The 10 Restaurants That Defined Dallas Dining in 2024
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We asked our contributors to the Resy Hit List to share their top dining experiences in their cities this year — to choose 10 restaurants that define the state of great dining right now. Welcome back our Best of The Hit List for 2024.
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For the first time, Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants got a report card this year, namely from a certain tire company. And as you might expect, the teacher’s pets at the Michelin awards were mostly tasting-menu restaurants; nine out of 15 stars in Texas went that direction. Possibly because we like options here in Dallas, and possibly because we’re not so stuffy, that’s not really our jam.
Instead, consider an alternate view of what makes dining here great. We are the children of the Barbecue Kingdom; our Japanese restaurants are more than legit; and we rule when it comes to neighborhood restaurants. These fundamentals were in place long before the arrival of inspectors. And we keep building on our strengths.
What other place can vie with our matchless barbecue, these days increasingly beefed up with global flavors? Where else do sushi omakase restaurants radiate out from every major neighborhood into the suburbs, with chefs who offer an elite experience while still knowing your name, “Cheers”-style? Where else can you shift from South Indian to epic Mexican in the blink of an eye? These principles, not foam and tablecloths, defined our dining scene in 2024, and will for a long time to come. So whatever you do, Dallas, don’t ever change.
1. MĀBO Preston Center
One of this year’s most impressive restaurants comes from Dallas’s unsung “yakitori king,” as chef Masayuki Otaka was once called, back when the local newspaper had a restaurant critic. MĀBO is Otaka’s first restaurant by his own design. (We’re not counting Teppo, which he acquired from his boarding-school pal Teiichi Sakurai in 2008, and ran until its closure in 2022.) At this eight-seat counter, Otaka has fashioned a setting for celebrating anniversaries and job promotions, or simply mentally escaping to his hometown of Tokyo. Binchotan-grilled skewers are the specialty, something Otaka knows well after decades fanning the charcoals at Teppo, but they’re only part of his showmanship; the full lineup typically includes soup, chawanmushi, a sashimi set, tempura-fried vegetables, and dessert. Now that Dallas has gotten recognition for our excellent Japanese restaurants, it’s a rare pleasure to sit in front of one of the men largely responsible for it.
2. Le PasSage Dallas
Contradicting the talent in the kitchen and the interior’s sumptuous design, Travis Street Hospitality founder Stephan Courseau says his newest restaurant is not aiming for the Michelin stars. He prefers it to be regarded as a place with honest hospitality and food that makes you travel. (That arguably might also describe Michelin standards, but we digress.) Either way, PasSage has exceeded expectations. With chef-partner Bruno Davaillon overseeing former Mr Chow corporate chef Hou Lam “Dicky” Fung and pastry prodigy Dyan Ng, the food is as luxurious as the designer chairs and jasmine-scented bathrooms. Why there has never before been a restaurant of this caliber on the idyllic Katy Trail, where commerce once came to Dallas on a railroad, is a mystery. But who are we to quibble? We’re on a train to ginger-scallion lobster, gochujang roasted chicken, and shaking beef, with 350 selections of wine and 50 of sake to make the journey even more pleasant.
3. Gemma Knox/Henderson
We’re now more than a full year into its bistro-hood, and can say that the upgrades at this Henderson staple paid off. Owners Stephen Rogers and Allison Yoder recognized simple-but-good are the qualities we crave for weeknight dinner, and they used Gemma 2.0 to lead the charge in Dallas’s meat-and-frites revival. Plats du jour like the Cajun-spiced rib eye, currently available on Saturdays for $48, have built up a new base of regulars, while retro favorites, like veal sweetbreads and beef cheek bourguignon, evoke Julia Child memories. They fluffed the pillows at Sachet this year too, as the Mediterranean menu was adjusted to include more seafood. The wine lists at both restaurants are case studies in balance. And so, sure, their Michelin recognition was well deserved, but these seasoned restaurateurs proved something better: They know how to read Dallas like the hungry book we are.
4. Bocca Osteria Romana Fort Worth
This particular success story hailed from Puerto Rico, where brothers Alessandro and Alfonso Salvatore opened the first Bocca in San Juan, along with two highly-rated Mexican restaurants. In Texas, they joined with their cousin Eduardo Mariel, to bring their vision of Rome-inspired Italian food to their home state. And they decided to let buzz be their guide. This latest Bocca is hidden in an alley, where Rancho Loma Vineyards once resided down a pathway called the South Main Squeeze. It was a bulls-eye in a town that embraces unfussy-ness — an instant hit since it opened this fall, with a focused Italian wine list, daily-baked focaccia, and pine-worthy pastas. Hopefully you’ll go the day the risotto includes blue cheese and roasted chestnuts, but if not, listen carefully to the daily gnocchi and fresh cappelletti specials, and you’ll be equally charmed.
5. Petra and the Beast Lakewood
If Dallas has a chef who has consistently done the work of defying big food-supply companies in favor of local farms, it’s Misti Norris. When she re-opened her restaurant in a larger space last year, she also launched one of the city’s more interesting wine lists, and this year, one of the only brunch menus that actually tempts us to indulge in the B-word. What hasn’t changed is her hyperseasonal tasting menu featuring unusual ferments and preservation methods on Friday and Saturday nights, along with a reliably intriguing à la carte menu. We need more chefs like Norris here, defending terms like “farm-to-table,” “seasonal produce,” and “locally-sourced,” which may feel rote in some cities but keep Dallas from growing dull.
6. Simply South Irving
Simply put, Simply South has been an instant hit since it opened in February. A well-oiled machine of South Indian vegetarian delights (200 of them, in fact), this place can draw hours-long wait times during peak breakfast hours, when filter coffee, dosas, and 22 varieties of idlies are in demand. For lunch and dinner, exploration is happily rewarded in thalis, biryanis, and curries with spice-levels customized for Telugu speakers, from regions where chile peppers reign. It’s the first restaurant by Hyderabad-born owner Srinivas Kothapalli, who’s planning another location soon in Frisco. And, OK, some Dallasites felt shafted when the New York Times included Simply South in its Best Restaurants list, given the city’s strength in Indian cooking. But frankly, we needed a reminder to embrace the great stuff in the suburbs.
Find more info here.
7. Sabar Barbecue Fort Worth
The only thing more colorful than pitmaster Zain Shafi’s electric-blue food truck at South Main Micro Park are the flavors of Pakistani-Texan barbecue that emerge from it on weekend mornings. When Sabar opened in late 2023, it became the newest disciple of nearby shining star Goldee’s, where Shafi once worked with Amir Jalali of Port Neches’s RedBird BBQ and Chuck Charnichart of Lockhart’s Barbs B Q. Taking tips from the state’s ‘cue masters, Shafi blends the spices of his upbringing into snappy seekh kebab sausages, buttery turkey breasts, and ultra-tender lamb ribs. Naan takes the place of white bread; pinto beans are ousted by dal chawal; and gajrela, a shredded carrot dessert soaked in sweet milk, sits in for banana pudding. The result is the firstborn example of Tex-Pak barbecue, a form of fusion we’re pretty thrilled to see.
Find more info here.
8. Nonna | Tabu Highland Park
The culinary scrutiny on Texas this year had a side benefit — to remind us of spots we might’ve forgotten in the boatload of new restaurants that set up shop constantly. And it’s been a long time since 2006, when Nonna opened with chef Julian Barsotti’s regional Italian fare served in a Highland Park storefront. To persist that long has something to do with hitting all the date-night staples: wood-fired pizzas, binchotan-grilled mains, daily changing fresh pastas, cozy vibes. Late last year, Tabu, a lounge with live jazz on weekends, opened next door, and this year, the kitchen simplified things with one menu for both spots. In the end, we agree with John Keats: “A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.” These prove the point.
9. Smoke ’N Ash BBQ Arlington
Consider this a result of two marriages, between Patrick and Fasicka Hicks, and their native Texas and Ethiopia. Shortly after Fasicka emigrated from Addis Ababa, she met Patrick, got married, and they started a food truck. Years later, in their first restaurant space, Fasicka started using the extra room to make injera with teff flour imported from home, along with tibs, smoked doro wat, and awaze for glazing Patrick’s pork ribs, brisket, and sausages. The storefront caught national attention in 2022, forcing the couple into a bigger space. There’s now a bar, all the better for more berbere to be matched to spicy mango margaritas. And given the recent nods from Michelin, the expanded space will accommodate the growing demand for the world’s only Tex-Ethiopian barbecue.
Find more info here.
10. Goodwin’s Lower Greenville
As we’ve said before, Goodwin’s is the Lower Greenville restaurant the neighborhood always wanted but never had. After California-based chains came — and went — post-2020, who else could better discern what this bar-and-restaurant strip needed more than those who grew up in the area? It’s led by Austin Rodgers, co-owner of nearby Alamo Club; well-seasoned chef Jeff Bekavak; and homegrown restaurateur David Cash. Their Underhill steak sandwich with “carmy” onions and Black Angus chuck-brisket-short rib burger made an immediate splash in local print. But the bonkers move was adding lunch, with potato chip-chicken Milanese and “lunch cocktails.” After all, this neighborhood is thirsty, and the moody Goose Bar is perfect for drinking incognito.
