Food & bev

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

You have one month left to eat out in 2012, and you have 10 restaurants before you. That's one restaurant every three days. Better get eating.

Spoon
Spoon is chef John Tesar's version of famed New York seafooderie Le Bernardin and would easily be the hottest restaurant for this month regardless. But with Tesar emerging as the rising star of Top Chef Seattle, Spoon is about to become impossible to get in.

Bowl & Barrel
The thirtysomethings are already enchanted with B&B, merely for the novelty of being able to bowl within the loop. But Sharon Hage brings in foodie cred with her design of a menu that includes cheese and ham boards, oysters, hot dogs, and a bologna sandwich made on Empire sourdough bread with caramelized onions and Gruyère cheese.

Cafe des Artistes
This space at One Arts Plaza didn't swing as Screen Door, not even after they swapped out chefs and owners. Like the cavalry comes Alberto Lombardi to the rescue! Can he draw diners to this lonesome location? If you judge by the brisk opening party, the answer is yes.

Babb Bros BBQ & Blues
Barbecue is a tough category to crack, but the Babb brothers are giving it a go. This is the first restaurant to open in the Trinity Groves complex, which is, for the moment, a curiosity-seeker's destination.

JoJo Eating House & Bar
JoJo is where you can go to have a French chef, Laurent Poupart, make you pizza. Okay, also mussels and French onion soup. Really, the thing to do at JoJo is marvel at the amazing makeover of the old Tin Star space.

Hopdoddy Burger Bar
Hopdoddy is an Austin import so we're supposed to wrinkle our provincial noses, but the burgers are getting rave reviews, and they have Texas beer on tap. Hey, we like Torchy's too.

The Greek
At the other end of One Arts Plaza sits The Greek, from the owners of Ziziki's, who've taken over the old Commissary space. Can anything replace a burger hand-patted by Tesar? Hummus can.

People's Last Stand
Mockingbird Station bar-restaurant has a big cocktail program, big ambitions and a big heart. Cocktail classes begin this month, and the place has plans for live jazz. Bonus points for the cloth hand towels in the restrooms — classy.

T/X at Luxe Stoneleigh Hotel
New restaurant at the newly redesigned Stoneleigh has an upscale Texas theme. Chef is Marcelo Vasquez, who worked at the Omni in Fort Worth, and his menu includes shrimp and cheese grits, beer-braised short ribs, and lobster pancakes.

Love Shack
Keeping up with chef Tim Love's burger chain keeps us busy. The original stands in the Stockyards, but he closed the So7 branch and will transform the Denton outlet to a steakhouse. This Shack is all-TCU, with big-screen TVs, beer and sloppy nachos on the menu. Go Horned Frogs.

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Maybe the main reason to visit JoJo is the amazing makeover of the old Tin Star space.

Photo courtesy of JoJo Eating House & Bar

Maybe the main reason to visit JoJo is the amazing makeover of the old Tin Star space.

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Sushi News

Mizu Sushi opens at Greenville Ave Dallas address with sushi history

Mizu Sushi

A new sushi restaurant has debuted on Dallas' Greenville Avenue at a location with a long sushi history: Called Mizu Sushi & Handroll Bar, it opened in late November at 2014 Greenville Ave. in the space most recently occupied by Kaiyo Sushi but previously, for many years, Teppo, until it closed in 2022.

Mizu is from chef Roy Ahn, a Dallas sushi veteran who has owned or managed sushi restaurants such as Little Katana, Kome Sushi, and Sushi Zen in Southlake; he also owns Otaru, which he opened in the former Lucia Dallas space in Bishop Arts in 2024.

Ahn specializes in good sushi done well and at a fair price, and that formula is in play at Mizu, where the goal was to provide an old-school traditional sushi restaurant that could serve as a relaxed alternative to the current omakase trend, says Ahn's son, Chris Ahn.

"A lot of places that have opened lately have been omakase, but we wanted to offer an option where you don't have to break the bank," Chris says. "Not everyone has $300 — when it's that expensive, it's not easy to be able to indulge all the time."

If you really want omakase, they do have an omakase-style offering — "but we are also there if you don't want a formal experience — if you just want to come in and order a few items a la carte, and in a more casual style," Chris says.

Their menu features traditional sushi and hand rolls, with all the classics from tuna to uni to hamachi. "That's my father's style — to offer a variety of good-quality fish from Japan and around the world," Chris says.

They also have a full bar with cocktails, wine, beer, and sake.

They took over the location from chef Jimmy Park, who opened Kaiyo there in November 2023, but who says he wanted to place all his focus on Shoyo, his award-winning restaurant.

Mizu means water, Chris says.

"Japan is surrounded by water, and if you look inside the restaurant, it has a lot of blue neon lights that are reminiscent of water," he says. "We just wanted to creat a place with music, vibes, good lighting — just a nice place to get traditional sushi," he says.

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