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Celebrated LA Chef Brings Her Sticky Rice Dumplings to Dallas for One Day Only

Plus: a case of brunch identity theft and more DFW dining intel

 Chef Diep Tran
Photo courtesy of chef Diep Tran

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Banh Chung Collective rolls into Dallas

Chef Diep Tran, who ran a popular restaurant in LA’s Highland Park neighborhood called Good Girl Dinette, is headed to Dallas. Find her at Sandwich Hag for her Banh Chung Collective, which celebrates Tet, Vietnamese New Year.

At the event, guests will learn how to make sticky rice dumplings called banh chung, which are filled with pork, shallots, and mung beans, and then wrapped in banana leaves. This is the final stop for Tran’s The Banh Chung Collective tour across America, and she decided to team up with Sandwich Hag’s Reyna Duong in light of Duong’s advocacy for refugee rights and for employing peoples with disabilities. Purchase tickets here: the class costs $25 for kids ages five and under, and a few tickets for adults are left at the $75 level.

Did Barney’s Brunch House steal this Detroit restaurant’s identity?

Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but a restaurateur in Detroit is accusing new brunch favorite Barney’s Brunch House in Frisco of going too far by copying her restaurant’s name, decor, menu items, and more. Dallas Morning News lists all the ways Liz Gjerjaj Ademi believed Barney’s owner Bumedijan “Bumi” Sejdini ripped off her ideas for her restaurant Rochester Brunch House, from that name to the logo to her custom-made metal coffee cups.

“I guess if you see something good, you’re going to try to do something like that,” Sejdini told the publication. “But you don’t do it to the detriment of somebody. If it was like that, I didn’t mean that.” He’s since changed his restaurant’s logo, although some of the similar decor remains.

Chicago deep-dish chain closes two locations

Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom is cutting its losses in Dallas. The Dallas Morning News reports that the chain devoted to deep-dish pies closed two locations recently: one in Mockingbird Station and one in Cedar Hill. A spokesperson for the restaurant group told the paper: “This was purely a business decision as we continue to focus on other Old Chicago locations throughout the country.” There are still spots for the chain’s Chicago-style pizza in the area, with Old Chicago locations remaining open in Garland and Fort Worth.