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DALLAS — Local residents joined the celebration Tuesday, March 31, when Portillo's opened its 10th Dallas-Fort Worth location at 13904 Dallas Pkwy., just south of Spring Valley Road near Addison.
They’d been watching and waiting for the restaurant to open.
Michael Portillo, vice president restaurant support and son of founder Dick Portillo, was on hand for the ribbon cutting and Metrocrest Area Chamber of Commerce welcome. He said the story behind the chain is one that still amazes him.
"I think it's a phenomenal story of an idea, a concept that never should have happened," he said.
It started with $1,100 and a dream. Dick Portillo graduated from high school and joined the Marine Corps, where he learned systems and discipline. After his service, he and his high school sweetheart, had been saving for a house. They had $1,100 set aside. To the consternation of his wife, Portillo used it instead to buy a 6-by-11-foot trailer and convert it into dog house on wheels. In 1963, he opened a hot dog stand in Villa Park, a middle-class suburb about 20 miles west of Chicago. He called it The Dog House, and the original menu was simple: hot dogs, hot fresh fries, tamales and soda pop.
By 1967, business was strong enough to upgrade to a larger space, and the stand was renamed Portillo's. Italian beef sandwiches and chopped salads were added to the menu over time, and the chain grew into a Chicago institution.
Michael Portillo started working in his dad's restaurants when he was 12, washing dishes and taking out garbage. If he wasn't in school or playing sports, he was at Portillo's, he said.
Today the chain has 106 restaurants in 11 states, including 18 in Texas. There were none in Texas before 2023, when Portillo's opened its first Lone Star State location in The Colony.
The North Dallas restaurant is the first Portillo's inside Dallas city limits. It features the brand's "restaurant of the future" design, 6,250 square feet with seating for 120 inside and 40 on the patio, plus double drive-thru lanes and a grab-and-go area.
One of Portillo's most beloved menu items also has a family connection. The chocolate cake recipe belongs to Michael's wife, Gina, his high school sweetheart. The couple wanted a homemade chocolate dessert, and Gina's recipe, originally called "Gina Portillo's Soon-to-be-Famous Chocolate Cake," fit the bill. It is baked fresh in the store every day, Michael said.
Before the March 31 grand opening, Portillo's hosted a charity day and raised $8,800 for Metrocrest Services, a nonprofit serving families in crisis across Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Addison, Coppell and North Dallas.
Hayden Austin, director of development for Metrocrest Services, accepted the check at the ribbon cutting. He said the $8,800 will put 25,000 meals in the Metrocrest Food Pantries.
"If a family is in crisis, they come to us," Austin said.
He noted that Metrocrest helped about 30,000 families in 2025. The organization's work extends well beyond food assistance. Metrocrest also provides emergency financial help to prevent eviction and utility disconnection, employment coaching and job placement assistance, financial education and one-on-one coaching, GED and education programs, senior services including home-delivered meals and door-to-door transportation to medical appointments, seasonal programs for children including holiday gifts and summer meals and a resale store.
Sam Roberson, a Metrocrest Area Chamber ambassador, gave a warm welcome to Michael on behalf of the chamber. He told the crowd he lives near the new restaurant and has been driving by the construction for months, counting down the days.
"Finally, I can tell all my buddies, yes, it's finally open," Roberson said.
After the ceremony, Mel Gutierrez, a chamber member who works at Dominion Payroll, sought out Michael to share a memory. Her family took many vacations to the Big Bear Mountains in California and always stopped at Portillo's on the way home.
"It was kind of like a tradition," she said.
That’s exactly the kind memory Portillo’s was designed to create, Michael said.
Portillo's North Dallas, at 13904 Dallas Pkwy., is open daily 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
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