It’s late at night, and you’re huddled under a blanket in your favorite spot on the couch. You’re just about to press play on the season’s latest and greatest Halloween flick when you realize something’s missing. No spine-tingling creature feature is complete without the quintessential movie snack: popcorn.

That’s where POParella’s Gourmet Popcorn & Treats comes in. From Dr. Pepper and pizza to lemon pound cake and cinnamon toast, there’s more than just the typical buttery theater flavors to reach for if you head to this longtime Frisco snack spot.

POParella’s has been serving up salty and sweet creations for about 15 years. The store, opened by Gary Paparella in 2008, is now popping more than 60 different flavors under the ownership of former financial analyst and popcorn enthusiast Gina Johnson.

According to Johnson, Paparella decided to sell the business back in 2018 and wound up finding her through “a little coupon that I had in the back of our church bulletin.”

“The reason why I had that little ad…is because I started making different types of popcorn out of my house with my grown son, and it kind of just expanded (from) word-of-mouth by family and family friends who started ordering from us,” Johnson said.

Long hours at work had actually slowed her two-year-long budding popcorn pursuit in 2018 at that point. That all changed, however, when she received the call from Paparella while out on a business trip asking if she would be interested in buying the store.

“We have a passion for food in our family. We love cooking. We love experimenting. We’re huge foodies, and I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would own a popcorn shop,” Johnson said, explaining that the call led to her purchasing the store nearly five-and-a-half years ago.

Now, Johnson makes her delicious, crunchy snacks for POParella’s using various recipes she’s “tweaked to perfection” over the years.

She explained that the store uses a base of two different non-GMO kernels, the “mushroom style” of larger, rounder kernels typically seen in candy-coated and caramel popcorns and a hybrid that blends the “mushroom style” with the traditional “butterfly style” seen at movie theaters, across four distinct flavor profiles.

The savory category features the traditional salty flavors that moviegoers recognize and includes three of the store’s bestsellers: Movie Time, Buttery Original and Cheese.

Kettles and caramel blends then feature gluten and dairy-free flavors, like the aforementioned cinnamon toast that’s paired with Movie Time for a unique mash-up called “The Colony.”

Next up are caramels and cornfetti’s, which encompass the store’s caramel and candy-coated offerings, while the final “specialty” category features all chocolate-covered popcorn.   

Each of the popcorns and unique flavor profiles are available to sample at the store, along with a variety of seasonal flavors like candy corn and boo munch, with Johnson adding that employees will walk new customers through the expansive menu upon entering.

“Our employees are well-versed in the types of popcorn we have, and they also have their own favorites,” Johnson said.

For those looking for a different kind of Halloween bite, Johnson noted the store’s “gourmet treats” include fudge and cotton candy that’s made in-house as well as a selection of popular candy, cake bites and Blue Bell ice cream in the store.

“We have something for anyone that has a sweet tooth,” Johnson said.

It’s a combination that makes POParella’s one of the sweetest stops you can make in Frisco this spooky Halloween season.

POParella’s Gourmet Popcorn & Treats is located at 8873 Coleman Blvd, Frisco, TX 75034. For more information about the store, including online ordering options, visit https://poparellas.com/.

Back in May, news broke that the founders of Dallas-based Four Corners Brewing Co. would be reacquiring their company from Constellation Brands, the owners of alcohol brands like Corona and Modelo. Now, following a rather aptly timed Independence Day bash, Four Corners Brewing is looking for innovative ways to leverage its newfound independence in the coming months while continuing to promote its “unique expression” of beer culture that co-founder George Esquivel says makes the brewery stand out from the pack in what D Magazine calls a “Golden Age of Beer in Dallas.”

“We still like the adventure that craft beer provides, and there’s just kind of a cultural element to craft beer the way we grew up with it and came to know it, and we just try to express ourselves through the brewery,” Esquivel said in a July interview with the Collin-Denton Spotlighter.

Esquivel explained that the brand looks to the diversity and heritage of Texas for inspiration, something reflected in both its branding and community efforts over the years.

“The foundation from an art perspective (and) design perspective is really based on Loteria, a kind of Mexican bingo if no one is familiar with it,” Esquivel said of Four Corners Brewing’s cans and imagery inspired by the game.

Four Corners Brewing Co. does more than just take inspiration from Loteria, however. It also hosts a weekly Loteria game night of its own every Thursday.

“We’ve been doing that for years,” Esquivel said, adding that the game night attracts “a couple hundred” guests each week who come out to play while enjoying food, beer and live DJs in what he describes as a communal setting.

Four Corners Brewing Co. also hosts monthly Viernesito Market Nights which features different community vendors and artisans. Esquivel explained that the company’s self-curated markets help bring new foot traffic to the brewery and give local entrepreneurs a chance to showcase their products.

“People who’ve never been to breweries many times come out to support their folks at a market, so we both get exposed to something new and different,” Esquivel said.

Four Corners Brewing’s emphasis on connecting with the local community mirrors Esquivel’s thought process behind the reacquisition of the company.

Esquivel explained that he and his fellow co-founders, Greg Leftwich and Steve Porcari, saw their reacquisition of Four Corners Brewing Co. as an opportunity to bring it “back home here (and) really begin to focus on some of the things that we wanted to do.” He noted examples like having the ability to make quicker decisions, explore innovative, trendy ideas like non-alcoholic beer and new beer-to-go initiatives or pursue partnerships that may be outside of the drink market in areas like food and entertainment.

“It opens up a lot of opportunities for us…because the bigger company didn’t take advantage of some partnerships with other businesses,” Esquivel said. “So, those are all open doors for us now, and that’s an exciting place to be.”

The company also plans to put an even greater emphasis on the local community now, an area which Esquivel said Four Corners Brewing will “focus a lot more on” as it sets its sights on the brewery scene boom in DFW he said the company played a role in helping to develop.

“It was about having beer culture as part of our culture, and it’s happened,” Esquivel said of one of the original visions guiding the founding of Four Corners Brewing Co. in Dallas. “We’re really proud to be a part of that, and eager to kind of bring that back home and build upon the things that we’ve done.”

For now, Esquivel said the company is focusing on stabilizing and solidifying Four Corners Brewing Co. to “get our independent running legs” in order to see where the company’s future plans in the area can take it.

“We got our work cut out for us here in Texas. There’s a lot of runway, a lot of population growth in our backyard here, so we’re grateful for the opportunity,” Esquivel said of Four Corners Brewing’s independent future.

For more information on Four Corners Brewing Co., visit https://fcbrewing.com/. This interview was edited for clarity.

After always receiving compliments on her home cooking, Gigante’s mother Andrea Cacho began a side business out of their home.

“We got so popular in that short amount of the time that we did that…we got kind of full and hectic just doing it out of the house,” Gigante said. “Then, one day, the oven completely broke down.”

Gigante explained that her parents took the obstacle in stride, seeing it as a sign that they should open up an official restaurant location.

“It was kind of like a push in a way,” Gigante said.

That led Andrea and her husband, Leo Gigante, to open Del Campo Empanadas in May 2020. The restaurant specializes in empanadas, a style of pastry filled with different meats, cheeses or sweets that’s popular in the family’s original home of Argentina.

Gigante described how Del Campo Empanadas makes its namesake pastries with fresh, never frozen ingredients and hand-folds the dough each day, serving up flavors ranging from traditional Argentine-style beef to shrimp, caprese and even dessert variations.

Gigante said that the most popular flavors are the Banutella, a dessert empanada made with sliced bananas, Nutella, chocolate sauce and powdered sugar, and traditional Argentine-style beef filled with ground Angus beef, raisins, onions, red bell peppers, green olives, egg and Argentine spices.

While the traditional beef mixture is the most authentic the restaurant carries, according to Gigante, the inclusion of raisins is also a nod to her mother’s German descent.

She noted that the restaurant’s name is actually an homage to the home of Andrea’s grandmother, where she learned most of her cooking techniques.

Del Campo Empanadas’ first location in Fort Worth has close family ties of its own as it’s just a few blocks from their home, where the empanada business started. That led to the community quickly coming out in droves to support the new restaurant upon its opening.

“The first week, even with COVID and everything, we completely sold out,” Gigante said, adding that their entire community wanted to see the family’s new venture succeed even in the difficult pandemic environment.

After the family got their bearings as new restaurant owners, they soon realized that word had spread about the restaurant and many customers were driving up to an hour to enjoy their empanadas.

That eventually led to the family recently opening a second location in Flower Mound, with Gigante’s parents each heading up a restaurant.

Much like Del Campo Empanadas’ first location, Gigante said the Flower Mound restaurant initially had to close down early during its first week after completely selling out.

With that kind of popularity, brought about by authentic cooking techniques passed down through the generations, it’s no wonder that Gigante said that Del Campo Empanadas are “very proud family-ran and family-owned restaurants.”

Del Campo Empanadas is located at 10724 N Beach St, Fort Worth, TX 76244 and 901 Long Prairie Rd #160, Flower Mound, TX 75022. For more information about the restaurant, visit https://delcampoempanadas.com/.

Matt Besler is no stranger to world-class competition. In fact, he’s no stranger to besting that world-class competition. A multi-time MLS All-Star who represented the United States in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, it’s clear Besler’s success on the soccer field is a testament to his athletic ability.

However, the 2012 MLS Defender of the Year met his match while playing a game with a rather strange name, pickleball.

“There was many times early on where I walked onto the court and got my butt kicked by somebody less athletic and older, who couldn’t move as well as I could,” Besler said. “I also think that’s the beauty of (pickleball) too.”

Besler isn’t the only one captivated by the uniquely named racket sport. Pickleball’s accessibility has undoubtedly helped to make it the fastest-growing sport in America, turning it into a game that’s attracting everyone from athletes like Tom Brady, LeBron James and Patrick Mahomes to grandparents all around the country.

“Pickleball is a mixture of tennis, badminton and ping pong, and you can learn it within 10-15 minutes,” former Tennis club pro Lindsey Vermillion said, explaining that she initially learned about the sport in order to teach others at her job when its popularity began to grow. “The rules are not the same as tennis. Scoring is a little different. You can only score on your serve. Serving is underhand…but it’s really simple to pick up and to get a rally going back and forth between anyone.”

Now, both Vermillion and Besler find themselves right in the midst of the growing pickleball phenomenon working at Kansas City-based chain Chicken N Pickle.

Chicken N Pickle combines a restaurant, bar and hangout area with a full-fledged multi-court pickleball venue. The concept is helping bring the sport to new audiences around the country with a community-centered outlook and an approach to the game accessible to newcomers and seasoned pros alike.

“The great thing about pickleball is everybody can do it. We have people in their 80s doing it, and we have five-year-old’s doing it,” Susan Renne, the Community Impact Coordinator for Chicken N Pickle’s recently opened Grapevine location, said.

The Grapevine location opened this past January and immediately received a positive response from the local community, according to Vermillion, who works alongside Renne as both a community impact and pickleball partnership coordinator.

Vermillion explained that Chicken N Pickle regularly gives back to the community, helping different area organizations and charities by hosting fundraisers and other donation initiatives. Vermillion highlighted efforts like a weekly giveback campaign that donates 10% of food and beverage sales during every Tuesday from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to a different local organization along with a two-week community cup campaign that donates proceeds from all fountain drinks sold as examples of Chicken N Pickle’s outreach in the area.

“We really enjoy being there and being involved in the community,” Besler, the director of strategic partnerships at Chicken N Pickle, said of the company’s time in North Texas. In addition to the Grapevine location, Chicken N Pickle has a location in Grand Prairie and one on the way in Allen.

On top of reaching out to community groups and charities, the chain also actively engages with the growing pickleball community too. Chicken N Pickle locations staff onsite pickleball pros and regularly hosts lessons, including weekly beginner sessions, at its courts. For more seasoned players, the chain offers advanced lessons and partners with multi-time Grand Slam and top-ranked pickleball pro Tyson McGuffin for special clinics and camps at their facilities.

“We do have something for every level,” Vermillion said, noting the company also hosts junior camps and Nike camps.

It’s a comprehensive approach to both pickleball and the local community that feels indicative of Chicken N Pickle’s ethos as a whole. The Grapevine space offers much more than pickleball, with games ranging from shuffleboard and cornhole to giant versions of Battleship and Jenga available to play in addition to a bevy of food options.

It’s that accessibility in providing different activities and approaches for everyone, much like the game of pickleball itself, that Besler believes makes Chicken N Pickle special.

“It’s really hard not to smile and laugh and have a good time when you’re at Chicken N Pickle,” Besler said.

Chicken N Pickle is located at 4600 Merlot Ave., Grapevine, TX 76051. For more information about the location, including available lesson times and upcoming tournaments, visit https://chickennpickle.com/location/grapevine/.

Rachel Dymond grew up baking. It was something she enjoyed with her parents and grandparents, especially her grandpa who became interested in recipe development after retirement. From working on recipes in high school to earning a hospitality degree from Kansas State, Dymond always knew she wanted to own her own bakery then.

A desire to deepen her knowledge of the craft led her to work at Jason’s Deli, The Original Pancake House and even a different local Texas bakery, along the way refining her recipes and learning how to adapt them to a commercial scale.

In May 2020, Dymond opened The Moonbeam Bakery in Allen, a culmination of her hard work named in honor of her grandpa, who helped spark her love for baking and the dream that had become a reality.

“His nickname for me was moonbeam, so to kind of honor him, that’s what I decided to name the bakery,” Dymond said. “We specialize in pies, all from scratch recipes that I’ve developed.”

Those recipes primarily come from Dymond’s personal experiences and ideas over the years, filling an expansive menu ranging from a variety of pies and cookies to brownies, bars and breakfast items. The menu also includes some family recipes such as cherry and lemon meringue pies from her grandpa and red velvet bars inspired by her mom.

“We started with pies and cookies, and then it was just kind of based on what customers asked for, things that we were wanting to try,” Dymond said, explaining that she developed recipes for cinnamon rolls and biscuits to give customers who came in for dessert the opportunity to buy breakfast for the next day.

The bakery also puts out a star of the month pie, a special seasonal flavor for that month, like the top-selling cherry pie for Valentine’s Day in February, pumpkin for November or blueberry for July.

The Moonbeam Bakery’s key lime pie is the year-round bestseller however, followed by the chocolate cream.

The Collin-Denton Spotlighter tried one of The Moonbeam Bakery’s mini key lime pies, quickly falling in love with the pie’s exceptional balance between sweet and tangy flavors.

“I think the combination of ingredients, and having the right amounts of those ingredients, and lots of love thrown in there just makes a really good pie,” Dymond said. “You have to have the right ratio of filling to crust.”

It’s that eye for pie that has undoubtedly helped Dymond make a name for The Moonbeam Bakery in the local community, whether by growing the bakery’s business at weddings, corporate events and baby showers or helping raise money for area organizations through spirit week fundraisers.

Local schools, nonprofits, churches and other groups can pick a week for the bakery to collect receipts from purchases related to their fundraiser. Then, the organizations receive 20% of each of those sales back in donations.

“That’s our biggest fundraiser that people tend to do because I think it’s very easy to just advertise it and talk about it,” Dymond said.

The community support extends personally to Dymond from her staff as well, which she explained she’s relied on during her pregnancy with her son, due in April.

“It is challenging, but thankfully I’ve been very lucky that I had a very easy pregnancy so far,” Dymond said.

Dymond noted that, overall, the local Allen community is very supportive of her dream business. With such delicious pies, The Moonbeam Bakery might just be a dream come true for Allen residents too.

The Moonbeam Bakery is located at 1008 W McDermott Dr. Ste 400, Allen, TX 75013

All it takes is one shrimp and you’re hooked. It’s a phenomenon the managing partners behind Coco Shrimp’s Denton location say they’ve seen time and time again.

Blaise Hadley, one of the partners at the location, explained how he’s guided customers to Coco Shrimp firsthand. Whether its people sitting around the outside dining space between the Hawaiian shrimp standouts and the neighboring Popeyes or friends and family of current customers who were too skeptical of the shrimp-centric concept to give it a shot, all it took was a single sample to change their minds.

According to Hadley and his partners, it’s typically not long before they see those same faces ordering full meals at the counter.

“If I can get you in here one time, you’re normally ours,” Coco Shrimp Denton Partner and Manager Robbie Robison said.

It’s a bold claim. Then again, there’s bold flavors and bolder expansion plans to back it up.

Coco Shrimp prides itself on its Hawaiian flavors and fresh, made-from-scratch cooking. With roots in the food truck industry in Fort Worth, the growing chain of fast casual shrimp restaurants has already spread to four brick-and-mortar locations around Tarrant and Denton County with plans in the works for more.

Hadley, a veteran of the restaurant industry and uncle of brothers-in-law Isaac Hadley and Jordan Barrus who founded the restaurant, is helping spearhead the expansion plans with the help of longtime coworker and fellow Coco Shrimp partner Walter Cervin.

“We’ve got one slated for Mansfield,” Hadley said of the restaurant’s upcoming plans. “We’re looking all over the metroplex. I want to expand across Texas.”

If it sounds like the partners behind Coco Shrimp are confident in their plans and product, it’s for good reason. They’re serving up some of the most flavorful seafood bites in North Texas.

Coco Shrimp provided The Collin-Denton Spotlighter with a sampler plate and coco shrimp taco for proof.

The restaurant fills its sampler plate, which Hadley says is one of Coco Shrimp’s most popular dishes, with a trio of sauteed shrimp flavors: spicy, lemon herb and sweet and spicy. Hadley notes that the sweet and spicy is the restaurant’s most popular standalone flavor, a variation on their namesake coconut shrimp covered in sweet teriyaki and spicy sauce.

The selection of seafood sits atop a heaping helping of the restaurant’s butter-garlic seasoned rice and served alongside ginger, poppy seed and sweet chili dressings as well as a side salad.

When the plate arrives at the table, the first element that hits you is the color. As a skeptic of Instagram foodie culture, rarely have I felt the urge to snap a shot of my meal. Nonetheless, it would’ve been hard not to here.

On the first bite of the sweet and spicy shrimp, it’s easy to see how Coco Shrimp so easily swayed its skeptics. Restaurants far too often exhort the values of freshness, but it’s truly a difference maker here.

You can immediately taste a difference in the freshness of the shrimp. There’s an elevated flavor and tenderness to the shrimp itself that comes through even amid the mixture of Hawaiian spices and sauces.

“The coconut shrimp’s battered and breaded here every day,” Hadley said of the restaurant’s namesake flavor. “It’s not like we buy it frozen and prepped. We prepare it here.”

The lemon herb and spicy flavors similarly retain that fresh flavor, even if the spicy seasoning mix does take charge a bit more. All three are worth a try, as is the taco dish, with each bringing a distinctive palate of seasoning to the table.

The rice, believe it or not, is also a must-try. Cervin described it off-the-cuff as “liquid love” which seems almost apt for this buttery, creamy rice.

Big Hawaiian flavors aren’t the only focus at Coco Shrimp, however. The restaurant places great emphasis on the originality of its surroundings and décor. It’s filled with hanging surfboards which have seen some real experience out on the waves, some of which evidently felt those waves harder than others, as well as surf magazines, live plants and hand painted artwork.

“It’s authentic north shore (Hawaii) and that was the goal,” Hadley said, explaining how he feels details like the live plants and reclaimed barnwood wall décor estimated to be more than a hundred years old touch on some of the island inspirations from his nephews.

Coco Shrimp also pushes what it feels are some of the universal Hawaiian values in its restaurant culture as well. Robison and Cervin mentioned that the staffing problems plaguing the restaurant industry of late haven’t affected Coco Shrimp, pointing to the fact that the company hasn’t had to hire any new staff after its initial hiring process.

“We’re trying to make it where works not work,” Cervin said of what he calls the family environment the restaurant tries to cultivate for the staff.

That family environment extends to the customers as well. Robison calls Coco Shrimp a “word of mouth company” and points to being out with the customers and regulars to get feedback from the community as a crucial element of its success, something he plans to continue as Coco Shrimp keeps attracting customers in the Denton area.

“It’s a big ‘ohana here, like a big family,” Robison said.

Coco Shrimp in Denton is located at 1716 S Loop 288, Denton, TX 76208.

It’s the grand finale of so many family holiday traditions across the country. After everyone gets together to swap presents, maybe watch a good Peanuts special and have a big dinner, the evening’s festivities conclude with the serving up of a delicious pie.

For MeLisa Gingrich, pie is more than just the last bite from a successful family holiday though. It’s what quite literally brought her family closer together.

Gingrich is the owner of MeLisa The Pie Lady in The Colony, a local year-round pie shop with a wide selection of delectable mini pies and full-sized holiday centerpiece worthy creations. The shop is the culmination of years of hard work for Gingrich who began baking pies back in 2016 as a way to help her nephews.

“I had two nephews, one was staying with my elderly mother and was in elementary school and his little brother was in foster care. So, she got the little one out and she just wasn’t able to take care of them, so we wanted to get them here,” Gingrich said. “We had to get a lawyer and I told my husband, I said ‘Let’s sell some pies and raise some money.’ That’s how we got started, just as a fundraiser, but they (the customers) kept coming.”

With such a strong response, Gingrich saw that her pies could become a full-fledged business venture and soon began renting out a commercial kitchen inside a Frisco-based church for baking. The church presented some logistical problems for customers however, so Gingrich started looking for a more official storefront in Frisco.

“We thought that’s where we would land. When we decided to get a store, we started looking at properties there, but I went to a wedding and sat down next to the lady that had this shop,” Gingrich said, explaining that fellow local bakery Julie’s Sweets was the previous occupant of her current storefront. The bakery was planning to move to their current location at Grandscape in The Colony at the time and subleased the space to Gingrich for MeLisa The Pie Lady. “So that’s how it happened. We just so happened to sit next to her, I think it’s a God thing.”

After taking over the space in 2019, Gingrich and her niece, an interior designer, re-decorated the shop and MeLisa The Pie Lady was up and rolling, quite literally.

“We did not have equipment to press dough. We rolled out everything, even the mini pies were rolled out. It was a lot of work,” Gingrich said of the store’s initial opening which featured around 10 different flavors. She added that she’s since purchased Amish baking equipment to help create the pies.

Fast forward to today and the shop now features an expanded selection as well, Gingrich estimates around 16 to 18 flavors are available at a given time, ranging from holiday standouts like chocolate eggnog and peppermint mocha ganache cheesecake to best-selling standards like chocolate and key lime.

The techniques Gingrich used to develop those various flavors and recipes trace back to another family connection that’s helped fuel her pie business.

“My husband’s grandmother took me under her wings and taught me everything about cooking and about baking. I just adored her,” Gingrich said. “She died at 97 and it was a big loss to lose her. You think at 97. ‘Oh, it’s a grandma, you know, she’s lived her life,’ but we didn’t feel that way at all. We didn’t want to lose her. She was awesome.”

Those techniques have helped Gingrich remain a local favorite through the years with recognizable regulars often returning to the store to pick up more and more pies. The Collin-Denton Spotlighter received a sample of one of the best-selling pies, key lime, and its mix of tangy and sweet filling with a golden graham cracker crust that crumbled just enough under the weight of the spoon made it obvious why customers just keep coming back to MeLisa the Pie Lady.

“They become like family to us, you know?” Gingrich said.

In other words, pie has likely become the centerpiece of more families than just Gingrich’s this holiday season thanks to MeLisa The Pie Lady.

3 Nations Brewing Managing Partner John Royer recently detailed some of the expected steps in the upcoming renovation process for that space and what thirsty Anna and Collin County residents can expect from the community-centric brewing company’s newest location.

“We want people to look at us and go, ‘Man, that’s the kind of place I want to hang out,’ so it’s just using what resources are available to us on that location,” Royer said.

That means undertaking a construction process scheduled to bring in a number of elements which have helped make 3 Nations Brewing a local favorite in Carrollton while still finding creative ways to use such a unique space.

“There’s a lot to this, it’s more than just clearing up the space,” Royer said explaining that demolition of portions of the building interior would hopefully begin in December with subsequent renovations beginning in January.

Those expected renovations include adding entertainment components like sound systems and TV equipment on top of converting the building into a space which can handle brewing equipment like coolers.

Additionally, Royer cited converting the exterior of the building to look more like an exciting and inviting brewery as perhaps the company’s biggest renovation challenge. All in all, 3 Nations Brewing hopes to have the new location ready to open in June 2023.

Notable portions of the original building which Royer plans to retain through the intensive construction process are the safes located inside. The company plans to convert the longer of the safes into a restroom while the central safe becomes a small private event room that Royer hopes could hold around 8-10 people.

Beyond decisions on the physical structure, Royer hopes to receive input from the local Anna community to inform later planned decisions on events and activities at the new location.

Royer described how 3 Nations Brewing has become a renowned local institution in Carrollton’s downtown area. The Carrollton taproom has become a popular spot for drinks, with small batch brews crafted on Fridays, as well as entertainment events like concerts, weekly bingo and trivia nights which can swell to 80 different teams.

“We would like to offer the same kind of thing for the (Anna) community, but we also just need to judge our community there and see what they want to do,” Royer said.

While the Anna location is physically smaller than that “home base” for 3 Nations Brewing, Royer said the company still wants to build that same kind of communal feel.

Royer stresses community participation as key to 3 Nations Brewing’s success, attributing opportunities like the support they received from the city of Anna to the company’s history of community building. He cites his experiences in European pubs and beer halls as inspiration for the kind of communal experience he hopes 3 Nation Brewing creates.

“We want people to come out and feel comfortable and to have fun,” Royer said.

With the Grandscape location set to become just one of many Portillo’s restaurants which will soon dot the North Texas area, according to the Dallas Morning News, it feels appropriate for someone who grew up with a Portillo’s just 10 minutes from their childhood home to create a bit of a primer on some must-haves for those who might be experiencing Chicago cooking for the very first time. A top five list which begins quite appropriately with the pinnacle of Chicago fast food.

Chicago-style Jumbo Hot Dog

Pardon me if I almost wax poetic about the Chicago-style hot dog, even if I did do as much in an earlier review of the similarly brilliant Chicago Avenue HotDogs in Frisco. It’s easy to forget that the windy city’s signature dog may be an almost intimidating sight for those not yet familiar with it.

The neon green relish may be confounding, the dill pickle spear and tomato slices confusing, the celery salt and onion topping intimidating, yet don’t let that unfamiliarity spook you from the comforts of the country’s premier interpretation of the humble hot dog.

The resulting mixture of flavors is a delicious harmony with each note perfectly playing off one another. Many Chicagoans consider Portillo’s one of the best at crafting these creations, so the safest bet for a hungry first-timer is to order the jumbo dog if only to make your best effort at not immediately ordering a second.

Beef-n-Cheddar Croissant

From one Chicago favorite to another, Italian beef is also a must when visiting an institution of the city like Portillo’s. While the restaurant does offer the classic Italian Beef, complete with the option to add hot giardiniera peppers to the Turano French bread-nestled beef, I happen to prefer this more unconventional take.

There’s just something about the way the au jus and cheddar cheese melts into the soft croissant, which doubles as a bun for the juicy Italian beef, that makes the Beef-n-Cheddar stand above the rest. While getting a Chicago classic is still a necessity for any newcomer, strict adherence to tradition isn’t always a requirement for deliciousness in this case.

Char-grilled Maxwell Street Polish Sausage

For the more adventurous, the Maxwell Street Polish Sausage is another longtime Chicago standby that calls Portillo’s its home. While not quite as nationally renowned as the Chicago-style hot dog, this dish still has quite the loyal following in the city.

According to the restaurant’s website, Portillo’s founder, Dick Portillo, so fondly recalled getting Polish sausages from street carts on the corner of Maxwell and Halsted St. as a child that he brought the sausages to his restaurant years later. The unique and distinctly flavored sausage variety, originally created over 75 years ago according to the restaurant, is indeed that much of a classic and one that’s best experienced at another Chicago classic like Portillo’s.

Chocolate Cake/Chocolate Cake Shake

Depending on who you ask, Portillo’s chocolate cake may very well be its most famous dish. The velvety smooth layers of fresh baked, rich chocolate cake and frosting hold up even against specialty cake shops.

Somehow along the way, Portillo’s mixed the cake into its creamy milkshake which doubles the deliciousness and acts as yet another famed dessert from the restaurant in its own right. No matter which you choose, your sweet tooth will be satisfied.

Chicken Tenders and Cheese Fries

Sometimes even the run-of-the-mill can be delicious. This is an easy, kid-friendly menu option that’s really become a personal go-to simply for the ability to dunk juicy chicken tenders into some of the best cheese sauce around along with a side of what I would consider to be the best fries in Chicago. The crinkle fries are satisfyingly crisp allowing them to hold up to ample dunking in that luxurious cheese sauce. Don’t sleep on the simple, even if a newcomer should probably try some of the original standbys on this list first.             

Dallas, Texas — Rodolfo Jimenez may be a former model and TV star, but it’s clear that his love and passion for serving up his mother’s delicious recipes is no act.

Jimenez, who’s starred on shows for stations like Univision, Telemundo and NBC, is the owner of Maskaras Mexican Grill in Dallas’ Oak Cliff neighborhood with his wife Zulma Hernandez, a former beauty queen herself. The restaurant is home to the kind of authentic recipes from Guadalajara that his family grew up with.

“What I did is I just started to remember how my mom used to cook for us,” Jimenez said, explaining that he vividly remembers the love his mother showed through her cooking and uses those memories to inspire his own cooking today. “I just go back in time to one of those moments in my house and I will reproduce exactly how she would cook these for us.”

The result is a completely original menu with traditional dishes like carne en su jugo which are seldom, if ever, seen in the perpetually prevalent Tex-Mex restaurants in the area. Those dishes are together on the menu with original creations Jimenez has since developed such as the restaurant’s popular burger burrito.

“In the beginning, it was kind of a long process because people would walk into our restaurant and look at the menu, turn around, and leave because they didn’t know anything off the menu,” Jimenez said adding that he was happy that people eventually gave his food a chance and came to realize how much they enjoyed it.

Maskaras has subsequently begun to rack up an impressive list of accolades and acclaims in recent years. If there’s a single marquee star at the restaurant though, it’s the tacos ahogados. Texas Monthly featured the dish, which is essentially crispy fried tacos “drowned” in a loose tomato sauce and topped with pickled onions, as a Taco of the Week and the Dallas Observer called it a “magical mystery.”

Jimenez provided an opportunity to try the dish, and “magical” somehow almost felt like an understatement. In the same way that birria tacos took over the nation in recent years, tacos ahogados should be the next social media sensation. The first of the trio of tacos inexplicably retained a satisfying crunch amidst the sea of tomato sauce before it gave way to the juiciest, most tender carnitas filling imaginable. By time you work your way through the plate, even when the last taco shell begins to finally give way to the surrounding sauce, the amount of flavor packed into each bite remains unparalleled.

Speaking of quesabirria, Maskaras didn’t shy away from the trend either, even if they already have its should-be successor lined up. The restaurant’s version of birria tacos retain that same crunchiness and juicy filling like in the taco ahogados, except now accompanied with a bowl of warming broth. It makes for a great example of the much-discussed dish.

If the exceptional food, cooked by a former model and actor no less, somehow isn’t enough to make Maskaras a must-stop destination, the restaurant’s namesake collection of lucha libre memorabilia should do the trick.

Jimenez’s impressive collection of ring-worn lucha libre masks from many of the sport’s most legendary figures has developed quite the reputation in its own right. The masks, most of which the wrestlers not only wore but also signed according to Jimenez, surround the restaurant and stand as a testament to his decades of collecting.

Jimenez started his collection as a kid, thanks to an invitation from his brother to go to a lucha libre show. After the in-ring action concluded, his brother tried to purchase the ring-worn mask from luchador Septiembre Negro who eventually sold it on the contingency that it belong to the 8-year-old Jimenez. From there, Jimenez began buying souvenir masks at shows and reselling them at his school to earn enough money to purchase ring-worn examples from the luchadores themselves.

“We grew up with lucha libre, that was like the best thing ever,” Jimenez said. “Same as the U.S. like the superheroes, that’s what we grew up with in Mexico.”

Nowadays, Jimenez’s mask collection has swelled to over 2,000 and is still growing. He keeps a rotating selection on display at the restaurant, including some of his most exciting examples like some of the 300-400 masks from the legendary luchador Mil Mascaras that Jimenez owns or the mask from the real-life inspiration behind the film Nacho Libre, Fray Tormenta.

“He came one time here and then he started to look at all the masks that we have here, and he said, ‘You know what? You’re missing something. Let me go back to my car,’” Jimenez said. “Went to his car, he came back, and we have the mask right there.”

Jimenez explained that when a restaurant-goer who knew some of the people who worked on Nacho Libre saw that Fray Tormenta mask, he brought them to the restaurant. They then presented Jimenez with another unique gift.

“They made a copy of the original Nacho Libre mask, and they gave it to us, based on the original design,” Jimenez said.

The inspiration to marry Jimenez’s love of lucha libre with his wish to open a restaurant came from the desire to create a more authentic representation of Mexican culture at Maskaras, much in the same way he does through his cooking.

“I was tired of seeing the Mexican cliche on most of the restaurants that are out there,” Jimenez said. “Because, you know, they hang maracas and sombreros and even the clay pots where you cook all the stuff, and for me; it is a cliche.”

From the bright and bold colors of the lucha libre decor to the even bolder flavors of his cooking, there’s certainly no denying that Jimenez has achieved that genuine experience of the culture and food he grew up with at Maskaras Mexican Grill.