Food & Drink

Vegetarian and vegan dining are having a serious moment in DFW. With more options than ever, even the staunchest carnivores are going meatless occasionally in the pursuit of fun, plant-based food. At V-Eats, fun is definitely on the menu. From seitan “brisket” to jack fruit chicken-fried “steak,” this food is hearty enough to sate even the beefiest Texan and inventive enough to make it one of the city’s most interesting restaurants.

Readers’ Pick: Cosmic Café

Matcha was everywhere this year, from lattes to ice cream to trendy poke restaurants with built-in matcha bars. But no matter where we tried this happy, grass-colored, powdered green tea, it couldn’t hold a candle to the matcha at Local Press + Brew, the Oak Cliff coffee shop with a healthy juice bar twist. Using matcha from Dallas company Zakti, it brewed the most refreshing matcha concoctions in town. Order the iced matcha latte with almond milk on a balmy day, and your glass will be empty before you have time to say, “Whoa, this matcha is, like, really good.”

This happy Far North Dallas Indian fast-food and takeout spot serves North Indian fare and chaat, inexpensive Indian snacks such as dahi bhalle, chilled lentil dumplings soaked in yogurt and topped with chutney. Try the specialty, “Desi-style” pizzas topped with everything from paneer to tandoori chicken.

Readers’ Pick: Kalachandji’s

If you’re trying to keep it clean while still supporting your rosé habit, Bar & Garden is your kinda place. This stunning Ross Avenue liquor store is a far cry from the sprawling, fluorescent-lit liquor megastores that pepper North Texas. With plants and gorgeous design elements, you’ll want to stay awhile to browse this selection of natural wines and liquors that are free of artificial flavors, colors or flavorings. Sidle up to the bar when you arrive to taste whatever treats the store is sampling that day.

Maggie Huff’s style couldn’t possibly be a better fit at FT33, which celebrates all things local and in season. Huff’s hyperseasonal desserts are a shining star. Her use of savory elements like herbs, fats and in-season vegetables creates a stunning array of not-too-sweet treats that probably feature more vegetables than Dallas diners are accustomed to seeing on a dessert menu.

Burgundy’s Local isn’t a butcher — all this meat is precut and either 100 percent fresh or frozen solid — but for those trying to source meat more responsibly, you can’t beat this rancher-owned Ross Avenue shop. Everything comes from nearby ranchers, including the array of grass-fed beef products from Burgundy’s North Texas ranch. Burgundy is a whole-animal operation, meaning it finds uses for the entire animal, and at this shop you’ll find everything from grass-fed beef and lamb to pasture-raised chicken, responsibly raised pork, and even duck eggs and whole rabbit.

Whether you’re hunting for wine, liquor or craft beer, when it comes to overall selection, Total Wine is hard to beat. Its wine experts are up to even the most specific task — one mineraly red that pairs well with Vietnamese seafood, please — and its frequent tastings sweeten the deal. It also hosts inexpensive wine classes like Obscure Varietals 101: The Best Wines You’ve Never Tried.

Readers’ Pick: Spec’s Wine, Spirits & Finer Foods

This summer, The Stoneleigh became the hottest of summer hot spots when it launched its free weekend pool parties, which opened up the Uptown hotel’s pool to anyone every Saturday and Sunday, no hotel room, expensive ticket or smuggled room key required. The hotel sweetened the deal with a small but above-average menu of frozen cocktails that hit the spot without giving us a sugar overload. With high-octane piña coladas and $6 rosé coolers, we sipped and swam all summer in a chic Uptown hotel pool with a DJ and all the Instagrammable pool floats a girl could hope for.

La Me, situated at the corner where Dallas meets Richardson and Garland, is a restaurant where the neighborhood’s Vietnamese community meets for all manner of superb soups and noodle dishes. That means a lot more than pho: Try mi quang, noodles made yellow with turmeric, or mi kho dac biet, a house special soup topped with a whole shrimp fried directly into a large cracker. There’s a marvelous rendition of shaking beef, the national beef stir-fry, as well as the opportunity to build your own spring rolls by ordering the confusingly named Tiny Rice Stick platter. La Me is a great place for newcomers to try the diversity of Vietnamese food for the first time, but, judging from the clientele here, it’s also a favorite among those who’ve been eating the cuisine their entire lives.

Readers’ Pick: Pho is For Lovers

This upbeat Austin import has the biggest healthy beverage menu in town, with a massive array of smoothies, cold-pressed juices and healthy shots. With free vintage arcade games and a cheerful interior, JuiceLand is just plain fun — and we love customizing the smoothies with add-ins like CBD oil, maca and even durian.

A refreshing departure from the kitschy, sprawling Tex-Mex eateries that feel more like theme parks than restaurants, E Bar is a cozy, low-key spot serving simple but definitely effective Tex-Mex favorites. The margs are solid, the chips and salsa are appropriately addictive, and you can chow down on two enchiladas with beans and rice for less than $9 during lunch.

Readers’ Pick: Chuy’s

If it can even remotely be considered a breakfast food, Cindi’s serves it. The pancake menu is bigger than some local breakfast joints’ entire menus, and the selection of fresh bagels, omelets, latkes and blintzes sweetens the deal. The lox plate is a perennial favorite, but whatever you order, it comes out fast and hits the spot every time.

Readers’ Pick: Bread Winners

OK, so maybe you won’t be eating dinner here — or maybe you will if you’re the fun parent — but it’s hard to find a more fun spot to take the kids than Hypnotic Emporium, the old-fashioned East Dallas candy shop, soda fountain and ice cream spot. An offshoot of Hypnotic Donuts next door, this old-timey spot serves stellar ice cream from Denton’s Beth Marie. Get the kiddos a hot doughnut ice cream sandwich while you treat yourself to a malt that will make you feel like a kid again, too.

Readers’ Pick: Magic Time Machine

This local nonprofit has been expanding around DFW, setting up producer-only markets where you can shop for seasonal produce, snag locally made baked goods and even take a yoga class between purchases. Every Saturday morning, hit up the markets at White Rock, 9150 Garland Road, or Tyler Street, 922 W. Ninth St., or visit the new Thursday night market at Paul Quinn College, 3837 Simpson Stuart Road. The company occasionally hosts special events like vegan pop-up markets.

Readers’ Pick: Dallas Farmers Market

At a time when White Rock Coffee was the only game in town, two of its baristas, Jonathan Meadows and Nathan Shelton, were scheming and dreaming of how to take over the Dallas coffee scene. In 2009, each barely older than 20, the duo took a swing at it and rapidly came to dominate the Dallas specialty coffee market. Cultivar Coffee is the most tenured roaster in town, and eight years after opening, it still has what it takes to be the best around. Cultivar has developed long-standing relationships and familiarity with the coffees it works with and has been able to turn out an outstanding product with unparalleled consistency. It’s now able to serve up coffees in cafes in Oak Cliff, Denton and East Dallas.

Readers’ Pick: Ascension Coffee

When it comes to Texas coffee shops, few names carry as far as Houndstooth. With the formerly Austin-centric shop’s first space on Henderson Avenue (followed by a stunning new modern shop in Sylvan Thirty), owner Sean Henry and his team introduced the city to their clean and sophisticated approach to our morning cups. The coffees served — which include offerings from the brand’s sister company, Tweed Coffee Roasters, as well as national favorites such as Roseline from Portland and Durham’s Counter Culture Coffee — are as clean and complex as can be, made possible by well-trained baristas with professional respect for their craft in tandem with the most up-to-date technologies the coffee industry has to offer. Houndstooth started in Austin, but with two locations in Dallas, it’s now just as invested in this city’s coffee culture as any of our stellar native third-wave coffee shops.

Readers’ Pick: Ascension Coffee

When Jettison opened late last year in a cozy modern space adjacent to big brother Houndstooth Coffee, we fell in love instantly. Finally, a break from the endless mimosas and Moscow mules that populate every square inch of Dallas. At this West Dallas cocktail den, you’ll find a creative menu that plays frequently with sherry and mezcal, two liquors that, in the hands of Jettison’s attentive bartenders, make for delightfully complex and intriguing cocktails. The design is modern romance, the glassware is delightfully elegant and you’re guaranteed to sip something you haven’t had before. Come with an open mind and leave with a new favorite spirit.

Readers’ Pick: Black Swan Saloon

This West Village patisserie is so much more than macarons. From ice cream sandwich pop-ups with fresh-baked cookies to fun hybrid desserts like croissant waffles, Bisous Bisous keeps experimenting in delicious ways. Classic desserts such as chocolate croissants shine, but we particularly love chef-owner Andrea Meyer’s quirky collaborations with local chefs such as Brian Luscher, who helped Bisous Bisous create savory “cruffins” (croissant muffins) in flavors like cheeseburger and pizza.

Readers’ Pick: Village Baking Co.

Joel Mendoza, former sous chef at Pujol in Mexico City, brings Mexico City-style tacos to local events and bars like Truck Yard with La Botana Taco Bar, a colorful food truck serving phenomenal tacos. Try Las Costras, gorgeous tacos on flour tortillas with flank steak, pork or chicken resting atop a beautiful bed of grilled cheese.

Readers’ Pick: Easy Slider

There’s been no shortage of cheffy takes on spicy Nashville hot chicken, but to find the best in DFW, head to a no-frills spot in Lewisville. Owned by Nashville native Floyd Reed, Helen’s serves juicy, crunchy fried chicken in four spice levels: plain, mild, hot and hella hot. When the staff warns you about the hella hot option, take heed: This chicken doesn’t play.

With serious talent in the kitchen and chef-owner Matt McCallister’s renewed focus on hyperlocal, hyperseasonal ingredients, FT33 has solidified its place as the most impressive fine dining destination in Dallas. Working closely with local farmers — along with growing and foraging many ingredients himself — McCallister has created a vibrant taste of Texas that evolves frequently, making every dinner a new experience. From the impeccable wine program to the seasonal desserts and an increasingly impressive cocktail menu, FT33 can do no wrong.

This Far North Dallas doughnut shop makes fun, quirky treats like funnel cake doughnuts, Nutella cronuts and a creme brulee doughnut with a perfectly crunchy exterior. There’s tons of variety in these beautifully decorated treats, and we love the limited-time specials in flavors such as Ferrrero Rocher and s’mores.

Now five years old, Lakewood Brewing Co. continues to impress. From Lakewood Lager to its Goatman imperial India black lager, we rarely get bored with its year-round offerings, and the special releases only sweeten the deal. Lakewood is known for its seduction series, which takes its popular imperial milk stout the Temptress and gives it fun updates like French Quarter Temptress (vanilla, bourbon barrel-aged coffee beans, chicory) and Mole Temptress, made with vanilla, chiles, cacao and cinnamon. In an ever-crowded North Texas beer landscape, Lakewood has kept our attention.

Readers’ Pick: Deep Ellum Brewing Co.

Small brews a cadre of fun beers, including adventurous flavored sours and saisons, but it’s a pilsner that really steals our heart. Small’s Black Pepper Pils, available on draft at bars around Texas, is light and drinkable with an intriguing nose and a punch of subtly spicy but refreshing flavors from black pepper, orange peel and coriander. This flagship brew on Small Brewpub’s roster is beautifully drinkable year-round.

Readers’ Pick: Dallas Blonde, Deep Ellum Brewing Co.

Some of the best cocktail programs in the city aren’t found in dark bars — they’re in restaurants. On Lower Greenville, Rapscallion is known for its adventurous cocktails just as much as its Southern fare, thanks in large part to beverage director Ravinder Singh. Rapscallion’s weekly tiki night became so popular, Singh rebuilt the menu to focus largely on tiki-inspired drinks, putting Rapscallion at the forefront of the tiki movement that finally took hold in Dallas this year.

Readers’ Pick: Gabe Sanchez, Black Swan Saloon

With flavors such as roasted banana pudding, Thai tea and sweet corn-raspberry, Betty Ringer in Sylvan Thirty became our favorite new ice cream slinger this summer. The shop makes its ice cream from scratch in the French custard style — using only cream, egg yolks, sugar and milk — which creates a creamy, rich frozen treat that perfectly complements the fun flavors.

Readers’ Pick: Steel City Pops

This newcomer to the DFW artisanal butcher scene has a small selection, but what it has sings. The Texas wagyu options are meticulously sourced and can be cut to your specification. Deep Cuts specializes in Old World butchery with New World attention to sustainable sources and responsible usage. Deep Cuts is a whole animal shop, which means it utilizes every edible cut of a whole animal to make in-house sausages, boudin and chorizo. There’s a fun selection of gourmet charcuterie and cheeses, and every day at lunch, it offers a different hot sandwich, such as a smoked brisket or gourmet ham and cheese made with Berkshire ham and reserve English farmhouse cheddar.

Readers’ Pick: Jimmy’s Food Store

Every few weeks when their schedules allow, Dude, Sweet Chocolate’s Katherine Clapner and Dallas food photographer Manny Rodriguez host a Sunday morning pastry and cortado pop-up at Rodriguez’s stunning West Dallas photo studio. Every round gets better and better, with Clapner baking sweet and savory delicacies such as fig turnovers and Texas tomato-ricotta hand pies while Rodriguez serves both hot and cold takes on the Cuban cortado of his youth. Start your day at this pop-up in Rodriguez’s sun-drenched studio, and you’ll feel like you’ve hit the foodie lottery.

Some people don’t take kindly to the fact that Easy Slider doesn’t serve french fries with the juicy, happy little sliders at its new Deep Ellum brick-and-mortar, but anyone who’s had its tater tots has long ago forgiven it. Order these crunchy, golden tots loaded, and they’ll come heaped with bacon, green onion, cheddar and housemade ranch.

One of the biggest trends in Dallas dining this year was the health-conscious eatery. From paleo fast-casual spots to raw-food grab-and-go cafes, it was easier than ever to eat clean. Even with all the new concepts flooding DFW, HG Sply Co. continued to exceed our expectations with clean eats that still felt indulgent. Whether you’re paleo, vegetarian or slogging through your first Whole30, HG can accommodate. Its stunning rooftop patio and thoughtful cocktail menu make eating healthier a celebratory affair.

In 2017, poke restaurants spread around Dallas at a feverish pace, saturating the market with bowls of marinated raw seafood and crisp vegetables. Breaking through the cacophony, one spot in particular stood out: Pok the Raw Bar, the superfluously trendy West Village eatery that sources local produce and responsibly fished seafood. Its spicy yuzu salmon bowl on cauliflower rice is one of our favorite low-carb lunches, particularly when paired with a coconut-milk latte from the matcha bar.

Pie Tap takes its dough seriously. Made with only flour, water, salt, olive oil and its proprietary yeast starter, which it feeds daily, this dough hits the spot without making you feel like you just binged on junk food. With a beautiful, crunchy but perfectly doughy crust and A-plus toppings like Calabrese salami and housemade mozzarella, this is better than the average pie. The fact that it’ll deliver pizzas with a six-pack of beer or bottle of wine makes this one of our favorite pizzerias right now.

Readers’ Pick: Cane Rosso

There aren’t many places in Dallas where you can sit in a wine bar and split a bottle of good rosé for just $14, but at Neighborhood Cellar, you’ll find an impressive menu of delightfully affordable wines. The light, modern space — in what used to be WinePoste in Bishop Arts — is filled with affordable, approachable wine that you can drink at retail prices. Sidle up to the bar to sample whatever it’s pouring that day, then curl up at a table by the window and watch Bishop Arts strollers while you sip wine on the cheap. You can also join the wine club to get bottles delivered to your door.

It’s a little-known fact that the best charcuterie in the city can be found in a 45-year-old bistro on Greenville Avenue. Chef-owner Brian Luscher creates an incredible array of meat snacks for this board, including rabbit mortadella, chicken liver pate, soppressata and pork rillettes. The Grape may not be the first place you think of when craving some meat snacks, but it should be.

This impressive cocktail bar has massive windows and bubbly drinks that enliven and light up the whole neighborhood. While the bar uses chemistry-heavy drink prep, most of the necessary equipment — such as centrifuges, roto-vaporizers and lasers — is kept in the back to prevent it from coming off as gimmicky. The bar has an impressive selection of prebottled cocktails, carbonates others right in front of you and serves craveable bites such as ahi poke-stuffed tacos. In 2017, Hide locked down its strip of Elm Street as a worthy drink destination and ushered in a new wave of cocktail openings (such as IdleRye and Shoals) that we’re excited to watch.

When a restaurant makes just one thing, that thing better be damn good. Rice Chicken doesn’t really bother with side dishes or desserts; it just fries chicken. (Some of the side dishes, in fact, are more fried chicken, including the feet.) But, boy, is the main course spectacular. Think perfectly crisp, almost crunchy batter covering ever-so-juicy, tender meat — indulgent but not the least bit greasy. Just about the only decision necessary with a menu this short is whether to opt for a glaze, like the sweet and spicy sauce or the honey-garlic sauce. Better yet, the drumstick sampler offers them all. Draft beer is available by the pitcher, too.

Readers’ Pick: Babe’s Chicken Dinner House

Challengers come and go, but Royal China’s hand-pulled noodles and exquisite dumplings remain almost uncontested as the best in Dallas. Dan dan noodles, served spicy but cool in temperature, are essential here; the wide, flat Henan-style noodles are especially good. The best seats in the house are at the dumpling counter, where workers tirelessly form and steam baskets of Royal China’s specialties, especially xiao long bao, the savory soup dumplings filled with pork and piping-hot broth. Royal China is nearing its 50th anniversary, and to survive that long, it has made more than a few adjustments to suit Preston Hollow’s taste buds. But one bowl of noodles might be enough to show that decades of diners haven’t been wrong.

Readers’ Pick: Monkey King Noodle Co.

Opening a Sri Lankan restaurant in Farmers Branch would be a bold move for anyone. After all, it would be the first Sri Lankan eatery in North Texas, and one of just a handful in the United States. But SpicyZest is Nimidu Senaratne’s first restaurant, a passion project that has met with unanticipated success and critical acclaim. SpicyZest began as a catering company operated out of the family kitchen, then expanded to a take-out only storefront before regular customers, hungry for more, demanded tables. Four tables have turned into six. Senaratne studied hospitality in Sri Lanka and Singapore and clearly sees it as the bedrock of his business. He and his wife, Chamari Walliwalagedara, often walk newcomers through the menu, especially during Saturday’s lunch buffet. And SpicyZest’s food, from crispy-spicy deviled chicken to the divine stir-fry of meat, scallions and torn flatbread that is kottu, is a superb, sharply presented vision of Sri Lanka. Yes, much of the fare is spicy — nasi goreng, an Indonesian dish, comes with a pile of red pepper flakes on the side — but the flavors, especially the relatively mild but awe-inspiring curries, go much deeper than mere heat. Few Dallas restaurants have menus as interesting or success stories as inspiring as SpicyZest’s.

Readers’ Pick: Readers’ Pick:

Kent Rathbun

What’s a little Polish, a little Cajun and a wee bit coastal? It’s IdleRye’s diverse culinary influences. IdleRye set up shop in Deep Ellum during late spring this year and quickly started delivering some of the best brunch dishes in town. We named it the grand daddy of brunch because it has brought a much-needed sense of eclecticism to the Dallas brunch game, and it has done so masterfully. From pierogis that could rival those of a Polish grandmother to a Spanish-style hash of charred Brussels sprouts, olives and chorizo, the kitchen bobs and weaves its way through different cuisines without missing a beat. It’s a young, ambitious restaurant with the soul of a practiced one, and it’s worthy of your weekends.

Readers’ Pick: Café Brazil

Pier 247’s brunch menu uses the words “creamy” and “grits” six times, and “bacon” appears seven times. And while much can be said for restraint when it comes to food, Pier 247’s offerings suggest that the best way to be abstemious is to moderate the amount of food you are eating that is not cloaked in creamy, fatted sauce. We’re talking gravy, folks. And if it’s homemade gravy you’re after — flour browned in a pan, the practiced strokes of a whisk — Pier 247 has you covered. Try the chicken-fried chicken biscuit, which is barely visible beneath a sea of gravy flecked with chili and bacon. It’s a salty, savory gravy and, when paired with a biscuit, is enough to turn a Yankee into someone who says “fixin’ to.”

Bacon gelato. Bacon-washed cocktails. Bacon foam on miniature bacon macarons. By making bacon into a marketable idea of a food rather than a simple ingredient, we have perhaps lost sight of just how good a simple BLT can be. But not Nova. This Oak Cliff eatery with a retro-chic vibe makes an old-fashioned, soul-restoring BLT. The components that make this sandwich shine include toast that is sturdy without being tough, a generous slather of ranchy mayo and an entire Okja’s worth of applewood-scented, thick-cut bacon that’s cooked just right — a little crisp, a little chewy. Spring for a fried egg to push this BLT into full-on sandwich orgasm territory.

Eggs, cream, butter and flour. When combined just so, these humble ingredients can be transformed into something magnificent. The Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth knows a thing or two about this transformation. It has been baking quiches for lunchtime buffets for a few decades. While the flavor components change — an herby mélange one day, spinach and roasted garlic the next — the quiche remains the same. With more cream and milk than eggs, the custard bakes up incredibly light and silky, practically melting when it hits your tongue. A cheesy interior layer and a deeply brown, buttery crust make for a quiche that is a work of art in its own right.

Never did we think Hungarian goulash would become our favorite Dallas bar food, but here we are. Armoury D.E. in Deep Ellum has great drinks, sure, but we’re also huge fans of its homestyle eats. Its goulash — a traditional stew made with meat, potatoes and paprika — is a drinking-food standout, along with its veal schnitzel and traditional palacsintas, crêpes filled with meats, veggies and paprika sauce. Stopping in for a goulash nightcap after a long night of boozing is like stumbling into your grandma’s kitchen for some early morning soul food. Armoury leaves the range hood light on for ya.

Dallas’ Italian food scene could use a boost, especially after the closure this year of 50-year-old home-cooking classic Pietro’s. A series of new openings focusing on housemade pasta and Mediterranean vegetables is a welcome development, and one such newcomer, Sassetta, is off to a promising start. The wine list, all Italian and loaded with interesting varietals and neat bargains, is a joy, with a number of tempting by-the-glass options. The generous glass pours accompany can’t-go-wrong salads such as one combining arugula, mushrooms, shaved Parmesan and a lemon vinaigrette. But Sassetta’s best feature is its pizzas, which have crisp, bubbly thin crusts and toppings that don’t go overkill. Sassetta is new, but we’re excited to see how it develops.

Readers’ Pick: Lucia

An airy patio has it all: fans, a view, natural light and, of course, a great happy hour menu to enjoy some of its specialties for a bargain. The patio at Top Knot, the playful Modern American-meets-Pan-Asian restaurant above big sister Uchi, isn’t large, so if you want to dine al fresco, be ready for a bit of a wait. And since Top Knot offers half-price rosé on Sundays, you know where to find us at least one day a week.

Readers’ Pick: Katy Trail Ice House

This Uptown food, drink and nightlife mainstay keeps us interested with seasonal cocktail menus and intriguing new flavors. Luckily, its happy hour — 4 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday — lets us try some drinks for just $5. Oh, and it offers some of the food from its scratch kitchen for the same low price.

Readers’ Pick: Happiest Hour

Leonard Firestone and Troy Robertson launched Firestone & Robertson, maker of TX Whiskey and TX Bourbon, in 2010, long before a distilling boom brought other distilleries to DFW. It started with the original flavor that had delightful vanilla notes and has branched out to offer a bourbon. To answer demand, it’ll soon be opening a new distillery.

Readers’ Pick: North Texas Distillers

This beautiful monstrosity of a bloody mary found inside a Watauga gas station leaves nothing to be desired. Topped with more than a meal’s worth of food (think bacon, a blistered jalapeño, jumbo shrimp, a slider, waffle fries, a piece of fried chicken and all the traditional garnishes), it’ll let you leave with a full tank of gas and a full stomach.

Readers’ Pick: Anvil Pub

Less than two years ago, Dallas’ most underrated eatery swung open its window. The red banner above the ordering window still read “comederia” in chunky white letters from the former taco stand. A chalkboard hanging in front announced the menu: a Cubano, coffees, sides, a roasted turkey sandwich and a Cuban burger made with a beef and chorizo patty, homemade spiced ketchup, pepper Jack and crispy potato strings on a soft roll. Now, and here’s the kicker, every sandwich at C. Señor can be ordered as a taco. What more do we need to say?

Readers’ Pick: Jimmy’s Food Store

The hot-dog joint is an endangered species in Dallas. In this city, tube meats simply don’t get the same love as burgers. Only a few true joints are left to grab a great hot dog, which means the good ones, the really stellar dogs, stand out. The Tokyo Dog at the newly opened Sumo Shack from Wabi House’s chef Dien Ngyuen is as bright as a star. It’s made with house blend of wagyu beef sausage and neatly piled with bonito flakes, scallion, caramelized onion and nori. The nori, fine columns of seaweed, stirs up an aroma of the sea. Despite the nontraditional ingredients, it somehow maintains the soul and heart of a good, old-fashioned dog.

Readers’ Pick: Angry Dog

Diner art happens at Jonathon’s. The pillars of a great diner are in place: The patty melt is a picturesque statue of meat, cheese, buttery mushrooms and onions. The fried chicken gets a Tabasco-warmed buttermilk brine and is deep-fried until it’s shattering. Get there as Jonathon’s opens, and you’ll catch the sound of the smoking-hot flat-top hissing as meat hits it. There’s gravy and biscuits, scratch made, and owner and chef Jonathon Erdeljac’s burger will dilate your pupils. It’s not one of Dallas’ oldest diners, but it’s the best.

Readers’ Pick: Norma’s Café

The first thing to love about Tom’s chicken-fried steak is the crunchy crust. The fried surface is made of Ruffles potato chips. The steak is bathed in buttermilk. The Tom behind Tom’s Burgers and Grill makes the steaks every morning, fresh as the bubbles in the gravy. Tom’s Burgers serves chicken-fried steak three ways: the cream gravy-covered way, with garlic, red mashed potatoes and Texas toast; between buttered, toasted brioche; and as breakfast, saddlebagged with two eggs, hash browns and toast.

Readers’ Pick: Babe’s Chicken Dinner House

Few restaurants in Dallas are as atypical as Ly Food Market, a combination convenience store, grocery, Thai music shop and jewelry counter deep in the heart of Oak Cliff, at the corner of Illinois Avenue and Cockrell Hill Road. Order at the front counter, and the kitchen in the back will bring forth superb executions of Thai classics such as pad kee mao — “drunken noodles” — bolder, more colorful and more vibrant than almost any other in town. Part of the boldness is because the owners are from Laos, and they’re not afraid to challenge American diners with the stronger savory and sour flavors of more traditional southeast Asian cooking. Fried pork ribs, juicy and crisp, come coated with diced garlic. Spicy papaya salad and fiery, cilantro-heavy beef larb are on hand for the adventurous, too.

Readers’ Pick: Royal Thai

The best top-to-bottom cheeseburger in the city right now is at Junction Craft Kitchen. The dry-aged beef, from Arrowhead in Kansas, is ground right into the Texas Akaushi (like wagyu) beef, along with fat from beef tenderloin for steak-level burgering. It’s cooked spot-on every time. Chef Joshua Harmon and crew build everything from the ground up, including the garlic mayo, the rounds of paper-thin pickles and the chips. Stunningly, the American cheese is made from scratch. The bun gets a hard toast. A crown of sheer white onions, seared directly to the patty, forms a nearly sweet crunch, something like a heartfelt homage to great diner burgers. It will transport you without leaving Deep Ellum.

Readers’ Pick: Twisted Root Burger Co.

Strangeways doesn’t have the largest beer selection in DFW, but it’s certainly not small — and biggest doesn’t always mean best. Strangeways is a bit of a dive compared with the city’s other craft beer heavy-hitters, but this underdog should not be underestimated. The best time to visit is during one of its epic themed weeks, including Barrel Week, when the bar devoted all 40 taps to barrel-aged brews, and Sour Week, when lovers of obscure and intense sours could geek out all week long. When Strangeways devote itself to a particular style, it goes all out, hoarding kegs to devote every tap to that week’s featured style. There’s something to be said for such focused dedication in the era of customers who expect endless choices.

Readers’ Pick: The Ginger Man

The benefits that come with operating a food truck normally don’t extend to barbecue. The size of most smokers, along with the long cook times that the best barbecue requires, generally make barbecue a better fit in a restaurant with four walls rather than four wheels. None of these challenges seems to faze Eric Hansen of Not Just Q. Not Just Q’s truck sports an onboard smoker that can fit up to 500 pounds of brisket, ribs, chicken, turkey, pulled pork and sausage, each of which is available by the pound, on a bun or in a tortilla. We’re big fans of the smoky and juicy brisket, which could be a star at most brick-and-mortars, and standout sides such as the homemade coleslaw or cheesy corn with bits of ham aren’t to be missed.

Pineapple pico, roasted peanut habanero, poblano pepita pesto — few Mexican restaurants in DFW give as much attention to salsa as Urban Taco, which serves a dozen salsas that you can taste in a trio for $3.50. At Urban Taco, you can make a whole meal out of chips and salsa and not feel bad about it. The mezcal selection doesn’t hurt, either.

Readers’ Pick: El Fenix

Squash blossom quesadillas, huitlacoche, tlayudas, enfrijoladas, banana leaf tamales: Mi Lindo Oaxaca’s menu is an exhilarating walk through the markets of the region to which it pays homage. This cash-only restaurant on Fort Worth Avenue has as sophisticated a kitchen as many in Dallas; the staff members make the bread and chocolate, too, which is used for the housemade mole sauce. Grasshoppers are on the menu, on memelitas and as filling in various other dishes. Not sure what to get on your first visit? We’d recommend Mi Lindo Oaxaca’s tlayuda, which is a bit like if The Rock was from Oaxaca and invented a bigger, meatier, crispier, more amazing version of the quesadilla.

At 20 pages, Flora Street Cafe’s wine list is impressively long. But it’s also impressively thorough and adventurous, with lots of attention paid to the natural wine movement and lesser-known regions and grape varietals. Of course, that’s not all to satisfy geeks: Obscure wines with less glamorous marketing are often good bargains. So skip Champagne and try excellent sparkling wine from Austria or Sicily; then spot a bargain in the “Interesting Red” section. Many of the adventures come courtesy of sommelier Madeleine Thompson, an eager explorer skilled at defusing the awkwardness that can come when ordering fine wine. Thompson’s move of beginning the wine list with a short selection of personal favorites is a habit we’d like to see elsewhere around town. Alhough she’s moving to another state for a new job, the cellars she leaves behind at Flora Street Cafe are still full of temptations.

In February, we exhaustively compared the products of nine local bakeries that specialize in macarons and came away impressed with four. This notoriously fickle dessert, batches of which can be ruined by the day’s humidity, has no better champion in Dallas than Chelles Macarons, available at stalls in the Dallas Farmers Market and Plano. The baking is consistently spot on and the flavors are balanced, never treacly or sickly sweet. And some of the best offerings from Chelles are also some of the most adventurous, such as black sesame seed or the sophisticated-tasting Fruity Pebbles.

The Dallas restaurant scene is overflowing with “modern” and “elevated” takes on Southern food, but chef Joshua Harmon and his adventurous team are leading the pack. Harmon sees unlikely parallels with the cuisines of East Asia, especially Korea, which make for clever dishes like a Korean-American dry-aged beef braise, Louisiana boudin in a steamed bun and miso pork belly served family style. Junction has a sense of humor, too. The potato salad is topped with one of the few ingredients that Harmon’s kitchen doesn’t make in house: Funyuns.

How is it that the best barbecue in Dallas comes from a place that’s only open two days a week for lunch? At Cattleack Barbecue, owners Todd and Misty David wouldn’t have it any other way. For just 3 1/2 hours on Thursdays and Fridays, Cattleack serves sublime examples of brisket, pulled pork, housemade sausage and pork ribs. The quality of these basics would be enough to warrant a visit, but each week also features a different special, such as boudin or pastrami burnt ends that are a must-try. Last year, a remodel allowed Cattleack to double the size of the dining room, and it added an extra day of service on the first Saturday of each month. We’ve sung the praises of Cattleack for years, so when Texas Monthly ranked Cattleack as the third-best barbecue joint in the state earlier this year, we did our best to act surprised. When it comes to barbecue in Dallas, Cattleack is without peer.

Readers’ Pick: Pecan Lodge

Newcomer Taquero opened on the corner of Singleton Boulevard and Chihuahua Avenue, deep in the heart of West Dallas, with just two parking spaces and outdoor-only seating. That hasn’t deterred its new legion of loyal fans who keep coming back for lightly creamy ceviche or the taco Olmeca, a huge blue-corn beauty filled with a combo of meats, onions and smoked salsa. Chef-owner Fino Rodriguez has a few more tricks up his sleeve: solid seafood tacos; Brussels sprouts imbued with smoky, savory Mexican flavors; addictive horchata; and a concise breakfast menu that includes chilaquiles. No wonder everyone looks so happy to eat a meal standing outside in the Texas summer.

Readers’ Pick: La Ventana

This North Dallas eatery is hidden in a strip mall where the chef and owners try to avoid media attention. When the Observer reviewed Sushi Yokohama in early 2017, restaurant staff asked us not to, saying they don’t need the attention and don’t like being in the news. But our Best Sushi pick from 2000 is still going strong 17 years later, with hard-to-find specialties like ankimo (rich, buttery monkfish liver) and sushi rolls constructed without rice. What’s best? Anything from the chef’s list of daily specials. No rice, no gimmicks, no press, no nonsense: Sushi Yokohama is all about the basics of great technique and great sourcing. The fish here is as fresh as any in Dallas, and the results are so stellar that we can’t help but give this restaurant the accolades it doesn’t want.

Readers’ Pick: The Blue Fish

Ducatis on the walls, sports trophies lining the booths, a giant fishtank with a submersible in it: Town Hearth is a pastiche of the Dallas steakhouse that transcends the format and justifies the silliness. Its open-fire grilling is superb. Wait for a special occasion, dress up and order a family-sized cut of meat like the enormous Battle Axe rib-eye. And, since no steakhouse would be complete without an over-the-top side or two, Town Hearth offers irresistible “tots du jour” and good fried oysters, too. With the atmosphere, the friendly service, the cocktails and the big ol’ slabs of meat, Town Hearth looks likely to be one of 2017’s favorite places for a big, splurging night out.

Readers’ Pick: Al Biernat’s

For some Dallasites, seafood restaurants mean polished parlors with elegant Mediterranean dishes, exactingly sourced oysters, socialites buzzing over Champagne cocktails and ever-rising prices. But for much of the city, seafood restaurants are mariscos stops, kitchens owned by Mexican-Americans that serve affordable ceviche, shrimp cocktails, soups and fry baskets. Seafood Shack, which has three locations in Dallas and Mesquite, is a consistent purveyor of filling, lime-kissed ceviche tostadas, enormous flautas stuffed with tail-on fried shrimp, and solid fried seafood baskets with the likes of cornbread-battered catfish. But most surprising about Seafood Shack are the bonuses, like ultratender fried okra, terrific fries and calamari as expertly cooked as comparable dishes at much fancier restaurants. For those who really need a boost, Seafood Shack’s menu also boasts $4 shots of whiskey.

Readers’ Pick: Nate’s Seafood & Steak House

How ambitious and forward-thinking can a taco restaurant be? Fort Worth taqueria Revolver Taco Lounge is setting the bar high and establishing a new standard in Dallas at its new Deep Ellum location, both in its more traditional taqueria front room and in the reservation-only backroom, Purepecha. Purepecha guests can expect refined, even sublime takes on traditional Mexican cooking, including chayote-corn soup, raw fish preparations and duck breast paired with a mole prepared by owner Regino Rojas’ mother, Juanita. Up front, the tacos are often just as ambitious, whether they contain octopus and fried leeks or frog legs tossed in Thai curry paste. Perhaps most exciting about Revolver is that the restaurant and its driven crew have room to grow even more creative in the years to come.

Readers’ Pick: Haymaker Dallas

Bilad, an outstanding Iraqi-owned bakery and grocery in Richardson, could have won this award based just on its heavenly fresh baklava, the best we’ve found anywhere near Dallas. It also could have won this accolade based just on samoon, the pillowy Iraqi-recipe bread with pinches of dough at the ends, made onsite and available to take home or to eat at Bilad in sandwich form. It almost doesn’t matter what kind of sandwich you order — the falafel is excellent, as is the shawarma — as long as the bread is this good. Bilad doesn’t stint on veggies or pickles, either. And it’sAbY generous in other ways: The restaurant sponsors a program that allows poor and homeless community members to dine for free.

Readers’ Pick: Café Izmir

Noodles or dumplings? At Arirang, in Carrollton’s Korean-American hub, these are two great options. Indeed, given how focused the kitchen is on its specialties, handmade noodles and dumplings are just about the only options. Perhaps choose noodles with a diabolically spicy eggplant sauce that can only be tamed, cruelly, by another bite of noodles. It’s hard to go wrong, too, with fat dumplings stuffed with pork or kimchi. Can’t decide? Go for the bowl of noodle soup with a rich broth that also includes a collection of small dumplings. Carb overload rarely tastes as good as it does at this superb little restaurant, which remains a secret little known by diners from the rest of Dallas.

Readers’ Pick: bbbop Seoul Kitchen