As if we needed another reason to be excited about the $125 million dollar renovation at The Shops at Willow Bend, the list continues to grow. Whistle Britches, a popular Far North Dallas restaurant known for its fried chicken, biscuits and custard, has set its sights on Plano for the second iteration of their family-friendly eatery. Set to open in spring of 2018 at The Shops at Willow Bend, Chef/Owner Omar Flores partnered with local restaurateurs Alec and Sammy Marshi to develop and expand the concept.
Omar Flores is a well-known and widely respected chef not just in the DFW area but also nationwide, having been named one of the Best Chefs in DFW in 2012 by Dallas Mornings News. More recently, he was nominated by Food & Wine Magazine for the People’s Choice Best New Chef – Southwest. He began cooking at an early age, helping his father at their family-owned restaurants “from the time he could hold a knife,” according to Chef Flores.
After obtaining a Bachelors Degree in Hotel & Restaurant Management from New Mexico State University, Chef Flores furthered his education at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in New York. He worked all across the country before beginning his stint in Dallas at Abacus, where he worked for several years before branching out on his own to develop his own restaurants, now including Whistle Britches.
The Plano menu will be the same poultry-centric fare their fans have come to love, with a few new dishes and some healthier options thrown into the mix. As the tagline (“chicken, biscuits, beer”) suggests, chicken is the name of the game at Whistle Britches. The current menu at their Dallas location features chicken sandwiches, southern-style apps and sides with chef-inspired upgrades, plus a few rotating dinner features like shrimp and grits, pork chops, ribs and steaks. The Plano restaurant will also have a full bar offering wine, cocktails and draft beer.
Coeval Studio (the same studio behind Pinstack, SMOKE, The Rustic and many other beautiful spaces) will design Plano’s Whistle Britches. The architecture and design are still in the works, but it will be loosely based on the design at the Far North Dallas location. Expect light and bright with a southern accent.
Time to start counting down the days until the The Shops at Willow Bend renovations are complete.
Whistle Britches > [codepeople-post-map]
