Here’s How Dallas Fared in Texas Monthly’s Best Places to Eat List

Texas Monthly published its “Where to Eat Now 2022” feature today. The contents therein laud particular dishes from Texas’ slate of new restaurants instead of a ranking or the usual top 10 arrangement. In light of the ongoing effects of the pandemic, says the magazine, “that approach didn’t seem fair.”

With that framework in place, Dallas-Fort Worth as a whole did well, racking up a dozen mentions among the total 40 restaurants highlighted throughout the spread.

The feature is divided by dish, not too unlike a menu would be. Under small plates, find praise for the charred eggplant dip at Sister, the Lower Greenville restaurant that landed on D Magazine’s Best New Restaurants 2021. Ditto Meridian, whose executive chef Junior Borges put his contemporary spin on Brazilian fare on the Dallas map.

Although Tango Room wasn’t a standout on the whole, per our January restaurant review, it did have a few stellar dishes. Among which we and TM agree: don’t skip the seared foie gras. But also, it’s foie gras. It’s forcibly engineered to be delicious.

Under a selection of large plates appears Old East Dallas newcomer Cry Wolf—which you can and should read about in former dining critic Eve Hill-Agnus’ final restaurant review in the February issue. TM calls out the 48-hour crispy wagyu tongue, an undoubtedly good dish. To me, though, it’s really hard to capture what Cry Wolf is and does and serves with a single-dish highlight. What Eve invokes in her review, I think, gets at what Cry Wolf chef Ross Demers is doing in the kitchen:

You can feel Demers’ adventurous spirit throughout. Roguishness imbues dishes such as a raw bluefin tartare with an egg yolk perched atop to mix in, like a classic beef tartare. Or a special of bison heart over creamed onions. Or the house-fermented kimchee served with those ambrosial prawns. Or the bread course’s squid ink-tinted grissini.

For the full list, of course head to Texas Monthly where the story is live. For the quick hit, see the rundown of D-FW restaurants below.