The Spread.

Fuel City Expands To Mesquite, Blythe Beck Breaks LTO's Rules and Grilled Cheese Is Everywhere.

Welcome to The Spread, our weekly feature that aims to share all the area restaurant, food and beverage industry news that's fit to print. Except, this is the Internet, so space isn't a concern. Also: Good thing, because this is Dallas and this town always has breaking restaurant news going down like whoa.

If rules are meant to be broken, then chef Blythe Beck extending her stay at Kitchen LTO is certainly worth noting.

Earlier this week, Beck tweeted that her renewal for another four months at the permanent pop-up concept is now official. The move comes after a successful #KeepBlythe Facebook campaign, in which she had to reach 1,000 likes — more than a third of which she earned within the first week alone — in order to stay.

When we reached out for comment, Beck had this to say: “It's an honor, and quite humbling that Dallas voted to keep me at LTO. I have loved my first three months here, and with a new menu change and the new year, I am looking forward to cooking for so many new people!”

Now, Beck will be serving up her southern comfort dishes until May 30, so expect plenty of shrimp and grits to go around.

On the fast-casual side of comfort food, the North Texas is getting another grilled cheese joint with the addition of an outpost of the Cincinnati-based chain Tom and Chee set to open in Richardson early next year. While we've learned that we can come to expect beer and cheesy bread stuffs with the opening of Dallas Grilled Cheese Co. in the Bishop Arts District, Tom and Chee incorporates the grilled cheese's natural companion — tomato soup — along with a spectrum of creative ways to do up the classic sandwich. Options range from classic and practical to a stoner's paradise, with dessert-like options made on glazed donuts. The fast-casual concept also features a selection of breads, cheeses and proteins to choose from, as well as salads, gluten-free and vegan options.

If hand-held food — or, more specifically, tacos — is your thing, you'll be happy to hear that Fuel City is opening a third location in Mesquite. So far, not much information has been released from the 24-hour taco shop's camp, but we can expect more space than the Riverfront location, as well as a branch of The Original Fried Pie Shop. Look for it to open at some point next summer.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles-based Thai food pop-up Pranom is coming to the region to serve up curry and noodles for a one-night-only dinner event at Ten Bells Tavern tonight for New Year's Eve. At $12 a plate, you can have your choice of drunken noodles, pad see ew and chicken pad Thai — with options for vegetarians as well. The event starts at 8 p.m., as the first orders will be taken then for food to start coming out around 9 p.m. Everything is first-come, first-served.

If you have yet you make your NYE plans, there are still plenty of places with options for kicking off 2015. For the daytime crowd, Glazed Donut Works is open from 7 a.m. to noon, peddling donuts to the Deep Ellum and Downtown areas. The Foundry is showcasing DJ Paul Kim with a champagne toast at midnight, all with no cover. In Oak Lawn, the open-til-4-in-the-morning Scotch and Sausage is doing a Suits & Sweatpants event — also no cover charge — where they're featuring multiple DJs, serving their full menu and running drink specials, with a complimentary champagne toast at midnight. Meanwhile, The Woolworth is doing NYE for the dress-to-impress crowd, with a stricter dress code and $50 general admission after 9:30 p.m. Boxwood Tap and Grill is doing a Black and White NYE with $4 cocktail specials, as well as a New Year's Day brunch with a full brunch menu from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and happy hour from 4 to 7 p.m. Also holding brunch on the first is Primebar, starting at 11 a.m.

A more surprising feat on New Year's Eve is the sudden announcement from John Tesar that he'll be closing his Spoon Bar and Kitchen, as he's in the market for a new location and focusing on his impending Italian restaurant that might actually be called Fork after all. Just something to look forward to in 2015, I guess.

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