Where to eat

Where to eat in Dallas right now: 10 must-try new restaurants in March

Sandwich from La Veganeria.

La Veganeria

This edition of Where to Eat, CultureMap's monthly list of top restaurant recommendations, is all about fresh new restaurants that have opened in the past month or so. They're an especially varied lot both in cuisine and location, ranging from a family-run trattoria in Frisco to an upscale Indian restaurant to Las Colinas to a casual-sophisticated Asian concept in the center of Dallas.

Here's our March edition of where to eat:

The Ainsworth
Classy sports bar with New York ties just opened in the Shops at Legacy North. It became famous for its kinda-silly chicken wing dipped in 24K gold, a recipe that chef Jonathan 'Foodgōd' Cheban created for the original location in New York. Other Ainsworth trademarks include the signature Mac burger with an 8-ounce Angus patty and cheddar cheese on top of a fried mac-n-cheese patty with Ainsworth sauce on a brioche bun. There's also pasta in pesto, tuna tacos, and brick chicken.

Dua Trattoria
Italian-Mediterranean fusion restaurant in Frisco comes from the same family that launched Eddie's Napoli, the local pizza chain, and incorporates some of Eddie's Italian classics like lasagna and chicken parmesan. But the menu also features several family recipes from their home country of Kosovo, such as kefalotyri, a baked goat cheese dip, and burek, a Balkan spinach and cheese pastry. Prices are mostly affordable with flatbreads, sandwiches, salads, and pastas, with the occasional celebratory splurge like a cappelletti, a ravioli with short rib, asparagus, and tomato.

La Veganería
Vegan Mexican food is a national trend that began in Dallas-Fort Worth, and here comes this newcomer ghost kitchen at Commerce Cooking Fork Co. in West Dallas. Founded by two natives of Celaya, in Guanajuato, Mexico, La Veganeria stands out with its authentic, upscale, and creative menu with dishes such as Cochinita Pibil tacos featuring citrus-marinated oyster mushrooms and refried black beans in a corn tortilla; "fish tacos" - beer-battered Lion's Mane mushrooms with coleslaw and pineapple pico de gallo; and and seitan Milanesa: Fried seitan "steak" on a bolillo bun with refried beans and guacamole. Everything's made in house, even down to the skin-on French fries.

Miss Pasta
Italian restaurant at the Shire complex in Richardson does handmade pasta in a semi-fast-casual setting at an approachable price. The concept is from chef Giuliano Matarese and his wife Tiziana Cosentino. A native of Naples, Matarese previously worked on the East Coast at restaurants such as Charlie Palmer's Aureole in New York, and has also appeared on cooking shows such as Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay. Pastas range from classics like rigatoni with spicy tomato, basil, Parmesan, and burrata cheese, to original takes such as potato gnocchi with basil pesto and green beans. There are also creative antipasti like fried dough with tomato sauce and a Roman-style rice croquette.

Rakkan Ramen
First Dallas-area location of a ramen chain is now open at 3121 Olympus Blvd. #150, in a cool storefront between The Sound at Cypress Waters and North Lake. Founded in Japan and headquartered in California, Rakkan Ramen is known for doing vegetarian broths, made from vegetables like mushrooms and seaweed, as opposed to the more common meat-based broths made with pork. While the broths are plant-based, the restaurant is not vegetarian; many dishes contain pork and chicken. The menu does feature four vegan ramens such as Garnet Ramen, with noodles, mushrooms, green onion, corn, and tofu in a deep, creamy, savory broth. Beyond ramen, they also serve rice bowls, gyoza, and sushi handrolls.

Sanjh
Upscale Indian restaurant in Las Colinas is from Dallas entrepreneur Sanjay Joshi and Prob Arora, former co-owner of The Saffron House, the Indian restaurant that was in Addison for 14 years. Chef is Balpreet Singh Chadha, who has a lustrous history working at hotels and restaurants around the world including India, United Arab Emirates, and Michelin-starred restaurants in Spain. They have strived to show every part of India on the menu wherever they could. It's not cheap - entrees run from $25 to $40, and there's a menu of craft cocktails to match. But how do you not love a dish like Shakargandi Amrak Chaat, a Delhi street food with sweet potatoes as the star of the dish.

Shivas Bar and Grill
After wowing Dallas diners with its expertly made Indian dishes since 2014, Shivas has spun off a second location at Watters Creek Village in Allen, where they've recreated their authentic Indian food in a pleasant contemporary setting. There are biryani rice dishes, meats cooked in the traditional tandoor oven, and loads of vegetarian options like dal Makhani, featuring lentils with tomato and garlic. It's also fun just to make a meal of the appetizers, with options such as battered cauliflower, chicken on skewers, and samosa dumpling-like pastries, in traditional options like potato & peas as well as variations filled with chicken.

Sigree Grill Indian Restaurant
Addison restaurant has been open since 2013, serving dishes from across India: North Indian, Mughlai, Gujrati, Maharashtrian, Bengali, Continental, inspired by the art of cooking over the slow charcoal fire of the simple iron stove called sigree. What's new is that they're hosting a vegan buffet on Tuesday nights. Called Vegan Tuesdays, it includes choices from sprouts with pomegranate, salad with chickpeas, stir-fried tofu, chutneys, vegetable pakora fritters, cauliflower bites, vegetable noodles, chickpea masala, fried okra, eggplant chaat, veg korma, veg pulav, lentil soup, and roti. And it's a real deal: $20 for adults and $16 for kids.

Taipo
Newly opened restaurant in downtown Arlington features Nepalese food, with the signature dish being the taipo: two jumbo, savory fried dumplings with chicken, pork, beef or potato fillings. They also have skewers in options such as potato, sausage, tofu, or enoki mushroom, served with tomato chutney; plus stir fries with choice of rice or noodles, veggies, and choice of sauces that includes a spicy habanero. BBy day, it's a cute fast-casual spot featuring pan-Asian food and Nepalese food, But it also comes with a hidden speakeasy, perfect for late-night gatherings or romantic dates.

Wagamama
The iconic global restaurant brand offering modern Asian cuisine has made its Texas debut in Dallas with a location at 2425 Harry Hines Blvd. Food is cooked to order and served straight from wok to table. Signature dishes include ginger chicken udon, Yasai katsu curry, and Bang Bang crispy cauliflower with firecracker sauce, plus craft cocktails like the Thai Chili Margarita and a selection of good sake. There are nine ramen options, plus salads, dumplings, and stirfries with noodles or rice, such as Avant Gard’n, featuring BBQ-glazed seitan with coconut and sriracha vegan‘egg’ on sticky white rice. It's not so much what they're doing but how: executing with a level of proficiency and sophistication that is distinctly not-Dallas, and that is a good thing.

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Eco Warrior News

Dallas restaurants doing amazing little things for the environment

Southwest Airlines

Cute bamboo cup from Southwest Airlines

One unfortunate legacy left by the pandemic has been a huge increase in the use of plastics — setting back progress that was being made pre-pandemic.

Plastics are bad. They harm everything they touch: the environment, health, food security, and economies. But they're convenient, subsidized, and in some cases necessary.

Pre-pandemic, a growing awareness started to snowball regarding the negative impact of plastics, particularly plastic straws and single-use plastic containers — and it was significant enough to make the plastics industry very nervous.

"In the two years leading up to the pandemic, the public backlash against plastic was a major concern for industry leaders," says a story about the plastics and the pandemic in The Guardian. "As a corporate executive remarked during an industry event early in 2019: 'We need to get the image of plastic in oceans out of the public’s mind. Otherwise, we could lose our social license to operate.'"

But then the pandemic came along, igniting mass hysteria about contagion, and suddenly, bans on single-use plastics that had been in the works were reversed in countries around the world: North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

“Overnight, plastics went from public enemy No. 1 to consumers asking for everything to have as much packaging as possible and to be single use," said one gleeful analyst for Shell Oil, who are a major plastics player.

The urgency of the plastics situation remains invisible to most people, lined up at the drive-thru for their coffee or Chick-Fil-A, piling up nearly 250 pounds of plastic waste every year. (That's what the average American amasses — more than any other country.) But there are nonethless pro-environment efforts being made by Dallas companies and organizations, big and small.

La Casita Bakeshop cup Revolutionary compostable cup at La Casita Bakeshop.Facebook

Dallas efforts
These Dallas restaurants and organizations are taking positive steps to fight waste, even despite the fact that it's more costly for them to do the right thing.

Plastic Free Lunch Day is November 22
In an effort to reduce the amount of single-use plastic in school cafeterias, Dallas ISD’s Food and Child Nutrition Services will participate in Plastic Free Lunch Day on November 22.

Plastic Free Lunch Day was started by middle school students in Brooklyn. The initiative was so successful that it was implemented at all New York City public schools in 2022 and has since spread and become a national observance at public schools across the country. Dallas ISD was the first in Texas to participate, when it joined up in 2022.

On this one day, in an opportunity to educate students and the community on ways to positively impact the environment, plastic items used during lunch services will be replaced with biodegradable alternatives. (Plastic cutlery, cups, and straws will be available upon request for the crybabies.)

Southwest Airlines bamboo cup
Southwest Airlines Co., the Dallas-based airline, has introduced a new bamboo cup for inflight cold beverages, and a wood stir stick in place of a plastic stick. The airline expects the new items to reduce its inflight single-use plastics by more than 1.5 million pounds annually.

In July 2024, Southwest transitioned to a paper overwrap for its napkins made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled materials — fully eliminating plastic from this service item. The airline is making an effort to eliminate single-use plastics from inflight service by 2030.

La Casita Bakeshop compostable cups
La Casita Bakeshop, the award-winning bakery and cafe operation, recently debuted fabulous new cups that are 100 percent compostable, soil- and marine-biodegradable, breaking down naturally after 90 days. and are made from natural materials.

"We are always trying to find ways to be more environmentally friendly and this is a big way we can," they said in their post announcing the new cups. "We just want to be proud of our paper trail and being a restaurant it's hard to do that."

Smoothie King biodegrable cups
Smoothie King, the Dallas-based smoothie chain, previously used styrofoam cups, but began testing a biodegradable cup in 2019. They now offer it as the default choice. They're using Vio Foam, specially made cups that biodegrade 92 percent in four years. They'll still accommodate whiny selfish customers who insist on getting a plastic cup instead, but their Vio foam cup not only helps the environment, it also keeps their smoothies cold a little longer.

Kate Weiser Recycle Box Program
Kate Weiser, the Dallas chocolatier, sells its gorgeous eye-catching bon-bons in a variety of boxes, from 4 pieces all the way up to 35 pieces. (OK, they'll sell them individually, too, but who goes to a chocolate shop and buys a single chocolate?) They have a program where you can bring your empty box to the store and get a refill and get 5 percent off. (Weiser amusingly calls it a "secret hack.")

Dude Sweet Chocolate freezer packaging
Dude Sweet Chocolate, the Oak Cliff chocolatier, has a next-level campaign in which they will accept cold-ship packaging you've received in the mail and re-use it. Say, for example, that you ordered an 8-pack of ice cream pints from Double Rainbow in San Francisco, and it arrived in a box with freezer packs and a foil liner. You can drop that packaging off at Dude Sweet's factory location at 1340 Inwood Rd., and they'll re-use it in one way or another when they're doing shipments of their chocolate.

Note: Whether you're putting it in the blue bin or the gray bin, your plastic is not being recycled. The best course when it comes to plastic, especially single-use plastic, is to not use it at all.

sustainability