Jordan Maddox
Audio By Carbonatix
Ever have a dessert that lives like a pop-up ad in your head? You wake up at 3 a.m. with a panicky feeling that you forgot something important, and (sometimes) think “Oh, yeah, that pie … ” Sames. For the sake of this list, these are only desserts served at restaurants. We’re not looping in the best items at a bakery, ice cream shop or whatever else (doughnuts).
Below are the best desserts in Dallas, starting, of course, with Granny Fearing’s banana pudding.
Courtesy of Fearing’s
Granny Fearing’s Banana Pudding
Fearing’s, Uptown at The Ritz-Carlton
Granny Fearing’s Banana Pudding is a humble by-nature dessert that has been on the menu since 2007. Pastry chef Corey Thomson has been cutting butter into sugar in Dallas for almost 20 years, including three years at The Mansion before moving to the Ritz-Carlton in 2011. He knows not to take this number off — the docile set at the Ritz may riot. For this dessert, they fold fresh bananas into Madagascar vanilla bean custard, layer it with Nilla Wafers and crown it with glossy Swiss Meringue. Then! They roll freshly fried beignets in cinnamon sugar and set those atop before sending them out to your table. Ooph. Fearing’s at Ritz-Carlton 2121 McKinney Ave.
The Glob
Parigi’s, Uptown
The Chocolate Glob lounges somewhere between a half-baked brownie and crack, and is — in our opinion — one of the Most Iconic Dishes in Dallas. The causally elegant French-inspired restaurant in Uptown has sold over 160,000 Globs over the last 40 years. How can 160,000 chocolate globs be wrong? We promise, they’re not. During the pandemic, I’d order these to go to share with the family, and I knew the world would be OK. 3311 Oak Lawn Ave.
Hank Vaughn
Pistachio Olive Oil Cake
Radici, Farmers Branch
This simple cake is given a gloss up at chef Tiffany Derry’s Italian restaurant Radici. A moist cake is topped with a subtly punchy fresh marmalade, crème fraîche and a dusting of pistachios on the top. It’s simple, refined and elegant. 12990 Bee St., Farmers Branch
Courtesy of El Carlos Elegante
The Bunuelo
El Carlos Elegante, The Design District
This Design District Michelin-recommended restaurant offers authentic masa plates and fire-kissed meats. But save room for The Bunuelo, a fried pastry spiced with allspice, clove and vanilla, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a blueberry compote. 1400 N. Riverfront Blvd.
Courtesy of The Charles
Dark Chocolate Budino
The Charles, The Design District
The Charles is a sister concept of El Carlos Elegante and is also recommended in the Michelin Guide. The dessert menu here is rich, but look no further than the dark chocolate budino (a rich custard)served with candied gooseberries, peanut brittle, and toasted meringue. It is an absolute work of art. 1632 Market Center Blvd.
Kraut Cake
Rye, Lower Greenville
Fun fact: this is the only chocolate cake Guy Fieri has ever featured on his show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Evidently, Fieri just isn’t a fan of the most basic dessert in America, until he met this one. At Michelin-recommended Rye, they like to blow your mind with unexpected ingredients and flavors. Here, they’ll do that with a chocolate cake made with sauerkraut, which brings depth and balance to the sweetness and acidity of the cake. There’s also white chocolate cherry ganache, brandied cherries, coffee and some dabs of Swiss meringue. 1920 Greenville Ave.
The Entire Turkish Dessert Trey
The Mayor’s House by Selda in Oak Cliff
What happened to dessert trays? Ever had a server bring one over and you just say, “Yes!” We actually did that at The Mayor’s House by Selda in Oak Cliff, where every dessert is made in-house by a duo of Turkish dessert wizards. Pastry chefs Süleyman Sezer and Naki Ates are both from Turkey and are behind the amazing sweets displayed here. They both grew up in Mersin, a port city in southern Turkey, and began working at bakeries in their early teens, and are building an empire at Selda, which also has a location on Belt Line Road. We realize it’s too hard to pick between the pistachio and strawberry chocolate cake, San Sebastian cheesecake and cream puffs covered in chocolate, so you should get them all. Take some friends, make it a party. It’ll be a day you never forget. 635 N. Zang Blvd.
Chris Wolfgang
Millionaire Tart
Even Coast, Addison
It had been several months since we’d been to Even Coast, but a recent meal reassured us that Omar Flores’ Addison outpost deserves more regular visits. Two of us ended our meal by sharing the Millionaire’s Tart, which remains as good as we remembered. It’s a chocolate lover’s dream: chocolate crust, filled with a layer of caramel, then a dense chocolate pie filling, a dollop of whipped cream and a few crushed macadamia nuts, then another light dusting of cocoa powder. One bite and the serotonin rush in your brain instantly puts you in your happy place. 5463 Belt Line Road
– Chris Wolfgang
Cardamom Banana Pudding
Kafi BBQ, Valley Ranch
We eat a lot of barbecue, so it also stands to reason that we eat a lot of banana pudding. While it’s risky to mess with a dessert standby, Kafi’s cardamom-infused banana pudding is truly a game changer. Inspired by his father’s habit of drinking cardamom tea after every meal, owner Salahodeen Abdul-Kafi blends ground cardamom into the creamy banana pudding served at his Irving barbecue spot that has quickly become one of our favorites. Cardamom’s complex flavors elevate the barbecue dessert staple to something truly extraordinary. 8140 N. MacArthur Blvd.
– Chris Wolfgang
Lauren Drewes Daniels
Pavlova
Frenchie, Park Cities
This new Park Cities darling is a popular casual (yet upscale – this is Park Cities after all) bistro. While they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus a great freezer martini, the dessert menu is the line-backer here; fast, sleek, sneaky, packs a punch. Dyan Ng runs the dessert program and I recommend anything she puts out, but the pavlova is stunning. The light meringue is topped with coconut cream, berries and lime.
