Three restaurant-related updates today – Pollo Ranchero is now open in Shafer Plaza; Fat Dawgs, which hopes to open within a month or so, has posted a sample menu; Napoli’s is under new management, with a new chef and a brand new menu. Click “Read On” for details and menus…

Pollo Ranchero is now open in Shafer Plaza. They’re in the same building as the cleaners and the nail spa, which is located next to the building Double Dave’s and Care United is in, behind where the Walgreens is being built. Laura was kind enough to scan in a menu and post it on the Forney discussion forums, in this topic. Pollo Ranchero appears to have a good mix of Tex-Mex, chicken and down-home cooking. For instance, they have enchiladas, chalupas and tacos along with rotisserie chicken and sides that include sweet corn, mashed potatoes, fried okra and more.

Fat Dawgs, which is under construction where the Daily Grind used to be, on the south side of Highway 80, near Las Trojas, is hoping to open in the next month or so. They’ve setup a MySpace page to keep everyone updated with their progress, which includes a sample of their menu, which will feature over 20 types of hot dogs. They’ve been discussing their draft of the initial menu in this topic in the Forney discussion forums, and have been very open to feedback!

Finally, Napoli’s, a long-time favorite Italian restaurant in Forney, is now under new management. You’ll still see some familiar faces working there, but they have a new chef, a brand new menu and they now deliver! I had lunch there recently, and the chef was very friendly – he came out of the kitchen to ask for our feedback concerning the new menu, which includes some old favorites like the chicken parmigiana hot sub for $5.25 and some new spectacular dishes such as the chicken involtini for $9.95. Napoli’s is located at 111 East Main Street in Forney – take Broad Street to Bois D’Arc Street towards downtown Forney – make a left on Main Street, and Napoli’s is past city hall, on the left.

Currently, Napoli’s menu indicates they will deliver, for free, within 4 miles of their location. I asked the chef if they plan to deliver to Travis Ranch or Windmill Farms, and he said that once there is more interest in their delivery service and they have more delivery drivers, they would love to expand their delivery range to include more neighborhoods, including Windmill Farms. While I was talking with the chef, I asked him what all he was changing – I noticed the sauces tasted even better than before, and he explained that he makes as much as he can from scratch, including his own chicken stock. He worked at an upscale restaurant in Berlin, Germany in the 90’s, and apparently learned quite a bit – the presentation of our lunch was amazing, and certainly unexpected from what we always considered a local Italian dive.

I scanned their new menu, which appears below. Click either image to see a larger version. If your browser automatically scales large images for you, you may have to click on the larger image again to make it readable.

Discuss this post and these restaurants in this topic in the Forney discussion forum, where I relate a bit more about the excellent lunch I enjoyed at Napoli’s last week.