Poking through the steaming wreckage of 2020, it’s hard to find much good. But that’s what we’re going to attempt here: a list of good developments on the Dallas food scene that came from this horrible year. Yes, given all the awfulness we have endured, it is easier to list…
Twelve months ago, the Dallas restaurant scene was riding high on a wave of national recognition, including being named the “Restaurant City of the Year” in Bon Appétit. Our chefs were starring in splashy magazine profiles and raising funds for exciting new openings. Diners were falling in love with bold…
At the end of each of the last few years, I’ve presented a list of the best meals I’ve eaten at Dallas restaurants while working as the Observer’s food critic. In 2019, for example, I considered 200 restaurant meals for a highlight reel of favorites. But 2020 was different. This…
“I like to describe Oaxaca as the Texas of Mexico,” Leslie Luna says. Texans might think that’s big talk, but Oaxacans can back it up with a unique centuries-old heritage that sets their state apart from the rest of Mexico in culture, history and cuisine. “There is just so much…
Barbecue is for everybody. It’s an all-American culinary tradition practiced in backyards across the continent, by people from just about any background. But barbecue can also be for almost nobody – like the select few customers who can afford to take a couple of hours to stand in line at…
An old art deco department store in downtown Dallas is the setting for the city’s newest brewery taproom. Pegasus City Brewery’s downtown location quietly opened last weekend with service exclusively for residents of the Dallas Power and Light Building, in which it takes up much of the ground floor. This…
One of cold weather’s great pleasures is a nice spicy drink. There’s nothing like dunking churros into a mug of spiced Mexican chocolate, or spiking hot cocoa with pinches of cinnamon and cayenne. I’ve always loved peppery-hot alcoholic drinks, too, like jalapeño-infused tequila or cocktails made with a spoonful of…
Some of Tokyo’s best sushi bars feel like secrets. They’re hidden away down alleys, inside multistory buildings or in bustling shopping centers. A few don’t have formal names. Only the most devoted sushi lovers know where to find them. It’s hard to get away with a nameless restaurant in the…
Once upon a time, there was a tiny little taco stand in West Dallas called Taquero. Just a few steps away from the Singleton Avenue traffic, Taquero opened in 2017 with two outdoor tables and seven bar stools. Owner Fino Rodriguez served his food out of a tiny kitchen, passing…
At last: It’s picnic weather again. I’ve been reacquainting myself with the joy of a good picnic this year since it gets me out of the house without encountering crowds, putting waitstaff at risk or getting grumpy about people wearing their masks incorrectly. Picnics have a way of making a…
One of Dallas’ most famous taco shops is serving sushi rolls. A few miles up the road, a high-quality sushi bar is making tacos. Has the world turned upside down? Ask the chefs, and they’ll offer a surprising answer: The connection between Japanese and Mexican food has century-old roots. Tacos…
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but ambitious young chefs looking for big opportunities to show off their skills should consider the suburbs. This goes against everything an urbanist Oak Cliff dweller like me should believe. But the thought was inescapable as I walked into Pangea, a triumphant new Garland…
Opening a restaurant is an audacious career move at any time. But in the middle of an unprecedented public health crisis during an equally unprecedented collapse of helpful government function — well, opening a restaurant now just seems plain crazy. But a number of people in Dallas are doing it,…
Dallas’ Medical District has a new Vietnamese takeaway spot that specializes in a total reinvention of the spring roll. Housed in a former doughnut shop, LaVui Vietnamese Restaurant is the third business from Thanh Nguyen, who also operates the two Oishii sushi spots in Dallas. At LaVui, the focus is…
Dallas’ live music neighborhood is quieter these days. Communal gatherings are in Deep Ellum’s blood. This district’s history is founded on live music, industry and togetherness; its historic plaques commemorate blues musicians, and its performance venues number in the dozens. From the beginning, this has been a neighborhood where outsiders…
Dallas’ only Sri Lankan restaurant began its year in a tiny space. Guests bumped elbows at the buffet table; visiting the bathroom required making a detour around the kitchen. So when coronavirus made it necessary for diners to keep their distance, SpicyZest Sri Lankan Fusion closed its doors. Now owner…
There’s not a lot of Central Asian food in the Dallas area — and there is a lot of it, at the same time. The Silk Road, threading its way across mountain ranges and deserts between Europe, Persia and China, carried recipes along with its cargo for centuries. Turkic peoples…
There’s an old saying that’s been expressed a hundred different ways, which goes something like this: It’s not about how you fall, but how you rise back up. Or: “I get knocked down, but I get up again / You are never gonna keep me down.” No matter how you…
Even before a global pandemic arrived, this was a year of change at Smokey Joe’s BBQ. Last spring, after 34 years of takeout-only service, Smokey Joe’s finally opened a dining room. Owner Kris Manning, whose father, Kenneth Manning, co-founded the restaurant with Joe Melton in 1985, hoped some of his…
One of this year’s most exciting new restaurant openings was scheduled for late February or early March: Krio, an Asian-Cajun spot in the Bishop Arts District that would specialize in crawfish boils, chargrilled oysters and po’ boy sandwiches. Then, well, everything happened. A global pandemic swept into Dallas, placing the…
In the early days of the coronavirus crisis, many Dallas-area restaurants diligently wrote public alerts every time an employee fell ill with the disease. But as cases surge, hospitals fill and the government response falters, restaurant owners are facing a new logic: Cases may be too common to report. And…
Damasita’s dining room has changed dramatically in the last six months. The restaurant opened in early 2018 as a Japanese izakaya, serving tempura platters and agedashi tofu. But without changing its name, new owners arrived in December 2019, remodeled the whole space and converted the menu to a list of…
