Where to Eat

Where to Eat in Dallas right now: 10 restaurants with dishes to share

Deviled eggs are a perennial favorite for sharing.

District

This February edition of CultureMap's monthly Where to Eat series is all about sharing. It's a solid theme for the month, both because it's Valentine's Day month (and you can see our full list of Valentine's Day options here), and also because shareable dishes have become a big trend. Restaurant prices (and prices in general) are higher, so if you still want to dine out, you split an entree and share a few starters.

Here are 10 restaurants in Dallas with shareable dishes:

District. Northern California concept debuted in May 2022 at 5100 Belt Line Rd, #544, at the Village on the Parkway in Addison with a menu of globally-inspired shareable plates, with a big wine and whiskey program. Co-founder Jon D'Angelica and his partner Ryan Vance opened the first District 15 years ago in San Francisco on the idea that shareable plates paired with the right wine (or whiskey) create a more intimate dining experience. They're a standard-bearer for the shareable trend. There are flatbreads, deviled eggs, and a cool twist on Indian pakoras with sweet potato.

Hawkers Asian Street Fare. Pan-Asian restaurant concept founded in Florida is all about street foods. They opened their first Texas location in Dallas in the former Curtain Club space at 2800 Main St. in Deep Ellum, in November 2021 with a menu featuring Thai, Malaysian, and Chinese cuisine including Korean wings, pad Thai, skewers of bulgogi chicken or satay chicken, cooked on a traditional hibachi grill. You get a bunch for the table and share away.

The Londoner. British pub chain came to the rescue of pub fans when it opened a location in Mockingbird Station in the former Trinity Hall Pub space. The menu has classics like fish & chips but in recent years has added a bounty of shareable starters including Scotch eggs, chips & salsa, hummus & pita, wings, cheesy Hampton fries topped with aged white cheddar, a cheese board, and “Rusty nuts,” like fritters containing potato, bacon, jalapeño, onion, and cheese, rolled in bread crumbs and fried.

Melting Pot. Before sharing was a trend, you had Melting Pot, the fondue concept where you and your tablemate split cheese or chocolate fondue, taking turns dipping bites like pretzel bread, seasonal veggies & fruit, macarons, Oreo-dusted marshmallows, and fruit — making them a favorite on any list of Most Romantic Restaurants. They recently introduced Shareable Sips, a menu of cocktails such as Pink Crush, with New Amsterdam Pink Whitney Vodka and La Marca Prosecco.

Mission Pizza. Pizza is the original sharing food, and no one should miss this Denton pop-up at Herf's Denton County Taphouse (Monday-Friday 5-9 pm, Saturday 12-9 pm, Sunday 12-7 pm). A nominee for CultureMap's 2022 Tastemaker Awards, they're worth the trip thanks to their one-of-a-kind angle: South Shore bar pizza, a crispy, cheesy style from founder Steve North's hometown Massachusetts. It's a rich pie with a crisp, buttery crust; crushed tomato sauce; and cheddar cheese, cooked in a pan like Chicago-style or Detroit-style, with sauce and cheese spread to the edge, and with crisp Detroit-style burnt edges.

Nuno's Tacos & Vegmex Grill. Tex-Mex is an easy cuisine to share, with nachos being the most sharing-est dish of all. Nuno's, a North Dallas restaurant that does vegan Mexican food, does amazing vegan BBQ nachos, featuring tortilla chips topped with refried black beans, queso, mac & cheese, smoked BBQ ground "beef," sour cream, pickled onions, jalapenos, and in an unpredictable twist, little chunks of jalapeno-cheddar corn bread. Two notes: It's available Fridays and Saturdays only, and their dining is small, so reservations are a must; call 972-685-2703.

Postino Wine Cafe. Eclectic concept from Phoenix opened their first location in Dallas at 2647 Main St. in Deep Ellum, with a menu built around shareables. The favorite is bruschetta, in 12 varieties including Brie, Apple & Fig Spread; Mozzarella, Tomato, and Basil; Warm Artichoke Spread; Smoked Salmon & Pesto; Piquillo Pepper & Goat Cheese; and Burrata, Bacon, Arugula & Tomato. Charcuterie boards form their own category and include veggie and meat versions as well as a Pub Board with soft pretzel, chorizo, cornichon, cheddar, Peruvian corn nuts, and pickle. They also feature 30 wines by the glass and 40 wines by the bottle.

Queen of Sheba. Dallas has a robust Ethiopian population — and that brings us an equally robust selection of Ethiopian restaurants. They're not afraid to be spicy, making the cuisine a good fit for Texas palates. Sheba is a Dallas classic: serving authentic Ethiopian food at its Addison location since 1991. The trademark dish is injera, a sharing classic where you eat without utensils, and they have options with and without meat. You use spongey moist injera bread to scoop up your sauteed spinach, lentils, slow-cooked cabbage, and rice.

Seapot. Conveyor-belt style hot pot restaurant in Northern California just opened its first Texas location in Plano at 1900 N. Central Expwy., near Park Boulevard. Hot pot is the fun communal experience in which a shared pot of simmering hot broth is brought to the table, with raw ingredients that you and your tablemates cook in the broth, then dip in sauces once it's cooked. They offer lots of variety in their options, their ingredients, are fresh, and the conveyor belt makes it more fun and easier to grab items you like.

STK Steakhouse. Fancy chain opened in Uptown Dallas in November 2022, a combination steakhouse-lounge, and is the quintessential example of the current shareable trend, where the entrees are too expensive for each person to get their own, starting at $55 for a 6-ounce filet and topping out at $157 for a 34-ounce tomahawk. (That doesn't count toppings: $5 for a peppercorn crust, $6 for a "zingy rub," $12 for a flavored butter.) The upside: It puts steak in the category of indulgence, something to nibble as a garnish on your mac & cheese.

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West End Dallas breakfast favorite Ellen's makes sudden comeback

Ellen's

Ellen's Southern Kitchen will return

A beloved breakfast spot in downtown Dallas is making a surprise comeback: Ellen's Southern Kitchen, the all-day restaurant concept founded in Dallas in 2012, is reopening its original location in downtown's West End.

According to founder Joe Groves, the restaurant, located at 1790 N. Record St., will open in June, following a "temporary" closure that lasted nearly two years.

The restaurant will reopen with the same hours, menu, and down-to-earth personality, serving breakfast, brunch, and Southern comfort food such as chicken-fried steak, fried catfish, meatloaf, shrimp & grits, and macaroni & cheese.

"We're still going to be the same — but better," Groves says. "We've kept the same management team, and we're thrilled that some of our waiters and bartenders and familiar faces are coming back. We're not taking anything for granted."

Groves is a voluble sort who disappeared from public view, due to landlord lawsuits that have since been resolved.

"There were two years of silence, we didn't know if we were going to be able to reopen or not," he says.

Named in honor of Groves' mother, Ellen's made its debut in 2012 with a special focus on breakfast — pre-dating the explosion of breakfast-and-brunch concepts that have opened across DFW in recent years.

Opening at time when the West End was on the upswing, Ellen's drew tourists, conventioneers, and downtown residents, with its menu of steak & eggs, migas, huevos rancheros, and Ellen's omelet with spinach, bacon, strawberries, mushrooms, and bleu cheese, served with toast and hash browns.

Signature dishes include pancake pot pie, a layered creation with pancakes, maple cream sausage gravy, bacon, sausage, hash browns, scrambled eggs, and cheddar cheese; and benedicts in eight options including Cajun shrimp benedict and crab cake benedict.

They were open for lunch and dinner hours as well, with a full bar. Groves' mischievous charm earned a following of its own, with stunts like his fearless 2018 run-in with the NRA in which he advocated for gun regulations during the organization's convention.

Bolstered by their success in the West End, Groves and his partners Andrew Chooljian and Russell Mertz went into what Groves calls "aggressive expansion mode," opening locations in Casa Linda and Allen, with plans for more. Casa Linda remains open; Allen closed in 2023. (They also opened Jack Ruby's, a restaurant-bar in the West End, which is thriving.)

But their momentum was derailed when one of their main financiers hit a wall. They closed the West End location temporarily, but the New York-based landlord at the time locked them out, spurring a domino effect with their other landlords, as well.

The building at 1701 N. Market St. where Ellen's resides has since been acquired by Five Smooth Stones, the development company owned by Owen Hannay, a longtime proponent of the neighborhood. He's working with Groves and company to get it back open.

"I've known Joe for a long time, and feel like Ellen's has always been such a great draw for the West End," Hannay says. "We're delighted that it's reopening and that we're able to get it going so quickly."

Once Groves and his staff were able to get back inside the beloved location, they found a time capsule — a romantic concept but one that also called for updates to the furniture, AC, and kitchen gear.

"After a couple years away, those holes in the upholstery became more obvious, and some of the kitchen equipment needed to be replaced," he says.

Ellen's reopening will restore breakfast and brunch to the West End, and Groves says they also hope it will bring them back to where they started.

"We have a big hole to dig out of — we want every vendor and individual we still owe to be fully paid," he says. "Reopening finally gives us hope for that."

"Ellen is my mom, this is our home location, and I've always felt a personal connection to the West End," he says. "I want the legacy of Ellen's to continue."

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