The Resy Hit List: Where In Dallas You’ll Want to Eat in Sept. 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 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
- Pizzana’s New ‘Do: When Pizzana brought its nationally-acclaimed pizzas to Knox Street two years ago, the only thing it still needed was a bar. We talked. They listened. Now, we can sidle up for lunch and partake of a new pizza by-the-slice menu, or scoot in for half-off wine and beer and antipasti specials from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m on weekdays. And yes, you can reserve those daytime tables.
- Culinary Collabs: This month, Georgie chef RJ Yoakum has called in friends from two of the nation’s most sought-after restaurants for two nights of tempting teamwork. On September 16, chef Alberto Marcolongo from New York’s Benoit brings contemporary French flavors to Highland Park, and on Sept. 17, chef Jeremiah Langhorne of The Dabney shows Dallas the beauty of Mid-Atlantic cuisine. A portion of sales from the six-course feasts will go to Bonton Farms, the South Dallas nonprofit. And of course keep up on more Resy Events here.
- Celebrating Six Years of Sushi: Namo is hosting a series of dinners in celebration of its success in the West Village this month. You’ll need to promptly snag a spot for All-You-Can-Eat-Sushi* (with a caveat) on Sept. 18 and the two nights (Sept. 21 and Sept. 22) of omakase teamwork withvisiting chef Snezhana Briukhanova of Miami’s Sunset Sushi. You won’t need tickets for the discounted Japanese whisky pours to go with binchotan selections on Sept. 19, or the uni-and-Champagne-by-the-glass night on Sept. 20, but you will need a Resy.
- All Things New: Breaking up this summer’s new restaurant ennui, Big Dill Hospitality and chef Omar Flores (the team behind Muchacho Tex-Mex and Whistle Britches) have opened Even Coast, a neighborhood spot in Addison that’s equally perfect for power lunches or date nights. The menu encompasses most of what diners crave: seafood, sandwiches, fresh pastas, and prime steaks. Check more new openings at New on Resy.
New to the Hit List (Sept. 2024)
Culpepper Cattle Company, Fortune House, Kinzo, Partenope, Slow Bone, Kyo Sushi & Omakase.
1. Sachet Highland Park
Dallas hospitality masters Stephen and Allison Yoder have rolled out a new menu with more seafood at their six-year-old pan-Mediterranean gem, Sachet. (Don’t fret. The harissa-spiced crispy chicken bites made the cut.) Sampling the new additions mandates several visits, or one large party where everyone shares, or even better — both. Find six new crudos, such as fatty Samaki smoked salmon with housemade Boursin cheese, along with a new pick-your-fish-and-sauce section, served with whole wheat spanikorzo, chickpeas, and feta. A bright-orange, saffron-tinted housemade tagliatelle loaded with scallops, mussels, squid, and shrimp is what Stephen calls “bouillabaisse meets pasta.” We won’t soon forget it, and we can’t wait to get back for the rest.
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. Petra and the Beast Lakewood
If there’s anyone capable of switching up Sunday brunch status quo, it’s charcuterie queen Misti Norris. A selection of her house-cured meats is one way to kick off a mid-day meal before delving into fried chicken thighs with smoked shallot gravy, or savory gnocchi French toast with scoops of fluffy whipped ricotta and ribbons of smoked ham. Her dinner menu is equally intriguing: standbys include housemade pastas, farm-fresh salads, and seductive tea-braised pig tails. For a complete tumble down Norris’s rabbit hole of imaginative, earthy cooking, book her six-course tasting menu with wine pairings on a Friday or Saturday night. It’s a dreamy, through the looking-glass experience, told by one of Dallas’s best chefs.
4. Partenope Dallas Downtown Dallas
No one who lives in North Texas needed 50 Top Pizza to know that chef Dino Santonicola’s Neapolitan pizzas are among the best in the world. A little recognition never hurt anybody, though, and for the past two years, the organization’s pizza inspectors have inched Partneope up their list. Watch for the official ranking to be announced September 10 in Santonicola’s hometown of Naples. He’ll travel home for the awards ceremony and meet up with his brother (who also has a top 12 contender, Ribalta, in New York). To celebrate the big announcement here, the salsicca e friareielli pizza and the calzone Napoletano, two favorites of 50 Top Pizza, will be $12 all day at both locations.
5. Goodwin’s Lower Greenville
Some explanation for the planning required to snag a booth at Goodwin’s is that Dallas is in love with new restaurants, and the fact the Lower Greenville neighborhood likes to get out. But we’ll accept the challenge to nab a Resy on any night of the week. From three friends with decades of restaurant experience, Goodwin’s is where you can sink into a hefty, bistro-quality burger and a margarita; a bowl of crab al’ amatriciana with a bottle of Montepulciano; or mushroom-potato pierogis and a Shiner. The garlic-rosemary smashed Yukons that come with the dry-aged Duroc pork chop would have us happy just ordering from the Potatoes section next time, too. Pro tip: Star Crunch cake.
6. Kyo Sushi and Omakase Old East Dallas
A truth that’s become increasingly clear in the past few years is that Dallas is a sushi town. This pop-up is one of the newest players to our ever expanding premium omakase scene. Housed in Anise at the Village’s Drey Hotel, it offers a $99 ten-course or a $130 fifteen-course omakase for dinner. Lunch service also courts Japanese food lovers with something Dallas doesn’t see much of — inari sushi, where vinegar-treated rice is tucked inside seasoned and fried tofu pouches and topped with more fish and vegetable treats. The best way to secure one of just eight seats available? Snag a Resy without delay, of course.
7. Fortune House – Greenville Ave Lower Greenville
The closest thing to Chinatown-quality delicacies in Dallas can be found in a spiffy restaurant and bar on Lower Greenville Avenue. After branching out from its first warmly regarded Irving location, the second Fortune House serves covetable soup dumplings, pork buns, and scallion pancakes in style. The elaborate menu includes a range of American Chinese favorites — sesame chicken, crab rangoon, General Tso’s chicken — but also goes hard on dishes unique to Shanghai, like stir-fried rice cakes, scallion noodles with poached shrimp, and soup with pork- and shepherd’s purse-filled wontons. Considering options like tea service, sparkling lychee lemonade, and five-liquored Hainan Island Iced Tea, you’ll want to arrive thirsty, too.
8. La Bodega Rotisserie + Goods Bishop Arts
If there’s a season when La Bodega chef-owner Skye McDaniel is particularly on fire, it’s summer. Her organic rotisserie chickens from Pennsylvania Dutch country are a perennial no-fail favorite. But now is the season when she’ll begin incorporating summer melons, peaches, and her personal passion project — tomatoes — into salads, sandwiches, and other specials. Bulgarian froyo with pomegranate molasses or fresh fruit preserves is another no-brainer, nor is picking up a party pack, a pile of conserva-style tinned fish, and a few bottles of sophisticated wine and beer selections for the next gathering.
Find more info here.
9. Goldie’s Lake Highlands
This American restaurant packs a lot into its little Lake Highlands space. Boasting a small, elegant bar and ruby-red seats for no more than 66 people, the classy-casual atmosphere is ideal for date nights and catching up with old friends. There’s naturally real Champagne by the glass (for $20), but we really recommend going with a bottle because it’s fabulous with rotating cheeses and honeycomb, or the impressive 20 Feet Fries that attempt to emulate another beloved neighborhood joint of yore. Indulgence continues throughout the menu with tricked up butters — on moules frites, the Prime New York strip, and even the exquisite broccoli. And we’ve learned that when a place only has one dessert option, like the banana split here, it’s an accurate sign to order, because it’s going to be impressive.
10. Bricks and Horses Cultural District
Answering the call of steak-loving folk who might occasionally also crave seafood, chef Antonio Votta recently updated the menu here at Auberge Resorts’ Bowie House with some lighter options. Seafood-focused selections include oysters with hot-sauce sorbet and celery mignonette, lobster piccata with melted leeks, and corn risotto with huitlacoche and jumbo lump crab. For the red meat-lovers, nine steaks and chops remain on the menu, along with a prime beef burger. Whatever your hankering might be, starting with a warm sourdough loaf and the heirloom tomatoes and peaches is a smart move. Don’t forget pastry chef Laura Cottler’s banana pudding profiterole with rummy Foster sauce, either.
11. Far East Pizza Co. Allen
Butter chicken pizza? You better believe it. After going from hot to passé, fusion cuisine is making a comeback as “a natural extension of reality,” as the San Francisco Chronicle termed it. Here’s a perfect example of a cuisine that never went away in a place like Texas, the nation’s second most diverse state. Chef Nidhi Mittal and her husband, Lokesh, serve Indian-spiced meatballs, butter paneer pizzas on naan and housemade flatbreads, and chicken seekh meatball sandwiches at their first restaurant, in partnership with vegan chef Troy Gardner. It comes after four years as a deli-turned-ghost kitchen, making it an American success story in restaurant form — our favorite kind.
No reservations. More info here.
12. Kinzo Frisco
To chef Leo Kekoa, it’s the little things that count. The principle translates to handmade pastry brushes for mopping nigiri with sauces and custom-made sushi knives from Taito City, Japan. As always, seasonal fish is sourced from Tokyo’s famous Toyusu Market. For omakase dinners this fall, held at 5:45 and 8:15, you’ll likely get a taste of shima suzuki (striped sea bass), otoro (fatty tuna), and river-caught sakura masu (cherry trout). A la carte is always an option for quicker service. However you choose to go about it, you’ll want to investigate the upgraded Koshihikari rice after Kekoa was invited into a small circle of buyers earlier this year. The short grain rice is so superb and rare that Kekoa switched up his vinegar recipe to feature its natural sweetness.
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. St. Martin’s Old East Dallas
One of Dallas’s most nostalgic date night spots has resurfaced two miles from its original venue, where its first dinner service occurred in 1980. St. Martin’s consistent menu of French-y classics with a soundtrack by pianist Luis Henderson — who’s been tickling the ivories at the same bench for the last 15 years — are inspiring those who dined at any point in the last 44 years to return for a meal on memory lane, now on Bryan Street. The old bar was dusted off and moved to the new restaurant, where the wallpaper, chandeliers, escargots, and Champagne brie soup make it easy to remember bygone meals. If your reservation falls on a particularly special occasion — and you’ve never had the privilege of a $4,000 bottle of cognac — consider a half-ounce pour of Louis XIII for $125.
16. Bar Colette Uptown Dallas
There’s a new Michelin-starred chef in town. Christophe De Lellis exited three-starred Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas late last year to join restaurateur-brother team, Brandon and Henry Cohanim, in Dallas. As De Lellis gears up to debut his first full-scale restaurant in the Big D, called Mamani, set to open late this year, you can get a taste of his skills — and his perfect, cognac-y steak au poivre — at Bar Colette. There are also mini lobster rolls and mini burgers, fine little bites for artful cocktails presented in museum-like quality. Because Dallas has a thing for steak, and De Lellis has more sauces up his sleeve, the first Wednesday night of each month is now Steak Frites Night. Wagyu flatiron filets are sliced and decked out with herby, emerald green entrecôte sauce and come with a baguette, salade verte, and frites for $49.
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. Slow Bone Design District
When you go to Jeffrey Hobbs’ and Ratna Goenardi’s no-nonsense barbecue joint near the Design District, just get everything: the exemplary brisket, the peppery pork ribs, the Sunday and Monday special smoked pork chop, and the massive meat sandwiches on challah buns that go far beyond anything the Earl of Sandwich could’ve dreamed up. Craggy fried chicken brined in smoked water is a must-order, too, as are all of the sides, like horseradish potato salad, brussel flower au gratin, and sweet potato praline. If any guilt surfaces following an inevitable food coma, just reassure yourself with the restaurant’s motto: Barbecue Makes You Beautiful.
Find more info here.
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. Culpepper Cattle Co – Dallas Deep Ellum
What if we told you that puffy tacos and small batch-Tequila margaritas are on the menu at a classy-casual spot in Deep Ellum — with easy parking? And there’s a hip and spacious patio to drink those margaritas, along with bowls of queso and spinach dip, that will all be perfect once the weather turns? After realizing a second location of the historic Culpepper would be better than a tractor-themed steakhouse, Elias Pope of UNCO hospitality group opened one in the Continental Gin Building this April, making it easier to enjoy Tex-Mex-steakhouse fare without the drive to Rockwall. Mark this: Fajita Fridays have extended into Sizzlin’ Saturdays. That means fajitas and fixin’s are $10 during lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
