Luna’s Tortilla Factory

With a strong work ethic and the help of family members, much can be accomplished. Luna’s Tortilla Factory is proof. In 1924, one year after emigrating from Mexico, Maria Luna opened her legendary shop at the original Carolina Street location. Her son Francisco, at 19 years of age, took control of Tortilla Factory, expanding the […]

Madrina

Highland Park’s fine-dining restaurant Madrina manages to take Mexican food to levels it has never achieved in Dallas by infusing the cuisine with French techniques and lofty aspirations. Where else can you get duck confit enfrijoladas next to a whole lobster served en cro

Mario Sabino’s Mexican & Salvadoran Restaurant

Mario Alfano (formerly a front-room fixture at Gloria’s) and Sabino Valle took the worn Casa Blanca space, gave it some bright new colors and brought in some Salvadoran recipes. So it’s like Gloria’s, only with a more informal feel-and a more authentic home-style approach to cooking.

Meadows Museum

SMU isn’t all keggers and football games, you know. The sprawling University Park campus is also home to plenty of cultural institutions including the Meadows Museum, which boasts one of the biggest collections of Spanish art outside of Spain, including works by legends like El Greco, Miro, Goya and Picasso. There are also plenty of […]

Mike Anderson’s BBQ

Barbecue is best done the hard way. Sauces and rubs should be made from scratch. Meats smoked for hours under the watchful eye of a pitmaster. Since 1981, that’s how the eponymous owner has preferred to do ‘cue. Ravenous crowds squeeze into tables and vinyl booths, and on a busy day, they spill out onto […]

Miss Chi Vietnamese

While the rest of the noodle fanatics chase ramen around the country, you might think about settling in with a warm bowl of pho. It’s lighter, brighter and when it’s done well is one of best soups to be found. It’s also a lot cheaper. Miss Chi in the Preston Center is a good place […]

Neighborhood Services

The Top 100 Dallas Restaurants, No. 46: There are solid, always-satisfying neighborhood restaurants all around Dallas that make for a great dressy date night or celebratory dinner. That category includes Boulevardier, Macellaio, The Grape, The Heritage Table, City Hall Bistro and class valedictorian Gemma. But Neighborhood Services probably has the biggest, most glowing reputation of […]

Nonna

Nonna is one of the best Italian restaurants in Dallas. The menu shifts constantly with the seasons, accommodating fresh produce, new cuts of meat or seafood and the culinary team’s latest pasta inspirations. Some of the pastas, made in-house, are unique to Dallas (no, cavateddhi is not a typo; it’s a smaller cavatelli from Calabria). […]

Odelay

While Italian cuisine has defined Julian Barsotti’s other restaurant ventures, Odelay is his first foray into Tex-Mex. It’s the cuisine Barsottoi missed most when he lived out of state, and Odelay is an homage to those memorable meals with a focus on high-quality ingredients without compromises. That means wagyu brisket from Rosewood Ranch that makes […]

Olivella’s Pizza & Wine Shop

This tiny University Park outpost serves genuine Neapolitan pizza pies smoldered in a brick oven fueled by split oak. Housemade tomato sauce (secret process) is simmered from tomatoes imported from Italy. Housemade mozzarella too. Crust is thin, crackly, moist and pillowy in all the right places. When the ovens and cooks are riding on the […]