Alcohol To-Go Is Set To Become Texas Law, Plano’s Haywire Is Opening An Outpost In Dallas, An Irving Restaurant Shares A Cringey Job Flyer & More.

Texas is just one signature away from making alcohol to-go permanent!

Last week, Texas Legislature approved House Bill 1024, which would allow restaurants to permanently sell alcohol with pickup and delivery food orders, after a 30-1 vote. As you no doubt recall, the initiative first arrived in Texas last year when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a waiver allowing alcohol to-go sales in a move meant to support restaurants that were struggling due to closed indoor dining rooms during the COVID-19 shutdown.

Abbott has long been outspoken on the possibility of making his temporary fix permanent — it’s pretty much the only measure he undertook in the last 12 months that wasn’t met with universal scorn — and is now expected to sign the legislation into law in the next 10 days.

Cheers to that!

Meanwhile, the team at Reservoir at the Toyota Music Factory in Irving has been on the receiving end of some jeers after an employee at the bar and restaurant — apparently enduring the same hiring struggles plaguing the industry across the country — shared to a service industry Facebook group a job flyer that accused potential hires of being “lazy welfare recipient[s]” and threatened that work at their business wouldn’t be available once unemployment benefits are “cut off.” Although quickly deleted — and since slammed by Reservoir’s own ownership as being unapproved by upper management before being posted — the post has still made plenty of rounds on social media.

Not a great look!

This is surely happier news: Jimmy Park, the owner and head chef at Deep Ellum’s Nori Handroll Bar, has announced plans to open a new restaurant in the old Daddy Jack’s spot on Lower Greenville. As the former Nobu chef told CultureMap, he hopes his as-yet-unnamed sushi venture in the intimate space will be “a true tasting restaurant, unlike anything else in Dallas.” For now, he only plans to have 12 seats in the reservation-only spot!

While that kind of concierge experience sounds classy as hell, this news is maybe more our style: A self-serve wine bar opened p last week in Plano’s Legacy Hall with a selection process better than the “Add to Cart” button on a food delivery app. As Eater explains, the process at Vinotopia works like this: After purchasing a wine card at the door, guests can try any of the spot’s 56 wines with 2.5- or five-ounce self-serve pours before committing to their purchase. The wine bar, which comes from the same people who brought us Velvet Taco and Whiskey Cake, even uses a preservation system to keep the wines at a perfect temperature, too.

If you’re looking to pair your wine with a meal, however, a new series at Burgundy Swine might be for you. The local wine bar in Victory Park has partnered with local chefs and restaurants to launch a new event series that will pair local food with wine and live music. As CraveDFW notes, the series officially kicked-off last week with Terry Black’s BBQ and will continue with a five-course meal from Stock and Barrel on May 10.

If eating health — and quickly — is more your speed, then this news should be up your alley: As the Dallas Morning News reports, Texas’ first Salad and Go drive-through is arriving today in Plano. The chain stands out from places like Snappy Salads and Eatzi’s with its car-focused convenience, but also because of its inexpensive prices. Starting at just $5.75 a pop, Salad and Go is proving that eating healthy doesn’t have to be pricey, bad and inconvenient — and we love to see it. In all, the chain offers 10 salad options, with its most popular being its cobb and Greek salad options. It also offers 24-ounce drinks for $1, such blueberry basil lemonade and iced mango green teas. Oh, and breakfast burritos are on the menu, too!

Speaking of Plano: The ever-popular Haywire, which originally opened in Plano’s Legacy West, is opening a second location on McKinney Avenue in Dallas proper with a Texas-themed décor inspired by Texas Hill Country, per Eater.

Meanwhile, if you forgot that today was Cinco de Mayo, don’t sweat it! There’s still time to celebrate, especially at once historic area restaurant. As PaperCity notes, the famous Fort Worth Tex-Mex restaurant The Original Mexican Eats Café, which opened all the way back in 1929, is now opening a second location. The new spot will be called The Original Del Norte, and it will take over Fort Worth’s former El Rancho Grande space on May 8. The new restaurant will continue to serve hand-rolled enchiladas, tamales, sizzling fajita and even El Rancho’s paper-thin chips. Diners can also expect 12 different specialty margaritas, five frozen margaritas and a piña colada on the bar menu once doors open on May 11.

Staying on the topic of expansions, there’s a new addition to Eataly at NorthPark Center. In the bottom level of the three-story Italian grocery that opened in December, an all-day cafe called Caffè Lavazza — named after the Italian coffee company of the same name, naturally — will boast a menu item called “la torre” that was developed specifically for Dallas, according to the Dallas Morning News. The dish, which is Italian for “the tower,” is a $24 tiered tray that will features items such as Neapolitan rum cake, tiny pizzas, slices of sandwiches and sweet-and-salty bites.

While we’re stoked that North Texas is seeing more openings these days, it’s also experienced devastating losses.

As the DMN notes, the activist and Kingdom War Legacy Church Christian minister Omar Mulidna Jahwar died months before the opening of his restaurant, The Five Experience. Jahwar’s family will now take over the faith-based restaurant and continue his legacy through worship and soul food.

Additionally, D Magazine reports that George Itoh, owner and chef of Ichigoh Ramen Lounge in Deep Ellum, died earlier this week after suffering a stroke.

They’ll be missed.

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