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    A taste of Texas

    The Tastemaker Awards toasts the best in Texas dining for 2022

    Arden Ward
    Jun 8, 2022 | 12:40 pm
    Guests raised a toast to our Tastemaker nominees.
    Guests raised a toast to our Tastemaker nominees.
    Photo by Guillermo Rosas

    CultureMap trekked across Texas this spring to toast the Tastemakers during our annual culinary awards program — and this year was bigger than ever. In addition to our longstanding events in Dallas, Austin, and Houston, we brought the party to Fort Worth and San Antonio for the very first time.

     

    The series began April 26 with our inaugural San Antonio event before returning to Austin's Fair Market on April 28. The Texas culinary tour then headed to Cowtown for our Fort Worth debut on May 10, followed by an evening at Dallas' Fashion Industry Gallery on May 12. The foodie fun wrapped up May 25 in Houston with another sold-out night at Silver Street Studios.

     

    The 2022 Tastemaker Awards served as a Texas-sized celebration of the culinary scenes they honored, with guests savoring bites from participating nominees, sipping signature cocktails alongside culinary stars, and raising a glass to the winners during our live awards ceremonies.

     

    Nominees were selected by local panels of industry experts, including past Tastemaker winners and CultureMap editors. The panels then selected all winners, except for Best New Restaurant, which was determined by readers in our online tournament.

     

    Meet all of the 2022 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards winners, listed by city, below.

     

     Dallas:

     
       
    • Restaurant of the Year: Meridian
    •  
    • Chef of the Year: Ji Kang, Sloane's Corner
    •  
    • Bar of the Year: Rattlesnake Bar
    •  
    • Best New Restaurant: Hawkers Asian Street Food
    •  
    • Rising Star Chef of the Year: Aldo Lugo, Jose
    •  
    • Pastry Chef of the Year: Amy La Rue, Carte Blanche
    •  
    • Bartender of the Year: Reid Lewis, Atlas
    •  
    • Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year: Hillside Tavern
    •  
    • Brewery of the Year: Vector Brewing
    •  
    • Wine Program of the Year: Monarch
    •  
    • Best New Pizza: 400 Gradi
    •  
     

     Fort Worth:

     
       
    • Restaurant of the Year: Belenty's Love Vegan Mexican Restaurant
    •  
    • Chef of the Year: Jenny Castor, Luckybee Kitchen
    •  
    • Bar of the Year: The Lobby Bar at Hotel Dryce
    •  
    • Best New Restaurant: Dusty Biscuit Beignets
    •  
    • Best Breakfast: Ol' South Pancake House
    •  
     

     San Antonio:

     
       
    • Restaurant of the Year: 2M Smokehouse
    •  
    • Chef of the Year: Jason Dady, Jardín
    •  
    • Bar of the Year: Bar 1919
    •  
    • Best New Restaurant: Dashi Sichuan Kitchen & Bar
    •  
    • Best Brewery: Dorćol Distilling & Brewing Co.
    •  
     

     Austin:

     
       
    • Restaurant of the Year: Cuantos Tacos
    •  
    • Chef of the Year: Edgar Rico, Nixta Taqueria
    •  
    • Bar of the Year: Tiki Tatsu-Ya
    •  
    • Best New Restaurant: Wax Myrtle's
    •  
    • Rising Star Chef of the Year: Amanda Turner, Olamaie
    •  
    • Pastry Chef of the Year: Susana Querejazu, Lutie's
    •  
    • Bartender of the Year: Cory Starr, Tiki Tatsu-Ya
    •  
    • Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year: Better Half Coffee & Cocktails
    •  
    • Wine Program of the Year: Birdie's
    •  
    • Brewery of the Year: Meanwhile Brewing Co.
    •  
    • Best Vegan Restaurant: Counter Culture
    •  
     

     Houston:

     
       
    • Restaurant of the Year: Street to Kitchen
    •  
    • Chef of the Year: Aaron Bludorn, Bludorn
    •  
    • Bar of the Year: Tongue-cut Sparrow
    •  
    • Best New Restaurant: d’Alba Craft Kitchen & Cocktails
    •  
    • Rising Star Chef of the Year: Benchawan Painter, Street to Kitchen
    •  
    • Pastry Chef of the Year: Christina Au, Blacksmith
    •  
    • Bartender of the Year: Sarah Crowl, Better Luck Tomorrow
    •  
    • Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year: Click Virtual Food Hall
    •  
    • Wine Program of the Year: Tiny Champions
    •  
    • Best Pop-up: Luis Mercado and Paolo Justo, Neo
    •  

    The series kicked off with our inaugural San Antonio event.

    SA Tastemakers
      
    Photo by Guillermo Rosas
    The series kicked off with our inaugural San Antonio event.
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    Chicken & Waffles News

    Celeb-owned Johnny's Chicken & Waffles opens second DFW location

    Teresa Gubbins
    Jul 15, 2025 | 4:07 pm
    Johnny's Chicken & Waffles
    dallas.culturemap.com
    Johnny's Chicken & Waffles

    A restaurant dedicated to chicken & waffles with celebrity ties has doubled down on Dallas-Fort Worth: Johnny's Chicken & Waffles, founded by reality TV star Crystal Smith; her ex-husband singer Ne-Yo; and Karlie Redd (VH1’s Love n’ Hip Hop), has opened a location in Fort Worth, at 2707 Race St. #117.

    The restaurant opened softly on July 11, with an official opening coming on July 22.

    This marks the second location for the brunch favorite: AFter debuting the concept in 2020 in the Atlanta area, they opened a location in Dallas at 1326 Botham Jean Blvd. in 2024.

    Chicken & waffles, their signature dish, takes its cue from the famous Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles in southern California (although the dish originated in Harlem at a place called Wells Famous Home of Chicken and Waffles).

    Johnny's menu lets diners mix-and-match: You choose how you want your chicken and then a flavor of waffle, so you can customize your chicken-and-waffle situation to order.

    • Chicken comes in choice of whole wings, tenders, Buffalo wings, or a combo
    • Waffles comes in choice of buttermilk, pecan, red velvet, or strawberry

    Their other big signatures include mac & cheese which you can order with chicken tenders, fried shrimp, or fried lobster tail, for $29.95; and cocktails served in mason jars, such as bloody Marys, margaritas, espresso martini, and a strawberry lemonade with cognac.

    They also have entrees like Cajun penne pasta, brioche French toast stuffed with cream cheese, fried shrimp basket, catfish & grits, and salads like a kale Caesar. Most items are priced between $22 and $30.

    Operations manager Randy Lamp says that the Dallas restaurant has been such a smash — always busy, and especially on weekends, when brunch draws big lines — that expanding was a no-brainer.

    "We thought, we have this wildly successful restaurant here, it makes sense to open something in the area — but not right in Dallas," Lamp says.

    They scouted about 20 locations, but it didn't take them long to narrow it down to Fort Worth, where they opened at at 2707 Race St. #117.

    "Race Street fit a lot of same criteria as our Dallas location," Lamp says. "It's centrally located but it's not in a saturated retail area, and that is to our benefit. We are careful in how we choose our neighborhoods and spaces."

    Lamp says that the Dallas location "showed us some things about ourselves that we liked learning."

    "One lesson we learned from Dallas is that you don't need foot traffic for brunch," he says. "People don't mind driving somewhere to get brunch. So a standalone spot with good parking becomes a positive. The Race Street location has a great parking lot right behind it, and there's no one nearby that's going to get mad if we have people waiting in line."

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