Where to Eat

Where to eat in Dallas right now: 10 best new desserts for February

Ice cream cake from Botolino Gelato

Botolino Gelato

For our February edition of Where to Eat — our monthly roundup of the best eats in Dallas — we like something sweet.

This is traditionally the month to indulge, whether you're rebounding from a healthy January or else getting sucked into the "romance" of Valentine's Day. And we have a list of Valentine's Day meals around town — but for Where to Eat, the focus is entirely on desserts, and mostly newer desserts (because you probably already know about Haute Sweet and Bisous Bisous).

Here's 10 places to get sweets:

Amorino Gelato
Paris-born chain known for its picture-perfect cones just opened its third DFW shop in the Plaza at Preston Center in the former Sprinkles Ice Cream space. Founded in Paris in 2002, Amorino specializes in gelato and sorbet, in 24 flavors such as chocolate, strawberry, gianduia, honey lavender, pistachio, and melon. Their gelato is fine but go for the presentation: The gelato is formed into "petals" which makes your ice cream cone look like a flower.

Baldo's Ice Cream
Ice cream shop first debuted in early 2019 near SMU, and recently opened a second location in Casa Linda Plaza in 2021. Beyond the chocolate-vanilla-strawberry basics, there are always creative seasonal flavors, with current entries such as Honey-Rose, with vanilla ice cream infused with rose extract, with ribbons of honey and garnished with edible rose petals. I mean, come on, that is Valentine's Day in an ice cream cone if there ever were one. They offer non-dairy flavors as well as ice cream flights.

Bambu
Bambu was founded in 2008 in San Jose, California; there are more than 70 locations including Grand Prairie which opened in 2021. Their signature is Chè, a Vietnamese dessert category that comes in liquid form, whether it's a sweet beverage or a pudding layered with ingredients such as coconut milk, beans, and sweet gelatin jellies. Their best-sellers include the Bambu Special, a refreshing beverage with coconut, pandan jelly, longan, basil seed, and coconut water; and the Smashed Avocado, a rich and creamy drink with fresh avocado, boba, rainbow jellies, and condensed milk.

Better Than Sex
Over-the-top restaurant serves desserts with "racy" names is part of a chain founded in Florida; Plano opened in 2019. They offer limited-edition specials such as a recent French toast twist with Brie, dark "Belgium" chocolate (surely they mean Belgian?), and cinnamon sugar Texas toast, served with strawberry Champagne soup. Sex sells: They're almost completely booked out for Valentine's Day weekend.

Bobbers
Restaurant/stall at the AT&T Discovery District food hall in downtown Dallas does Wagyu burgers topped with queso, fried eggs, bacon, and more. But Dole Whip is half the deal. They are, after all, called Bobbers Burgers & Whips, so you know Dole is in the house. They always have pineapple, plus a rotating flavor such as mango. Get a Dole Whip here, then head over to Rise + Thyme, the the sweet cafe from celebrity chef Amanda Freitag, which sells a variety of sweet treats including intense dark chocolate biscotti made by Dallas' acclaimed La Duni.

Botolino Gelato Artigianale
Local chain with locations on Greenville Avenue and Preston-Royal makes it all from scratch including their stunning ice cream cakes. Pistachio cake combines pistachio semifreddo, salted caramel gelato, caramel glaze, and sponge cake with rose infusion. And their Fior Di Nocciciola Cake is a gift to vegans, combining vegan hazelnut spumone, vegan chocolate spumone, and vegan sponge cake with Frangelico. They take it so seriously that they post diagrams of how the cakes are made on their website.

Le Reve Gelato & Patisserie
Macarons and gelato are the thing at this shop newly opened at Preston Valley Shopping Center. Founder-owner Andy Pham has a passion for macarons; he's been making them since high school, and makes them a little less sickly-sweet than the standard. He's also doing picture-perfect little pastries and tarts with glossy icing, precisely trimmed, such as his latest three creations: Red Velvet Petit Gâteau, Blueberry Cheesecake Tart, and Tiramisu.

Miruku Creamery
Soft-serve ice cream shop at 207 N. Kentucky St. in McKinney is from husband-and-wife Kham and Yim Phommahaxay are dishing out soft-serve ice cream, cotton candy, and coffees & espresso. The couple are taking a culinary approach, including making soft-serve from scratch, and what's really special here is that they follow a style inspired by Cremia, a Japanese version of soft-serve said to be the creamiest and milkiest soft-serve of all.

Sugar Factory American Brasserie
Restaurant known for over-the-top sweets just opened its first location in Texas in Dallas. They're the home of "insane" milkshakes such as the $19 has a special Crazy for You Insane Milkshake for February, made with strawberry ice cream and cheesecake, topped with whipped cream, cherry gummy hearts, M&M’s, chocolate hearts, and gumdrops, served in a red chocolate dipped mug which is their special flavor for February.

Zero Gradi Gelateria and Dessert Bar
Sweet shop is a spinoff of 400 Gradi, the Neapolitan-style pizzeria from Australia that debuted in downtown Dallas in 2019, featuring an espresso bar, dessert bar with Italian-inspired pastries, and a gelateria with 20-plus gelati and fruit sorbettos. There's lots of gelato around town these days but it's rare to find places that use pistachio nuts instead of paste, or hazelnuts from Piedmont, home of the best hazelnuts. Zero Gradi also makes ice cream cakes and some fairly luscious pastries such as this almond croissant filled with almond custard and a layer of blueberry preserves.

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Meet The Tastemakers

10 best coffee shops in Dallas for 2026 are all the buzz

Ascension Coffee

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Each year, we bring you the CultureMap Tastemaker Awards to celebrate the best of Dallas' culinary scene, from neighborhood restaurants to the city's best bars, and, now, the top coffee shops in town.

Our 2025 Tastemakers wildcard category of Best Coffee Shop returns in 2026 as an annual awards category, as we honor Dallas' Coffee Shop of the Year.

These nominees are all the buzz around Dallas, from those that have been part of the local craft coffee movement for well over a decade to exciting upstarts that have grown into brick-and-mortars. Most importantly, these shops celebrate coffee culture, create community, and serve sensational sips.

See what's brewing with our 2026 Dallas Coffee Shop of the Year nominees below, then join us on May 7 at Astoria Event Venue for the 2026 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards. We'll celebrate the finalists and crown the winners, while you sample chef-prepared bites, sip crafted cocktails, and mingle with Dallas' culinary stars.

Limited discounted tickets are still available for general admission and VIP access, so get yours today.

Here are the 10 nominees for Coffee Shop of the Year:

Ascension
A stalwart of Dallas-Fort Worth’s craft coffee scene since 2012, Ascension now serves its painstakingly sourced beans at six locations across the Metroplex. It’s committed to ethically and sustainably sourcing beans from the planet’s finest coffee growing locations and roasting them onsite before brewing them into crema-topped shots of espresso or a perfect pourover. And for those who love a sweet latte, Ascension excels at those, too, as anyone who’s tried a Cardamom Bee can attest.

Cafe Ciro
This playful newcomer made its Pleasant Grove debut in 2025, after getting its start as a pop-up in the neighborhood three years earlier. Now, it serves one of the most inventive menus of lattes and other coffee drinks in the region, all heavily influenced by owner Brittany Guereca’s Mexican heritage. If you haven’t yet trekked south to try one of Cafe Ciro’s churro lattes or mango sticky rice matchas, there’s no better time than the present.

Cafe Duro
Taking inspiration from the streetside cafes that are ubiquitous in Europe, Cafe Duro brings a taste of that breezy vibe to Greenville Avenue. The coffee menu here is inspired by a broad range of cultures and culinary influences, from the Italian espresso bar to the Japanese hojicha that makes an appearance in multiple drinks. And, in keeping with the current craze, matcha fans will also find plenty to love here, including a latte spiked with prickly pear.

Cultivar Coffee Roasting Co.
This acclaimed micro-roastery is serious about finding the finest coffee beans on the planet, then brewing them into technically solid beverages. The roastery’s East Dallas cafe is a great spot for coffee purists who want to taste the distinct flavor notes in their pour-over or cortado — and score a bag of beautifully roasted beans to brew at home. If you find that all that caffeine has helped you work up an appetite, the breakfast sandwiches from nearby Goodfriend Package are always a solid choice.

Good Boy Cafe
Located inside Koneko Studio, one of Dallas’ most exciting tattoo shops, Good Boy Cafe is one of the city’s coolest places to grab a coffee — especially if you’re a dog lover. Here, you can bring your pup along to enjoy a biscuit-topped pup cup as you sip an expertly crafted matcha or cappuccino, or get experimental with one of Good Boy’s more creative coffee drinks, like a brand-new white chocolate latte topped with pillowy French apricot foam.

La Reunion
A Bishop Arts staple, this coffee favorite takes its name from the utopian socialist community that settled in the neighborhood before the turn of the 20th century. Now, La Reunion stands as a cozy, communal spot for locals to gather and sip cortados paired with potato breakfast tacos. By day, you can sip cafe au lait or Kyoto cold brew. By night, it transforms into an uber-cool spot for a glass of wine and interesting, funky cocktails soundtracked by live music.

La Souq Coffee
This sleek Richardson coffee shop is as visually stunning as its coffee drinks are delicious. Arab culinary influence is abundant on the menu, evidenced in offerings like the Habibti Latte, which is delicately infused with rose and cardamom. It also boasts a full menu of drinks made with ceremonial-grade matcha, plus teas, and a rose jam and goat cheese topped toast that’s worth the trip.

Palmieri Cafe
Palmieri Cafe is the closest you can get to experiencing a traditional Italian cafe in Dallas. What began as a stall at the Dallas Farmers Market in 2016 has grown into a budding coffee empire, with three locations scattered across the city and its suburbs. Coffee snobs will appreciate the selection of single-origin beans that are roasted to perfection, and anyone can enjoy the way that Palmieri crafts those beans into perfect cappuccinos, macchiatos, and other Italian espresso classics.

palmieri cafe coffee Palmieri Cafe offers the charm of an Italian cafe. Palmieri Cafe

Wayward Coffee Co.
With locations in the Design District and Oak Cliff, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more charming spot for a cup of joe than Wayward Coffee Co. The no-frills menu is simple, relying on the quality of expertly sourced beans from a rotating line-up of roasters to shine in its Americanos and flash-chilled pourovers. But if you are the type of coffee drinker that loves a lavender oat milk latte, Wayward also makes its own flavor-infused syrups in-house.

White Rock Coffee
This Dallas coffee purveyor was born in Lakewood and has been one of the city’s most reliable destinations for a great cup of coffee since 2005. Now, you can find its beloved White Rocker lattes and potent drip coffees at eight locations across the Metroplex, including its “Brew Lab,” which serves as a nationally recognized training facility for coffee pros.

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The CultureMap Tastemaker Awards ceremony is sponsored in Dallas by Maker's Mark, Shutto, NXT LVL Event, and more to be announced. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Harvest Project Food Rescue.

awards ceremony coffee coffee shop tastemaker awards tastemakers