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Best French Fries
This appetizer at Tillman’s Roadhouse, the swanky down-home eatery in Bishop Arts, is the rockingest trio since ZZ Top—or, at least, Tony Orlando and Dawn. The three different kinds of potatoes (sweet, purple, and brown russet) come with three different seasonings (Parmesan black pepper, chili powder, and smoked salt), and the fries are elegantly presented in a wooden box. The accompanying sides of homemade ketchup and bread-and-butter pickle mayo are the perfect complements. 324 W. Seventh St. 214-942-0988. tillmansroadhouse.com.
Best Tacos
Calling Fuel City a “gas station” is like saying The Grapes of Wrath is a story about a car trip. It’s an understatement. Fuel City—owned by Woodrow High grad John Benda—is a 24-hour gas station and truck stop, yes, but also a drive-thru beer store that features live steer, a swimming pool, bikini-clad girls, and tacos made with a recipe that’s been in Benda’s family for three generations. He sells four varieties for $1.26 apiece. The picadillo—made with spicy ground beef, potato, onions, cilantro, and fresh lime—was named the best taco in the entire state in 2006 by Texas Monthly. 801 S. Industrial Blvd. 214-426-0011.
Best Use of Cheese
You’ll never dip another chip in watered-down Velveeta again after a visit to Veracruz Cafe in the Bishop Arts District for queso fundido tamiahua. First, the tiny bowl has been replaced with a sizzling platter, wide enough to accommodate four grubby hands at once. White Monterey Jack cheese is dotted with chunks of chorizo or chicken and slices of mushroom, and while the consistency when hot is good for dipping, once cool, the cheese-pulling contest begins. Our advice: grab a tortilla, cut a chunk of cheese off with your fork, place in the middle of the tortilla, bite, bliss out, repeat. 408 N. Bishop Ave., Ste. 107. 214-948-4746.
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Best Place To Use Your Noodle
Thanks to Teiichi “Teach” Sakurai, Dallas has its first restaurant dedicated to the elaborate process of making soba noodles by hand—Tei-An. His handmade noodles can be had both cold and hot, with a thrilling assortment of dipping sauces, into which you dip your noodles, ideally with chopsticks. Cold noodles are smooth and slurpy, not sticky. If it’s your first time, the smiling servers will steer you toward a sampler with four sauces, including rich, nutty pecan and walnut, plus soy and black sesame. When you’re done, they pour hot water into the leftover sauce so you can drink it up. One Arts Plaza, 1722 Routh St., Ste. 110. 214-220-2828.
Best Meaty Salad Bar
Texas de Brazil, the upscale churrascaria that started in Addison, has almost become too chain-y (11 restaurants) to warrant Best of Big D status, but then comes culinary director Evandro Caregnato and his $70,000 granite-and-glass salad bar. Space prevents a full listing of all the tasty morsels, but let’s try anyway: five varieties of olives, roasted peppers, whole garlic cloves, shrimp ceviche, sushi, caprese salad, salamis and prosciutto from Italy—and about 50 other items. Did we mention it’s all you can eat? Go for lunch, when the salad bar comes with soup and a side for $19.95. The Dallas location serves lunch only on Friday (2727 Cedar Springs Rd. 214-720-1414), but Addison does lunch all week (15101 Addison Rd. 972-385-1000). texasdebrazil.com.
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Best Deviled Eggs
Deviled eggs have migrated from picnics to upscale restaurants like Fearing’s. But R&D Kitchen treats them with the most love. They are cooked in small batches, 16 eggs at a time. The yolks are removed and fluffed ever so daintily with a whisk. Minced celery, mayonnaise, Tabasco, horseradish, and sweet relish are folded in with a spatula to keep the texture creamy. And they are filled to order, so there’s no refrigerator crust. 8300 Preston Center Plaza. 214-890-7900.
Best Royal Salad
There are at least 6,000 restaurants in Dallas and more than 6,000 recipes for Caesar salad. This city is so Caesar crazy, the local branch of the American Institute of Food & Wine holds a standing-room-only Caesar salad competition each fall. After years of roaming the range for the best tossed romaine, only one still pings off of our palate as perfect. It’s served at Parigi, where crisp lettuce is tossed with the proper amounts of Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, egg yolk, and black pepper. The secret ingredient? Chef Janice Provost keeps it locked in her head. 3311 Oak Lawn Ave., Ste. 102. 214-521-0295. parigirestaurant.com.
Best Suds and Grub
Once a month The Libertine Bar hosts a prix fixe five-course dinner with each dish paired with a different brew. A recent example: housemade deviled eggs topped with salmon roe (paired with Widmer Drop Top Amber); smoked sea scallops and green salad (Murphy’s Irish Stout); sweet potato and plantain soup with chile crema (Franconia Hefe Weiss); pork and beans (Saint Arnold Oktoberfest); whiskey poached and candied apple (BridgePort Haymaker Extra Pale Ale). All for $40 a person. Reservations required. 2101 Greenville Ave. 214-824-7900. libertinebar.com.
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Best Retro Drive-In
Dairy-ette, the ’50s-era drive-in across the street from Bishop Lynch High School in Casa View, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2006, and one bite of a cheeseburger, corny dog, or big gulp of the house-made root beer (especially in a float) explains the longevity. Inside, well-worn red vinyl booths speak of happy days, but you can also park out front, flick your lights, and give your order to a carhop. 9785 Ferguson Rd. 214-327-9983.
Best Schnitzel
Nothing says central European cuisine like cream sauce and an umlaut. And schnitzel at Jörg’s Cafe Vienna doesn’t disappoint. The classic dish served at this authentic Austrian cafe in Plano is not fancy or forced. It’s just standard schnitzel done exactly right: pork, chicken, or veal cutlets, cream sauce, spaetzle, red cabbage, the whole bit. And don’t miss out on Jörg’s biergarten. 1037 E. 15th St., Plano. 972-509-5966. jorgscafevienna.com.
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Best Bite-Size Burgers
The sliders at Perry’s Restaurant are scrumptious little morsels of tender filet mignon on a tasty bun served with horseradish cream and au jus. The mini-sandwiches come three to a plate and are accompanied by a bevy of steak fries. We’re not sure, but this could be what our nutritionist was talking about when she recommended eating smaller portions. 2911 Routh St. 214-871-9991. perrys-dallas.com.
Best Reason To Eat Your Veggies
Tracy Miller, chef at Local, was one of the first in town to show that tempura doesn’t have to be Asian. This is the way to eat your green beans: sheathed in a crust to help you forget they are “healthy.” Miller fries them just enough to soften their snap and adds a house-made dipping sauce. 2936 Elm St. 214-752-7500.
Best BYOB
Tired of the $10 margarita? Looking for a nice dining room to relax and have a meal without half the bill going toward your wine tab? Relax. The cozy spot that houses Eden is perfect for a romantic dinner for two or a family get-together for 12. Chef-owner Karen Kahn serves home-style items that range from roasted hen with plum sauce to a darn good shrimp Creole. And you provide your own sommelier services and pocket the mark-up for a rainy day. 4416 W. Lovers Ln. 972-267-3336.
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Best Macaroons
Rush Patisserie owner Samantha Rush—a former accountant—is an unlikely candidate for a pastry chef. But after ditching her numbers gig, she studied pastry at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris—which must be why her macaroons linger on your palate for days. The pretty pastel pastries—meltingly delicious centers sandwiched between crisp meringue in flavors such as vanilla, pistachio, and lavender—are eyes-rolled-in-the-back-of-your-head good. 2901 Elm St. 214-749-4040. rushpatisserie.com.
Best Service
The cuisine at Kent Rathbun’s showcase kitchen offers a taste for everyone. But it is the impeccable service staff that boosts Abacus above the competition. There’s not a single “Hi, I’m Larry”-style server. Instead, your every need is met before you realize it. Water and wine glasses are topped off as if by a ghost. The pace of your meal is determined by you—no rush or unobtrusive fuss. 4511 McKinney Ave. 214-559-3111. kentrathbun.com.
Best Weekly Pig-Out
You’d expect a meal immortalized in literature by the likes of Ernest Hemingway to achieve greatness. And you’d be right. While the roasted suckling pig in myrtle leaves served up on Tuesday at Arcodoro & Pomodoro is the Sardinian version of Papa Hemingway’s treasured Spanish dish, it’s just as likely to inspire glowing prose. Or at least a short, short story: Go. Order the pig. The end. 2708 Routh St. 214-871-1924. arcodoro.com.
Best Authentic Tapas
True Catalan heritage has been brought to Dallas by way of Chic From Barcelona, an old-fashioned Spanish eatery that celebrates Spanish cuisine as no other in Dallas ever has. Rafa and Magda Vilaclara, both children of Barcelona, have a menu that offers truly authentic tapas and the tastiest red and white wine sangrias found this side of Portugal. 11909 Preston Rd. 972-239-2442. chicfrombarcelona.com.
Best Dutch Treat
If you can’t afford to fly to Amsterdam for a touch of Dutch, then head to Cafe Rembrandt for a Gouda time (ba-dum-bum). This cozy spot serves traditional Harderwijker seafood chowder and bitter balls and tiny croquettes of beef—all in a dining room dominated by a large reproduction of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. It’s the Dallas version of dining at the Rijksmuseum. 703 McKinney Ave. 214-468-0073. caferembrandtdallas.com.
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Best Cupcakes
What cake master, executive chef, and Food Network darling Bronwen Weber does with batter and icing is almost magical. Her award-winning creations for Frosted Art Bakery & Studio are stunningly beautiful and nothing short of artwork. According to the bakery’s web site, “If you can dream it, she can buttercream it.” Mmm, buttercream. 1546 Edison St. 214-760-8707. frostedart.com.
Best Twice-Baked Potato
It’s a small scoop of butterfat heaven: shredded potatoes, butter, sour cream, and cheese all baked together. That’s it. Nothing more. Yet this deceptively simple side dish is sinfully delicious, rivaling Cowboy Chicken’s famed rotisserie chicken in popularity and making our hearts swell with gastronomic joy. That and cholesterol. 5315 Greenville Ave. 214-234-0505; 17437 Preston Rd. 972-732-6281. cowboychicken.com.
Best Pizza by the Book
Cavalli, a mom-and-pop pizzeria in Irving, is the only one in Texas with a certification by the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association (VPN), guaranteeing that the pizza adheres to the standard set in Naples, Italy. That means San Marzano tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, buffalo mozzarella, wood-fired oven, and a pizza that bakes in less than 90 seconds. 3601 Regent Blvd., Irving. 972-915-0001. cavallipizza.com.
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Best Wine Sampling
This is wine sampling, version 2.0. You walk into Cork and decide the dollar amount you’d like to spend on sampling. Then a Cork employee hands over a debit card to use at six touch-screen monitors that contain a list of wines from all over the world, including bottle and sampling prices. You swipe your card, select the wine you’d like to try, and a Cork staffer fastidiously offers the glass with its sample-size serving. The best part: deciding if the $75 French wine is better than the $20 one from Argentina, over and over again. 3636 McKinney Ave., Ste. 170. 214-780-0373. corkwines.com.
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Best New-School Float
The cozy patio at Coal Vines is great for date night or girls’ night, and the bustling dining room has a festive atmosphere. Oh, and the pizza is splendid. So it’s really no surprise that the restaurant does dessert well, too. The ladyfingers and tiramisu gelato in espresso soda that make up the tiramisu float are a primo combination that provides the perfect ending to a fine meal. And it’s only five bucks. 2404 Cedar Springs Rd., Ste. 500. 214-855-4999. coalvines.com.
Best Meal Full of Hot Air
Before the arrival of Rise No. 1, you could find soufflés at only a handful of places as a special-occasion dessert. Rise makes them star of the show, in so many flavors you can sample a different one every day. Choose from savory versions—ham and cheese, creamed spinach, smoked salmon, truffle and wild mushroom, blue cheese, and lobster Thermidor. Or sweet: chocolate, Grand Marnier, raspberry, apricot, and bread pudding. Served in fine pottery, they stand tall and brave, quivering slightly, waiting to cave in to your pleasure demands. 5360 W. Lovers Ln., Ste. 220. 214-366-9900. risesouffle.com.
Best Sushi for the Finicky Fish Folk
At one end of the sushi spectrum lies the bargain supper known as “dollar sushi nights.” At the other end resides Yutaka Sushi Bistro. Not that its sushi is unusually pricey; just that the priority is on top-quality fish. You’d have a hard time finding a chef more persnickety than Yutaka Yamato, who sources his fish carefully and handles it expertly. Anyone can do novelty maki rolls, but Yutaka is where you go for precisely trimmed, perfectly textured raw fish and flawlessly balanced rice, with its harmonious interplay of vinegary and sweet. 2633 McKinney Ave., Ste. 140. 214-969-5533. yutakasushibistro.com.
Best Chocolate Fix
We are obsessed with Chocolate Secrets for more than its selection of tempting chocolate treats, including cakes, chocolate-covered berries, croissants, handmade truffles, and hot chocolate. On Wednesday evenings, there are free French lessons; drop by Saturday night for live jazz or anytime for a wine and chocolate pairing. For $32, you get your choice of four chocolates and two glasses of wine. Oui, oui. 3926 Oak Lawn Ave. 214-252-9801. chocolatesecrets.net.
