New Year's Dining

Top Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants to dine on New Year's Eve 2016

Here's a toast to best dining options in DFW for New Year's Eve 2016.

Photo by WJNPHOTO

For some, all you need to celebrate New Year's is a toast (or two). But our favorite way to observe any holiday includes food. Here's a list of restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth where you can ring in the New Year's with a bite to eat:

Bird Cafe
Four-course menu with choices of butter-poached lobster claw, truffle arancini, clam chowder, fig and beet salad, elk carpaccio, pheasant with German potato salad, lamb porterhouse, seared duck breast, and selection of desserts from pastry chef Laurel Wimberg. Sundance Square New Year’s Eve festivities include live entertainment and fireworks. $90. 817-332-2473.

CBD Provisions
New Year’s Eve à la carte specials include oyster with caviar, terrine, duck confit with black-eyed peas, and cassoulet. Chateaubriand steak with roasted winter vegetables, pomme purée, and house-made sherry sauce is $120 for three-to-four people. 214-261-4500.

Cru Wine Bar
Three-course menu with gnocchi fonduta, lobster and crab scampi, lobster bisque, tuna tartare, rack of lamb, scallops with spinach parmesan risotto, filet mignon, sea bass, and braised short rib with mascarpone parmesan polenta. Desserts include molten chocolate lava cake, egg nog crème brûlée, and white chocolate mousse. Early seating 5:30–8 pm early seating, $50; gala seating is 8:30–10 pm for $65. 214-526-9463.

Dallas Chop House
Special menu includes smoked salmon and caviar, oysters, clam chowder, beef tartare, heirloom beets, surf and turf, pork chop, duck confit, redfish, and choice of blackberry crumble, chocolate tart, or sour cherry cheesecake. $70. 214-736-7300.

Dallas Fish Market
Four-course dinner includes options such as hamachi sashimi, smoked salmon and caviar sandwich, cioppino, caviar, beet salad, swordfish with basmati rice, striped bass, duck confit with French green lentils, porcini-crusted filet, and Arctic char. Dessert options include olive oil cake, chocolate soufflé, or sour cherry custard pie. $65, plus wine. 214-744-3474.

Fearing’s Restaurant
Three- or four-course dinner with champagne toast and choices such as scallops, porcini mushroom carpaccio with Swiss chard, Dover sole and lobster Thermidor, lamb osso buco on Pecorino polenta, beef Wellington, and squab en croûte with brioche on celery root purée. Dessert trio includes double chocolate cake with chocolate-covered strawberry, mimosa shooter with orange champagne sorbet, and apple almond tart. Following the second seating, there's a midnight balloon drop, plus live music by saxophonist Johnny Reno and his band and a special performance by chef Dean Fearing. Three-course meal 5:30-7 pm, $95. Four-course meal 7:30-10 pm, $195. Add white Alba truffle to any dish for $30. 214-922-4848.

Five Sixty by Wolfgang Puck
Five-course menu includes steak and eggs nigiri-caviar duo, scallop, Maine Lobster tail, sautéed duck breast, koji cured A5 Miyazaki strip steak, and chocolate passion fruit cake. 5-10:30 pm. $175, plus $75 for optional wine pairing. 214-741-5560.

Grill on the Alley
New Year’s Eve dinner includes kale salad, butternut squash soup, shrimp cocktail, seafood trio with crab cake, scallop, and jumbo shrimp, salmon over spinach, 18-ounce bone-In New York steak, filet Oscar, rack of lamb, hazelnut Kahlua crème brulee, and New York cheesecake. $75. 214-459-1601.

Kabuki Japanese Restaurant
Galleria Dallas spot will offer New Year’s Eve special plum champagne cocktail for $5.95. Full menu will be available on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, with light bites, appetizers, and sushi rolls.

Kitchen LTO
Five-course menu with complimentary champagne includes oyster amuse, sweet potato ravioli, scallop with roasted duck heart, quail roulade with hoppin jon, and beef tenderloin, espresso milk foam, pickled+roasted mushroom, celery root, squid ink $75 – Five Course Tasting menu with complimentary champagne 5:30, 7:30, or 9:30 pm. $75, plus $30 for wine pairings. 214-377-0757.

Knife Dallas
Three-course dinner with entertainment from Ricki Derek and 16-piece band, complimentary bar, champagne toast, and countdown to the New Year. Cocktails 8-9 pm, dinner 9:30-10:45 pm, live music 10:45-12:15 pm. $225 for general seating, $1000 for VIP table of four.

Meddlesome Moth
Four-course menu includes choices from vegetable frito, rabbit rillettes, crudo, lobster bisque, bok choy salad with Asian pear, chicken with parsnips, pork short rib, and monkfish. Dessert choices include huckleberry cobbler, hummingbird cake, and chocolate-peanut butter tart with marshmallow and lingonberry jam. 5 pm, $55. 7 and 9:30 pm, $65. Final seating includes party favors and complimentary champagne toast at midnight. 214-628-7900.

Pappas Bros. Steakhouse
Four-course meal with choices such as lobster deviled eggs, crabcakes, salad, New York strip, salmon, lamb chops, wild mushrooms, and au gratin potatoes. Choice of desserts includes New York cheesecake and chocolate turtle pie. 4-6 pm, $100. After 6 pm, $110. 214-366-2000.

Princi Italia
Regular menu at 11 am, followed by four-course dinner with live music, dancing, and dishes that include tortellini fonduta, spaghetti Bolognese, saffron fettuccini with Maine lobster, Caesar salad, Brussel sprouts salad, arugula salad, short rib, branzino Siciliano, four-ounce filet and lobster tail, lemon curd torte, chocolate molten lave cake, tiramisu, white chocolate and mascarpone mousse cannoli. 8:30 pm until midnight. $50. 214-739-5959.

Pyramid Restaurant
Winemaker Emilio Ramos will be in attendance to feature his Texas wines from the San Martino Winery. Four-course menu at 5:30 pm includes choices of entrée and dessert ($69, plus $25 for wine pairings). Six-course menu at 8 pm includes entrée and dessert ($125, plus wine pairings for $35). Late seating includes live entertainment by Tyra Taylor, dancing, photo booth, champagne toast at midnight, and party favors. 214-750-5249.

Stirr
Deep Ellum spot has five-course menu with complimentary glass of champagne, plus optional wine pairing. Diners will also be invited to the rooftop after their meal. Dishes include roasted mushrooms, scallops, pork belly, Texas flatiron with oxtail ragout, and salted caramel apple pie with cinnamon ice cream. Seatings at 6, 8, or 10 pm. $95, plus $30 for wine pairing. 214-983-1222.

III Forks
Downstairs features dinner highlighted by specials such as filet mignon with lobster tail for $80. Upstairs is a party with bottle of Schramsburg Brut Rose, party favors, five-piece band Safira and dishes such as shrimp cocktail, lobster bisque, wedge salad,filet mignon, New York strip, boneless ribeye, sea bass, lobster tail, and choice of desserts including carrot cake, chocolate ganache cake, bread and butter pudding, tiramisù, and ice cream bomb. $125. 972-267-1776.

Uchi Dallas
Special New Year’s Eve omakase menu featuring a seven-course feast, with complimentary champagne at midnight. $175 for two. 214-855-5454.

Victory Tavern
The Dallas Stars will be playing the Florida Panthers at the American Airlines Center. Pre-game with a special New Year’s Eve three-course menu or celebrate the Stars’ win afterwards with an extended special menu. Options include brisket tamale, wedge salad, lobster bisque, crab cake, tuna tacos, pork loin, lemon sole, chile-rubbed filet mignon, scallops with butternut squash risotto, flat iron steak, and prime rib with loaded baked potato. Desserts include Key lime pie, chocolate-Kahlua bead pudding, and cheesecake brownie. 5:30 –11 pm. 214-432-1900.

holidays where-to-eat

Coffee News

East Dallas coffee shop Killer Joe crackles with sharp New York style

Killer Joe

Killer Joe Coffee

A hip new coffee shop is energizing a busy corner in East Dallas: Called Killer Joe, it's a new shop at 108 N. Fitzhugh Ave. right on the northeast corner of Columbia Avenue, next to (and in the same building as) Pupusas To Go.

Killer Joe is from Christine Sweet and Christian Napolitano, who moved from New York to Dallas in 2022 in search of entrepreneurial opportunity.

"We had been wanting to open up a business in New York for a long time," Christine says. “After the pandemic, it was really hard doing business there. We were looking for a good place to move that offered an opportunity to open our business."

Christine previously worked in travel/destination marketing, living in different places around the world. Christian was in hospitality, having worked in high-end restaurants in Manhattan, most recently at Bond Street Sushi in Soho.

Their goal: to bring a little New York culture to Dallas.

“We are more than a coffee shop — we're a place for foodies and musicophiles, we are really into music and rock & roll. Our shop is not a sleepy, quiet coffee shop," Christine says.

They serve notice of their intentions on the exterior with a quirky, personal mural by Anthony Z. Padilla, rendered in taxicab yellow, with elegant line drawings of the Statue of Liberty and highway-style signs that say "Now leaving New York" and "Welcome to Texas."

The interior is casual-chic, with pale wood furniture and an original cement floor that still sports intentional patches of old paint. The walls have a mix of B&W vintage photos and the occasional cowboy hat. The space was for many years a closed-in bar called Los Dos Reales; but now, the building boasts expansive windows that look out on Fitzhugh and create a bright and sunny space.

For their coffee program, they use organic espresso beans and make their drinks in an Italian Sanremo machine. They serve all the classics plus signature drinks such as French Toast Latte, Sea Salt Caramel de Leche, and Caliente Mocha with a hint of cayenne pepper.

Seasonal drinks include a pistachio caramel matcha latte — featuring toasted pistachios like a baklava, but balanced by the earthiness of the matcha. Other specialty drinks include rose water matcha, orange blossom matcha spritz, and cucumber lemonade.

Panini at Killer JoeKiller Joe

They also serve food, including breakfast all day: steak & eggs, avocado toast, and bagels with plain, scallion or vegan cream cheese. The "Spaghetti Western" is a twist on the traditional ham & cheese sandwich with spicy capicola, roasted tomato, Calabrian pepper sauce, and chimichurri on toasted ciabatta.

Bread is from Empire Baking Company and the bagels are from Shug's.

At lunch, they serve an umami tuna melt; a "K-Pop Cuban" with ham and cheese, plus kimchi pickles and wasabi mayo; and The Texican, with soyrizo spicy sausage, cheddar roasted poblano peppers, tomato, and avocado.

Reeves Family Farm in Princeton provides fruits and vegetables, and DiveDWN brings their microgreens. Pastries are baked in house and sauces such as black olive pesto and Killer chipotle sauce are made from scratch.

“We are trying to blend our edgy New York style with a Southern Texas flair," Christine says.

They're open daily from 7am-3 pm, with a late-hour program every second Saturday featuring live DJs; people gather inside and outside the shop for music, food, and drinks.

"This community is just so great, very eclectic, and has really embraced our style," Christine says. In fact, a few customers had a tattoo made at neighbor Franklins Tattoo and Supply with the coffee shop's skull logo.

"I had to follow and get one done too," she says.

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