Where to Eat
Where to eat in Dallas right now: 10 best new restaurants for April
As a diligent diner keeping up on Dallas' booming restaurant scene, your work is cut out for you. Just when you feel like you've caught up with all of the new openings, here come 10 more restaurants, waiting for you to try them out.
Luckily, you have 30 days in April. That gives you plenty of time to hit up all the restaurants on this list, all of which have opened within the past month or so. Let the dining begin.
Here's where to eat in April:
Flying Biscuit Cafe
Homey Atlanta restaurant chain with a sweet, slightly hippie vibe has been slaying all of Richardson and North Dallas with its crumbly sugar-sprinkled biscuits, and now downtown Dallas, as well. They specialize in biscuits and serve breakfast all day, with turkey hash, flatiron steak with eggs, oatmeal pancakes, omelets, a biscuit Benedict, and a tofu scramble. There's also shrimp and grits, biscuit pot pie, turkey pot roast, meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes, and oven-fried chicken. Sandwiches include pimiento cheese, fish tacos, and a fried-green tomato BLT.
Hot Off The Press
Yet another hopeful takes on the kiosk/food stand located at Main Street Garden, the downtown Dallas park in front of the Statler Dallas hotel. This spot has not had luck up until now, but perhaps this food stand — from the same team who owns another downtown spot called Spice In The City — is the one. The menu has sandwiches with aspirational ingredients such as Brie and Nutella, plus salads, snacks, sno-cones, and coffee drinks. They're newly opened very softly with a limited menu, but they're doing free beer until April 7.
Itso Vegan
Buzzy new restaurant in Grand Prairie specializes in vegan soul food, with a few Mexican and home-cooking touches. The menu includes burritos with taco-style crumbled "beef," rice, fries, and guacamole. There are "wonton nachos," with veggie taco crumbles and "cashew queso." Best sellers include chicken & waffles, with seitan chicken and banana-flaxseed waffle; and a convincing chicken-fried "chicken" with mushroom gravy. There's a creamy vegan mac and cheese, and even vegan cheesecake.
Jinya Ramen Bar
Tokyo-based ramen chain lands in Dallas with a location in Victory Park, where it is serving 13 signature bowls with 20-plus toppings in vegetarian, chicken, or pork/tonkatsu broth. Jinya serves an authentic rendition of ramen in a casual, trendy atmosphere. The menu also includes rice and curry bowls and a variety of Japanese-inspired small plates. Shareable items include caramelized cauliflower with toasted pine nuts, shrimp tempura tossed in spicy mayonnaise; and mini tacos with salmon poke, spicy tuna, or pork chashu & kimchee served in a wonton shell.
La La Land Kind Cafe
New restaurant in a cute house off Lower Greenville Avenue has a sweet mission: to serve as a training ground for aging out foster youth, teaching them job skills such as timeliness, cleanliness, customer relations, productivity, and teamwork. La La boasts an extensive menu of coffees and teas, along with pastries and toast, all organic. Offerings include pastries, house-made toasts, and breakfast empanadas with bacon, egg, and potato. A drink menu comprises more than 50 beverages.
La Popular Tamale House
This "new" restaurant/tamale shop revives a familiar name to fans who've bought tamales by the dozen at its original location off Munger & Columbia, and then at Peak & Elm. The Moreno family has now set up shop at 4823 Bryan St. They're across from Jimmy's Food Store in an area that's emerging as a hot foodie zone, where they're selling tamales, tacos, and other Mex faves, which you can nosh on site or take it to go.
Sauce Pizza & Wine
Phoenix-based fast-casual pizzeria chain has opened a location at The Hill off Walnut Hill Lane and I-75. Toppings run toward gourmet, such as artichoke and mushroom, or prosciutto and fig. A spicy chicken sausage pizza has Hatch green chiles and smoked mozzarella. There are also salads, such as kale with salmon, black currants, cashews, farro, and Romaine. This is the third DFW location, following branches in Irving and Prosper, but the first in Dallas proper.
SkinnyFats
Fun and sometimes-healthy Las Vegas restaurant chain enters Texas with a first location in Dallas' West Village. SkinnyFats offers both a "happy menu" of decadent items, and a "healthy menu" of dishes that are 600 calories or less. There are burgers, tacos, sandwiches, and soup, plus breakfast items such as chicken & waffles, burritos, country-fried steak on cornbread with eggs, and avocado toast. Sandwiches include a Philly-cheesesteak with NY strip steak, caramelized onions, portabella mushrooms, and pepper marmalade.
Son of a Butcher
New burger joint at Plano food hall Legacy Hall picks up in the space vacated by John Tesar's Knife Burger, with burgers, fries, and shakes. The burgers are 3-ounce patties, sourced from A Bar N Ranch Texas Wagyu beef. There's a classic cheeseburger, a "PB and J," with American cheese, peanut butter, bacon, blackberry jam, and caramelized onions; and a Reuben burger with Swiss cheese, corned beef, sauerkraut, pickles, and Thousand Island dressing. They also do waffle fries in "Buffalo wing" and nacho flavors.
TacoLingo
New concept from veteran restaurateur Rich Hicks debuts with gourmet tacos and craft cocktails at the glitzy The Union Dallas building, near Uptown. The menu features eight taco options including a "cheeseburger" taco with American cheese and pickles, plus regular entrees such as fajitas, New York strip steak, and mahi mahi. They're using Wagyu beef for their steak; chicken that's brined and marinated; and are hand-pressing their tortillas. The bar program is overseen by acclaimed bartender Andew Stofko and features an array of margaritas and mezcals.
