Coming Soon: Ida Claire, southern-inspired restaurant from Whiskey Cake, Velvet Taco, Ranch Las Colinas team


The folks behind Whiskey Cake, the Ranch in Las Colinas, Velvet Taco and Mexican Sugar will open Ida Claire, a Southern-inspired gastropub, in Addison this summer.

“We’ll be doing Low Country cuisine with a New Orleans Creole influence,” says Fitzgerald Dodd, Ida Claire’s chef and a former New Orleans resident. “Fried green tomatoes, gumbo, chicken and biscuits, sandwiches, big plates, small plates” and a drink menu that reflects the same southern sensibility. If Dodd’s name is familiar, you have a good memory; he was the opening chef of another southern charmer, Screen Door, the genteel restaurant that once anchored One Arts Plaza.

Ida Claire will occupy the old Truluck’s space at 5001 Belt Line Road at Quorum Drive. Look for a July opening.