Looking for something new to try? Community Impact highlights new restaurants and other dining experiences weekly. Check out this list of six restaurants and cafes that are coming soon or have opened recently along with other business highlights.

Coming soon

Royal Roastery to bring Middle Eastern roasted nuts, sweets to Richardson

Royal Roastery is set to open in February in Richardson, the third and largest location of the New Orleans-based dessert shop. The store will roast around 80 different kinds of nuts in-house, as well as serving up sweets like cheesecake, baklava, Turkish delight, crepes, ice cream and coffee.

Now open

Portillo’s now offers Chicago-style hotdogs, beef sandwiches, at Tanger Outlets Fort Worth

The restaurant is known for its specialty Chicago-style hotdogs, beef sandwiches and chocolate cake. Other items on the menu include chargrilled burgers, chicken sandwiches, fries, onion rings, soups and salads. There are now 13 Portillo’s locations open in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, including Allen, Denton, Frisco, Grapevine and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

J. Alexander’s first North Texas location now open in Plano

J. Alexander’s serves a variety of American cuisine, including wood-fired steaks, seafood, burgers and house-made desserts. The new location will be the restaurant’s first location in North Texas, followed by a new location coming to Prosper this summer.

Slice House by Tony Gemignani serves artisanal pizza, pasta in Frisco

Slice House by Tony Gemignani features pizzas sold by the slice or whole. It offers four pizza styles, New York, Sicilian, Grandma and Detroit. Beyond pizzas, Slice House offers pasta dishes, including a gemelli pasta with vodka tomato cream sauce, salads and various Italian desserts, such as spumoni, cannoli and gelato.

Stella’s Ice Cream debuts shop, offers frozen treats in McKinney

In addition to classic ice cream flavors including vanilla, chocolate, salted caramel and mint chip, the dessert business also offers seasonal flavors, the company’s website states. Other menu options include sundaes, ice cream sandwiches, cookies and brownies.

Dining spotlight

Hoshi Japanese Cafe offers Japanese cuisine with a Texas twist in Plano

Steve Feldman, who opened Hoshi Japanese Cafe in Plano in 2024, switches easily between English and Japanese when speaking with customers. He describes the menu as consisting of Japanese street and comfort food. Feldman said he has given a Texas twist to the Japanese staple onigiri by making them one-and-a-half times larger than a traditional rice ball.