The July Hit List: Standard Service, Revolver Taco Lounge, Ame, and More

This new-but-not-the-newest outpost from restaurateur-about-town Felipe Armenta showcases the cuisine of his San Angelo youth — with a decidedly upscale varnish. The menu is condensed hit list (yeah, yeah) of Mexican cuisine favorites, from fajitas to carnitas to enchiladas. The latter, with fresh crab, features a trio of enchiladas blanketed with three separate sauces (spicy almond, poblano, and sour cream), and is a decadent display of refined perfection. On the “botanas” menu, make sure to order the short rib sopes and queso compuesto, and bring a friend or three to share/inhale it all.

From the maker of HG Sply Co. and the now-defunct Dallas haunt Gung Ho comes Elias Pope’s hardly-standard-issue restaurant. Amid the cornhole, pickleball, ping-pong tables, fire pits, and live music, there’s some pretty terrific food on hand. That’s thanks to culinary director Danyele McPherson (she of “Top Chef” fame) and her visionary approach to gastropub fare.

The chef’s old Lower Greenville stomping grounds are represented in the Remedy Burger (American cheese, creamy mustard, and shredded lettuce, unite!) and the Remedy Burger Tacos, but the menu also skews eclectic with didn’t-see-that-coming shrimp lo mein and cheese ravioli chicken Alfredo. Is there a better place to grab a cabana and divvy up shareables like loaded tots and HG Sply’s iconic garlic brussels sprouts, while your kids disappear for hours?

It’s a romantic notion: realizing your neighborhood lacks the kind of restaurant you like, and deciding to open said restaurant. Lake Highlands resident Erin Willis did just that. When she opened RM 12:20 Bistro in late 2018, she nevertheless got pushback for creating a haven for adults, where high chairs and kids’ menus were nonexistent. But there’s a refreshing youthfulness in the dining room, which hums, and the menu, which offers a tantalizing array of seasonal dishes like artichokes with clarified butter, shallots and aioli, and pan-seared salmon with shaved zucchini and a spinach curry sauce. Wednesdays are $9 caramelized onion, brie, and arugula burger nights, served with a bounty of fries that will make any kid-at-heart happy.

Gino Rojas has brought his cult-favorite restaurant back to Fort Worth, where it began, with the opening of this new Sundance Square restaurant. All of the menu favorites are back, plus a welcome addition: Rojas’ restaurant-within-a-restaurant-concept — just like in Deep Ellum. This one is called Purepecha, and its mission is the same as in Dallas, dedicating an intense, delicious focus on Michoacan dishes. Still, the regular menu continues to evolve and impress, from a more-mainstream wagyu carne asada tacos to the off-the-beaten-path rabbit meatball soup.

This modern Indian restaurant from mother-daughter Afifa and Sabrina Nayeb plays all the right notes, bringing innovative twists and a French flair to the cuisine. From poppy-seed lamb rolls to a paneer salad with Campari tomatoes, the flavors are familiar yet elegantly finessed. The communal vibe provides an enhanced experience, with dishes like the cashew chicken tikka and pistachio lamb chops practically begging to be shared. Combine it all in a sophisticated dining room with emerald hues and retro finishes, and diners are in for a unique and upscale, yet completely accessible, meal.

This Italian import swept into downtown with hardly any hubbub, yet there’s big buzz about the dishes coming out of its kitchen at the new Kimpton Harper Hotel. The most noise is about its pasta, made before your eyes in a glassed-in pasta-making room — and for good reason. (Pasta-making classes are soon to come.) Other standouts include the whole branzino and a recent Father’s Day special: a 22-ounce bone-in rib-eye for the table. The sophisticated dining room reads “special occasion” but the menu (and the restaurant’s backers) want customers to know it’s simply serving “classic Italian fare with a modern flair.”

This unique spot in Uptown strives to live up to its name (“drinking snacks” in Korean), aiming to be one part bar and one part upscale Asian dining den, and it all works. The concept, from One Esca owner Michael Kim and chef Don Flores, improves on typical bar fare, from the Angus dumplings to the kimchi and pork belly tacos. And an exciting brunch menu beckons, with an emphasis on eclectic ingredients — Hawaiian bread, tonkatsu-marinated lobster grits, bacon flatbread, and more pork belly, this time on nachos. Add an expansive patio, plus karaoke and comedy nights, and it makes for destination dining and drinking all rolled into one.

This inclusive, midcentury modern-styled bistro aims to offer a relaxed place for diners to enjoy “good food and crafted cocktails” downtown, and it achieves that mission and then some. The lunch menu includes a hot crispy chicken sandwich and a burger, both featuring umami-loving upgrades such as togarashi and bread-and-butter pickles on the chicken, and smoked gouda, caramelized onions, and pickled mustard seeds on the burger. Decadent pastas (ricotta cavatelli with sausage ragu; saffron cappellini with whipped ricotta) and a lush Berkshire bone-in pork chop number among the dinner options, and the bruleed brie is a must-order, either for an appetizer or a dessert. A kids’ menu (petite steak frites!) further underscores that everyone is welcome.

At this buzzy rooftop restaurant atop the buzzy new RH showroom, the artisanal prosciutto, burrata platters, and crispy artichokes with potatoes will make you scream “let’s go!” like your 14-year-old son. Sadly, that kind of thing is frowned upon in this uber-refined bastion of high-end furnishings. Yet the RH burger, with sharp American cheese, pickles, onions, Dijonnaise (add the thick-cut pork belly bacon for $6) is worth any Dallas attitude. (Plus, your son will like it.) Add a side of french fries with garlic aioli and you’ll feel almost transported to the south of France. The 16-ounce charred rib eye has a hefty price tag ($59) but goes down better than, say, the $995 Wabi-Sabi hand-braided jute rug downstairs.

Call 214-520-7255 for reservations and more info.

Sushi with a view, anyone? This cocktail and sake lounge, on the 50th floor of the National, offers “globally sourced fish and seafood.” Translation: This place is pricey, but it’s worth the splurge. The last time downtown saw Asian-inspired food-with-a-view this good was at Wolfgang Puck’s Five Sixty atop Reunion Tower. Among the showstoppers, the king crab nigiri with drawn butter, crab, and caviar, and the Miyazaki nigiri, with wagyu, salmon, and caviar revel in sheer decadence. Japanese cocktails such as the Kyoto Fashioned, which features Japanese whisky and red snapper-filtered sake, at once complement and elevate the food to new heights.

Call 214-239-9999 for reservations.