‘Chopped’ Judge Amanda Freitag Debuts Her Downtown Dallas Restaurant This Month

The restaurant is the second to open in AT&T’s Discovery District, the new technology and cultural hub Downtown. Jaxon Beer Garden, a barbecue-focused spot, opened earlier this year. The district will eventually include at least a dozen restaurants, a food hall, and the Dallas Cowboys’ fitness center.

Rise & Thyme will serve American bistro-style food, including pastas, patty melts, and other sandwiches, alongside breakfast pastries and baked goods from local shops like La Casita and Village Baking Co. In addition to dine-in and takeout, the Discovery District offers plenty of space for outdoor seating in a park-like environment.

The restaurant’s namesake herb shows up frequently on the menu, in dishes like Taco Thyme, which features thyme-seasoned breakfast potatoes, fluffy farm-raised scrambled eggs, Muenster cheese and bacon wrapped in a flour tortilla; or the AF Chicken Salad, made with tarragon, thyme and lemon-roasted chicken breast, tangy pickled celery and house-made mayo. Other dishes include the Perfect Patty Melt, an Impossible burger patty smothered in Muenster cheese and served on sourdough; and the Roasted Chicken French Dip, crispy shredded leg and thigh meat, provolone cheese, caramelized onions, and horseradish mayo on a baguette, served with a side of chicken au jus.

One of the restaurant’s mottos is “we’re all in this together.” Hospitality Alliance, who partnered with Freitag to bring Rise & Thyme to Dallas, has been providing meals to frontline and industry workers out of the Jaxon Beer Garden kitchen since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Rise & Thyme will continue that service, with proceeds from sales each Monday going towards World Central Kitchen, the nonprofit that provides meals to victims of natural disasters.

For now, Rise and Shine will be open for breakfast and lunch, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, with plans to expand dinner service at a later date.