Editor's note: As we look back at the most-read restaurant stories of 2025, it clear that the fate of a Dallas landmark — and its even more iconic popovers — kept readers riveted. There were exciting openings and heartbreaking closures, as well as one very controversial taco pop-up, and even ice cream delivered by drone. And news of a new Costco (or three) was a hot topic from all the way back at the beginning of the year.
Here are the 10 hottest restaurant stories of 2025 in Dallas:
1. The 2 Dallas restaurants where reservations are now impossible to get. Cafe Dior by Dominque Crenn is the restaurant inside the new Dior boutique in Highland Park Village, which opened in at the start of the year. Zodiac Room is the about-to-close restaurant inside the storied downtown location of Neiman Marcus, which has had several imminent closure scares but now states it will remain open past the 2025 holidays.
Zodiac Room popovers. Photo courtesy of Lisa Crossett
2. Dallas Caramel Company founder Rain McDermott dies at 52. Dallas entrepreneur Rain McDermott, who founded artisan caramel maker Dallas Caramel Company when she was only 34 years old, died in June after a battle with breast cancer; she was 52.
3. Dallas celebs are flocking to Soul Shack, new restaurant in Cedar Hill. The original was a fast-casual concept in Chicago called Soul Shack Express, which is still open. The Dallas location is a more ambitious effort, with a full-service restaurant, full bar, and swanky nightlife atmosphere. They've quickly earned notice from celebrities including TikTok phenomenon Keith Lee, who touted them with a review in their first week open (giving it a high rating of 8 out of 10 on his scale); and celebrity Shaquille "Shaq" O'Neal, who dropped in for a surprise visit.
4. Salad and Go reveals the 18 locations closing around Dallas. In good news, 25 locations will remain open. The one-of-a-kind salad chain specializing in low-priced salads in a drive-thru-only format previously announced its plan to close 41 restaurants. But the chain is still firmly committed to the Dallas metro area and Oklahoma, plus stores in Arizona and Las Vegas.
Salad and Go is going going gone. Photo by Salad and Go
5. Award-winning Dallas burger joint opens location in Forney. Blues Burgers is from Howard and Catherine Baldwin, who opened the original Blues Burgers near Love Field in Dallas in 2014 (it closed in February 2025 so they could focus on this venture). They use Angus beef for their burgers, and make their own sauces and spreads in-house. They fry in beef tallow, and their sodas are made with cane sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup. They also do fried pies, made in house.
6. Costco lines up 3 new stores opening in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2025. Cult-favorite grocery warehouse Costco is gifting Dallas-Fort Worth with three new stores, two of which opened in mid-March: Prosper and Weatherford. The Celina location's timeline has shifted to late 2026.
7. Blue Bell hosts extravagant freebie to get Dallas to try new ice cream. The new flavor is Classic Pecan Pie Ice Cream, a brown sugar ice cream with roasted pecans and pieces of pie crust mixed with a pecan pie filling. Now is a good time to mention that pecan pie is the state pie of Texas. Blue Bell partnered with Wing, the drone delivery division of Google parent company Alphabet, and Walmart, to give DFW residents the chance to try it for free via drone delivery.
Blue Bell Classic Pecan Pie ice cream. Blue Bell
8. Michelin-starred taqueria from Mexico City to do pop-up in Dallas. El Califa de León was to come to Texas for a limited-run 14- day, culinary pop-up, but following less-than-stellar reviews on social media, the restaurant pulled the plug one week into the engagement.
9. 2 Dallas steakhouses proclaimed among the best in the world. Nuri Steakhouse and Knife join 17 others in the U.S. that made the cut. The ranking, by London-based company Upper Cut Media House, is based on incognito reviews of each restaurant by so-called "Steak Ambassadors" who have industry backgrounds as chefs, food journalists, or "certified meat- and Wagyu masters."
Nuri Steakhouse ranked 84th on the list. Photo courtesy of Nuri
10. Beloved Richardson burger joint pivots to smaller more affordable mode. After 12 years, Haystack Burgers & Barley has reimagined its flagship location at 100 Central Expwy. #17 into a new concept called Little Stack, a more concise, more budget-friendly version of itself.
