Eats Beat: Escaping the Main St. crowd for good grub

For 30 years, a downtown arts festival has brought crowds to Main Street.

Every year, somebody complains that the restaurants are too crowded.

So if you can’t get a table at Cheesecake Factory, Del Frisco’s Grille or Bird Café, here are some off-the-eaten-path downtown dining choices:

▪ Thai Tina’s is a hidden gem inside the Embassy Suites hotel.

It serves a full Thai menu daily for lunch and dinner, and will stay open until 11 p.m. on festival nights with the bar open until 2 a.m.; 600 Commerce St., 817-332-0088, thaitinas.com.

▪ Planet Sub, a Kansas City sandwich chain popular in Austin, is new near Burnett Park.

It’s open till 7 p.m. weekdays but only till 3 p.m. Saturdays, and it’s closed Sundays; 411 W. Seventh St., 817-882-8487, planetsub.com.

▪ Frankie’s Sports Bar and Grill, near the city library, is a popular weekday lunch hangout for burgers and pizza.

Frankie’s also serves weekend brunch dishes. It’s a good place to meet up on the way to or from a downtown event; 425 W. Third St., 817-870-9090, frankiesbar.com.

▪ Salata, near Bass Hall, is a green buffet with a wide choice of salads and toppings.

It’s open daily for lunch and until 8 p.m. weekends; 520 Commerce St., 817-885-7720, mysalata.com.

▪ Picchi Pacchi, the reliable pizza and Italian restaurant in the middle of the crowd at 512 Main St. is open till 3 a.m. weekends; 817-870-2222, dfwpicchipacchi.com.

Southlake takes wing

Malai Kitchen, a busy Thai-Vietnamese restaurant in Dallas’ Uptown area known for chicken wings, will open in the new Park Village shopping center in Southlake.

Owners Braden and Jasmin Wages expect to open the new Malai by fall, and will serve house-brewed Asian beers; 1161 E. Southlake Blvd., malaikitchen.com.

Pigeon special

Clay Pigeon Food & Drink in Fort Worth is the latest restaurant to add a discount dinner on weeknights.

Mondays through Thursdays, Clay Pigeon is offering a three-course dinner for $45.

With wine pairings, it’s a $70 tab; 817-882-8065, claypigeonfd.com.

Brunch at the Lunch Box

The venerable Lunch Box sandwich-and-salad cafe, a mainstay in the Ridglea neighborhood of west Fort Worth, is also becoming a Breakfast Box.

Beginning May 4, the Lunch Box will serve breakfast seven days a week, competing directly with a new The Egg and I outlet opening nearby in the Village at Camp Bowie shopping center.

The Lunch Box also owns Black Rooster Bakery, so hope for some artisan breads and muffins.

The Lunch Box is open daily at 10:30 a.m. for lunch only till 2:30 p.m. weekends, 3 p.m. weekdays; 6333 Camp Bowie Blvd., 817-738-2181, eatthelunchbox.com. A second location is at 2730 Western Center Blvd.

This story was originally published April 8, 2015 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Eats Beat: Escaping the Main St. crowd for good grub."