The Resy Hit List: Where In Dallas You’ll Want to Eat Right Now

Considering the late-2025 arrival of Dos Mares and Puerto Cocina, Texas’s marisquería wave has crested spectacularly in Dallas-Fort Worth. More recently, on May 4, chef Omar Flores  — of Muchacho Tex Mex, Casa Brasa, Even Coast, and Whistle Britches — made a stand with his take on Mexican coastal fare, and so far, we’re calling it a perfect 10. The raw bar dazzles with aguachiles, oysters, and chilled lobster glazed in aji verde, while jumbo prawns, sea bream filets, and a flawless red snapper get the live-fire treatment from a mesquite wood and charcoal grill. Being Texas, Flores is also laying down wagyu outside skirt steaks, Delmonico rib eyes, and green chile hamburgers on the grill — and we’re not mad about it.  

Fort Worth’s already impressive Cultural District is still on the up-and-up with a new retreat for boutique brunching and lunching by Headington Companies, the firm behind standard-bearers Sassetta, Tango Room, and Mirador. For the group’s first foray into the town where the West begins, they’ve added a Forty Five Ten women’s clothing store and handed the reins of its neighboring café to Fort Worth native chef Manuel Gutierrez. Expect Mirador classics: the masterpiece deviled eggs, a solid burger, and standout desserts like chocolate seis leches. Gutierrez also goes his own way with a grilled chicken salad sandwich with orange-miso slaw, and a mango-chamoy mille-feuille, a group effort by his team.

Slide into a highly desirable situation — martinis, French fries, oysters, anyone? — at this lively Knox Street seafood spot. As at Katz Bros. Hospitality siblings Beverley’s Bistro & Bar and Claremont, the menu casts a wide net: double cheeseburgers and steak frites seduce alongside fresh catch. However, here is where Greg and Nik Katz’s Cape Town origins most shine, with seafood towers, cioppino, South African lobster tails, and cheesy king crab-and-artichoke dip. Tuna melts, lobster rolls, and “little fried fish sandwiches” are even better with the list of 10 (real) Champagnes, pink peppercorn Palomas, and flowing espresso martinis.

It typically (and refreshingly) feels like nothing’s changed since 1980 at this date-night standby, with Champagne-Brie soup and live piano served nightly in what feels like a Victorian drawing room lit up with candles. However, for the first time since the restaurant was acquired in 1998 by Mohsen Heidari, father to present-day owners Pasha and Sina Heidari, a handful of seasonal dishes will be sprinkled into the menu’s mix of French classics, which include escargots bourguignon and Dover sole meunière. (Also note the secret, off-menu lobster Thermidor.) To switch it up this spring, try lobster terrine spotlit by buttery Champagne sauce, Rohan duck à l’orange, or a delightful beet tartare with cashew cream. The refinements call for snuggling into your favorite “Godfather” booth before summer’s updates are introduced.

The excellent Levantine pleasures served at Open Sesame Lebanese Grill, Mo Kamal’s casual strip that debuted on Oak Lawn Ave. in 2017, can now be enjoyed in a modern space that reinterprets the style elements of ancient Babylon. A (very heavy) 18th-century carved wooden door opens to a strikingly spartan dining room with limewash walls, draped arches, and a hand-painted mural by Egyptian artist Dina Elsaid on the ceiling. It’s a far cry from the many maximalist dining rooms in town, as well as Kamal’s original restaurant, but the cooking by Kamal’s sister, chef Zeina Kamal, is as satisfying as ever. For dishes at Babel not found at Open Sesame, try chef Zeina’s shish barak (beef dumplings), akawi cheese and sujuk sausage-stuffed flatbread, and lamb-stuffed ravioli.

Dining at chef Julian Barsotti’s Sicilian-focused restaurant on Travis Street includes bonuses that go beyond the pleasure of experiencing the latest vision by Dallas’ godfather of Italian cooking. Not only is there the security of an exceptional meal from the mind who created Barsotti’s Fine Food and Liqueurs, Nonna | Tabu, and Fachini, but also, a chance of bumping into co-owners who happen to be former NFL quarterbacks, including sportscaster Babe Laufenberg and former Dallas Cowboys’ head coach, Jason Garrett. Footballs aside, what’s on a Sicilian menu? Notably, various preparations of fried arancini and wild-caught branzino, along with four variations of busiati, a century-old rolled pasta that proves Marco Polo had nothing to do with introducing Italians to handmade dough.

If spectacle is the order for a night out, chef RJ Cooper’s theatrical 20-course tasting menu will surely do the trick. The graffiti art-inspired concept with projection map visuals comes from Dallas natives John McKeel, and sons Cole and Clay McKeel, who brought on Cooper for his first Texas endeavor. The James Beard-awarded chef broke into the industry with Eric Ripert at Le Bernardin and was later recognized for his work at D.C.’s now-closed Vidalia. Here, Cooper’s avant-garde menu of 20 “first bites” is progressively delivered in three tiers as an emcee guides diners throughout various rooms. To take in the space without committing to two hours, the Noir Lounge features innovative cocktails by local legend Shane Scully along with mini-tasting menus.

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What began in 2014 as Son and Tram Dao’s clever way to feed hungry laundromat customers on Maple Avenue has officially leveled up: Mike’s Chicken opened its third outpost — and first beyond Dallas — in Plano on February 18, complete with a drive-thru. The move suits its cult following. As ever, it’s wise to pre-order this juicy, peanut oil-fried marvel, enhanced by Tram’s cloud-soft, honey-glazed biscuits. Or dine in if you want; a few minutes at the table allows the piping-hot coating to settle into peak form. It’s also time to reflect on the radical force behind it all: a mother whose recipes for her chicken-loving son named Mike turned into one of the metroplex’s most craveable institutions.

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Selda’s slow-but-steady rollout across Texas reached MacArthur Crossing in January. As at the Turkish-inflected original in Dallas, meals begin with warm pide bread, built for dragging through an order of tangy tzatziki or spicy ezme. A feast of appetizers can easily be accomplished, with spiced fried cauliflower, falafel with jalapeño-avocado aioli, and dates stuffed with goat cheese and pastrami. Still hungry? Go for a gyro or İskender kebab with beef shaved from the döner, or something from the oven, perhaps. The Turkish “pizzas” include crisp, ground-beef-topped lahmacun and boat-shaped, spinach-feta pide. Finish as tradition demands with an hourglass-shaped cup of hot Turkish tea.

For Chinese-Mexican cuisine rarely found north of Mexicali, mark this spinoff from Southlake’s dim sum powerhouse, Dragon House, at its third expansion in Dallas’s northernmost parts. You’ll still find the original restaurant’s exemplary dumplings, in 15 varieties, along with hand-pulled noodles for braised beef soup and stir-fries. But here is the only place in Texas where you can order pork buns served on a fajita skillet, dumplings sprinkled with taco seasoning, and burritos stuffed with orange chicken and fried rice. Jalisco’s beef birria undergoes major reinvention, too, as it fills egg rolls and juicy xiao long bao, and forms the base for a spicier beef noodle soup. Save room for dessert dumplings and buns filled with chocolate, matcha cream, and sesame custard.

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This fresh Roman-style pizzeria in Fort Worth’s historic Bricktown comes from Alessandro and Alfonse Salvatore, also behind nearby Italian joint Bocca Osteria Romana, opened in 2024. The worldly-wise brothers were born in the Rio Grande Valley to an Italian father and a Puerto Rican mother, and later drew from experience visiting grandparents in Rome and living in Mexico City to open restaurants in San Juan. Because their first for Panther City lacked the space to add pizzas, they opened Felina down the street in February this year. The wood-fired brick oven spits out classic pies with toppings ranging from wild mushrooms with Oaxaca cheese to Parker County peaches, burrata, and prosciutto di Parma. Everything is exceptional: the spaghetti-stuffed suppli, an oversized chicken cutlet with heirloom tomatoes, and chocolate mousse cake with coffee-caramel-bourbon glaze.  

The best seats at this bubbles-focused bar at the Shops of Highland Park are the circular conversation pit-style booths centered on an ice bucket. Settle in with one of nearly 100 bottles of Champagne, all according to plan from Texas Tech law professors Eric Chiappinelli and Amanda Hale, who opened it in late 2022. With opening hours at 3 p.m., France’s most famous drink gets a little more daylight, alongside cocktails and more wines. It may feel built for a pre- or post-dinner stop, but the kitchen is equipped with double-smash cheeseburgers, grilled cheeses, and a generous $30 charcuterie board known as the Girl Dinner. Pro tip: Mahjong players can ask for one of the house’s two boards, or bring their own and make an afternoon of it.

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The restaurant at the century-old Stoneleigh hotel recently underwent a major glow-up as part of a multi-million dollar renovation. Exuberant red and emerald decor takes inspiration from one of the creators of Hollywood glam, Dorothy Draper, the nation’s first woman interior design firm-owner who also decorated the hotel’s penthouse (the first penthouse in Texas), in the 1930s. Matching the maximalism is an Italian supper club menu by chef Michael White, who has enough stars attached to his name (from The Times, The Chicago Tribune, and Michelin) to be top brass if he were he in the military. White’s “Two Step” features are especially interesting, with either lobster or dry-aged porterhouse served side-by-side in two preparations. The Italian-trained chef who built an empire in New York also turns over pastas, chicken cacciatore, and eggs Benedict available for daily breakfast.  

Kham and Yim Phommahaxay’s ice cream, tea, and coffee shop, opened in November 2021, is a natural fit for downtown McKinney. Meaning “milk” in Japanese, Miruku Creamery aims to be a “happy place,” with monthly rotating soft-serve flavors — such as Thai tea, cranberry-cherry, and peaches-and-cream — all starting with organic whole milk. The emphasis on quality extends to ceremonial-grade matcha from Japan, cocoa from France, and coffee beans from Dallas roaster Full City Rooster. Delightfully elaborate sundaes combine Kham’s French culinary training and flavor-pairing expertise with Yim’s design sensibility for treats dressed up with fresh fruit compote, Dalgona honeycombs, popcorn, and Japanese cheesecake. And don’t even get us started on the “matcha-licious” cloud, coffee, and sago drinks.

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Olivia Genthe gets it when it comes to meats, drinks, and creating places people want to return to. The founder of Fount Board and Table opened a coffee-tea-charcuterie shop to Uptown in late 2019, followed by a charming Bishop Arts wine bistro five years later. Since at least 2023, she’s been plotting a casual deli with cocktails for The Cedars, which is exactly the kind of civic infrastructure Dallas needs. Sandwiches include house-roasted turkey and roast beef, heaped high on seeded hoagies, with Duke’s Mayo making up the base for horseradish and garlic spreads. Tomato, pimento cheese, and a “not chopped liver” number with mushrooms, walnuts, and peasalso are wrapped to order at the lunch counter. Hot dogs count, too — including the fried beef kielbasa sprinkled with French fries at this next go-to spot.

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Chef Tiffany Derry’s ultra-crispy duck fat-fried chicken — the sensation that launched from Plano’s Legacy Hall to propel her to national fame — has entered its franchise era. The first, opened in December 2025 by Corey and Marian Epperson on Belt Line Rd. in Addison, serves the relatively greaseless fried marvel as wings, strips, nuggets, sandwiches on sweet potato buns or biscuits with Steen’s cane syrup butter, and atop Caesar and Cobb salads. Adding a side of potlikker-enhanced collard greens or Cajun-style red beans with smoked ham is as essential as the fluffy banana pudding (bananas included) for dessert. The Eppersons’ second location is coming soon to Irving’s Toyota Music Factory, where the couple will continue offering a 10% discount for veterans, a salute to Corey’s Air Force service.

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