We had a wild ride in 2023, with many small business owners suffering through recession-like conditions while big-money steakhouses and “clubstaurants” thrived. That provoked a lot of big-picture thinking about where Dallas is headed.
We don’t know exactly where 2024 will take us, but there are a lot of things that have us excited. Here’s our list of favorite trends—and specific restaurants—coming in the new year. Our list of restaurants has been updated with all the latest intelligence on when to expect openings.
More affordable food, please
2023 was a banner year in new restaurant openings—if you’re wealthy. From Komodo to Crown Block, from Mister Charles to Sushi Bar, dinner at most of this year’s big attention-getters cost north of $200 per person. I’d like to see a lot more energy in more everyday types of dining, and in a recent column I argued that we are, in fact, seeing that change. From bagels to Tex-Mex, Dallas restaurateurs and chefs are quietly revisiting, and upgrading, our working-class foods. Let’s hope that trend continues. — Brian Reinhart
Yes, please, more affordable food. We love the good, rich stuff. We live for it. But we also need money for other things, like bills. (I know there’s a lot that goes into why prices are high, but I’m just saying what everyone is thinking.) — Nataly Keomoungkhoun
The new H Mart on Royal Lane
I don’t know when this is going to open, or even if it will be in 2024 at all. But I’m ready! — B.R.
Bagels, baby!
2023 was the year of the bagel in Dallas. Starship Bagel won “best bagel” at the 2023 NY BagelFest. Lubbies Bagels in East Dallas has received crazy good reviews. Shug’s opened a new location on Lemmon. Soon, we’ll have Abby’s Bagels on Greenville. Let the bagel-mania continue! — N.K.
More street food
Dallas has relaxed its formerly straitjacketing restrictions on food trucks and mobile food carts. It will take time to recover from those anti-vendor regulations, but I hope that 2024 sees the beginning of a boom in food trucks, trailers, and other pop-ups. Wouldn’t it be cool if, a year from now, the hottest place to eat is a trailer behind a brewery? — B.R.
The natural wine boom
Natural wine programs have taken quiet hold on Dallas, with lists gracing newcomers Via Triozzi and Fond, Petra and the Beast, and Mister Charles. (Read more about it in this excellent Eater Dallas story.) Natural wines are all over the place. And I’m hoping they continue to grow. — N.K.
Good stuff that happens to be vegetarian
I don’t mean veggie burgers, vegan chicken fried steak, vegan sushi, or other foods where the meat has been replaced with a plant-based protein. I mean plates of food so interesting and fun you can eat the whole thing without noticing they were meatless. They are common at Rye, they are the focus of the vegan tasting menu at Maiden, and I just filed a review of Via Triozzi after eating only two dishes with meat in them. Let’s keep the ball rolling. — B.R.
These restaurant openings
Here are the 2024 restaurant openings we’re most excited for, in alphabetical order.
Bacari Tabu, a new pizza and jazz bar from Julian Barsotti next to his flagship restaurant, Nonna. Bacari Tabu is actually in soft opening as of the time of writing, with a Resy page, so by the time this article publishes, its “real” opening may have already been announced. (We wrote this article before leaving for Christmas.)
Cenzo’s Pizza and Deli, on a quiet corner in Winnetka Heights. Cenzo’s opened Dec. 19, but we didn’t want you to forget about it.
Fortunate Son, a New Haven-style pizza joint from the Goodfriend Burger guys, will arrive in downtown Garland in January or February.
The French Room, Dallas’ most iconic dining room, was supposed to reopen in time for the holidays, but we’re told that the Adolphus Hotel is still several seasons away from finalizing its plans for the newly reincarnated restaurant.
Jaquval and Trades, two next-door neighbor spots from the owners of Oddfellows and Revelers Hall. The names are cringingly dad-jokey, but the ideas are cool: Jaquval will be a nanobrewery with a handful of beers and other drinks, and Trades will be a sandwich shop. Jaquval opened in December for irregular hours (the owners told the Morning News it was open “if you see the lights on”), but both shops will be for-real open in January.
Knife Italian, the new spot from John Tesar at the Las Colinas Resort, looks nearly finished and ready for service, based on Tesar’s Instagram stories. (Still wish the name wasn’t so silly. “Knife” in Italian is “Coltello.” What was wrong with that?)
Let’s Ask Keith, UNCO Management’s “affordable” steakhouse inside the Continental Gin Building in Deep Ellum.
Nena Postrería, Diana Zamora’s passion project bakery in East Dallas. She tells D that it will be a community center and a hub for cooking classes, late-night desserts, and café de olla. She hopes to be open in January.
Le PasSage. This restaurant from owner Stephan Courseau and chef-partner Bruno Davaillon will explore the French-Asian culinary encounters made famous by French chefs like Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Asian chefs like Mitsunobu Nagae, Tatiana Levha, and many more. Courseau and Davaillon are considering executive chef candidates, all of whom are living in Asia at the moment. Although Le PasSage (rhymes with massage, and has a capital S because it’s a pun in French) was meant to open in early 2024, we hear there have been significant delays. Maybe in summertime.
Radici, chef Tiffany Derry’s new Italian concept a few doors down from her other award-winning restaurant, Roots Southern Table.
Royal Bastard, a mysterious new Nick Badovinus joint in a former strip club across the street from Town Hearth. This was on our 2023 list, too, but it has been delayed for at least a year already. All Badovinus has said so far is that there will be 12 tables, ribald humor, and “unapologetically premium” prices. He added, while dropping in on the D podcast, that it will be bar-focused, a bar with food, not a restaurant with drinks.
Sanjh, an upscale Indian restaurant in Irving. It was supposed to open this fall, but it seems the date’s been pushed back.
Seegars, an old-world deli, will open in the Cedars neighborhood. Though the Cedars was historically Jewish, Seegars owner Olivia Genthe calls this deli “nondenominational,” inspired by Jewish, Midwestern, and German examples alike. There will be pastrami on rye, corned beef, kielbasa soup, and lots of cabbage. Expected in February.
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Brian Reinhart
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