For too long, Lao food has been lumped into Thai cuisine as one and the same, both in Dallas and throughout the world. But with the opening of Khao Noodle Shop, a small, BYOB kitchen in East Dallas, we finally have distinct and unapologetic Lao food, thanks to chef-owner Donny Sirisavath — also our Best Chef. The signature dish here is the boat noodle, where bone marrow and pork blood come together for a rich, piquant broth hosting a twirl of rice noodles, brisket and herbs. At $5 each and in sample-size portions, there's room both in your stomach and wallet to try Sirisavath's four other noodle dishes. The shareable bites ranging from $7-9 need to be tested as well.

For 3 Nations Brewing, the end of 2018 brought major news. The Farmers Branch brewery announced that it would soon move to a massive former grain storage shed built in 1950, located in Carrollton's bustling downtown. 3 Nations, launched in 2015, has moved forward with construction on the new location while shipping out a series of adventurous beers from across the flavor spectrum. For local stout-heads, there's not a friendlier brewer in town, thanks to its inventive and devilishly delicious Devout series, which has featured offerings of créme brûlée, chocolate hazelnut, bananas foster and even golden marzipan.

Tantuni sits in an incongruously big building at a minor street corner in Richardson, and the parking lot is hidden around the back. Inside this edifice, you'll find the best Turkish food in North Texas. Start with an enormous platter of hummus served warm and topped with spicy Turkish sausage, then move on to an Adana kebab grilled over charcoal, or an appetizer sampler of dips to pair with the restaurant's excellent fluffy bread. Some of the specialties, including a pressed and grilled half chicken, evoke the remote, rural lands of Turkey's far southeast, where sauces come bolder and spicier than they do on the Mediterranean coast.

The namesake dish couldn't be simpler: finely chopped red onions, tomatoes, cilantro and a whole lot of lime. Get the shrimp, fish or octopus ceviche stacked two inches high on tostadas, with slices of avocado balanced on top. Or go for a fried oyster po' boy that strikes a balance between upscale and classical by adding thick wedges of tomato and real, unshredded lettuce. The kitchen at Ceviche Oyster Bar knows their way around a fryer, and the catfish and okra avoid becoming grease bombs. There's a big patio and Dos Equis on draft, too.

Step onto the small patio space offered by Americano, and you'll think you've stepped into an alternate, slightly Italian, slightly modern universe. The open, airy space is the kind of place where you can enjoy the city's best people-watching while sipping a mean Negroni and popping fried olives. It feels like paradiso, no? Va bene.

Aside from the sprawling fried pancake that is banh xeo, there's not a lot of traditional, old-fashioned Vietnamese food at Mot Hai Ba, but that's what makes it so fascinating. Ultra-responsive to the seasons, the menu of this tiny East Dallas restaurant features specials that take familiar Vietnamese ingredients and flavors and present them in new settings, whether that means bun cha-style porchetta, tapioca flour dumplings or a sweet caramelized onion tart. The short list of cocktails and wines are chosen to pair perfectly with Mot Hai Ba's style of food.

If "only dull people are brilliant at breakfast," as Oscar Wilde quipped, then skip human company altogether for a laminated brioche and café au lait at Village Baking Co. This sweet bun is spiraled like a nautilus shell — crisp on the outside, soft inside, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and layered with enough butter to expand your belt a few notches. Each bite transports you to Paris faster than a Concorde. Rows upon rows of pastries await the drowsy commuter or weekend drifter: almond croissant, pain au chocolat, palmier, financier loaf, kouign-amann and pain au jambon. Making a decision at the Boulangerie is harder than naming your first child, but once you do, the daydream begins.

Pick a downtime, and it's likely you'll find owners Andrew and Edi Kelley waiting for you behind the counter. They've taken the idea of a counter deli and asked, "What if we made this awesome?" The churning waves of real grape soda will lull you into a trance. Arch your head back to see the faded-yellow menu near the ceiling — it's an original from the joint's creation. Brisket pastrami, rosy on the inside and pepper-charred on the outside, is light years ahead of its sandwich competition. Load it with pepperoncini peppers. The No. 13 is a gem, too: Find turkey, capicola and sharp provolone in between whatever dang toppings you want. Get a cookie and an ice-cold grape soda, for goodness sakes.

We're going to upset people with this one. Not because Sushi Robata is the wrong pick — it's oh so right — but because a lot of Dallas sushi lovers see this joint as a well-kept secret, tucked away in North Dallas far from the hype and the Instagrammers. Sushi Robata is an all-rounder with a full Japanese menu that encompasses ramen, grilled meats and pork katsu. The sushi bar is equally wide-ranging, but insiders skip over the glitzy specials in favor of traditional maki rolls, some of them vegetarian, and the ever-changing list of daily seafood specials. Sushi Robata is one of Dallas' best-kept secrets. Unfortunately, we're not in the secret-keeping business.

The folks at Resident are always dreaming up something new and interesting. More important, they're always doing it right. A Philly cheesesteak taco could be a tiresome gimmick if it didn't taste so darn good. If anyone is going to try putting, say, a crab cake or shishito peppers into a taco, it might as well be the kitchen at Resident, with its from-scratch tortillas and its marriage of love for tradition with a penchant for inspired pairings of flavor. Even the vegetarian tacos, like the one with caramelized cauliflower and pepitas, are worth driving for.