In case you missed it, we recently released the Top 100, in which we rank the very best restaurants in Dallas. In the aftermath, we've seen new restaurants open, and we've rediscovered a few that feel new again.
Here's our list of where to eat in Dallas right now:
Americano
Italian-ish restaurant at The Joule in downtown Dallas may not get the attention bestowed on its older brother CBD Provisions, but it's not standing idly by. Chef Matt Ford keeps the menu fresh, with small plates, pastas, and his latest creation: his take on Chicago's classic deep-dish pizza. It stands two inches thick, topped with provolone and mozzarella cheeses, pepperoni, and sausage, and it takes an hour to bake. It doesn't come cheap: A single slice is $10, and a whole pizza is $80. But that pizza could feed a village.
Beto's Grand Prairie
Tex-Mex mom-and-pop from the Sanchez family has been serving honest fare for 23 years, executing an expansion in the early '00s before dialing it back down to this single spot. Fajitas are a big deal, and so are their tacos, with shredded beef or shrimp. Vegetarian options include veggie enchiladas and veggie quesadillas, and there is a full bar. But their best asset is the doting service, where they make you feel like you're home.
Crafty Irishman
Downtown Dallas has a new neighborhood spot that you can walk to if you live or work in the Central Business District. It's an Irish pub with a comfortable ambience, a chalkboard on the wall with a big list of beers, and plenty of TVs. There is also a menu with ambitious pub-style food, including an exemplary version of Scotch eggs, bread pudding, and a crunchy battered fish and chips, appropriately wrapped in newsprint.
East Hampton Sandwich Co.
This born-in-Dallas sandwich shop is a chain, and chains don't usually make lists. But you don't feel like you're eating at a chain when you sit down to a sandwich with a crab cake, avocado, and bacon, drizzled with a Sriracha Dijonnaise. The Cuban sandwich comes stacked with pork, ham, and Swiss cheese. The lobster roll is classic, with chunks of lobster spilling over the top of a hot dog bun. And the sandwich with grilled asparagus, onion, and Gruyere cheese is hardly typical chain food. Five locations include a new branch in Southlake, with a sixth opening in North Dallas in the fall.
Local
Before Deep Ellum became the dining nexus it is today, chef Tracy Miller was a pioneer in 2003 when she opened her charming spot on the neighborhood's eastern edge, in the former Boyd Hotel, not far from fellow trailblazer Paula Lambert and her Mozzarella Company. Miller has a devout following, and it's easy to see why. Her fried green beans pretty much started the trend of frying vegetables in a battered crust. Dishes such as salmon with spinach are often inventive and impeccable, and she makes it all herself, from pretty salads such as her charred radicchio to desserts such as spice cake with slices of peach.
Lounge Here
This new spot on Garland Road is already making waves as the grooviest bar in town, but it also has tempting grub. Chef Micah Killough (HG Supply Co., Common Table) is doing small plates such as deviled eggs, pimiento cheese with house-made potato chips, shrimp and grits, chicken-fried Akaushi rib-eye, a charcuterie plate, and a burger with bacon and avocado, which you can get with a beef burger or veggie patty. Standouts include the cauliflower hash, with tasso ham and a fried egg, and fried chicken confit, served with cornbread and arugula salad.
Sixty Vines
Latest restaurant from Front Burner (Velvet Taco, Ida Claire, Mexican Sugar, Whiskey Cake, Twin Peaks) has a Napa Valley theme, with decent Neapolitan-ish pizzas and oodles of wine on tap. The menu is bold and slightly edgy, with trendy items like toasts and beet hummus, and numerous veg options, such as a whole roasted cauliflower. The wine program is serious and customer-friendly, with more than 40 wines on tap, which you can get in a variety of sizes, from 2.5 ounces for sampling all the way up to a bottle's worth.
Spice in the City
This downtown spot with healthy food and Indian fusion opened in early 2015 as a to-go spot, but it has now expanded into full-restaurant mode, with a bigger menu, sit-down dining room, full-service bar, and gorgeous outdoor patio. Dishes include chicken tandoori, samosas, garlic and ginger turkey dumplings, curry chicken salad, "Indian tacos," and more.
Sprezza
Latest restaurant from Julian Barsotti (Nonna, Carbone's) is another Italian concept with a theme that's ostensibly Roman. The food follows Barsotti's basic formula: pizzas and house-made pastas, with a few hefty entrées thrown in — sea bass, duck breast — for those who simply cannot survive on a bowl of linguine carbonara with pancetta, Pecorino, and egg. The bar serves wines from southern Italy only, plus cocktails with Italian spirits.
Vernon's Gastropub
Addison sports bar stepped it up in 2014 with an improved menu of bar food with Southwest flair. There's a cute appetizer of house-made potato chips served in a Belgian-fries-style cone, plus five kinds of smothered French fries, including poutine and "pizza style," with pepperoni and Italian sausage. Wisconsin cheese curds is a tip-off to nostalgic Midwesterners, who feel right at home here. This being Addison, Vernon's still allows cigarette smoking, which seems so oddly quaint these days, but there's a patio if you need fresh air.
Scotch eggs at Crafty Irishman.
Wings and nachos at Shark Club.Photo courtesy of Shark Club