Best Bites: Dining out in Dallas-Fort Worth September 5

by Teresa Gubbins

Here's a tongue-twister: Zpizza, the name of a gourmet pizza chain newly arriving in Dallas, with the first branch set to open in Flower Mound by mid-September.

Zpizza was founded in Laguna Beach, Calif. in 1987, and now has more than 75 outlets in about a dozen states. There are: exotic, high-end toppings; organic tomato sauce; low-fat mozzarella and soy cheeses, mmmmm soy cheese. Much fuss is made of their usage of Montana winter wheat; one of the crust options is whole wheat, yay, following the example set by the excellent California Pizza Kitchen chain (Zpizza's operations manager is a 14-year CPK vet). They also have salads and sandwiches; beer and wine; a "fire-brick" oven; varieties such as the Napoli, with roasted garlic sauce, mozzarella, tomato slices, Parmesan, and fresh basil, and the Mediterranean with pesto, feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted peppers, eggplant, and kalamata olives. During the day, they have pizza by the slice and there's a lunch special, two slices and drink for $5.95.

Owners Wee Pie One -- basically a mom-and-pop who still have day jobs -- plan additional Zpizza locations throughout Dallas/Fort Worth including Park Cities, Frisco, and more.

You say tomato

Tomato Tamoto is a cleverly-named new salad bar concept that would like to be a chain but for now is just one branch in the food court of Shops at Willowbend in Plano. It's more Subway than it is Souper Salad, in that you tell the staffer what you want and they scoop it for you. No cootie-laden self-serve here, no siree. Ingredients include not just lettuce and tomato but green and black olives, alfalfa sprouts, sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, several types of meat and seafood, including salmon, shrimp, and crab (with a C, not a K). The basic salad with unlimited vegetables, nuts, fruits, cheeses, and dressing is $7. For chicken and beef, add $2, and seafood is $3. One way to get it is in a wrap. They also have two kinds of soup daily. Recent flavors: rosemary chicken and dumplings, and roasted red bell pepper with smoked gouda cheese.

Cue here

Off the Bone Barbeque is a new barbecue place in the South Side district from caterer Dwight Harvey, who opened this storefront after retiring from Frito-Lay. The signature dish is the smoked-pecan baby back ribs but they also do smoked sausage, whole smoked chicken, brisket, honey-spiced baked beans, potato salad, and "summer cool" cole slaw, with pound cake, peach cobbler, and pecan pie for dessert.

Speaking of South Side, Doug Brown's new Tex-Mex, Sala, is open, replacing the upscale-American restaurant Amuse that previously occupied this space at 1326 Lamar. Maybe "affordable Tex-Mex" will more successfully lure in the residents of nearby loft building South Side on Lamar?

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