12 new restaurants — tacos, coffee, steak and more — open in North Texas

After a brief lull in restaurant openings in early 2021, doors are flying open at Dallas-Fort Worth’s newest eateries. The uptick in vaccinations has led many restaurant owners to feel more confident, and these new businesses are yet another sign that we’re headed toward recovery during the coronavirus pandemic.

Here’s a list of new restaurants that opened in March 2021 in Dallas-Fort Worth:

Black Rock Coffee Bar in Sachse

This Oregon-based coffee bar made its D-FW debut with a shop in Sachse, but the co-founders hope to open as many as 18 locations in North Texas, according to reporter Anna Caplan. Southlake is next. The shop sells classic coffee drinks, like lattes, cold brews and the like, as well as blended drinks called chillers that come in flavors like caramel truffle or mint chip. For those who really want a boost, the I.V. has us buzzing: It’s made with Irish cream, vanilla breve (which is steamed half and half) and six shots of espresso.

Black Rock Coffee Bar opened March 19, 2021 at 7900 Woodbridge Parkway in Sachse.

Caribbean’s Shark Seafood in Dallas

In what once was Start restaurant, a drive-through on Greenville Avenue in Dallas, Mayra Orozco and her husband Sixto Alvarado have opened Caribbean’s Shark Seafood. Alvarado is from Guanajuato, Mexico, and Orozco is from Guadelejara, Mexico, and their vision is to serve a variety of seafood dishes to landlocked Dallasites.

Items include shrimp tacos; tilapia with mango sweet and sour sauce; shrimp aguachile; and grilled octopus.

Soon, they plan to open the drive-through — a rare option at a seafood restaurant.

Caribbean’s Shark Seafood opened March 25, 2021 at 4814 Greenville Ave., Dallas.

Chido Taco Lounge in Frisco

The things to get at this new taco shop in Frisco are the carnitas or the jerk chicken, two recipes owner Blaine McGowan worked on for several months. He describes Chido Taco Lounge as a global restaurant: Buffalo shrimp tacos, Korean fried chicken tacos, Thai curry tacos and more.

Chido Taco Lounge opened March 12, 2021 at 6959 Lebanon Road, Frisco.

Dirty Bones in Fort Worth

The company that redid Serious Pizza in Deep Ellum and operates Vidorra Mexican restaurant and Citizen nightclub has expanded to Fort Worth. Dirty Bones is a chicken restaurant that goes beyond the traditional Buffalo sauce to offer other wing flavors like Cholula Tajin lime or peanut butter and jelly. They even sell wings covered in 24-karat gold flakes. That spot in Fort Worth’s West Seventh development was once a Stirr restaurant, one of the company’s other brands. The pandemic killed sales at that location, says founder Imran Sheikh. He decided to close Stirr, saying, “The pandemic, for a group like ours, was probably going to incur one fatality.” They planned on opening Dirty Bones somewhere, someday, anyway. It’ll have a sports bar vibe, and Sheikh thinks it’ll be “a place guests will never get bored.”

Dirty Bones opened March 17, 2021 at 3028 Crockett St., Fort Worth.

Fairgrounds Coffee & Tea near Highland Park

Unlike many cafes in Dallas, Fairgrounds gives equal billing to coffee and tea. So if you’re jonesing for a latte, the barista will probably ask whether you want that with espresso (coffee) or matcha (tea). And the non-coffee options are just as fun: For a nutty, frothy latte without the typical espresso, try the Sticky Chai Tea Latte with oat milk, one of CEO Michael Schultz’s favorite drinks. Or, for a coffee-based cocktail without the booze, go for Grandpa Irv’s Old Fashioned. Schultz says Fairgrounds is “all about choice,” which is why the menu includes Gwyneth Paltrow-approved elixirs for healthy eaters; a sizeable breakfast and lunch menu; and bites for kids like funnel cake fries. “Coffee is not this magic thing,” Schultz says, suggesting there’s a casualness to Fairgrounds. “I wanted to create a brand where you could be 8 or 80 and enjoy yourself.”

Fairgrounds Coffee & Tea opened March 24, 2021 at 4514 Cole Ave. (inside Highland Park Place), Dallas.

India Plaza in Frisco

Head to this new shopping center in Frisco and you’ll find it anchored by a grocery store named India Bazaar, reports my colleague Brandi Addison. The shopping center will be home to several new restaurants, including Swagath Biryanis, Rajula’s Kitchen and Desi District.

Restaurants in India Plaza have opened intermittently in spring 2021. The shopping center is at 14339 W. Eldorado Parkway, Frisco.

Kessaku Sushi and Sake Lounge in downtown Dallas

For dinner and cocktails high in the sky, try out Kessaku on the 50th floor of The National in downtown Dallas. There’s a lot to like here — the pink couches, the chandeliers — but the most enticing part of the lounge is its enclosed observation deck that wraps around the top of the building. Patrons can sip a cocktail and feel like they’re walking on a catwalk in the clouds.

Kessaku opened March 24, 2021 at 1401 Elm St. (inside The National), Dallas.

Mendocino Farms in Addison

Cali sandwich and salad shop Mendocino Farms is expanding across Dallas. Its newest is in Addison, in the restaurant-centric shopping center on the southeast corner of Belt Line Road and the Dallas North Tollway. (Seriously: There’s so much to eat in that area, from long-timer restaurants like Gorji and Gloria’s to newer additions like Flower Child and Vidorra.) Mendo is a light, bright place where you can eat healthfully if you want to — or go face-first into an Italian sandwich with salami capicola, ham and Dijonnaise.

Mendocino Farms opened March 23, 2021 at 5294 Belt Line Road, Dallas.

Monarch in downtown Dallas

Modern Italian restaurant Monarch has the best skyline views of Dallas. Add in a soulful menu from Michelin-starred chef Danny Grant, who is from Chicago, and Monarch is one of the hottest places in Dallas to dine right now. Note, its 49th floor dining room does not have any outdoor seating.

Monarch opened March 10, 2021 at 1401 Elm St. (inside The National), Dallas. Monarch is on the 49th floor of the building and Kessaku, listed above, is on the 50th floor.

Nusr-Et in downtown Dallas

This steakhouse from Turkish chef “Salt Bae” is the most expensive restaurant in Dallas. French fries cost $15, crab cakes are $48, and a gold-crusted burger will set you back $300. There’s one steak, which feeds several people, costs more than $2,000. Why would anyone pay those prices, you might ask? Because the owner is famous. And because the food is (so far) great — albeit maybe not great enough to spend a month’s rent on one meal.

Nusr-Et opened March 4, 2021 at 1900 Pearl St., Dallas.

Spider Murphy’s in Dallas

Dallas has room for more good Irish pubs, don’t you think? Spider Murphy’s looks and feels like an Irish pub — which makes sense, since it comes from Irishman Feargal McKinney (who owns The Old Monk and The Skellig) in partnership with longtime colleague Charles Reis. But Spider Murphy’s menu goes beyond expected Irish pub fare like fish and chips. The bar menu includes chicken wings, vegan bowls, tacos and burgers. Surely any of the five burgers taste good with a cold beer or whiskey drink, but take this bit of advice: Order the Monk’s Vegetarian Burger, a house-made patty with cashews, lentils and bulgur wheat. It’s one of the best veggie burgers in town.

Spider Murphy’s opened March 4, 2021 at 2810 N. Henderson Ave., Dallas.

White Rhino Coffee in Uptown Dallas

With the opening of White Rhino’s sixth coffee shop in D-FW, it is now tied with Ascension Coffee for being the biggest homegrown coffee brand in Dallas. (But White Rhino has a Fort Worth shop coming soon, so it may take the lead.) White Rhino’s newest cafe is in the adorable State Thomas neighborhood, replacing The Londoner pub in Uptown Dallas. The two-story shop, which is much brighter and airier than the pub ever was, feels like a student union on a college campus: It has big tables, small tables, squishy studying chairs and sunny patio seats — nearly all of which are occupied by young Uptowners studying or working and drinking caffeine out of stylish robins-egg-blue to-go cups. Unlike many coffee shops, White Rhino has a big food menu. It also sells beer, wine and cocktails.

White Rhino opened March 12, 2021 at 2909 Thomas Ave., Dallas.

Other notable new restaurants that opened in early 2021

• Windmills brewery in The Colony opened at the end of January.
• Bam’s Vegan, a food stand at the Dallas Farmers Market, opened in Irving in January.
• The Boneless Butcher, a vegan butcher shop, opened in Garland in January.
• Baba Ali’s Kitchen is selling Pakistani food in The Colony/Lewisville and has been open since January.
• Scrumbscious Burgers and Pieshakes opened in Irving in February.
• Harvest Hall, a food hall attached to a swanky hotel, opened in Grapevine in February.
• Tacos La Gloria food truck found a permanent home in Oak Cliff in February.
• Serious Pizza got a major facelift and reopened in Deep Ellum in late February.

Brandi Addison, Sarah Bahari, Anna Caplan, Kelly Dearmore, Destine Gibson and Jeremy Hallock contributed to this story.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.