Top Round Roast Beef opened its first Texas store at Irving’s Toyota Music Factory on February 1, marking the fourth location for the expanding chef-driven fast food franchise. Created in Los Angeles by Chef Steven Fretz and his food-loving cofounders, Top Round captures the nostalgia of old school fast food joints with Googie-inspired architecture and commitment to all-natural, freshly prepared ingredients at an affordable price.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Dallas franchisee Jason Napolitan to bring Top Round to a fourth market,” says Chef Fretz. “As the first store with our new Top Round design, the Dallas location will serve as a prototype for future franchise stores nationwide.”
Founded in Los Angeles in 2013, Top Round opened in Louisville and San Francisco in August 2017. The Louisville, San Francisco and Dallas stores are part of a multi-unit franchise deal with Top Round’s local franchisees, who plan to roll out additional locations in their respective markets.
Top Round’s design is reminiscent of old school fast food joints, inspired by the jet-age Googie architecture of Southern California with bright orange, red and white décor. The new Dallas store features a walk-up counter where guests place their orders for dine-in or to-go. The 2,400 square-foot space seats 80 and includes both indoor and outdoor patio seating.
Top Round specializes in beloved fast food classics such as roast beef sandwiches, fried chicken sandwiches, ice cream custard and curly fries. While menu offerings vary slightly across locations, everything is freshly prepared in-store using all-natural and scratch-made ingredients.
For their signature roast beef sandwiches, Chef Fretz and his team trim then slow roast whole beef top rounds for up to 10 hours, serving them on butter-toasted buns (gluten-free buns available) topped with house seasoning and au jus. Popular options include the Beef & Cheese (homemade cheese “wizz”, round sauce, butter-toasted bun) and Horse & Hole (horseradish cream, roasted mushrooms, Provel cheese, sesame bun). For the OG Chicken (pickles, mayo, butter-toasted bun) and Chicken “Cali” (lettuce, tomato, avocado, ranch, sesame bun) sandwiches, Top Round marinates all-natural chicken in buttermilk and pickle juice, hand breads the chicken, then fries it crispy. Curly fries, hand-cut in-house from Idaho potatoes and fried in 100 percent beef fat, can be ordered regular, cheesy, “dirty” or with gravy.
On the sweet side, Top Round offers its take on frozen custard with ice cream custard desserts, a range of ice cream custard shakes, floats, sundaes and concrete desserts. Top Round churns its ice cream custard in store each day, resulting in a soft serve-style dessert that’s creamier than ice cream.
Served from 8 to 11 a.m., Top Round’s Dallas breakfast offerings include combos like the Beefy Bagel (roast beef, griddled egg, Provel cheese, toasted bagel) and Breakfast Burrito (sausage, griddled egg, cheese “wizz”, tater tots, flour tortilla). Combos are served with tater tots and freshly brewed coffee.
As refreshments, Top Round Dallas offers beer, wine, Coca-Cola soft drinks, and freshly brewed iced tea. Beer options include local favorites Deep Ellum IPA and Dallas Blonde, as well as wine available by the glass or the half bottle.
