Best Patio 2022 | Smoky Rose | Best of Dallas® 2020 | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Dallas | Dallas Observer
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Best Patio

Smoky Rose

Chris Wolfgang

After a morning of smelling the flowers at the Dallas Arboretum or running around White Rock Lake, you'll find nothing is better than enjoying a cold adult beverage or brunch on a patio to give your weekend an A+ rating. One of the best patios in Dallas is across the street from the arboretum. Whether you prefer sun or shade, fire pits or fans, Smoky Rose provides the perfect setting for you to relax with friends, sip a cocktail and enjoy some brunch or barbecue and remember all that is right in this world.

Best Mediterranean Restaurant

Selda Mediterranean

Angie Quebedeaux

The service at Selda Mediterranean, formerly Pera Turkish Kitchen, is first class. The food is always fresh, and there are many vegetarian options here, including fried cauliflower, hummus and vegetarian couscous. If you're up for sharing, the mixed grill is a great option. The dish serves 2-4 guests and has a combination of grilled meats including urfa, chicken, meatball, beef kebab and chicken adana. It is served with Turkish bulgur rice and a cold bean salad. Reservations are suggested as it is not a large place and is very popular, especially on the weekends.

Best Pizza

Thunderbird Pies

Angie Quebedeaux

You might want to approach Thunderbird Pies with skin as thick as their Detroit-style pizzas. In addition to a sassy social media manager, they don't care much for complaints. Especially, don't ever ask to talk to corporate or you'll likely get dinged with something like, "I am corporate, motherfucker." Then they'll make T-shirts to mock you, which they actually did, and blast it on an in-house billboard. It's not at all ironic that one of their best pizzas is the Honey Bastard, named after the honey badger. Much like the similarly named mammal, they just don't care, which they can get away with because the pizza is so good.

Best Queso

Meso Maya

Lauren Drewes Daniels

A proper Tex-Mex meal should start with a giant bowl of queso, and Meso Maya's pair of queso options makes for a tough choice. You could go with a traditional bowl of queso poblano, with a trio of white cheeses blended with roasted poblanos, fresh corn and nopalitos that are rich and buttery. Or go big with the queso fundido, which comes with corn tortillas and your choice of chorizo, pork or calabacita vegetables. It's a difficult decision, but it's rewarding however you decide.

Best Place for Breakfast

Mercat Bistro

Catherine Downes

This French restaurant in the Harwood District is a gem. When the weather is nice, grab a table on the patio overlooking the lawn or a seat at the bar to watch the open kitchen. Mercat Bistro opens for breakfast at 7 a.m. on the weekdays and 10 a.m. for brunch on the weekends. The interior has about a dozen tables. There are pastries on offer, but go for the croque monsieur served on a country sourdough, with Gruyere, jambon and a mornay sauce. Weekend brunch has an expanded menu with crepes, a duck baguette and charcuterie.

Best Ramen

Ichigoh Ramen

Hank Vaughn

This Deep Ellum ramen spot offers carefully crafted and flavorful ramen dishes such as spicy soboro shoyu and miso, all with a chicken-based broth and perhaps some of the best chashu in town, imbued with a delicate grilled flavor that is not always present in ramen pork belly. The pork buns are heavenly, and there is a vegetarian version, but the star is the deep-fried mochi rice cakes that come as six addictive balls of goodness.

Best Restaurant Email List

Cattleack Barbecue

Chris Wolfgang

Barbecue hounds and casual fans alike should sign up for emails from Cattleack Barbecue. Of course, you'll get a weekly email to highlight the week's specials. With hits like pastrami beef ribs, burnt end boudin or fantastic pork steaks, there's not really a weak item to be had. But the extra bonus to the signup list happens on the occasional Thursday or Friday when the stars align and the line at Cattleack is nonexistent. An email will show up announcing the lack of a wait, which is your cue to hop in your car and get some of the area's best barbecue.

Best Tasting Menu

Petra and the Beast

Hank Vaughn

James Beard- and Food & Wine-nominated chef Misti Norris offers a six-course tasting menu at Petra and the Beast, her restaurant on Haskell that, as the website says, brings "unique, pleasant and hearty reflections from farm, forage, fermentation and fire to table." There are two seatings on Saturdays, and reservations go fast, but the lucky ones can expect some exceptional food with original presentations emphasizing local vegetables, usually including an amuse bouche, intermezzo and a small final bite.

Best Salad

Snappy Salads

Dallas Observer

We never thought we'd be this excited about salad dressing because, well, we're just not Paul Newman. But the salad dressing at Snappy Salads is an absolute miracle: It got us to crave salad. Some of us are just not into cold, leafy foods, no matter how much we understand that we should be. Snappy Salads, a growing chain of 13 locations across North Texas, offers salads with names such as "Lemon Pepper Shrimp" or "Texas Taco." We recommend building your own — your preferred lettuce, plus six extra toppings — adding tofu or your protein of choice and letting them absorb the richness of the specialty dressings, all for the price of your monthly rent. Hey, we didn't say it was cheap. The dressing flavors include chimichurri, wasabi and Mexican cream. Our hearts stopped with the sweet parsley vinaigrette dressing, but thanks to our new diet, our health will be just fine.

Best Salsa

El Vecino

Angie Quebedeaux

Stepping into the vibrantly colored El Vecino reminds us of a small Mexican restaurant located in a tropical destination. Old school Tex-Mex is made daily, and if you're one of those people who like their Tex-Mex hot, then check out the complimentary salsa verde. It looks deceptively mild, made with roasted tomatillos, lime, garlic and serrano peppers, but it packs some real punch and will cure any sinus issues you might be having.

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