A year after closing its brick-and-mortar location in Richardson, Fish & Fizz is bringing its fryers to stores.
The restaurant announced on Instagram over the weekend that it had commissioned a food truck named Chip that was specifically designed to serve fish and chips throughout Dallas-Fort Worth. Owner Nick Barclay expects the chips to start rolling in around April, and says he's already received dozens of offers to park their trucks.
“It’s a mix of breweries and shops,” he says. “There's a woman who owns 18 acres in Celina, and she said, 'We'd love to take her here.' She also has all kinds of restaurants.”
Good news for fish and chip lovers. About the November 2023 issue Dartist and British artist Richard Patterson has written a monster essay detailing his journey to find the best fish and chips in Dallas.. He concluded that Fish & Fizz's fish and chips were the best, perfect, 10/10. Unfortunately, the store was closed at the time, so there was no way to get it. To get a taste, we held an event for our subscribers at Sevy's Grill, where Berkley cooked lunch for about 80 people. In the words of readers and editors, it was “the best fish and chip lunch ever”.
You'll taste it again soon. (Patterson is not active on social media, so Barclay called him as soon as he hung up. He already knows!) Barclay said that Chip would sell fish and chips exclusively. Told. The store also offered bangers and mash and Cornish pasties, but the bulk of sales came from fish and chips. Food trucks will be “hyper-focused” on cooking.
“It's designed specifically for fish and chips. There's nothing else on the food truck,” he says. “Actually, this food truck can fry more food than Fish & Fizz.”
Barclay says he prepares fish and chips in the commissary kitchen before leaving. He already has some options for the kitchen. When the team arrives at its destination, the fryer is filled with oil to prevent carrying containers of hot liquid from place to place. The water will be drained before hitting the road again.
For Berkeley, the fish and chip food truck brings back fond memories. When he was a child in England, there were many vans parked in different areas selling freshly fried battered fish. He's pretty sure those vans weren't splattered with oil in the back, so he has plenty of examples to model his own work on. “It's been done for a long time,” he says.
Barkley jokes that he's regressing. Most restaurants start out as food trucks and then transition to brick-and-mortar locations. Despite much success with the Richardson store, there were problems with the lease. Fish & Fizz had to suddenly close after he had been in business for five years. Barkley says it wasn't ideal, but he's grateful to have so many loyal fans there.
“I always like to say, if you forget something, always leave the elevator when it's on the top floor, not when it's going down,” he says. “When you take away things that people enjoy, scarcity creates desire in a strange way.”
Fans have been glued to Fish & Fizz's social media accounts for comeback news. His reaction to the food truck announcement surprised him. Chip's schedule is already full. In April, Fish & Fizz will be taking part in the All British & European Car Day at White Rock Lake Park. Barclay said he plans to visit all of Washington, Florida, including suburbs like Prosper, Garland and Frisco, as well as our sister city to the west, Fort Worth. He was also asked to head to Austin.
Barclay said a brick-and-mortar store is possible in the future, but the immediate focus is on food trucks. Not having a brick-and-mortar store means more flexibility and freedom, so come spring you'll be chasing tips everywhere.
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Natalie Kemounkun
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Natalie Kemounkoon joined D Magazine in 2022 as Online Dining Editor. She previously worked at Dallas Morning News.
