is a culture that the team hopes to tap into Wednesday when the best-of-seven playoff series moves to Minnesota for Game 3.

“You have to be able to play on the road,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “Since my time here, our guys feel really comfortable.”

The Stars were tied for second in road points percentage this season at .683, so an actual improvement over their previous average. They were third in GAA at 2.73 and sixth in scoring at 3.41, so the league has improved. That said, the new coaching staff has also embraced a sound road strategy.

Like Pete DeBoer before him, Gulutzan doesn’t worry too much about matching lines – at home or on the road. The road matching can create some real gymnastics, as the home team gets second change. But the fact that a team chooses not to chase that part of the game.

“That’s why you program your guys to play in those situations and not yank them off every time something happens,” Gulutzan said. “That way they have the confidence to play in all of those situations.”

The Stars coach did make some tweaks after a disappointing team performance in Game 1. Arttu Hyry jumped in for Adam Erne and played center on a line with Jamie Benn and Sam Steel. The right-handed Hyry was a solid complement to lefties Steel and Benn. That allowed Hryckowian to move up to the top line in place of Steel. The left-handed Hryckowian is good balance to right-handed center Johnston.

Again, when you have those options, you are comfortable with whatever line is on the ice.

“I like our combinations right now,” Gulutzan said. “One of the things you worry about is the hands of your centermen, and on each line we have a righty and a lefty that are more than capable. Plus, all of the guys know their systems and their jobs, and they’ve been doing it all year.”

The Stars have had several injuries this season to key players, and that means everyone has played everywhere with everyone else. That’s big this time of year.

“I definitely think that helps,” said Colin Blackwell. “It just makes everything flow. If the coaches shuffle things up, you usually land with someone you have played with before.”

And that means playing on the road isn’t as difficult. The biggest challenge might be fact that Minnesota will be fired up by its home crowd and will be looking to make a point about grievances they perceived in Game 2.

“I don’t know if we need a bulletin board,” Gulutzan said when asked about the Wild making “bulletin board” statements Monday. “We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing and grind this thing to where we need it to go.”

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