UPDATED WITH MENU: Chef Omar Flores has a lot to cluck about at his new Whistle Britches restaurant


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There are plenty of good reasons to visit Whistle Britches, the new restaurant from chef Omar Flores (Casa Rubia), but the best two right now are the restaurant’s kooky name and Flores’ menu of southern-styled dishes.

At Whistle Britches, Flores has partnered with friends Alex and Nibal Malshi (Carmel restaurant). It’s a team that seems to be working, though WB had only been open two days when I popped in for a visit.

Bright and airy, sunlight spills in from tall glass windows on two walls lined with table seating. Four-tops run along a third exterior wall whose roll-up windows connect to a decked patio dotted with sun umbrellas, tables and booths.

A cocktail bar with tap wines and beers soldiers along the restaurant’s back wall. Pops of lemon yellow, butterscotch and burgundy lend a 1980s game room feel to the space; just in case your brain needed a time warp nudge, Carol King, Chicago and James Taylor tunes drift in. Wooden bird cages and framed poultry art dot the walls. You might never guess the building used to house a failed burger joint (Spork) and a Sonic before that.

Mark LaRoca, whose restaurant experience as a server is unmatched in Dallas, is among the waiters working the floor at Whistle Britches. The staff are rightly proud of their biscuits, tea cup-size affairs that arrive hot and buttery.

For his signature menu item, The Whistle Britches, Flores splits a biscuit then slathers the two halves with honey butter and sweet pepper jelly (a bit too much, actually). In between goes a crisp-fried chicken breast, a $14 price tag and lofty expectations.

He’ll no doubt make a splash with this pickle-brined-then-fried chicken sandwich, but it’s his griddled corn cakes, with their drizzle of Steen’s cane syrup and a few popped kernels of sorghum, that’ll be bringing me back. Then again, maybe the double-cut pork chop on the dinner menu will become the star.

6110 Frankford Rd., Dallas; 972-590-8991.