Top Potato Dishes

Where to eat in Dallas right now: 10 best restaurants for hot potatoes

The opening of Potato Flats, Phil Romano's potato-centric restaurant at Trinity Groves, gives the potato the attention and respect it deserves. It offers potatoes in regular or sweet, baked or fried, with toppings such as vegetables, meat or cheese. A typical special is the "Thanksgiving potato," with turkey, gravy, roasted carrots, peas, corn and cranberry relish.

Every restaurant should make potatoes the center of its world. And Dallas restaurants have been squarely behind that idea, be it Snuffer's cheese fries or Tillman's Roadhouse signature trio of fries. For our July chapter of where to eat, we single out some of the best state-of-the-art potato dishes in Dallas.

Pecan Lodge: Hot Mess
When everyone else was doing sweet potato fries, this top-ranked barbecue spot featured a big baked one instead. The Hot Mess is a jumbo sea salt-crusted sweet potato, topped with shredded brisket, Southwestern seasoning, chipotle cream, cheese, butter and green onions.

Trinity Hall Pub: Shepherd's pie
As an Irish pub, Trinity Hall is almost required to have potatoes on the menu. Its traditional shepherd's pie is a casserole served in a cute one-serving ceramic dish, with ground beef, carrots, peas and gravy capped with a thick layer of mashed potatoes and melted cheese.

Off-Site Kitchen: French fries
Chef Nick Badovinus' casual burger joint boasts some of — if not the best — French fries in Dallas. They're cut to a medium thinness from russet potatoes, with skins still on. They're fried to a golden brown color, crisp but not dried out, and tossed in a seasoned salt laced with just enough garlic to add some mellow depth.

Lucia: Potato gnocchi
The menu at this Bishop Arts jewel changes regularly but almost always has a potato gnocchi of one kind or another. One week it might be tossed with Texas tomato sauce and basil; another week, it might be accompanied by squash and charred radicchio. What it will always be is made in-house to a texture that's gentle yet firm. There is possibly no better way to eat your potatoes.

Maple & Motor: Tater tots
Funky burger joint does a tongue-in-cheek side of tater tots but executes them skillfully with a good crunch on the exterior and tender potato inside. You can also get them loaded, a la Snuffer's, with cheddar cheese, chopped bacon, jalapeños, ketchup and a touch of ranch.

Andalous Mediterranean Grill: Batata salad
Mediterranean cafeteria-style restaurant comes from brothers Sam and Wassim Merched, who are related to the Fadi's chain. Their "batata" salad is a fresh, Middle Eastern twist on potato salad featuring a mix of potatoes, including russets and red jackets, cubed and simmered, then tossed in an olive oil dressing with garlic, green onion, lemon juice and fresh mint.

FT33: Smoked potatoes appetizer
Design District restaurant featuring the culinary ramblings of chef Matt McCallister has become known for, of all things, an appetizer featuring potatoes. McCallister takes fingerling potatoes and smokes them, then combines them with maitake mushrooms and a spicy mayo, with an assembly on the plate that's as pretty to look at as it is to eat.

Max's Wine Dive: Breakfast pizza
Forget the pepperoni; forget the mozzarella cheese. One pizza topping that is criminally under-used is potato. Max's comes to the rescue with its breakfast pizza, featuring Spanish chorizo, habañero-tomato salsa, eggs, cheese and — ta-da — potato. The only problem: It's served at brunch only, Friday through Sunday. Potato on pizza should be served every day and night.

San Salvaje: Causa limeña classico
Chef Stephan Pyles' new Latin restaurant offers a spin on a distinctive potato dish that's a Latin American staple. The causa limeña classico is a creamy tower of potatoes, topped with spicy shrimp and a surprise inside: a soft-cooked quail egg, whose yolk runs when you cut into it.

The Lot: Yuca fries
We're kind of cheating here, because yuca is not a potato. Obviously. But the yuca fries at The Lot are the best non-potato fries you'll find in Dallas. They're cut extra-thick, like logs, and the contrast between their lightly crunchy shell and soft starchy interior is divine.

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Hot Mess at Pecan Lodge.

Photo by Melisa Ambers

Hot Mess at Pecan Lodge.

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new roots

L.A. celebrity favorite The Ivy plants Dallas branch near Katy Trail

Photo courtesy of The Ivy/Facebook

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A Los Angeles restaurant famous for celebrity sightings on its bright floral patios is opening a branch in Dallas: The Ivy will debut in fall 2027 at 4205 Buena Vista St. inside The Terminal at Katy Trail.

“This will be the first Ivy outside of Southern California,” says India Wolfe, the restaurant founders' daughter, in a release. "I felt a strong calling to bring The Ivy somewhere new and to plant roots there with our family.”

India’s parents opened The Ivy on Robertson Boulevard in 1980, followed by Ivy at the Shore in Santa Monica five years later.

While her father, chef Richard Irving, and mother, Lynn von Kersting, remain in LA, Wolfe and her husband, Ernest Wolfe IV, will move to Dallas in February with their two children and dogs, to operate The Ivy. The restaurant will be located inside a luxury apartment tower overlooking the Katy Trail.

India started working as a teen at the family's third branch in Santa Monica and learned everything "from greeting guests and waiting tables to staging events, filming viral social media, and modernizing the business for a new generation," says the release.

Both she and her husband spent time in other professions but were drawn to the dining field. Ernest helped his in-laws so often at The Ivy that they finally employed him full-time.

“I love working with him," India says, "and we complement each other’s skills really well, not unlike my mom and dad.”

The Ivy The family behind The Ivy.Courtesy photo

The Wolfes say they want the Dallas restaurant to retain The Ivy’s familiar cooking, warmth and character, while making it feel like home in a new city.

“I love the idea of people taking a walk on the Katy Trail and then meeting friends for brunch at The Ivy,” India says.

Her parents are assisting with the design and menu; India wants a contemporary vibe but doesn’t plan to change what works so well.

“I don’t want to make it too different because I think the reason that people from Dallas come to The Ivy is because they love The Ivy,” she says. “That said, this new restaurant will certainly stand on its own two feet.”

Unlike the original, the Dallas Ivy will have a bar, an idea India dreamed up. While restaurant bars are nothing unusual, India actually envisioned what her family jokingly calls “the D Bar" (so named for Dallas), where guests can clink glasses and share good energy around a curved, D-shaped counter.

Her interest in art and flowers will result in a space well-appointed with roses, a family tradition, and local blooms like zinnias and snapdragons.

The Ivy serves upscale American comfort food and Californian cuisine with influences from Italian, French, Cajun, and Mexican cooking. Dishes are made with seasonal ingredients, so the menus evolve throughout the year.

While the Dallas menu is being developed, the restaurant's Southern California winter menus, for example, include starters such as crab cakes, Caesar salad, and grilled-vegetable salad. Pasta options include lobster ravioli with Ivy pink sauce and lobster tagliatelle. Wood- or stone-fired pizzas include margherita and Cajun shrimp pies, while house-baked breads, old-fashioned red velvet cake, coconut cake, and chocolate chip cookies round out the menu.

The Ivy has always been at the center of family life, India notes. Now she and Ernest are bringing that way of life to Dallas.

She adds, “I am confident it will be a great home for The Ivy and for our family.”

openings katy trail