Ben Tapper grew up in Baton Rouge, worked at Boeing, and then left to go into hospitality. In 2025 he started Cafe LaFaye as a mobile concept built on his family's Southern roots and on his mother Faye's cottage bakery. By summer 2026 it had a permanent home inside the McKinney Flour Mill at 407 E. Louisiana St.
Across town on West University Drive, a restaurant that has served McKinney since 2014 is trying to make the opposite move. Blue Olive Grill plans to close its dining room on Nov. 30, and its owner wants to keep cooking from a food truck parked in the same shopping center.
Put those two stories side by side and McKinney's fall food news reads differently from the usual list of openings. The chains got most of the press. The independents worth your next free Saturday mostly came from people who were already cooking here in a smaller format or in someone else's space. With 25 days left before Blue Olive's deadline, one of them is now trying to get back to a smaller format just to stay.
The chains filled the headlines
Here's the quick version, since you've likely driven past most of these already. Community Impact's October roundup of new McKinney restaurants covered Potbelly at 3200 S. Stonebridge Drive, which opened Sept. 4, and Tin Star Tacos at 8801 Eldorado Parkway, which opened Sept. 24. Two days later, KFC opened one of its new "Open House" concept stores next door at 8751 Eldorado Parkway, serving breakfast and new sides such as fried green beans and spicy pickles. Ono Hawaiian BBQ followed on Oct. 2 at 4610 W. University Drive.
One chain also left. Chip City Cookies closed its shop at 6650 Alma Road on Oct. 2, when the company closed all of its locations, as Community Impact reported.
Those openings explain why a few intersections got busier this fall.
Cafe LaFaye went from mobile to the Flour Mill
Cafe LaFaye's menu is built around New Orleans: made-to-order beignets, cafe au lait and coffee roasted in house. The item to try first is a cinnamon roll made from beignet dough and topped with what the cafe calls Mama Faye's frosting. The frosting carries the same name as the cottage bakery that inspired the business, which shows how directly this cafe grew out of something smaller.
Location matters here too. The Flour Mill sits on the east side of downtown at 407 E. Louisiana St., so a coffee run here is a short walk from the square. That's handy to know with Home for the Holidays filling downtown Nov. 27 through 29.
Plan around the hours. The Cafe LaFaye website lists Tuesday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Sunday and Monday. A Sunday-morning beignet plan won't work here.
JAC's Burger Co. kept the same address and the same people
JAC's Burger Co. may be the clearest example of continuity this fall. Amber and Jesus Zamora were longtime employees at JC's Burger House, and on Aug. 20 they opened JAC's in that same space at 6840 Virginia Parkway, Ste. 100, according to Community Impact.
The menu sticks to smash burgers, fresh-cut fries and hot dogs. The JAC's online menu features a chili cheeseburger and a chili dog alongside the standard cheeseburger and bacon cheeseburger. If you were a JC's regular, it's the same corner with the people you may already recognize from behind the counter, now as owners.
Diamond Pastry is the newest name on the list
Diamond Pastry is the one entry here without an earlier McKinney chapter. It's also the one locals are most likely to start mentioning. Mona Aghajani owns the shop and does the baking at 4100 Ridge Road, Ste. 100. She opened Aug. 16 with croissants made from a sourdough starter and pastries made with organic ingredients.
Community Impact's write-up lists sweet and savory options: chocolate-almond and turkey-and-cheese croissants, blueberry-cheese and baklava danishes, plus cakes, tarts, muffins, cookies, sandwiches and seasonal items. Hoodline reports hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, closed Monday.
Those hours work out well alongside Cafe LaFaye. When the Flour Mill cafe is closed on Sunday, Diamond Pastry is open until 2 p.m.
King Pot finally opened at Westgate
King Pot took longer to arrive than planned. In February 2025, Community Impact reported that the restaurant was expected to open that summer in Westgate Shopping Center, in a building that had been a CVS until July 2023. It actually opened July 25, 2026, at 159 S. Central Expressway.
You build your own hot pot with either a spicy Sichuan broth or a clear savory one, then add ingredients such as wagyu, beef rolls and pork belly. The King Pot website lists hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. That makes it the latest-night option on this list by several hours.
Blue Olive Grill is trying to shrink to stay
Blue Olive Grill brings the pattern full circle. Waleed Farah has run the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern restaurant at 2414 W. University Drive for 12 years. He told Community Impact that a rent increase is behind the planned Nov. 30 closing. The menu covers pita wraps, gyros, kebabs, curries and biryanis.
The restaurant's own Save Blue Olive page gives more detail. The increase is 75% and takes effect Dec. 1, 2026. Farah writes that his top priority is to remain in McKinney, and the best alternative is to buy a food truck and park it in the same shopping center. The campaign's goal is $30,000 to $40,000. The page's most recent update shows more than $7,600 raised, roughly a fifth to a quarter of that range. The page also says Farah is looking for an investor in case fundraising falls short.
Cafe LaFaye went from a mobile start to a permanent counter. JAC's kept a familiar kitchen running under the people who already worked there. Blue Olive is asking the community to help it go from a dining room to a truck in the parking lot it already shares.
Your last weeks inside Blue Olive's dining room
If Blue Olive is part of your rotation, the calendar from today looks like this:
- Plan on lunch. The restaurant's website lists 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every day. Community Impact's article mentions dinner as well, so check with the restaurant before you plan an evening visit.
- Count the weekends. Four Saturdays and Sundays remain before the Nov. 30 closing, and the last one falls during Home for the Holidays weekend downtown.
- Know how to give, if you want to. The campaign accepts donations online, in person at 2414 W. University Drive, or by mail to that address.
- Watch the same shopping center. If the truck plan works, the next stage of the restaurant will be in the same shopping center.
One more name could join the list. Good & Proper has announced a mid-November opening on the fifth floor of AC Hotel McKinney at 7600 SH 121 in Craig Ranch, according to a press release. We'll know more about what kind of spot it is after the doors open.
At Texas Life Real Estate, we follow the people behind McKinney's kitchens because those counters are part of what makes a neighborhood feel like home. If you have a favorite new spot we didn't mention, or you're curious what homes near the Flour Mill, Ridge Road or Westgate are worth right now, reach out and request your free home valuation.
