Best Bites: Dining out in Dallas-Fort Worth February 29

by Teresa Gubbins

Two new bakeries bring French-style pastries and breads to the Dallas area, one located in the Koreatown district, the other in Plano:

Paris Bleu Patisserie, part of a new-ish shopping center on Royal, comes from Won Lee, who moved here from California when her husband got a job here last year. She'd always baked but, after some schooling at the Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, was ready to open shop. She makes croissants and Danishes every morning, bakes madeleines every day, and does Korean breads, filled with custard and cream. Her main focus is desserts, made with butter not shortening, and 100% fruit mousses and Bavarian creams. Her lineup includes fruit tarts, napoleons, cream cakes, mousse cakes, cheesecakes, tiramisu in three flavors: regular, strawberry, and green tea. She also serves espresso drinks, coffee, and bubble teas.

Mozart Bakery is in the food court at Assi Plaza, an Asian market/complex at Spring Creek Parkway and Custer (whose construction was observed on DallasFood.org). Mozart does good breads, pastries, cheesecakes in numerous flavors, and pretty cakes; not sure if they're using butter, however. According to Mozart's young staffers, the owner is "not here much," "in Atlanta," and "I don't know," but one mentioned that more Mozarts are coming soon to Carrollton as well as Harry Hines Boulevard in Dallas.

Jack be Quick

Novak's Landmark takes over the space on Houston Street across from Reunion Station where Ferris Plaza Restaurant resided for more than 20 years, until Greek-American owners George and Maria Sakkas shut the doors nearly two years ago. Current owner Michael Novak has been there since October 2007, serving breakfast and lunch, all made from scratch: burgers, baked chicken, CFS, breakfast tacos, pancakes -- "not the shake-and-bake but our own recipe," he says. He painted the interior a "banana-pudding yellow" with black trim, put up some B&W photos, and proudly cites his high marks from the health department.

Its location on the far western edge of downtown isn't the best, with the only major employer nearby being the Dallas Morning News. You'd think, with Novak's being right under their nose, that someone might give the guy a review or even a listing on GuideLive. But the only experience Novak's ever had with the DMN involved some strong-arm tactics from its circulation department.

"When I first bought the place, I wanted to clean it up, and there were Quick stands, so I told them they could go ahead and pick up the stands," he says. "When nothing happened, I called over there and said, 'I really want this picked up, or it's going to be out by the garbage.'

"The next day, a redhead lady from over there came in and looked around and said, 'I see you don’t have Quick anymore. I’ll tell you what, when you decide to bring Quick back, I'll let the employees at the Dallas Morning News know that they can come back and eat with you. I'll make sure no one comes over here, and when you bring it back, I'll let them know they can come back and eat with you.'"

His restaurant has the Quick stands back again.

"Eventually I did cave," he says. "But I was shocked."

Way too much chicken

A second branch of Guatemala-based chicken chain Pollo Campero opened on Preston Road a block south of the George Bush Turnpike. They're neck-and-neck with El Pollo Loco, the Mexico-borne chicken chain that does pretty much the same kind of marinated-chicken deal. Both keep threatening to take over the U.S. So far, El Pollo Loco has 380+ branches (including nine around San Antonio); Pollo Campero comes in at a mere 260+ outlets, although that'll climb soon given its deal to open inside Wal-mart stores.

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