BarnLight Eatery

Texas roots are on display at BarnLight Eatery, a restaurant focusing on Southern-style gourmet cooking.

Sixth-generation Texan Philip Doyal opened the restaurant with his wife, Christina Doyal, in April 2014.

BarnLight Eatery is the couple’s first restaurant, although Philip, the executive chef, has a long history in the food business, including a 10-year stint as the executive chef at San Antonio Country Club. Christina is a longtime pastry chef.

“All I’ve done for the last 30 years is food,” Philip said. “It’s all I know. That’s part of the reason of opening the restaurant—I’ve enjoyed the other side of it, but being a chef is more about just the kitchen. [BarnLight Eatery] is an opportunity to branch out and keep learning.”

Philip and Christina moved to Frisco from the San Antonio area to be closer to Christina’s family in Southlake and they spent a year and a half looking for a location for the restaurant.

“What we immediately noticed when we moved up here is that the area is inundated with fast-food,” Philip said.

They settled on the growing area of northeast Frisco, which draws diners from Frisco and McKinney.

The decor of the restaurant, much like the food, is based on the concept of family.