Leading up to our annual Best of Dallas® issue, we're counting down the 50 most interesting restaurants in Dallas. These spots bring something unique or compelling to the city's dining scene, feeding both your appetite and soul. Find more interesting places on our all-new Best Of app for iTunes or Android.
Teppo straddles the genres of high-quality ingredients and casual approachability like few other restaurants. You can go in and experience some of the best fish in Dallas, but you won't pay through the gills, the atmosphere is quiet and you'll find yourself relaxed.
It helps that there's often Rangers baseball on, and even though with the team flopping around like a soon-to-be tuna roll, there's still optimism (and the smell of miso) in the air.
The sushi chefs steal glances over their shoulders while carefully bonding slices of fish to rectangles of rice to form perfect nigiri. Cooks turn their heads when they run ingredients and dishes out from the back kitchen. This isn't a sports bar: the volume is turned down and the atmosphere is reserved, but if you're into the game you won't be watching it alone.
Besides the chefs, the customers who come to Teppo hail from the neighborhood, and it's likely that anyone sitting next to you at the bar has put in significant time there. The chefs recognize the faces of their customers as readily as their favorite players, and that familiarity stokes a desire to return more than once.
Come to Teppo once if you're looking for great sushi and you'll find it. But this is the sort of restaurant you should get to know over time.
No. 50: Joyce and Gigi's No. 49: East Hampton Sandwich Co. No. 48: 20 Feet Seafood Joint No. 47: Taj Chaat House No. 46: Mot Hai Ba No. 45: La Nueva Fresh and Hot No. 44: Pera Turkish Kitchen No. 43: Tom's Burgers and Grill No. 42: Mughlai No. 41: Russian Banya No. 40: Off-Site Kitchen No. 39: Bachman Lake Taqueria No. 38: Carbone's No. 37: Babe's No. 36: Barbacoa Estilo Hidalgo No. 35: Zaguan No. 34: Royal Sichuan No. 33: Spoon No. 32: Bambu No. 31: Pecan Lodge No. 30: FT33 No. 29: Keller's Drive-In No. 28: La Pasadita No. 27: Ten Bells Tavern No. 26: El Ranchito No. 25: Cafe Urbano No. 24: Nova No. 23: Jeng Chi No. 22: Omi No. 21: Tei-An No. 20: Jonathon's Oak Cliff No. 19: Yutaka and Sharaku No. 18: Local No. 17: Ibex No. 16: Pakpao No. 15: Chennai Cafe No. 14: Smoke No. 13: Nonna No. 12: Kuby's No. 11: Sushi Sake No. 10: La Banqueta No. 9: Kalachandji's No. 8: Mesa
