Best Asian Food 2007 | Asian Mint | Best of Dallas® 2020 | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Dallas | Dallas Observer
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Best Asian Food

Asian Mint

Alex Gonzalez
Green curry with beef
Thai noodle houses and sushi bars are popping up around Dallas as if this were California or something. But Asian Mint is a different kind of café. The atmosphere is modern and bright, stylish with nary a travel poster in sight. The fusion cuisine leans toward Thai, with Chinese dishes second. But whatever the dish, it's reinterpreted in way that brings out subtle flavors that can sometimes get overwhelmed in hot and spicy dishes. Asian Mint's specialty is usually ignored by most Vietnamese and Thai restaurants: dessert pastries married to Asian flavors, like green tea ice cream cake and pa tong ko, Asian beignets. Try the jasmine crème brûlée. Heaven.

Best Etouffee

Greenville Avenue Seafood & Jazz

Tom+Jenkins
Fourteen+bucks+for+red+beans+and+sausage%3F+We+don%27t+want+to+know+how+much+the+lobster+costs.
While men on stage blow altos and beat snare heads, women and children moisten their lips in crawfish etouffee with a creamy sassafras sauce. Their lips purse. Their eyes close. Their jaws do an Elvis swivel. Why is this so ridiculously good? Is it the perfect cook-down of onions and celery and peppers blended into roux? Is it the serrations of cayenne left on the tongue as the silken stew rolls down the throat? Is it the plump tight curls of crawdad tail? This etouffee has terrific balance that leaves the mouth pulsing and then quickly, somehow, lets it reset, readying for the next spoonful. It's nutrition for jazz ears.

Best Middle Eastern Restaurant

Kasbah Grill

Africans eat here—from both north and south. Middle Easterners eat here. On Sunday, you'll find an after-church Anglo crowd. During Ramadan, the place packs at sundown for multi-course specials. What brings these disparate populations together is Moroccan home cooking in the form of rich, warmly spiced stews, or tagines, and excellent couscous and kebab dishes. The proprietors are exceptionally welcoming; everyone feels comfortable at one of the booths or metal tables, housed in what used to be a 7-Eleven store (a recent re-decoration has exorcised most of the convenience-store vibe). We love the royal couscous and its mélange of earthy flavors: roasted vegetables, couscous steamed in broth and a tender braised lamb shank. Kasbah is also one of the few places in the area where you can get the traditional Moroccan dish bastella, which is a phyllo-dough pastry concoction with ground chicken, eggs and almonds topped with a sprinkling of powdered sugar and cinnamon. C'mon, there's a reason why it's a national delicacy; this odd mingling of flavors somehow creates an exotically spiced, savory whole. All this, plus there's a good chance you'll get out of here for $10 a person or less.

Best Of Dallas®

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