Flower Child. North Italia. Culinary Dropout. These three restaurants are quickly becoming North Texas mainstays, and Fox Restaurant Concepts is now bringing another eatery: Doughbird.
Opening Friday, Sept. 6 at Dallas’ Inwood Village, Doughbird serves up pizza, pasta, steak and pasta, with the focus being on birds and dough. Hence, the name.
“We have been humbled by the success of our restaurants in Dallas and have long considered the city home,” Sam Fox, founder of Fox Restaurant Concepts, recently said in an official statement. “We get to serve the community at Flower Child, North Italia, Culinary Dropout and The Henry, and now we can share the delicious menu of Doughbird. If we do our job, Doughbird will become a regular spot for locals and an exciting concept for visitors in the area to enjoy lunch, dinner and cocktails while making memories.”
The night before opening, Local Profile got a sneak peek at the 5,258-square-foot space, tasting the pies and birds they serve. Inside are earthy tones, wood beams on the roof and green tiles on the wall. It's an inviting, comfortable space — somewhere you'd want to bring friends and family.
The dry-rubbed chicken wings don’t overwhelm, which is sometimes the case, and the spices draw out the flavors in the crispy wings. The house-made ranch dip adds more flavor. This is a game of addition. Likewise, the pizza, pepperoni and mozzarella, allow each flavor component to do its thing. With a name like Doughbird, you'd expect the crust to be good. And it is.
I've long had a soft spot for chicken pot pie. It's such a perfect comfort food, and the one Doughbird serves up (in a iron skillet to boot!) is the closest I've had to a spoonful of Thanksgiving. The gravy, the bird and the pie all in one bite is akin to mainlining fall savory goodness.
The chicken tenders are big and crispy and come with a house-made sauce that is very similar to a famed sauce from an iconic chicken finger restaurant.
More comfort food vibes in the spicy rigatoni. But the unexpected delight is the caramelized cauliflower. Now, you wouldn't be surprised to get something like this at Flower Child, but when your mind is on pizza and fried chicken, you might be. I know I was. It's like a cauliflower steak — but doesn't feel like a compromise. There's so much flavor. It's one of the best things we had, easily. Like everything else we tried, it added to the menu — and the experience. That, I guess, is the point, and what a great point that is.
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