100 Favorite Dishes, No. 94: The Baklava at Bilad Bakery & Restaurant

Leading up to September's Best of Dallas® 2017 issue, we're sharing (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes, the Dallas entrées, appetizers and desserts that really stuck with us this year.

Even before you take your first bite of Bilad Bakery & Restaurant's amazing desserts, there's a lot to love about this Richardson eatery. An Iraqi-American family has created a combination bakery, restaurant and grocery where you can get imported olive oils and cheap loaves of fresh-baked Iraqi bread. A few months back, the restaurant also hosted a "food diplomacy" dinner where people of all backgrounds gathered to taste Bilad's food, meet the family behind the restaurant and even learn a little Arabic. Bilad is the classic American success story of a family who came to this country for a better life and, in the process, created a welcoming space for the community – Bilad even gives free food to those who can't afford a meal for themselves, a policy they advertise freely on signs in the restaurant.

But feel-goodery aside, this Richardson bakery makes some of the best Middle Eastern desserts in DFW. Choose from a variety that include kunafa (made with savory cheese and shredded wheat) and pistachio puffs. Our favorite here is good old-fashioned baklava, a sweet, rich pastry made with layers of phyllo dough filled with chopped nuts and ample honey.

Bilad's baklava hits all the markers: impossibly fresh and flaky, perfectly buttery and sweet but not cloyingly so. At $1 each, these sweet treats are an inexpensive indulgence that, after one bite, will make you remember just how great a simple piece of baklava can be.