Kyle and Maggie Gordon are building a small restaurant empire armed with only a few simple ingredients—tortillas, cheese and basically anything else that tastes good in between them.

Celebrating two years in Plano, the owners of Dillas Primo Quesadillas are getting ready to open a second restaurant at Preston Road and Warren Parkway in Frisco next summer.

“We really have unlimited possibilities. We’re definitely a square peg and everybody else is a round hole,” Kyle said. “It’s a weird kind of Frankenstein that we’ve built here, but that’s how we like it.”

An Austin native, Kyle has many memories of customizing his quesadillas at Matt’s El Rancho Mexican Restaurant with family and friends. His love for quesadillas later inspired him to open Dillas.

The restaurant specializes in transforming these cheesy tortilla sandwiches with ingredients such as coleslaw, pulled pork, roasted vegetables and blue cheese. Guests can also build his or her quesadilla and make it a combo meal with two sides and a drink.

Kyle started putting his plan for Dillas together after graduating from the University of Texas in 2006 with a degree in political science. After experiencing setbacks due to his lack  of restaurant experience, Kyle moved to Plano and took a job at a local fast-casual restaurant. Over the next seven years, he worked his way up from shift manager to managing partner.

With the help of investors and money they had saved, Kyle and Maggie opened Dillas in December 2013. The Dillas name pays homage to a scene from the 2004 film “Napoleon Dynamite,” in which the main character’s grandmother pronounces the word without the Spanish dialect. The movie had just come out at the time, and the word quickly became common slang between Kyle and his college buddies.

“It works great for us, too, because we are kind of the gringo quesadilla,” he said. “Even though we fall under the Tex-Mex/Mexican category, it’s a much wider kind of audience that we cater to. The tortilla and the cheese is just the vehicle for whatever we want to put in it.”

Maggie used her public relations background to design the menu boards and logos. She handles the creative aspects of the business, redesigning the logo until they found something they both liked. What has stayed consistent, Maggie said, is their mission.

“We consistently stick to our roots,” she said. “We stay involved in our community and do stuff with the schools … and let people know who we are and what we do. We want [our customers] to have a great experience when they’re here and we’re committed to that.”

General Manager Leo Spann worked with Kyle before moving from Waco  to help open Dillas. Originally from Seattle, Spann has a culinary degree from Lake Washington Institute of Technology in Seattle and said he loves trying new concepts. He recently helped the restaurant introduce its newest creation, the Frito Pie, which consists of ground beef, Frito corn chips, queso drizzle, red onion and housemade chile sauce.

“Working with Kyle is pretty cool because he’s a clown. He’s very serious about operations and how well we do but … he’s super laid-back, super cool and it’s infectious,” Spann said. “He makes sure [everyone] is that way, too.”

Aside from the ‘dillas themselves, the restaurant also offers a mix
of sauces for pairing. From jalapeno ranch and “guac” sauce to creamy churri, Kyle said each was made to complement his dishes. The same spices used in his brisket dry rub are added to his french fries and chips.

“You can’t find [some of these sauces] anywhere else. And the salsa is just great salsa [because] it’s made fresh every day,” he said. “We have a lot of prep [work] but it’s also the reason that we’re growing, in my opinion.”