Winter is really not messing around this year. As the temperature sometimes jumps and drops 30 degrees in one day, Dallas is experiencing a climate fatigue of sorts, and the short days have us stuffing ourselves with soul-warming comfort food.
Assuming it's safe to be out on the roads, visit one of these DFW restaurants for some of the city's best cold-weather fare. You'll find some of these eateries on delivery apps like Caviar, but if you order in because it's too nasty to drive, it's customary to tip your delivery driver handsomely in return for his or her valiant service.
Blind Butcher's smoked chicken
1919 Greenville Ave. (Lower Greenville)
Is there anything more comforting than a roast chicken on a cold, lazy day? The Blind Butcher’s twice-smoked chicken dish ($18) takes this simple, homey dish to the next level. The bird is nestled at the bottom of the smoker underneath all the restaurant’s other meats — sausages, brats, pastrami, duck — and swims in all those meat drippings as everything is smoked. It's also basted in herb-garlic butter. If that's not enough to entice you to Blind Butcher, its recent candid Facebook post might finish the job.
La Popular has been around since 1984.
courtesy La Popular
132 N. Peak St. (Old East Dallas)
If there's anything we've learned while gorging on tamales during the Christmas season, it's that these bad boys are oh-so comforting on a cold day. They're convenient, too — pop into La Popular to pick up a few dozen that can be frozen, thawed and boiled on a moment's notice. Call ahead and preorder to ensure you're able to get enough fresh masa tamales to feed the whole fam.
Big Claw's spicy beef noodle soup is as soul-warming as it gets.
Kathy Tran
2049 Coit Road, Plano
If you find yourself chilly up north in Plano, you're in luck: The city's recent explosion of East Asian restaurants means you're never far from an exceptional bowl of soup. Stop by Big Claw for the spicy beef noodle soup, or try the sour fish, made with white fish fillets submerged in a soup of pickled mustard greens, peppercorns, green onions and red chilis. These dishes are spicy enough to keep you warm long after you've ventured back out into the cold.
Trinity Hall's shepherd's pie is famous.
courtesy Trinity Hall Irish Pub
5321 E. Mockingbird Lane (Mockingbird Station)
This Irish pub in Mockingbird Station specializes in all things comfort food: loaded potato skins, mulligatawny stew, chili-stuffed baked potatoes and its famous shepherd's pie, ground beef and vegetables topped with whipped mash potatoes and ample cheddar cheese. As an added bonus, Trinity Hall's menu is super vegan-friendly with tons of meat- and dairy-free options, including a vegan take on the Reuben.
Oni's Reaper ramen (center) is so spicy, it could melt an ice-skating rink.
Kathy Tran
2822 Elm St. (Deep Ellum) and 2801 W. Seventh St., Fort Worth
There's nothing better than a steaming bowl of ramen on a cold day, but Oni takes the heat to a new level with the Reaper. Made with pork belly, bamboo shoots, Parmesan-buttered corn, bean sprouts, leek and a tender-centered egg, it's topped with reaper sauce, an obscenely spicy concoction made with gojujang and spiced bean paste, aromatics such as garlic and ginger, and a laundry list of spicy peppers. If Carolina reaper, habanero, Trinidad scorpion and 7 Pot Brain Strain peppers can't warm you up, nothing can.
Curry will heat you up on a cold day.
Kathy Tran
4301 Bryan St. (Old East Dallas)
There's nothing quite as comforting as a spicy, rich bowl of curry, and the jungle curry — eggplant, bamboo shoots, basil and a wonderful red curry broth — at Bangkok City is no exception. Diners can choose their spice level, but order carefully. This place takes spicy seriously.
