If it feels like you're in the winter doldrums and you need to shake things up, one easy way to do it is to try a new restaurant. Lucky for you, Dallas continues to see wave after wave of new restaurants opening in town.
These restaurants have all opened within the past month or so.
Here's where to eat in March:
Alamo Club
Upscale neighborhood restaurant and bar in the former Blind Butcher space on Greenville Avenue serves American classics in an old-school comfortable setting. Alamo Club is from restaurant veteran Austin Rodgers, who worked for the Neighborhood Services family, and the menu's simple comfort food has a N.S. vibe, with dishes such as seared snapper with Anson Mills rice polenta, carrot vichy, and pan jus; house-made pastrami sandwich with fontina, caramelized onions, kraut, and Dijon; Prime NY strip steak and pasta; and spaghetti with cherry tomato sauce.
Bánh Mì Station
Fast-casual restaurant at Sylvan | Thirty specializes in the classic Vietnamese sandwich on a crisp, crusty baguette that's been a hot trend in Dallas as of late. Options include five-spice pork belly, lemongrass chicken, duck confit, pickled carrots, daikon, cucumber, and garlic aioli. Sides include fries, kale slaw, and red curry mac and cheese, along with vegan dishes and soft-serve ice cream. It's open for lunch and dinner.
Cafe 67
New Addison spot is a restaurant within a restaurant, located in a space next to Cinco Tacos, the Mexican restaurant, with whom it shares owners. The cuisine is all-American street food with sandwiches, salads, and burgers including a poblano burger and a "tostada burger" with refried beans and bits of broken tostada. There's also chicken-fried steak, chicken-fried chicken, and a grilled Caesar salad. Sides include fries and onion rings, both hand-cut in-house, and mashed potatoes and gravy.
Elm Street Cask & Kitchen
Located in the Hilton Garden Inn at 1525 Elm St., this is the restaurant formerly known as Grayson Social, now re-imagined with an extensive whiskey collection, Southern-inspired cuisine, and a variety of cocktails. Dishes from chef Benjamin Maulsby (Marie Gabrielle) include shrimp and blue corn grits with Andouille sausage; fried green tomatoes with Texas caviar succotash made from black-eyed peas; and beer can chicken with apple cornbread stuffing, almonds, and charred carrots. They still have Grayson Social's signature item: biscuits.
Haskell & Worth
Those who crave cheesesteaks will want to check out this new concept dedicated entirely to Philadelphia's signature sandwich. It means driving to Legacy Hall, the food hall in Plano, but the signs all look good. Choices include thinly sliced rib eye steak or chicken atop a traditional Amaroso roll, with choice of onions, peppers, cheese, and mushrooms. Toppings include Cheese Wiz, provolone, white American cheese, banana peppers, bell peppers, pickled jalapeños, house Giardiniera, Dijon aioli, mayo, Carltons BBQ sauce, ketchup, or Frank’s Red Hot.
The Henry
Dubbed (by itself) the "greatest neighborhood restaurant," The Henry comes from Fox Restaurant Concepts (Flower Child, North Italia) and is now open at the Union Dallas. It's one of those supremely practical places that's open all the time — for breakfast, lunch, dinner, weekend brunch, as well as weekday happy hour and late night hours — with a coffee bar, two full-service bars, and a private dining room. The menu has Dallas specials with dishes such as short rib potstickers, fried chicken sandwich, and portobello tacos. This marks the first Texas location of The Henry, and is only the third in the chain; the other two locations are in Arizona and California.
Pizza Americana
New restaurant serving pizza, pasta, salads, and ice cream, has opened in Richardson in a former Burger King at 800 W. Arapaho Rd. It fills a role as a much-appreciated restaurant for the neighborhood, but for pizza aficionados, it also has decent pies, from the classic Margherita to one with proscuitto and fig. The crust is light and edible like a Neapolitan-style crust, but with a lightly crunchy shell and an airy, slightly moist center.
Porch Swing
Restaurant doing "polished comfort food" in Mesquite is a new concept from Antonio Swad, who founded the Wingstop and Pizza Patrón chains. It serves refined versions of Southern classics such as fried chicken, ribs, catfish, grilled meatloaf, pork loin, shrimp, and an excellent chicken fried steak. It's a big space with a stage for live music, and it holds an in-house pie shop where you can get pretty pies whole or by the slice.
Red Truck Cafe
Breakfast-and-lunch spot in Plano comes from James Wells, a restaurant veteran who worked for years at Poor Richard's Cafe. The menu is a sprawling combination of breakfast, homey comfort food, sandwiches, breakfast, patty melts, salads, and blue plate specials. At lunch, you can get a Cobb salad, chicken-fried steak, chopped steak with mushrooms and brown gravy, liver & onions, or fried catfish. You can get nachos, burgers, a BLT, grilled cheese, or a blackened fish sandwich. There are sides like onion rings and an appetizer called "nuts and bolts," the name playing off on the truck theme, with fried mushrooms and zucchini, served with horseradish cream sauce.
Sushi de Handroll
New eatery at The Hill on Walnut Hill Lane is the third handroll spot to open in Dallas, joining Namo in the West Village and Nori in Deep Ellum; three makes a trend. Sushi de Handroll may have the worst name of the three but their bargain prices make up for it. Their presentation and profile is less fussy, more accessible, one might even say dumbed-down, with conventional options such as spicy tuna, chicken teriyaki, and tempura shrimp; but who would complain when most of them are under $5. The presentation of the rolls is unique: not-rolled, more like tacos. (They even serve them in those V-shaped metal holders used by taquerias.) They also have a full bar, with a half dozen sakes and Asian-themed cocktails such as a lychee martini.
