Where to Eat Now

Where to eat in Dallas right now: 10 hot restaurant picks from top local foodies

For our November chapter of Where to Eat, we're taking our cues from Dallas' top foodies. We've consulted some of the city's most frequent diners, the ones who make a point to stay on top of what's new, by getting out and trying the new restaurants while they're still sizzling hot. We bow to their prowess and will put these restaurants on our must-visit list.

Maria Fernanda Whiteside Mejia: Madrina
Since opening at the Shops at Highland Park in September, Madrina, the latest restaurant from Proof + Pantry owners Misery Loves Co., has been the darling of the foodie set, including savvy serial diner Maria Fernanda Whiteside Mejia. She's a fan of chef Julio Peraza, calling his elevated Mexico City-style cuisine "terrific." Her two favorite dishes so far: enfrijolada (cilantro tortilla with duck confit, serrano chile, black bean puree, and queso fresco) and oysters with caviar in a beurre blanc sauce.

Ron Ruggless: Rodeo Goat
Gourmet burger restaurant from Shannon Wynne first debuted in Fort Worth, then expanded with a second branch in the Dallas Design District. Ruggless, ace reporter for Nations Restaurant News, likes the "kick-ass casual" atmosphere and the variety of toppings such as candied bacon and grilled peaches. He lauds the flexibility of the menu, and the way any burger concoction can be applied to a beef, turkey, or vegetarian patty. "That's thoughtful," he says.

Suzi Migdol: Ten Ramen
Sylvan Thirty boasts one of the best ramen spots around, from chef Teiichi Sakurai (Tei An). Everything about this authentic spot is designed to get you with your ramen ASAP, including an iPad ordering system and a counter-style setup where you stand to eat your soup. Photographer and Oak Cliff resident Suzi Migdol recommends it to everyone. "I crave it all the time," she says. "They recently had an excellent special, lobster miso ramen. And you should take the plunge and go for the minced-on-the-spot fresh garlic."

George Lewis: Easy Slider
Lewis, the intrepid food truck columnist for D Magazine's SideDish blog, offers the food truck perspective, singling out Easy Slider, which serves gourmet sliders using fresh and locally sourced ingredients. Lewis sings praises for Easy Slider's inventive toppings. He always samples the "slider of the month," such as last month's Notorious PIG, which he says was "the best ever," with beef, bacon, shaved ham, Havarti cheese, and pear chow relish.

Nikia Summerlin: Rapscallion
Lower Greenville restaurant and Boulevardier cousin has become one of the top foodie picks, with its Southern menu created by chef Nathan Tate and cool patio lending energy to the street. Nikia Summerlin, founder of DFWOfficial, a food blog and Facebook page, says it's a great place to people watch, and it has a killer chicken. "When you go to Rapscallion, get the Long Walk to Nashville, their Nashville-style hot chicken, which is a growing trend," he says. "You can order a half or a whole bird. If you aren't big on spicy, get the Szechuan mala sauce on the side. The chicken is juicy but still has an amazing crunch."

Michael Pope: Max's Wine Dive
Houston-based wine bar chain with fried chicken has been a hit since it arrived in Uptown Dallas in 2012; a Fort Worth branch opened in 2013. Michael Pope, a benefits consultant and ardent follower of the dining scene who eats out a few times a month, likes it as a casual alternative for celebrating a special occasion, particularly because its recommended pairing is chicken with champagne. "Their fried chicken is so good, I dream about it," he says. "The greens are also great, and it's fun to start with a cheese board."

Alyson Brown: Cafe Momentum
Downtown restaurant spearheaded by chef Chad Houser just introduced a new fall menu, and uber-foodies Greg and Alyson Brown are on the case. Attend any food event in Dallas, and you'll run into this Duo of Dining. They like the toast trio, with fall flavors of kabocha butter, romesco, and burnt bread puree, as well as the smoked carrot soup, pesto Caesar, short rib pot pie, and grilled shrimp with pasta and watercress pistou — which Alyson attests was just as good for breakfast the next day. "Sarah Green and her kitchen crew continue to elevate the Cafe Momentum menu, and everyone goes home with an order of 'feel good' to go," she says.

Robert Strickland: Resident Taqueria
Lake Highlands taqueria got loads of attention when a certain celebrity server lent a hand on opening weekend — but foodies have not lost sight of the excellence of its food. Those foodies include Robert Strickland, a food photographer and barbecue fan who can hardly believe how much he likes Resident's signature caramelized cauliflower taco. "It was pretty incredible, even better than the delicious fish and beef short rib tacos," he says. "I was skeptical of it at first, but man, that taco is the king of a menu that's full of damn fine options."

Valerie Jarvie: Pakpao Thai
Pakpao is the Thai member of the Aphelia restaurant family (which also includes Oak and El Bolero). The original opened in the Design District in 2013, but it's the second branch, recently opened in the happening Preston Hollow Village, that veteran food writer Valerie Jarvie frequents. Like the original, this Pakpao has soups, noodles, fried rice, vegan dishes, and fine cocktails. Jarvie gets the Morning Glory Salad, a recipe from chef Jet Tila's grandmother, with shrimp, spinach, and cucumber relish.

Porttia Portis: Ida Claire
Southern restaurant from the folks who own Whiskey Cake, Mexican Sugar, and Twin Peaks brings a down-home touch to Addison, whether it's a clam and shrimp boil with Andouille sausage or pork chop with whipped sweet potatoes. Food writer Porttia Portis calls the burger and sweet potato chips amazing. "There's a pimento spread on the burger that basically showed me the light for the stuff, because I'd never liked it before," she says. "The chips were the perfect cut and texture. They weren't too greasy and were fried to the perfect crisp."

Resident Taqueria cauliflower and kale taco is so good, it wins over barbecue hounds.

Photo courtesy of Taco Trail

Resident Taqueria cauliflower and kale taco is so good, it wins over barbecue hounds.

where-to-eat

Eco Warrior News

Dallas restaurants doing amazing little things for the environment

Southwest Airlines

Cute bamboo cup from Southwest Airlines

One unfortunate legacy left by the pandemic has been a huge increase in the use of plastics — setting back progress that was being made pre-pandemic.

Plastics are bad. They harm everything they touch: the environment, health, food security, and economies. But they're convenient, subsidized, and in some cases necessary.

Before the pandemic, a growing awareness had started to snowball regarding the negative impact of plastics, particularly plastic straws and single-use plastic containers — and it was significant enough to make the plastics industry very nervous.

"In the two years leading up to the pandemic, the public backlash against plastic was a major concern for industry leaders," says a story about plastics and the pandemic in The Guardian. "As a corporate executive remarked during an industry event early in 2019: 'We need to get the image of plastic in oceans out of the public’s mind. Otherwise, we could lose our social license to operate.'"

But then the pandemic came along, igniting mass hysteria about contagion, and suddenly, bans on single-use plastics that had been in the works were reversed in countries around the world: North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

“Overnight, plastics went from public enemy No. 1 to consumers asking for everything to have as much packaging as possible and to be single use," said one gleeful analyst for Shell Oil, who are a major plastics player.

The urgency of the plastics situation remains invisible to most people, lined up at the drive-thru for their coffee or Chick-Fil-A, piling up nearly 250 pounds of plastic waste every year. (That's what the average American amasses — more than any other country.)

But there are brave, pro-environment efforts being made by Dallas companies and organizations, big and small.

La Casita Bakeshop cup Revolutionary compostable cup at La Casita Bakeshop.Facebook

Dallas efforts
The Dallas restaurants and organizations listed below have taken steps to fight waste, even though it costs them money.

Plastic Free Lunch Day is November 22
Dallas ISD’s Food and Child Nutrition Services will participate in Plastic Free Lunch Day on November 22, to help reduce the amount of single-use plastic in school cafeterias.

Plastic Free Lunch Day was started by middle school students in Brooklyn. The initiative was such a success that it was adopted by all New York City public schools in 2022. The concept has since spread to public schools across the country — including Dallas ISD, which was the first in Texas to participate, when it joined up in 2022.

It creates an opportunity to educate students and the community on ways to positively impact the environment, including skipping plastic. Dallas school cafeterias will replace the plastic items they regularly use during lunch with biodegradable alternatives. (Plastic cutlery, cups, and straws will be available upon request for the crybabies.)

Southwest Airlines bamboo cup
Southwest Airlines Co., the Dallas-based airline, has introduced a new bamboo cup for inflight cold beverages, and a wood stir stick in place of a plastic stick. The airline expects the new items to reduce its inflight single-use plastics by more than 1.5 million pounds annually.

In July 2024, Southwest transitioned to a paper overwrap for its napkins made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled materials — fully eliminating plastic from this service item. The airline is making an effort to eliminate single-use plastics from inflight service by 2030.

La Casita Bakeshop compostable cups
La Casita Bakeshop, the award-winning bakery and cafe operation, recently debuted fabulous new cups that are 100 percent compostable, soil- and marine-biodegradable, breaking down naturally after 90 days. and are made from natural materials.

"We are always trying to find ways to be more environmentally friendly and this is a big way we can," they said in their post announcing the new cups. "We just want to be proud of our paper trail and being a restaurant it's hard to do that."

Smoothie King biodegrable cups
Smoothie King, the Dallas-based smoothie chain, previously used styrofoam cups, but began testing a biodegradable cup in 2019. They now offer it as the default choice. They're using Vio Foam, specially made cups that biodegrade 92 percent in four years. They'll still accommodate whiny selfish customers who insist on getting a plastic cup instead, but their Vio foam cup not only helps the environment, it also keeps their smoothies cold a little longer.

Kate Weiser Recycle Box Program
Kate Weiser, the Dallas chocolatier, sells its gorgeous eye-catching bon-bons in a variety of boxes, from 4 pieces all the way up to 35 pieces. (OK, they'll sell them individually, too, but who goes to a chocolate shop and buys a single chocolate?) They have a program where you can bring your empty box to the store and get a refill and get 5 percent off. (Weiser amusingly calls it a "secret hack.")

Dude Sweet Chocolate freezer packaging
Dude Sweet Chocolate, the Oak Cliff chocolatier, has a next-level campaign in which they will accept cold-ship packaging you've received in the mail and re-use it. Say, for example, that you ordered an 8-pack of ice cream pints from Double Rainbow in San Francisco, and it arrived in a box with freezer packs and a foil liner. You can drop that packaging off at Dude Sweet's factory location at 1340 Inwood Rd., and they'll re-use it in one way or another when they're doing shipments of their chocolate.

Note: Whether you're putting it in the blue bin or the gray bin, your plastic is not being recycled. The best course when it comes to plastic, especially single-use plastic, is to not use it at all.

sustainability