For many people in Dallas, to get to the tiny Arlington suburb of Pantego is a long drive. For Bashar Al Mudhafar, the road was much longer. The chef-owner of Fattoush Mediterranean Kitchen arrived in the United States in 2010 from Baghdad, his hometown, where he owned two restaurants serving…
Some food is made for Instagram. Unicorn Frappuccinos, milkshakes with slices of pie on top, sushi doughnuts, Salt Bae: These stunts exist not because they taste good, but because people will post photos of them online. If they do taste good, it is often a happy mistake. Other foods are…
It’s official: The Dallas food fad of 2018 is pho. Surprised? So are we. But restaurateurs across town have begun taking the beloved Vietnamese soup and transforming it in fascinating ways. At Sapp Sapp Lao & Thai Kitchen, we’re learning about the sheer diversity of traditional preparations across Southeast Asia,…
On Friday, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra announced its 2018-19 season schedule, one loaded with prominent guest stars. Indeed, the schedule is nothing but guest stars, because music director Jaap van Zweden leaves this May and the symphony is still looking for his replacement. Who will take the top job? Nobody…
Damasita Izakaya opened in January on Royal Lane near Harry Hines Boulevard, in the heart of Dallas’ Korean neighborhood. One month later, the izakaya is keeping a low profile, without a website, social media page or any publicity at all except for some photos on Google Maps. But Damasita does…
Tuesday, Feb. 13 was a big day for downtown Dallas bar The Mitchell. It received a glowing review from the Observer for the quality of its French bistro food, prepared under the supervision of executive chef Nick Amoriello. But it was also Amoriello’s last day with the restaurant. The departure…
In theory, there’s no reason a buffet shouldn’t be a premium dining destination, right? Give it an unlimited budget — charge customers a little extra — and you could ensure a huge selection of fresh, continually replenished foods in a fancy-looking dining room with elegant trimmings. You could also hire…
In the past six months, downtown Dallas has seen the arrival of two titans of fine French dining. The French Room, a storied space with a century of history, reopened to considerable acclaim. Just blocks away, Bullion offers an equally refined take on classical gastronomy in an art-filled space designed…
“Modern Mexican Plates. Familiar Flavors.” The tagline on Jalisco Norte’s website summarizes this new restaurant’s double identity. The Mexican hot spot, right between Uptown and Highland Park, is trying to have things both ways, serving sophisticated Mexican fare available nowhere else in Dallas while also plating $9 orders of nachos…
Mother-son duo Boonmie Phennara and Xay Senephoumy are bringing their family recipes to diners in downtown Irving, including noodle soups, whole fish, Hawaiian loco moco and a bowl of pho topped with a beef rib.
Allegations of sexual assault and sordid cover-ups are shaking the American restaurant industry. Mario Batali is facing a reckoning for years of alleged foul behavior toward nearly every woman in his path; New Orleans celebrity chef John Besh faces accusations of fostering a culture of sexual predation; James Beard-winning restaurateur…
The pizza-making at Zoli’s is righteous. Hold up a slice of the thin-crust round pie. Notice how the crust is crisp all the way through to the center. No matter how many toppings Zoli’s loads onto its pizzas, the middle never gets soggy or goes limp. Toppings don’t slide off…
When you’re a food critic, a lot of your research involves maps. Every few weeks, I scroll around Google Maps hunting for new restaurants to review, clicking on every orange fork-and-knife icon along the streets of Dallas and its suburbs. Reviews have resulted from Google Maps finds. On Jan. 2,…
The French Room is still The French Room. In fact, it’s more The French Room than it had been in decades. A no-expense-spared restoration has returned the dining room to the elegance of its original look, closer to the way the restaurant appeared when it opened in 1912. Gone are…
2017 was a good year for eating. Of course, most years are good years for eating when you’re a food critic. But 2017 offered some truly delicious memories, and best of all, the fondest of taste memories are diverse. One of them was on a $150 tasting menu, but another…
Many white American food writers call tacos and other Mexican foods “humble,” but is a cuisine humble if its flavors are brash and bright, its traditions are worn with confidence and its sandwiches are so big they resemble ocean liners? There’s nothing humble about the tostadas at Frida’s Tacolandia. They…
Big hair. Tall hats. Bloody steaks. Food has always been a part of the Dallas myth, but as new neighborhoods ascend to prominence and a new generation of leaders prepares to supplant the old-money barons, a similar revolution is underway in the city’s culinary scene. Dining out in Dallas isn’t…
There’s a change coming to Dallas dining. A new generation of chefs is rising in the local restaurant business, bringing new ideas about local ingredient sourcing, preserved and fermented foods, pop-up dinners, fine dining in casual settings and the importance of Dallas’ rich heritage of migration from Mexico, Central America,…
2017 will be remembered for a lot of uncomfortable societal change, such as the fact that Dallas barbecue is fancy now. Craft cocktails, mandatory valet, $28 chicken breasts, Ferris wheels: For some restaurateurs, a pile of meat on butcher paper isn’t enough anymore. Smoky Rose opened across from the Dallas…
2017 was an exciting year for new restaurants, boasting cultural and geographic diversity that bodes well for our city’s culinary future. Yes, it’s nice when great new fine-dining restaurants open in downtown Dallas, but neighborhoods all around the area need good places to eat, so it’s heartening that some of…
Three men walk into a Whataburger and spend $70 on food. It sounds like a joke, but it happened in Huntsville recently, and the men — professional comedians — were not kidding. That’s the thing about the Doughboys. They take America’s chain restaurants seriously. Doughboys is a podcast that mixes…
There are no humble meals at Chai Khanah. Even a modest order at this Richardson restaurant, which opened earlier this year, is likely to swell with unexpected sides, baskets of bread and smoky grilled vegetables. Iraqi hospitality strictly forbids the idea of any customer leaving hungry or unsatisfied. So my…
