This is a Mexican-inspired restaurant from the same team behind Sister, The Charles, and Cafe Duro. The service is top-notch, and the atmosphere feels like a high-end Mexico City restaurant—there’s an in-house masa program for all corn-based plates, a brilliant mezcal menu, and killer cocktails. Get the lengua-filled quesadilla with Oaxaca cheese and caramelized vegetables that comes with pickled giardiniera and dense, rich mole, and don’t leave without trying the pork al pastor.

Tatsu is one of the most difficult reservations in Dallas. But unless you love throwing money around, it's likely only going to be a once-a-year hassle—this is the table you book when something truly remarkable is happening in your life. The city’s greatest sushi spot lists the origin of everything they serve on the menu—even the salt—and dishes mix local produce with the best stuff they can fly in from Japan.

There are two ways to do Sanjh. Go for dinner, and you’ll get an upscale experience complete with white tablecloths and suit-clad servers. Start with delicate spheres of dahi puri filled with tangy yogurt foam and topped with tart, crunchy pomegranate seeds, then move to tender goat kebabs cooked in tandoor ovens until they’re glowing orbs of spice and char. A side of creamy black dal should be mandatory here.

A seat surrounding the hearth and the ocean-blue tiled pizza oven is one of the best vantage points for eating Italian food anywhere in the city. Savor the deeply satisfying sight of watching the pizzaiolo whirl dough, sauce, and then slide a fresh pie right into the mouth of a roaring oven. Especially if it’s Partenope’s margherita, where fresh tomatoes, olive oil, and big medallions of fresh mozzarella beef up an otherwise humble pie.

Cattleack is the go-to BBQ spot for catering large groups in DFW, and is open for lunch on Thursdays and Fridays (plus the first Saturday of the month for their Whole Hog Day). It’s home to some of the juiciest charred brisket in the Lone Star state—the portions are massive and big enough to feed everyone you came with and then some. Wrap your hands around the pork ribs, smoked ribeyes, and marbled Akaushi beef brisket. It’s BYOB, so grab a few beers on the way.

The duck-fat fried chicken at this low-key but elegant Southern restaurant in the North Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch is famous for a reason: it’s excellent, and you should definitely order it. But you’re missing out if you don’t also try chef Tiffany Derry gumbo and Texas red fish. Dinner at Roots Southern Table works for just about any occasion—just make sure you come here with someone who’s down to split it all and still consider dessert.

Restaurant Beatrice is a Cajun-style sit-down spot in Oak Cliff that has two different outdoor spaces, bar seating, and a casually elegant dining room. You can bring just about anyone here and have a great time, whether that’s your parents and your grandparents, a new romantic partner, a nowhere-near-new romantic partner, or just little old you for a solo meal. The menu changes seasonally, but a few current and classic favorites include the gulf shrimp and grits, duck confit, and fried chicken.

Mot Hai Ba is as consistently great today as it was when it was the new kid on the block, a come-as-you-are joint with unusual Vietnamese food from a Serbian chef that’s still special enough for a birthday or anniversary dinner. There are crowdpleasing classics like kimchi foie gras dumplings, garlic noodles, and binchotan-grilled fish. You might find yourself ordering the escargot bolognese-stuffed agnolotti, because the server’s suggestions haven’t missed all evening.

At Lucia, half the fun is watching the cooks swirl sauce into the just-fired fettuccine through the open kitchen. It adds to the feeling that you’re in a good friend’s kitchen at this cozy Bishop Arts Italian restaurant—if your friend served prunes stuffed with foie gras mousse, or made their own salumi, cut into panes as pretty as stained glass. On a recent visit, that fettucini came bright green with parsley and pesto, a balance of acidic, creamy, and even crunchy (thanks to chopped almonds).

A night at Purepecha means finding the almost-hidden door at Revolver Taco Lounge between rowdy bars in Deep Ellum, walking into the kitchen, and sitting at a communal table for a few hours. Warm corn tortillas and hand-ground salsa molcajeteada start things off homestyle, but rather than a family meal, you’re in for a seven-course, artfully plated tasting menu that highlights the traditions of Michoacán for $180.

Their patio opens onto the sidewalk of Lower Greenville, East Dallas’s famous stretch of bars and restaurants, so you can sit back and watch the nightlife while downing $8 Happy Hour wings. Ultra-crispy but tender under the skin, and splashed with Ngon’s house nước chấm sauce, these wings could be a soul-soothing meal all on their own. You should branch out. Fried rice gets big bolts of crab and torn eggs, while the spring rolls come with bright ginger- or pineapple-spiked fish sauce dips.

You might not judge a book by its cover, but you do judge a brisket by its bark. At Smokey Joe’s, the brisket’s exterior is as black as a star-less night sky—and, even better, its tender, juicy interior makes it among the most flavorful barbecue in Dallas. Get it by the pound or in sandwich form, like The Maxi, which consists of two sausage links in addition to the chopped brisket. Save stomach real estate for the loaded potatoes and crispy nuggets of fried okra.

When the curtain goes up at this serene, minimalist eight-seat restaurant, you'll start one of the best and most singular dining experiences in Dallas—and the city’s only yakitori omakase. The $200 menu runs for about 12 courses, and changes often, but starters might include an uni-spiked mushroom chawanmushi that eats like silky custard. Or toasted milk bread topped with a mountain of creamy chicken liver pate that might be the best open-faced sandwich you’ll ever have.

This is a trip up and down both sides of the Mediterranean coast, with a cross-cultural menu that offers chicken shawarma and chicken cooked under a brick. There are excellent pastas, too, like the tube-shaped casarecce in a sharp, spicy tomato sauce heaped with a cloud of burrata. Tartare and crudo dishes are shooting stars in whatever form they show up in, usually zapped with mint or bathing in a bell pepper puree. The bar doubles as a somewhat fancy night out.

Written By The Seasons makes the case for Dallas as a pan-seared-branzino-and-radicchio-salad kind of place. A bright and airy Bishop Arts staple that just opened a second branch Uptown, Written goes heavy on the veg, whether that’s roasted, tossed in a salad, or blended into a soup. The bread is some of the best on either side of the Trinity, including a cherry tomato-studded focaccia and a zingy sourdough.

Rye is a first-date-worthy spot with a sense of humor. The food is kooky and creative, sometimes downright silly, like the tiny Icelandic hot dog served on a postal stamp-sized slab of rye bread, hitting all the sweet, salty, savory (and cute) notes. The Za’tartare, with rainbow carrots, fava beans, beets, and coconut “egg yolk,” is a visual play on beef tartare, but its balanced acidity and deep root vegetable flavor celebrates the carrots instead of trying to turn them into meat.

12 years in, Gemma revamped its white-tablecloth vibe and Mediterranean menu and emerged as a more casual neighborhood bistro. It’s never been better, and the hard-seared steaks with crackly onion rings or double wagyu cheeseburgers with confit onions make the French food here feel a little more Texan. And thick slices of jalapeño and grapefruit segments dress up classic Italian ingredients—think burrata or garlicky breadcrumbs—like spurs on boots.

Dallas’ Uptown neighborhood is where you’ll find historic Victorian homes, trendy cocktail bars, and, perhaps surprisingly, some of the city’s best fajitas. When it comes to carne and negronis, Las Palmas doesn't play around. Both are staples of their Tex-Mex establishment, which features moody lighting and an indie rock playlist. The wagyu fajitas that come doused in bone marrow butter sauce are so good that you just might find yourself right back in the same seat the next day.

Resident Taqueria is fast-casual as it was meant to be: sensational food served lightning fast. Grab a seat on the patio or perch at the bar to watch the cook on the flat top, and start with the stretchy cheese fundido served in personal-sized cast-iron pans. The menu changes monthly, and the tacos range from classic to quirky, like the Duck, Duck, Quail: duck confit and duck foie gras, draped with a sunny-side-up duck egg. Important: Margaritas are available to go by the gallon.

The earthy-sweet blue corn pancakes at Bishop Arts are proof that everything really is bigger in Texas, while the hash browns are as thick as a deck of cards—and crunchy enough that you’ll need to ask your dining partner to repeat themselves. Beyond brunch, if there’s such a thing as a Texan brasserie, this is it, with dinner dishes like a charred pork chop served over braised collard greens and cheesy, poblano-specked grits. How about a bourbon cocktail with a creole shrub?

The Japanese food here is timeless: monkfish pate, tuna tartare, beautifully plated nigiri sushi, grilled salmon collar, all of it flown in from Tokyo daily and so fresh, you can almost taste the Pacific Ocean on it. But soba is the real reason to come, whether you’re dipping the handmade buckwheat noodles into sauces like sparkling dashi and Texas pecan, or slurping soba carbonara made with Japanese mushrooms. If you’re feeling extra special, there's a $250 omakase option that's well worth it.

Koryo has been a staple of Korean barbecue in Dallas for more than two decades, but thanks to a post-pandemic makeover, it’s better than ever—new owners, new look, same old permit to use real charcoal grills indoors. Those hot coals make their mark on the marinated beef short ribs, Berkshire pork collar, and the ribeye pulled from the restaurant’s dry-aging cabinet. Koryo is generous with its rotating parade of banchan, which are some of the best in Dallas.

Chef Shine Tamaoki carefully cradles, pearls of white rice, forming them into structurally perfect platforms for nigiri—including superfatty otoro, delicate sea bream, and off-menu specials like flounder fin—right in front of you (if you sit at the bar). The rest of the menu is where things get fun: Japanese tradition for Texas palates. That means ponzu-soaked uni shooters, chawanmushi with tender snow crab swimming in savory custard, and a riff on fish and chips.

Potato churros with a black truffle and caramelized onion dip. Butter-poached oysters with caviar on the half-shell. These snacks are a hint of the sweet-savory-salty rollercoaster that Georgie might take you on, so strap in. The signature soup is a playful upside-down version of French onion consomme: caramelized alliums under a grilled cheese custard crowned with a dome of whipped-then-torched gruyere sauce. Simple roasted chicken and grass-fed filets are mainstays on the menu.

There are plenty of the usual salads and curries, but also dishes you don’t often see at Dallas Thai restaurants, like the charred pork shoulder moo yang with a tangy jeaw dipping sauce. The lush, chickeny thom kha gai soup will cure what ails you, especially if that ailment is being hungover, while the moo deng offers homemade pork sausage floating in sour-spicy broth alongside fish balls and crunchy fried wontons.