An opening date of November 2017 has been set for the Epic Waters Indoor Waterpark, a new recreational facility in Grand Prairie at State Highway 161 and the Waterwood Drive.
The water park will be an indoor-outdoor venue with a retractable roof that's open year round. For water park fans, that's a cut above its obvious competition a few miles away, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, which is open seasonally only. It's part of The Epic recreation center, which will feature fitness equipment, indoor tracks, a digital library, and recording studio. The complex will also have a 5,000-seat amphitheater, and more than two miles of trails. The park will have nine water slides, including an outdoor wave pool, a lazy river, an activity pool, a children's area, and an arcade. There will be cabanas, a full-service grill/bar, and private party/meeting areas, both indoor and outdoor. Three of the slides have standout features. The Lasso Loop will be the tallest indoor aqualoop in the nation. The Yellowjacket Drop is an enclosed slide you ride with an inner tube; you come out onto an open drop that sends you high up onto a wall, creating a sense of zero gravity. The Aquanaut is the first double-rider ride, letting you ride with a friend. The water park is running a giveaway for annual passes to the park; deadline to enter is July 1. Article courtesy of Culture Map
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Abel Gonzales, who has achieved international fame as a repeat winner of the State Fair of Texas' Big Tex fried food award, now has his own restaurant. Called Republic Ranch, it's in soft-opening mode at 3121 Ross Ave., in a space that has seen a number of concepts open and close, such as Salt Lounge, Bungalow Beach Club, Southern Comforts, Ormsby Catering — oh, don't make us go through the list, it's too painful.
This is the first restaurant for Gonzales, but it's really an extension of his longtime catering business. "I've been doing a lot of this food on the catering side, which has been headquartered in this very kitchen, so I know the space very well," he says. "Some of the previous tenants had DJs and a nightlife component that put them in a rough spot in the neighborhood. When I got the opportunity to take over the space, it seemed like a natural evolution." Although Gonzales has made a name for himself as the king of kitschy fried foods — like fried butter — he grew up in the restaurant industry, working in the kitchen of his father's restaurant, A.J. Gonzales' Mexican Oven, in the West End. He has the chops, both in the kitchen and front of the house, as a charming and gregarious host. Rather than fried foods, his menu at Republic Ranch spotlights two of Texas' favorite cuisines. "It's a blending of Mexican food and barbecue," Gonzales says. "It's what I've been doing in my catering work and I know people like it." He's doing tacos with fillings such as rib-eye, chicken, and pulled pork. For full Culture Map article CLICK HERE Grow your child’s reading skills this summer. Join Book Buddies at Audelia Road Library! Each weekly session encourages your child to continue reading by playing games and pairing them with a trained reading volunteer. Sessions are on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:00 PM, June 13th through August 4th. Stop by to register your 2nd through 5th grader! If you have any additional questions, or are interested in becoming a volunteer, feel free to email lin.lim@dallascityhall.com and carlyn.goodwin@dallascityhall.com.
Dallas can never get enough croissants, and now there's a new place baking them: Edith's Patisserie, a new bakery and bistro that opened on May 9 at Mockingbird Station, in the former Rockfish Seafood Grill space. If you want croissants, Edith's has them, in butter, almond, and chocolate varieties, plus desserts, sandwiches, and custom cakes.
Baked sweets include oatmeal cookies, colorful macarons, and pies, including pecan pie and a cool oatmeal pie, with a fudgey oatmeal center. Before opening her shop at Mockingbird Station, founder Edith Ferreyro ran an at-home bakery business for 10 years, baking specialty cakes for friends and family. She quickly established a following for wedding cakes, and also baked desserts for restaurants. After her son was hurt in a near-death accident, she says she became newly motivated to open a shop. In addition to baked goods, Edith's is also a French-style bistro with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There is a tempting breakfast menu with scrambled eggs and baguette toasts; pain perdu with challah bread and vanilla ice cream shakshouka — eggs baked in spicy tomato beef stew with potatoes, carrots, and peas; fried chicken with Gruyere popovers and pancetta gravy; blueberry ricotta pancakes; spinach and cheddar omelet; and short rib hash with red potatoes, onions, white cheddar, and a sunny-side egg. For full Culture Map article CLICK HERE With the mourning period for Good 2 Go Taco coming to a close, it's time to move on. Happily, there's something new going into its former East Dallas location: Hello Dumpling, an Asian restaurant specializing in dumplings, with an adjoining tea salon.
Owner June Chow is a second-generation Chinese-American who grew up in the Northeast in a family that owned restaurants. "My mother is from northern China, and growing up, we ate dumplings," she says. "We've lived in East Dallas, and for some time, I've felt like there's a need for an interesting Asian restaurant in the neighborhood. I feel like the moment is now." She not only wants to serve dumplings, but elevate their status as something to be taken more seriously than a mere appetizer. "The basic concept is to serve home-made style dumplings," she says. "I'm going to have 8-10 varieties, the kind you would find in every great dumpling place in northern China. My idea is to show that dumplings are not just an appetizer, but in many cultures is part of your main meal." Along with the dumplings, Chow says she'll do hand-cut noodles, a few Asian street foods, some tapas, salads, and sides. There'll also be a rotating dumpling every month. "I want to make it so it's fresh and well made, but not pretentious," she says. "Just something tasty and affordable." Construction is underway, with an estimated opening of early summer. She's transforming the space that previously housed Cultivar Coffee into a tea salon, with bobas and great teas of all kinds. She likes the idea that she's picking up the mantle from a former taqueria. "In my mind, dumplings can be just like tacos, it's just another wrap with potential for great fillings," she says. Article courtesy of Culture Map |
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September 2017
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