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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.

    soup
      
    El Rincon del Maiz.

    El Rincon del Maiz, Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year.

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    Hot Chicken News

    Lava Hot Chicken opens in Rowlett with a different approach

    Raven Jordan
    Apr 21, 2025 | 7:50 pm
    Lava Hot Chicken
    Lava Hot Chicken
    Lava Hot Chicken

    There’s a new hot chicken concept in Rowlett that's taking a unique approach: Called Lava Hot Chicken, it’s located in a former ice cream shop at 6310 Dalrock Rd. #900 in Dalrock Crossing, where it opened March 8.

    Lava Hot Chicken is from restaurateur Sam Sakhleh, who opened it with his two sons in mind. Both are allergic to peanuts, and some frying oils use peanuts. To solve the issue, he uses beef tallow to fry the chicken and fries.

    “We fry everything in beef tallow — we don’t use oil or have any peanut product,” Sakhleh says.

    Sakhleh, who has been in the industry since 2003, decided to start a hot chicken restaurant because he wasn't impressed with the conventional flavor at most hot chicken restaurants.

    He connected with a distributor who offered a 27-spice mix imported from India which had a far more complex flavor profile.

    "It made a big difference in the taste, and that's what we use in our spice mix," Sakhleh says.

    The spice mix also gives the chicken a deep, ruddy color, unlike the neon orange tint of other hot chicken options.

    Lava's menu features sliders and tenders with five heat levels. The sliders are on 4-inch thick buns from Martin's Famous Potato Rolls. Also, they use one big tender so big that Sakhleh says it's sometimes mistaken for a chicken breast.

    They're marinated with garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, and buttermilk before being fried.

    They’ve also recently added wings, with the same heat levels as sliders and tenders. Other dishes include chicken & waffles, and loaded fries topped with cheese, mac & cheese, pickles, coleslaw and "Lava sauce," a sweet and smoky sauce with honey and mustard. Homey desserts include sukseh, also known as "lazy cake," a rich no-bake dessert made with condensed milk and chocolate that's a little like fudge.

    Prices range from $6 for a tender to $16 for two sliders with fries.

    To-go orders are common but Sakhleh devoted two years to transforming the former ice cream shop into a bright cheerful space with colorful cartoon murals on the walls, plus a patio, so diners who want to eat on-site are covered.

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