Food News: Chicken, Cookies, CAVA, and More

Cowboy Chicken has at long last introduced chicken tenders to its menu. Famous for its wood-fired rotisserie chicken, Cowboy Chicken expanded the menu with its new seasoned, hand-breaded, and fried tenders served with house-made sauces such as honey blaze, ranch, BBQ, and honey mustard.

The Katy Trail has a new amenity on the weekends, a food trailer that serves an award-winning barbecue from Chef Kent Rathbun. Called Katy Trail Station and located on the north side of the Katy Trail at Monticello, the Trail trailer is the creation of Prescott Group, a real estate investment, debt resolution, and asset management firm whose office is also on Monticello. If this is Prescott’s idea of getting employees to come back to the office, I’d like to know where I can apply for a job there. 

The trailer serves Rathbun’s Curbside BBQ from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday. The area is tucked in a parking lot along the trail’s edge and also offers gourmet coffee, cold brew, nitro-charged coffee, fruit parfaits, salads, chef-made breakfast tacos and sandwiches, and, of course, Kent’s Texas-style barbecue. If you’re actually running on the trail, you can also pick up a variety of refreshing and hydrating drinks there as well.

Prescott says it will soon be open daily and through the evenings for dinner.

Katy Train Station is a public-private project that combined the efforts of more than two dozen entities, from Allie Beth Allman to Dallas Parks and Recreation and a lot of folks in between.  For a full list of collaborators (and perhaps to ask Prescott how they got so many different organizations to collaborate effectively), click here.

CAVA is now open at 5710 W. Lovers Lane in the former Zoës Kitchen spot.  The Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant is a great option for salads and healthy but flavorful food. 

Crumbl Cookies is opening in early May at Inwood and Northwest Highway near Central Market. Longtime restauranteur and McKinney resident Marshall Young is a franchise partner in the location, which will serve and deliver fresh-baked cookies. 

Young told me that all cookies are prepared and baked in that location so they are fresh every day. Flavors such as Texas Sheet Cake, Lemon Poppyseed, Sea Salt Caramel, and Raspberry Cheesecake sound both delicious and dangerous.

Jersey Mike’s must be one of the most generous companies out there.  Each year Jersey Mike’s has a Day of Giving on which 100% of all sales are donated to Wipe Out Kids’ Cancer, a Dallas-based nonprofit that supports families of pediatric cancer patients as well as funds research to beat it. Jersey’s Mike’s DFW Day of Giving is Wednesday, March 29.

Events

Dallas College Bits and Bites returns to the Dallas Arboretum Sunday, April 16.  This is a really special event, with most of Dallas’ best chefs serving their exceptional cuisine in Dallas’ most beautiful setting, the Dallas Arboretum. 

This year Bits and Bites will honor Jim White, who co-founded the Savor Dallas Food and Wine Festival.

Jim supported Dallas’ culinary culture by providing his listeners on KRLD a unique experience into the “foodie” culture that earned him a nomination for “Best Radio Show on Food.”

Jim, who died June 4, 2022, was a beloved member of the North Texas food and restaurant community. His equally beloved wife, Vicki Briley-White will be on hand as her husband is honored at the event.

Buy tickets now and go ahead and opt for the VIP tickets here.