Review: Asian Fusion Foods and Street Snacks Collide at Metro Dallas’ Hottest Restaurant

Let’s talk about the hottest new restaurant in the Dallas area. It’s so popular that on weekend nights reservations are required to get in the door. It’s so trendy that even midweek the line for a table piles up at the door. It’s so welcoming, though, that extended families arrive three or four generations at a time.

A Facebook group with 25,000 members has spent the last few months debating this restaurant almost nonstop, the way other people argue about the Cowboys.

One Thursday night, my party had the good fortune to arrive at 6:58 p.m. Just after 7, dozens of people crushed through the door. Some chose patio tables even though it was raining. By the time we left, at least 20 people were waiting, not counting a baby in a carrier.

What is this sensation? Is it Lucia, newly reopened in the Bishop Arts District? Is it Monarch, the high-dollar Italian spot from Chicago on the 49th floor of a downtown hotel? Is it a barbecue arrival like Heim or Terry Black’s?

No, no and no. Metro Dallas’ hottest restaurant is Adda. It’s got everything: South Asian tacos, a burger infused with gummy candies, biryani, pepperoni pizza fries, tandoori chicken mac and cheese, “disco nachos” and street-fighting saag paneer.

Adda is an Indian-Pakistani-American fusion restaurant in Richardson making a splash with an eclectic vision of family dining.

The best time to visit is at dinner when the menu is at its fullest. During lunchtimes, Adda sticks to a shortened selection of sandwiches, wraps and bowls, but at dinner, there’s a huge spectrum of fusion snacks, more traditional chaat, specials and mains.

Start with a handful of appetizers, ideally a mix of conventional and modern. On the modern side, there are chicken karahi tacos, with fabulously seasoned chicken in a tomato-based sauce, topped with a garnish of sliced green chile peppers and ginger (three for $13). Unfortunately, the griddled corn tortillas are straight out of a shelf-stabilized grocery bag. Why not use parathas?

Chicken 65 wings, named for the popular appetizer, are a bright red that makes them look spicier than they really are ($8). They’re not tongue-scorching, just good, juicy wings. I’d choose wings and tacos over the pizza fries, which are exactly as advertised: a bowl of fries topped with beef pepperoni, tomato sauce and cheese ($6). Eat up before they get soggy.

On the traditional side, there’s an enormous portion of samosa chaat ($7). On top of chopped-up whole samosas go handfuls of chickpeas and a variety of chutneys, sauces and garnishes, some sweet, some tart, some spicy, until the whole thing is an overwhelming feast of flavors. It’s big enough for one person to eat as a meal; as an appetizer, it’s enough for a group.

One of the menu’s catchier ideas is to pair up its main courses in “Street Fighter” matchups so that customers order two at a time ($22). They’re not served on combat-themed trays, but choosing two mains at once helps cut down on decision making.

One night, my “fighters” were rival versions of karahi, a milder goat stew and spicier chicken and tomato version, both topped with ginger and slivers of hot green chiles. A few weeks later, we pitted haleem against keema fry, two dishes paired because they present meat in ground, stewed forms. Haleem is a slow-cooked porridge with lentils and grains (the best in town is at BBQ King in Garland), and keema fry is spiced ground meat that is perfect scooped up in a piece of naan. Heck, it would be perfect on anything.

Adda’s naan isn’t as fluffy as some, but it’s baked properly, never burnt. And there are great toppings, too, like colorful garlic and cilantro naan ($3) or bullet naan with finely diced hot peppers ($3). Some restaurants make spicier bullet naan, but I prefer Adda’s gentle version, where it’s still possible to taste the bread under the heat.
The lunch menu is so much shorter and simpler, it’s almost like going to a different restaurant. Sandwiches and wraps are the stars, and my favorite is the chapli burger ($11). All the spices from a chapli kebab go into this one, just with the meat formed into a round patty and served on an extremely sesame-heavy bun.

Beware: With seasoning in the meat itself and cilantro chutney and raw onion on top, this is a seriously spicy sandwich. Seasoned fries don’t provide relief from the heat.

The paratha rolls are less enticing; choose between mild grilled chicken with an equally mild sauce or beef bihari boti, spicy ground kebabs over marinated to a broken-down mushiness (both $11). Next time I’ll choose paneer.

Many lunch customers, especially non-Asian workers at nearby offices, choose combo bowls, which at $13 are a deal for their huge size. Each comes with a main course, a scoop of bright yellow rice, wedges of naan, green salad and a fountain drink. The mains tend to be crowd-pleasers like butter chicken and saag paneer, although that beef bihari is lurking again, too.
Ironically, service is excellent and prompt while the restaurant is busy and short-circuits when things are quiet. One of our meals devolved into slapstick comedy. First, through a simple mix-up, two people got the wrong dishes; then, in an attempt to bring the right ones, a parade of servers arrived carrying yet more incorrect dishes, one after another, growing increasingly desperate. Even after we explained what we were waiting for, the display of menu items continued until we gave up and took one to be nice.

One night, before the dinner rush began, Adda was already out of eight menu items. Kindly, they gave me a legal pad with all eight names written down, to help me plan a new order. (According to the legal pad, most of the items would have been ready again by 7:30, just in time for the big crowds.)

Months after it opened, there’s still a new restaurant buzz around Adda when the evening crowds arrive. I’ll be braving them to come back and try a sub sandwich filled with nihari beef, overnight-marinated hot fried chicken and a hamburger infused with the flavor of Chili Milis, a spicy gummy candy that’s the Asian version of Hot Tamales.

Meanwhile, many of Adda’s customers have taken to online debates about the restaurant’s merits, creating a hobby nearly as fun as eating there. They argue about Adda’s service (shaky), its food (variable, but frequently exciting) and its value for money (outstanding). On that last point, I’ve come away from each dinner with stacks of takeout boxes, marveling at the quality for the price.

One of the Dallas area’s great culinary strengths is the food of South Asia’s Muslim communities from India and Pakistan. It’s a crowded market full of options, some better overall than Adda, but few with its playful humor or tradition-smashing fusion foods.

If the wings, chaat and chapli burgers continue to be this good, the crowds will continue to come.

ADDA, 744 S. Central Expressway, #230. 214-272-9737, theadda.io. Open 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.