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    Meet the Tastemakers

    Dallas' best chef, restaurant, and more winners crowned at 2023 Tastemaker Awards

    Stephanie Allmon Merry
    May 4, 2023 | 10:00 pm

    After weeks of anticipation, the best restaurants, bars, chefs, and more culinary superstars were crowned at our2023 CultureMap Dallas Tastemaker Awards.

    On May 4, the winners were revealed at an awards ceremony and tasting event at Fashion Industry Gallery, with proceeds benefiting Harvest Project Food Rescue.

    As a leadup to the big event, we dedicated a special editorial series to highlighting nominees in 10 categories, including best restaurants, chefs, bars, bartenders, and more. A panel of expert judges helped select all of the winners, except for Best New Restaurant. That was determined by you, our readers, in a bracket-style tournament.

    New this year: The Tastemaker Awards event featured a Burger Throwdown where attendees had the opportunity to taste and vote for their favorite slider. The Best Burger category was sponsored by Goodstock by Nolan Ryan, which also supplied the meat for the Burger Throwdown.

    Now, without further delay, let's raise a glass to the 2023 Tastemaker Award winners:

    Rising Star Chef of the Year: Mike Matis - Fearing's
    Chef de cuisine at renowned Ritz-Carlton Dallas restaurant from chef Dean Fearing
    The Virginia native worked in the Washington, D.C. restaurant scene before heading overseas to serve as Sous Chef of Conte-Gouts in Lausanne, Switzerland. In Dallas, he was previously executive chef under Chef Stephan Pyles at Stampede 66. At Fearing’s, he launched Fearing’s and Friends, a dinner series bringing in local chefs for sold-out collaborative dinners.

    Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year: El Rincon del Maiz
    Family-run Mexican restaurant in a former Sonic has two menus. One features classics such as cochinita pibil tacos. But it's their seccond menu of vegan dishes that has earned attention, including inclusion on Bon Appétit’s list of Best New Restaurants in America. Their homey recipes, drawn from south Mexico, have a complexity that draws not only Garland locals but vegans and foodies across DFW.

    Bar of the Year: Lounge Here
    Bar on Garland Road from Julie Doyle, singer and manager of Polyphonic Spree, has been a godsend for the East Dallas hipster crowd, with a stylish retro-mod atmosphere, incredible cocktails, and light, intriguing menu of food, including a stellar brunch. They attract the best, both the talented staff they've assembled, and the cool customers they draw.

    Bartender of the Year: Haley Merritt - Midnight Rambler
    Native of El Paso started her craft career at Deep Ellum bars Hide and Ruins as a bartender and manager, before rising to fame when she won The Shake Up, an all-female cocktail competition organized by bartender/advocate Rosey Sullivan. Merritt's been working at Midnight Rambler for two years, and loves a craft cocktail, but says hospitality is her first priority.

    Wine Program of the Year: Pappas Bros.
    Acclaimed steakhouse from Houston has long been the pinnacle, winning awards for its wine program since long before most of the other nominees in this category were even open. Pappas has spent decades building an unparalleled wine collection with 3,900 distinct wines from every region across the world, as well as hiring top wine professionals to oversee it.

    Pastry Chef of the Year: Maricsa Trejo - La Casita Bakeshop
    Trejo and her partner Alex Henderson have diligently built a small but growing baked empire, croissant by croissant: First supplying pastries to area restaurants and coffee shops, then debuting a La Casita Bakeshop storefront in Richardson, followed by a spinoff in Rowlett. It has earned her much acclaim, including a slot as a finalist in the 2023 James Beard Awards.

    Brewery of the Year: Manhattan Project Beer Co.
    Acclaimed brewery in West Dallas is particularly accommodating, with numerous innovative beers on tap, a beer garden, live music stage, serious food program, and user-friendly hours: 7:30 am Monday-Friday, and at 9 am on weekends, when they serve coffee from Edison Coffee of Flower Mound.

    Best Burger: Wulf Burger
    Previously in Los Angeles and New York only, Wulf Burger made their Texas debut in Frisco in December 2020. Their signature is their red hamburger buns, created using a natural beet extract. The menu includes grass-fed beef burgers, crispy chicken sandwiches and fries, and Impossible patties. They've since opened two more locations at Mockingbird Station and in McKinney.

    Best New Restaurant: Quarter Acre
    Solo outing from chef Toby Archibald (Georgie by Curtis Stone) has a global-themed menu with lots of seafood and veggie dishes such as roasted celeriac with raisins, hazelnuts, and celery salad.

    Chef of the Year: Junior Borges - Meridian
    The Rio de Janeiro native came to Dallas in 2014 as opening executive chef at Uchi. Other high-profile gigs included Matt McCallister's FT33 and Joule Hotel, where he oversaw properties including Mirador, Americano, and CBD Provisions. Meridian, his acclaimed Brazilian fine-dining restaurant at The Village, won CultureMap's Tastemaker Award in 2022 for Best Restaurant of the Year, and Borges also made the top 10 chefs list in 2021.

    Restaurant of the Year: Shoyo
    Intimate sushi restaurant on Greenville Avenue has only 13 seats, making it one of the hottest reservations in Dallas. It's omakase style, meaning that customers entrust the chef — in this case, the acclaimed team of founder Jimmy Park and chef Shin Kondo — to determine the menu, with some courses consisting of sushi and others consisting of various cooking techniques and ingredients.

    ---

    Teresa Gubbins contributed to this report.

    Michael Matis
      

    Courtesy photo

    Chef Michael Matis of Fearing's, Rising Star Chef of the Year.

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    Cocktail News

    6 Dallas bars unveil new on-trend cocktail menus for spring 2025

    Raven Jordan
    Apr 18, 2025 | 6:27 pm
    Tupelo Honey whiskey flight
    Tupelo Honey
    Old fashioned flight at Tupelo Honey

    Dallas restaurants regularly roll out menus these days that follow the season, keeping things fresh by taking advantage of whatever's being harvested. But bars are getting in on the action, too, unfurling creative drink menus that make the most of seasonal ingredients and flavor trends.

    Here are some refreshing drink menus to look forward to in Dallas this spring:

    Knife Plano
    Plano steakhouse has four new seasonal cocktails for spring including In Bloom, which contains both mezcal and tequila, along with pineapple juice and lime, served in an absinthe-rinsed glass. The Umit’s Mule is a spin on the classic mule featuring bourbon with aromatic bitters. Monk’s Sabbatical blends Diplo rum with trendy Green Chartreuse, Averna, and falernum, stirred. Finally, the fruity Fresa, which combines tequila blanco with citrus syrup, lime juice, and fresh strawberries. Cocktails are $14-$16.

    Midnight Rambler
    Award-winning cocktail bar at the Joule Dallas Hotel is doing two very distinctive themes. One theme is Pokemon-inspired drinks including Marky Mav with Bacardi Ocho rum, Cuban Style, and citrus mint prosecco foam. The Conspirator is a Caprese-style martini with tomato-basil-infused rum and Mozzarella Co. bocconcini — cheese in a drink, how wild is that. Matcha Chop has Illegal Caribbean Cask, mezcal, matcha, coconut milk punch, and blackberry foam. Their second "Rambler on Lock" theme features cocktails inspired by Dallas staples such as The 11, a riff on 7/11’s frozen Slurpee; and the Filthy 2.0, an ultra-dirty martini. Cocktails range from $14-17.

    On Rotation
    Brewery located near Dallas Love Field has brought back Turbulence, an IPA they first released in 2021. It's a hazy IPA full of Citra and Idaho 7 hops with grapefruit, tangerine, mango, apricot, and oranges. They have it on tap, $4.50 for eight-ounce or $8 for 14-ounce; and or via growler, $9 for a 32-ounce fill. They also have it in cans at the brewery, $22 for a four-pack.

    Tupelo Honey
    North Carolina-based Southern restaurant has launched a new beverage menu nationwide and that includes the two DFW locations in Las Colinas and Frisco. It's heavy on matcha and watermelon in drinks such as the Mindful Martini with Prairie Organic Gin and matcha; a nonalcoholic iced match latte; and the Watermelon Smile Margarita. Cereal Milk Martini is a rum-based cocktail topped with rainbow cereal marshmallows. There is also a Whiskey Flight with four old fashioneds served in a mimosa flight stand; and house-made lemonades in flavors like matcha, peach, and blueberry. Drinks are $11.50-$28, or $6.50 for the non-alcoholic matcha.

    Virgin Hotels
    Commons Club at the Virgin Hotels in the Design District has a new limited-time cocktail menu promoting the new Hulu sitcom Mid-Century Modern, which follows three friends as they spend their golden years in Palm Springs. Drink highlights include Boys Just Wanna Have Fun with Ketel One Vodka, cherry vanilla soda, and lemonade; She’s Throwing Shade, with Spring 44 Gin, St-Germain, Fever-Tree grapefruit soda, and lime; and Rainbow Rager with Bacardi 8, Aperol, pineapple, and cinnamon. Drinks are $16 each, but for those who want to indulge or share, a For The Queens Bowl for 3-4 is $45. Available through April 27.

    Waterproof
    Statler Dallas Hotel rooftop bar is going all tiki with three new tropical cocktails: Llama’s Choice with Tito’s Vodka, guava nectar, lemon, and coconut; Mai Tai with a pineapple rum blend, orgeat, triple sec, lime, and Fee Foam; and Rooftop-Rita with LALO Blanco Tequila, orange liqueur, agave, and lime. Drinks are $15-$16.

    Cocktail notes

    RTDs at the supermarket
    The Texas legislature is considering a bill to allow "RTD" ready-to-drink cocktails in grocery and convenience stores. The bill, authored by Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-Fort Worth, would allow the sale of beer and wine products with up to 17 percent ABV. Texans can currently buy RTDs at liquor stores such as Total Wine, although those have a higher alcohol content than the lower-ABV malt liquor versions Hancock is suggesting for convenience stores. In the bill, Hancock claims the laws are "confusing for Texans." The bill is sufficiently innocuous and pointless that it has made it through the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee, and if passed, it would be effective September 1.

    Bar takeover
    Ginger’s, the speakeasy-style cocktail lounge in downtown Dallas' East Quarter that is operated by Sushi | Bar Hospitality, will host a special bar takeover for one night only featuring craft cocktail icon Christine Wiseman on Tuesday, April 23, from 6-10 pm. Formerly the Global Beverage Director for Bar Lab Hospitality, Wiseman spearheaded award-winning programs at Broken Shaker locations in Miami, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, and is known for her creative, playful yet refined cocktails.

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