When Allen residents Leo and Kelly Vargas opened Curuba Café in Allen in 2025, they knew they wanted to spotlight their Colombian heritage, but they also wanted to embrace other cultures as well.

“Our menu is inspired by Colombian flavors—because that is what we love to eat—but we also make it approachable for different cultures that come to the restaurant,” said Kelly Vargas, who handles back-of-house operations. “Our menu has a little bit of American inspiration ... with a little twist of Colombian flavors. I would say it is Latin American fusion.”

On the menu: Customers will find authentic Colombian cuisine, including empanadas and bandeja paisa, a traditional platter featuring red beans, rice, steak, pork belly, chorizo, a fried egg, arepita, sweet plantains and guacamole.

Kelly Vargas points to their egg Benedict dishes, which are their top-selling menu category, when explaining how they infuse Colombian flavor into American fare.

“We add guascas—a Colombian herb—to our hollandaise sauce,” Kelly Vargas said. “People love our hollandaise.”

Keep reading for the latest Allen business updates from Community Impact. This list is not comprehensive.

1. Racing Miami now offering motorsports merchandise at Allen Premium Outlets

Racing Miami is now open at the Allen Premium Outlets, a company representative said. The business offers motorsports merchandise including T-shirts, hats, polos, sweatshirts, accessories and more, its website states. Racing Miami also has locations in Florida, California and Europe.

• 820 W. Stacy Road, Ste. 310, Allen

The Second Annual North Texas Bookstore Crawl kicked off Aug. 1, featuring 33 locations across North Texas, while Costco set an opening date for its upcoming Celina store. Check out six trending stories from Community Impact’s Dallas-Fort Worth coverage areas.

1. North Texas Bookstore Crawl returns for second year featuring 33 locations
2. Costco sets opening date for upcoming location in Celina
3. 39-acre development moves forward after Prosper residents weigh in
4. Shady’s Burgers & Brewhaha offers burgers, more in Frisco
5. Arches installed over Richardson’s US 75 DART bridge, lighting additions underway
6. Denton ISD gives out more than 500 Gold Cards in first 2 days

The Dallas Fort Worth International Airport board of directors approved the purchase of the Hyatt Regency DFW Hotel during the Aug. 6 meeting.

The transaction, approved by the Public Facility Improvement Corp. on July 29, is for an amount not to exceed $193.65 million from Woodlake HRDFW Hotel Owners, LLC for the property at 2334 N. International Parkway.

The details: The Public Facility Improvement Corp., or PFIC, will assume the lease between the hotel and the DFW Airport Board. The final approval will need to be approved by the owner cities, Fort Worth and Dallas, according to documents.

The 40-year lease on the facility had an initial term that started Oct. 23, 1986, with two 20-year extensions and a 19-year extension that follows.

Zooming in: This would be the fourth hotel operated by the PFIC at DFW Airport. According to documents, the group also operates and manages The Grand Hyatt Hotel, the Hyatt Place Hotel and the Hyatt House Hotel, which is scheduled to open in 2027.

Collin College’s proposed bond package could fund several expansion projects, including two new campuses.

Collin County voters will be able to decide on the school's $600 million bond package in November after Collin College's Board of Trustees called a bond election during its Aug. 7 meeting.

What you need to know: Approval of the bond package would authorize $600 million in funding for expansion projects that include two new campuses in Anna and Royse City, along with a new Aviation Academy in McKinney.

Quote of note: “The Board of Trustees has always believed in planning for the future while honoring the commitments we’ve made to our community,” board Chair Jay Saad said in a news release.

Within the next year, Texans will likely see changes to when they can vote early in elections, including expanded weekend voting hours.

The overview: Last year, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 2753, which shifts Texas’ early voting window closer to election day, cutting out a three-day gap between the two voting periods and adding more Saturday and Sunday voting.

While the changes did not take effect immediately and were designed to help boost voter turnout, local election administrators said the law will also significantly raise costs for municipalities and delay the release of election results.

Election officials said the current three-day break allows staff to set up polling places for election day and prepare submitted ballots so results from early and mail-in voting can be released quickly after the polls close on election night.

The impact: Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth estimated that the shift would raise the cost of administering a large election by 30% and increase costs for smaller elections by 9%, due to personnel, equipment and voter education needs.