The Resy Hit List: Where In Dallas You’ll Want to Eat in June 2024
There’s no question we hear more often: Where should I go eat? And while we at Resy know it’s an honor to be the friend who everyone asks for restaurant advice, we also know it’s a complicated task. That’s where the Resy Hit List comes in.
We’ve designed it to be your essential resource for dining in Dallas and Fort Worth: a monthly-updated (and now expanded!) guide to the restaurants that you won’t want to miss — tonight or any night.
Four Things In Dallas-Fort Worth Not to Miss This Month
- The Grandmother of Juneteenth: In a change this year, Dr. Opal Lee will conduct her annual 2.5-mile walk, commemorating the 2.5 years it took for full enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, around the African American Museum of Dallas in Fair Park. To learn more about Dallas’ Black history landmarks, as of June 19 you’ll also be able to download “Soul of Deep Ellum,”a collaboration app between the city of Dallas and historian-in-residence Deah Berry Mitchell.
- Be a Lifelong (Pizza) Learner: In time for hosting outdoor shindigs your guests won’t soon forget, chef Dino Santonicola’s Saturday afternoon pizza classes will teach you how to make legit Neapolitan-style pies. The hands-on class starts at the Partenope Dallas location at 2 p.m., and the only test involves eating your own creation. Get tickets here.
- Downtown Views Meet Downward Dog: Every third Saturday this summer presents the opportunity to get your flow on with rooftop yoga on the pool deck at The Adolphus. Beginning June 15, the $30 class ends with a post-savasana mimosa or Ritual Zero Proof cocktail. Find more food- and drink-oriented pastimes at our Events page.
- Spritz Season: Aperitivo hour is the new happy hour, and one of the newest launches pursuant to Italy’s magic hour can be found Monday through Thursday, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., at Carbone Vino. Its ritzy, climate-controlled patio makes favorable environs for antipasti, like chicken parm sliders, whipped truffle ricotta, and pea and prosciutto salad. Not sure if they do this in Europe, but there are also mozzarella sticks à la chef Mario Carbone.
New to the Hit List (June 2024)
Hadramout, James Provisions, Nikki Greek, Radici, Teddy Wongs.
1. Gemma Knox/Henderson
Gemma recently celebrated its 10th birthday with a smart new interior and menu refresh aimed at matching the growth of the neighborhood. It somehow feels even more “classic” now in its new French bistro era, with dishes like veal sweetbreads, trout almondine, and herby fries that come alongside many dishes: moule, poulet, steak, duck, and on Thursdays, shrimp with sauce américaine. The wine list is also a little more worldly. Owners Stephen Rogers and Allison Yoder have worked in the business long enough to know not to change crowd favorites, though. The complimentary fig scones, fried Castelvetrano olives with warm Texas pecans, and yes, rabbit pappardelle can be counted on to be as toothsome as we remember.
2. James Provisions Hurst
When The New York Times reviewed James, a restaurant in a Brooklyn brownstone that ran from 2008 to 2022, it was called “an example of how quietly sophisticated the food at restaurants fashioned as affordable neighborhood bistros has become.” The same can be said for the restaurant’s second iteration, opened by Deborah Williamson in Hurst, just a few miles from her North Richland Hills hometown, this March. She’s brought the all-star items from the former restaurant to Texas, including the roasted chicken in 18-hour jus and grass-fed beef burgers that will appease gluten-free and keto diets. Serving dinners and weekend brunch for the health-conscious, or otherwise, it’s a “fine-casual” neighborhood joint we all need, no matter where we’re living.
3. Bricks and Horses Cultural District
In three months since opening, this cowboy-chic chophouse and its bar inside Auberge Resorts’ Bowie House have become the rallying point for cowpoke royalty in Cowtown. Mains are as you’d imagine: dry-aged steaks, bacon-wrapped filet mignon, venison steak, and wild boar chops, followed by a rolling pie cart. Las Vegas-trained chef Antonio Votta goes beyond flair, though, sourcing meat from six Texas ranches — including Taylor Sheridan’s 6666 Ranch — to be grilled over Texas charcoal. Votta skillfully taps into wider Southern delicacies, too, like the pâté of the South, pimento cheese, served in a caddy with French onion and smoked salmon dips, along with a sleeve of Ritz crackers cut tableside. And the beguiling hunk of hummingbird cake could make you momentarily forget about Grandma’s version.
4. Namo West Village
There’s a lot you might not know about the current state of Brandon and Henry Cohanim’s sushi bar. The major changes start with a new executive chef, Kazuhito Mabuchi, who in 2022 came from Los Angeles’s Sushi Ginza Onadera. There’s also now a dedicated buyer in Tokyo who selects top-quality fish to deliver to Mabuchi each Tuesday, which allows the restaurant to offer seasonal choices not seen elsewhere in town. For a superlative experience, monthly omakase nights are the way to go. It starts with several otsumami (small plates), followed by ten pieces or more of nigiri, plus miso soup, tamago, and dessert. Or try the new lunch okonomi, a $75 bargain that includes a salad, two sashimi courses, the creamiest chawanmushi in town, six pieces of nigiri, and more.
5. Beverley’s Bistro & Bar Knox
The first of Greg and Nik Katz’s en vogue restaurants (with Clifton Club and Green Point also in the mix) celebrated its fifth birthday last month — all the more reason to revisit for standbys, like caviar and latkes, matzo ball soup, and that wonderful chicken schnitzel. You also could investigate some recently added dishes: easy-to-eat Roman-style artichokes, bluefin tuna crudo sprinkled with sumac, or a modest-but-mighty half roasted chicken with jus. Imagine it all with a well-rounded wine list or a Ruby Collins with Lady Bird ruby red grapefruit soda — all on one of Dallas’s prettiest patios with palmy Beverly Hills vibes.
6. Latin Deli Northeast Dallas
When Fernando Barrera put out a call for support for his 13-year-old sandwich gem in northeast Dallas, the city stepped up. In a post earlier this year, Barrera lamented the surmounting challenges of restaurant ownership, worsened by a bout of vandalization. Instead of creating a GoFundMe, he asked followers to remember his tasty food the next time they were hungry. The prospect of permanently losing out on Cubanos with housemade fries, Latin-style crepes, and Chocoflan put a fire in the pants of his followers. In a heartwarming update two weeks later, Barrera shared he was able to repair his broken windows three weeks earlier than anticipated. With patio season in full-swing and super-efficient takeout, it’s still a great time to go.
More info here.
7. The Charles Design District
Opened in 2018, before the recent flooding of new, upscale Italian spots, The Charles remains an “Italian-inspired” stunner, and plenty in vogue. With a kitchen turning out voluptuous lemon ricotta gnudi and blue crab bucatini, along with wood-fired wagyu tomahawks and whole branzino, how could it not be? Indulgences arrive in an eclectic Renaissance dining room to match, with pilasters, fresco paintings, cheetah print booths, and purple neon lights. Capped with charming and professional service, it’s clear why Duro Hospitality’s first concept was the beginning of a beautiful relationship for Dallas Italian food lovers.
8. Nalinh Dallas Koreatown
Long before the now-closed Khao Noodle Shop put Dallas’s Lao food scene on the national map, Nikki Senephoumy was cooking up larb, Lao sausages, noodles and papaya salads at the back of a strip mall — for 23 years, in fact. Business never recovered its pre-pandemic bustle, so Senephoumy moved moved last month to DanSungSa, a popular late-night Koreatown spot. Now, every day except Monday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., she makes good use of an empty kitchen, pleasing old regulars and curious new neighbors with her Lao-Thai recipes. Pro tip: Arrive between 5:30 and 6 p.m. during the changing of the kitchen guard to get the best of both worlds, with Lao-Thai and Korean menus to order from.
More info here.
9. Bobbie’s Airway Grill Preston Hollow
If every neighborhood were so lucky to have its own Bobbie’s — a place where people dress up for lunch and eat impeccable salads — the world might be a better place. It comes from Western Addition, the restaurant group behind Park Cities’s il Bracco, but with polished service and a menu encompassing classics like rainbow trout almondine, meatloaf, and tuna burgers, it certainly feels like they took a page from Hillstone, once referred to as America’s favorite restaurant. The architecturally inspiring space was once Dougherty’s Airway Pharmacy. Now, it’s serving up another form of remedy with flawless lunch and dinner service.
10. Kaiyo Dallas
As the rage for omakase spreads like wildfire, in Dallas and nationally, there are times when it’s nice to sit and order à la carte, without the $200 per person starting price tag. Jimmy Park’s sushi spot on bar-hopping-friendly Lower Greenville Avenue is perfect for that. (If you are searching for omakase in the same neighborhood, however, Park’s stellar Shoyo is one block down.) An extensive cocktail list and sakes pair well with lower-priced nigiri and sashimi sets. The chefs keep the fun coming with more casual hot bites, like pork jowl skewers, udon curry bowls, oyster gyozas, and shrimp wonton soup. The spot is especially #trending on Thursday nights and weekends, and its appeal isn’t likely to wane anytime soon, so do a little pre-jollity planning to snag that Resy.
11. Wicked Butcher – Dallas Downtown
The space formerly known as Dallas Chop House reopened downtown after an almost four-year, pandemic-induced closure. Instead of reviving the chop house, DRG Concepts CEO Nafees Alam decided to bring his successful steakhouse from downtown Fort Worth to the Big D — but kept Chop House’s famously enormous popovers. There is something for most everyone: Oysters, Chilean sea bass, lobster bucatini — and you guessed it — plenty of butcher cuts with accompaniments like tableside truffle butter. Truffles make another appearance in bartender Ravinder Singh’s truffle Negroni, which might change your mind about red wine being the best accompaniment to steak.
12. Little Daisy Downtown
Opened in March on the ninth floor of Thompson Dallas, this isn’t your average hotel restaurant. Executive chef Jeramie Robison is now serving all-day French-Cajun-inflected meals, including weekend brunch. The menu offers top of the line meats and poultry, like Snake River wagyu steak frites and Jidori chicken, but seafood also looms large, with king crab Louie, oysters Rockefeller, wild salmon crudo in absinthe-melon consommé, and fruits de mer “plateaus” for three or six. When making plans, keep in mind the daily Iceberg Hour from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., when two 50-cent, ice-cold martinis come with every half-dozen order of East Coast oysters.
13. Cafe Americana Arlington
This new Spanish-influenced restaurant with leadership hailing from Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Morocco, and the Philippines is a groovy setting to toast Arlington’s status as one of the most diverse cities in America. Caribbean cocktails like the three-rum Rude Boy Punch segue smoothly into tapas like Peruvian chicken skewers, yucca bravas, and sticky wings in spicy guava sauce. This is Texas, so larger appetites can go all in with four types of steak or a manchego cheeseburger. Possibly the best part of international grazing in the jungle green dining room is supporting a down-to-earth, homegrown enterprise that smacks with talent.
Find more info here.
14. Teddy Wongs Near Southside
Need we say more than dumplings and wine? That’s the tagline for this Near Southside draw that is filling a large void of Chinese food in Fort Worth with lobster dumplings, har gow, and wagyu potstickers. “Mains that wok” include chef Patrick Wu’s steak fried rice and Mongolian beef with meat from 44 Farms, along with mapo tofu, kung pao shrimp, and Szechuan string beans. A full Peking duck never hurt anyone, either. Determine your favorite Chinese food-wine pairing by perusing the entire wine list, one 3-ounce pour at a time. Or, order a whole bottle of “giggle juice,” with prices ranging from $29 to $320. All options point to bliss at this rare spot that can keep step with budget dates or more elaborate celebrations.
15. Tango Room Design District
Nothing says “time to celebrate” like prime steaks and a good bottle from the top of the cellar, and truth is, Dallas has plenty of places to choose from in this arena. But Tango Room’s maroon circular booths offer an intimacy and coziness (and slightly lower volume level) than others. It also offers cuts not found elsewhere, like an Allen Brothers Denver steak and a bone-in, dry-aged Kansas city strip. For those extra-celebratory evenings, add seared foie gras or sauce chasseur, while sipping rare glassfuls, like a 1935 Sandeman port, sourced by wine devotee and co-owner Simon Roberts.
16. Sister Restaurant Greenville Ave
This Lower Greenville Avenue spot brings vernal vibes year-round. Whether it’s the indoor foliage or the vegetable-forward menu with a section dedicated to played-up produce, Sister always feels a little bit healthier than other splurge-worthy spots. The beets and avocado with tahini, and the charred eggplant dip with crudités, shouldn’t be slept on. While it’s true the healthiest food group gets a proper spotlight here, meat-eaters will still be satiated with wild “boarnaise” pasta, wagyu short rib, and Akaushi hanger steak with cucumber labneh. And then there’s the $299 item on the cocktail menu: the One Night Stand, which helpfully comes with a stay in Casa Duro, the hotel above the restaurant, and a bottle of bubbles.
17. Radici Wood Fired Grill Farmers Branch
With the opening of Radici, sister restaurant to Roots Southern Table, star chef Tiffany Derry has returned to her culinary roots with the first cuisine she learned to cook professionally. Expect full-scale Italian with a modern embrace, like herby lasagna blanca with Modena-inspired white Bolognese, or wood-fired Kurobuta pork chops with sweet-and-sour Boretanne onions. Cheese-pull lovers will be in paradise, with mozzarella in carrozza, a fried cheese sandwich named for the reins of a horse carriage. Regardless of your choices, do not skip Italy’s most prized salumi, the culatello di Zibello, which comes from the meatiest part of a pork’s leg (hence the name “little ass”). It’s like butter.
Call 214-550-7900 for reservations.
18. Urban Tadka Irving
Desi food-lovers know Irving as the best enclave in Dallas-Fort Worth for spice-laden curries, biryanis, and samosas, but no survey of the best Indian food is complete without a visit to Urban Tadka. For nearly 12 years, Happy and Mona Singh have been serving Punjabi specialities in a storefront humming with Bhajan music and a phone line ringing with takeout orders. Punjab’s most famous and delectable dishes — including mouth-watering, crimson-red tandoori chicken and creamy housemade paneer with the option of twelve different gravies — are cooked to order, so budget some time. Desserts seem to be the only area of the menu toned down from what’s found on the subcontinent, with gulab jamun and gajrella (halwa) containing a tad less sugar than customary.
19. Hadramout Restaurant Plano and Irving
If you can’t yet name off examples of Yemeni cuisine, it’s time for a firsthand taste of lamb mandi and chicken zorbian, rice dishes with low-and-slow cooked meats Texans should find familiar — and extremely delish. Hadramout’s locations in Plano and Irving are the type of restaurant where the disposable plastic tablecloths are necessary, and if you so wish, you can experience jalsa dining, aka floor seating, and dig into platters of spiced meats and rice with your hands. For those predisposed to Western traditions, tables and silverware are also available. The lamb is so tender, though, all you’ll need is a spoon.
20. Nikki Greek Bistro & Lounge Dallas
For a long time, the owners behind the Ivy Tavern, Tom and Lisa Georgalis, wanted a Greek restaurant more akin to the ones they patronize when visiting family in Greece. So in April they opened Nikki, a taverna and late-night lounge that feels a bit like island hopping, with various dining areas including one lined with ancient-looking urns to a more formal peach-toned room that opens onto an ivy-lined patio. The menu beguiles with dishes not commonly found at Texas’ Greek restaurants, like citrus-cured fish with pistachio gremolata and a scrumptious orange custard cake, called portokalópita. The moussaka and creamy avgolemono soup come from family recipes, and the Greek-inspired martinis, like the baklava espresso and limoncello cheesecake, will have you cheers-ing “Yamas!”
