Some weeks the big openings get all the attention, and the smaller news slips through the cracks. Here are five stories from around Dallas-Fort Worth worth knowing about this week, from a barbecue goodbye in Allen to a sushi factory in southern Dallas.
Vaqueros Texas Bar-B-Q served its last plate at Watters Creek in Allen on October 28. The restaurant’s partner, M Crowd Restaurant Group, confirmed the closing in a statement from CEO Edgar Guevara, and the partnership between the two has ended. Vaqueros posted its own farewell the same afternoon, telling fans the doors had closed at 4, then adding, “Stay tuned. We ain’t done yet.”
That last line is the one to hold onto. Pitmaster Arnulfo “Trey” Sanchez helped his father launch Arnold’s Texas Bar-B-Q in the 1990s, then built a following from a trailer behind Hop & Sting Brewing in Grapevine starting in 2018. The trailer drew national attention, and the move to Allen in early 2025 gave him a showpiece pit room and a full dining room. Barbecue fans in DFW know what he can do with brisket and a smoker. Wherever Sanchez lands next, it will be worth the drive.
Tacos Richy
Lower Greenville gets a new taquería on Wednesday, November 11, and it is opening at 11:11 a.m. on purpose. Tacos Richy comes from Jon Garay, who started Chilangos Tacos on Harry Hines Boulevard in 2019 and has since grown it to eight locations across North Texas, Nashville and Las Vegas. CraveDFW first wrote about the project back in May. Now it is ready at 3606 Greenville Ave.
The kitchen is cooking over mesquite charcoal, shaving a Prime Steak Trompo built from USDA Prime top sirloin, and making its corn tortillas from Zacatecas heirloom corn nixtamalized in-house. The taco to know is the Prime Ribeye Gaonera, a thin slice of prime ribeye seared on the plancha and draped over a fresh tortilla with grilled onion, a nod to the Mexico City taquería that became the first in the world to earn a Michelin star. You order at the counter, and from there the staff brings everything to your table. It is good news for a street that just lost Sundown at Granada, and a sister restaurant called Brazamar is planned next door for 2027.
Sushi Factory
The next grocery store California roll you pick up may be made in southern Dallas. Wonderfield Group, the company behind AFC and Bento, two of the best-known names in supermarket sushi, is converting a 20,000-square-foot food plant at 4910 Joseph Hardin Drive into a facility for packaged sushi. State construction records put the project at about $2 million, with work scheduled to wrap by December 4.
Most shoppers never think about where those plastic clamshells come from. Wonderfield is a London-based operation owned by Japan’s Zensho Holdings, and its brands run grocery sushi counters across North America and beyond. Which Texas stores the Dallas plant will supply hasn’t been announced, but a facility this size suggests a lot of rice and a lot of rolls.
Michelin Chefs partner with America Airlines
American Airlines wants AAdvantage members to spend their miles on dinner. The Fort Worth-based airline announced a partnership with the Michelin Guide on November 5 that will let members redeem miles for chef-led dinners built around Michelin-starred restaurants. The first three are set for Los Angeles in February 2027, Miami in April and Chicago in June. A custom culinary trip to Porto, Portugal, follows in September 2027, timed to American’s new service there.
American is also now the official restaurant partner for the U.S. Michelin Guide ceremonies, the nights when stars and Bib Gourmand awards are handed out. There’s no Dallas dinner on the schedule yet, and mileage costs haven’t been released. With Michelin now covering Texas and American headquartered right here, a DFW event seems like a reasonable thing to hope for.
Mendocino Farms
Fort Worth is getting its first Mendocino Farms. The California sandwich and salad shop, which already has locations around Dallas, Plano and Addison, has filed plans with the state for a space at 1701 S. University Drive in the Westbend development, near TCU. Construction is set to start December 1, with completion planned for the end of March.
For TCU students and the Westbend lunch crowd, that means spring 2027 should bring the chain’s sandwiches and salads to the west side. Mendocino Farms has been steady in Dallas for years, so the bigger surprise is that it took this long to cross the county line.
That’s the week. If you hear about something we should know about, CraveDFW is always listening.
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