Friday, March 29, 2024 Mar 29, 2024
59° F Dallas, TX
Advertisement
Cover Story

The Best New Restaurants in Dallas 2011

Where to find some of the city's greatest bites to eat.
By Teresa Gubbins |
Image
photography by Kevin Marple

Image
photography by Kevin Marple



Mexican | Wild Salsa




While other restaurateurs seem to pretend that downtown Dallas doesn’t exist, Mike Hoque’s Dallas Restaurant Group is busy making its own personal Restaurant Row. DRG has the seafood component with Dallas Fish Market, the steakhouse with Dallas Chop House, and now Mexican with Wild Salsa.



Like Hoque, this place does not lack for ambition. Rather than Dallas-style Tex-Mex, its menu is Mexico City-style Mexican, executed by chef Kelly Hightower. Hightower isn’t from Mexico City, but he’s married to someone who is. A better description of the food might be “high-end Mexican.”


Showpiece entrées include lamb shank barbacoa, roasted for hours until it falls off the bone on which it’s served. Its accompanying salsa borracha is smoky and complex, and the vegetarian poblano tamale on the side is so large that it could serve as a stand-alone entrée (and you can get it that way for $10). Portions are big, and prices can be, too. Guacamole topped with gimmicky strips of bacon costs $10. But Wild Salsa offsets those big-ticket items with tacos that start at $2.50 a pop, featuring a selection that runs from gourmet fillers such as shrimp in chipotle garlic lime butter to traditional items like tongue. Margaritas have a range, too: from the standard $6 frozen to one with cucumber and lime for $8. Salads are fresh and beautifully composed, such as the baby spinach sprinkled with spicy-hot ancho-dusted pecans, crumbled egg, and goat cheese, or the zippy jicama with cucumber and oranges. The mole is extraordinary, with chiles, ground almond, and Ibarra chocolate. The fusion of heat and sweet makes you want to push aside the poblano chicken it’s served with and eat it straight with a spoon.


The restaurant’s Day of the Dead decor and relaxed patio seem like a good fit for its downtown setting, and Hoque isn’t stopping there. He already has an Asian wok spot and a burger joint in the works.




Related Articles

Image
Arts & Entertainment

Here’s Who Is Coming to Dallas This Weekend: March 28-31

It's going to be a gorgeous weekend. Pencil in some live music in between those egg hunts and brunches.
Image
Arts & Entertainment

Arlington Museum of Art Debuts Two Must-See Nature-Inspired Additions

The chill of the Arctic Circle and a futuristic digital archive mark the grand opening of the Arlington Museum of Art’s new location.
By Brett Grega
Image
Arts & Entertainment

An Award-Winning SXSW Short Gave a Dallas Filmmaker an Outlet for Her Grief

Sara Nimeh balances humor and poignancy in a coming-of-age drama inspired by her childhood memories.
By Todd Jorgenson
Advertisement