Chances are, the next big name in Dallas' culinary canon is already plying their trade in Dallas, and we want to shine a light on some up-and-comers. By no means is this list exhaustive — Dallas is too big, and surely there are too many talented chefs working in near anonymity to cover them all. But with these five, we've had a chance to try their dishes and came away impressed every time. We can't wait to see what their futures hold.
Sonia Mancillas
Via Triozzi In our review of Via Triozzi, we raved about a butternut squash ravioli that blew our minds. The dish's genesis came from chef and owner Leigh Hutchinson and her executive chef, Sonia Mancillas, putting their heads together to create the perfect fall pasta. It's perhaps the hardest thing for a chef and restaurateur to realize, but they can't do everything, everywhere all at once. Hutchinson recognized this early, and hiring Mancillas for the executive role in the fall of 2023 has allowed Hutchinson's restaurant to shine even when she's not in the building. We speak from experience; we dropped into Via Triozzi between Christmas and New Year's, and didn't see Hutchinson either in the kitchen or visiting tables in the dining room. A staff member told us she was spending some time with family and taking in a Buffalo Bills home game, but in Mancillas' expert hands, the restaurant didn't miss a beat.
Mancillas tells us that developing relationships with her fellow chefs has been key to advancing her career. She calls out chef Anastacia Quinones-Pittman of José and restaurateur Greg Katz as two people who have provided meaningful guidance. Those are good friends to have, and they will serve Mancillas well as her career grows.
Reilly Brown
Georgie Following in the footsteps of executive chef R.J. Yoakum, who was just named a finalist by The James Beard Foundation for Emerging Chef, Reilly Brown is one to watch. Brown moved to Dallas late last year after spending five years at the Michelin-starred PRESS Restaurant in Napa Valley as sous chef for Philip Tessier. Brown graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, where he minored in advanced wine and hospitality. As chef de cuisine, the Michigan native has brought his farm-to-table skills honed in California to Texas. 
Eduardo Osorio
Meridian Chef Eduardo Osorio began his culinary journey in Los Angeles before moving to Dallas in 2024 to take the role of executive chef at Meridian. The restaurant is located in the center of The Village, a longstanding but recently revitalized community in the middle of Dallas. In 2023, after chef Junior Borges left, the restaurant pivoted themes. With Osorio at the helm, the menu was more eclectic American. Meridian has been closed for remodeling but is slated to reopen in May. Ossorio also operates Opulence, a private dining experience leveraging all of his culinary artistry in the comfort of your own home. Each menu is unique, with a focus on seasonal and sustainable cooking. If a full dinner isn't in your budget, Opulence offers up premade dishes like custom salads, seafood or charcuterie boards available for purchase.
We're looking forward to Meridian's exact reopening date and the chance to experience Osorio’s latest ideas brought to life.
Mollie Guerra
Private ChefWhenever there's a food event where we see Mollie Guerra's name on the menu, we know we're in for something special. Guerra tells us that she always loved cooking, but it was her appearance as a contestant on Season 10 of MasterChef that prompted her to leave the corporate world and embrace her culinary dreams full time.Since then, we've tried Guerra's dishes at events such as Chefs for Farmers, Art of Food and the Dallas Arboretum, and we're always impressed with her creations. A recent mole bison filet still sits front and center in our dreams. Guerra's primary gig as a private chef has taken her across the country to cater meals for auto racing teams in the World Racing League, but she still finds plenty of work in Dallas.
While your current best bet to sample Guerra's dishes is to watch for her name in any number of local food festivals (or hire her for your own private dinner), keep an eye out for her name to be attached to a new restaurant in Dallas later this year.
Belal Kattan
Georgie Simply put, Belal Kattan loves pasta. "There's something I can't explain about it when I'm making it," Kattan tells us. "It's the reason I even started cooking." You can almost taste the adoration that Kattan has for pasta in any of his dishes. Before we knew his name, we were smitten with his pasta when he worked on the line at Cry Wolf, and we asked Chef de Cuisine Mike Stites for his name. Currently, you can sample Kattan's love of the noodle at Georgie, where he's been boosting their pasta program since Cry Wolf closed in 2023. When he's not working at Georgie, Kattan plies his trade in the private dinner and pop-up circuit, where his creative layering of flavors, colors and textures has a chance to shine in smaller settings.
Kattan also donates his time and skills to cooking events for nonprofit organizations like Profound Foods' Barn Raising dinner series and Independence Gardens, providing Dallas diners with another avenue to experience his growing skillset.
Diana Zamora
Nena Postreria The list of restaurants where Diana Zamora has spent time makes for an impressive resume: Stock & Barrel, Coupe's, Cry Wolf and Pillar. Certainly, we're forgetting several, and that doesn't even cover the partner collaborations she's done with restaurants over the years. But Zamora's passion project has always been Nena Postreria, the bakery inspired by recipes from Zamora's late mother that we've covered previously.Zamora's latest avenue to keep the Nena Postreria dream alive is a collaboration with Tejas BBQ, the east Dallas operation from Antonio Guevara and Tifany Swulius. On Fridays and Saturdays, Tejas BBQ provides the meats, and Zamora crushes out the baked goods with combinations like a smoked and fried chicken cutlet on a buttermilk biscuit doused with hot honey that shames anything Chick-fil-A pumps out.
If barbecue isn't your thing, Zamora keeps Nena Postreria going with an assortment of breads, sweet and savory empanadas and other baked goods that can be ordered online for pickup. Zamora has worked diligently to keep Nena Postreria's dream alive, and we can’t wait to see it take off.
