Spring is about birth, life, new things. In our case, that means new restaurants, lunches and brunches. And thus you have April in Dallas, with our list of the 10 restaurants you must visit.
Lark on the Park
New Shannon Wynne restaurant is the hottest spot in town for now, in no small part thanks to its location across the street from Klyde Warren Park. Tempting menu items include beet and avocado salad and housemade papparadelle with wild mushrooms. Also: great beer.
FM Smoke House
Irving restaurant from owners of Holy Grail Pub in Plano specializes in smoked meats, but it also does funky rural stuff like chicken fried steak, fried turkey breast, chili and Frito pie.
Battuto Italian Kitchen
Radio stars Gene and Julie have opened the rustic Italian restaurant in Far North Dallas they always wanted to eat at themselves. Decor has a da Vinci theme, and Gene is involved with the menu firsthand on dishes such as calamari, panini and pizzas.
Waters
With its emphasis on seafood, this new restaurant from chef Jon Bonnell is Fort Worth's answer to Spoon. Taking over the former Bailey's Prime Plus space in the West Seventh complex, the restaurant has an oyster bar and seafood flown in fresh.
Nobu
Top-ranked susheria at Crescent Court just launched a monthly sushi-making class the first Saturday of each month. For a mere $198 a head, you get the sushi lesson, a sushi feast, a sake tutorial and a copy of Nobu's cookbook. First class takes place April 6.
Shinsei
Itinerant chef T.J. Lengnick is back again at Shinsei, with trendy menu items such as 5-spice chicken spring rolls, salmon with Hawaiian sweet potato, a couple of salads and carrot cake spring rolls.
Lounge 31
The bar atop Bistro 31 in Highland Park Village boasts a new menu from chef Steve Liang. That includes sushi rolls, Italian crudo and oysters. If that sounds too fishy, they have regular brunch as a backup.
Ocean Prime
The lunch menu has been made more "diverse" — a move that has received great response in Ocean Prime's other markets. We want to be like other markets. New dishes include salmon salad, chicken salad sandwich, shrimp banh mi wrap, scallops with risotto, and cioppino.
Belly & Trumpet
Uptown spot from owners of Oak has launched its Sunday brunch. Go obvious with bacon and eggs or French toast, or go edgy with hanger steak-kim chee omelet, 'nduja deviled eggs, and pork belly and grits.
Jack's Southern Comfort Food
Lower Greenville haunt specializes in biscuits, fried chicken and pot pies, but the brunch sounds especially good, such as fried green tomatoes with five-pepper jelly and maple sticky biscuit with pecans and walnuts.
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Many people precede Sunday brunch with a shot of Pepto-Bismol - and speaking of, these are some colorful walls at Belly & Trumpet.
