Best Ice Cream
Botolino Gelato Artigianale
Carlo “Botolo” Gattini makes luscious gelato in flavors like mascarpone-fig, pistachio, and Ligurian olive oil. A decadent chocolate sorbetto acknowledges vegans. And frozen cakes, which incorporate ingredients like candied Sicilian orange peel and gianduja, are super-sophisticated treats whose layers are as pretty as they are delicious.
Best Bakery for Bread
Village Baking Co.
At a new production facility and shop between the Design District and Oak Cliff, you can watch bakers score and shape Meyer lemon-rosemary sourdough and Old World levain. We also covet their seasonal sandwiches—roasted butternut squash, Camembert, or maybe classic jambon-beurre on baguette—as well as the bronzed croissants, luxurious canelés, and poached pear-frangipane tarts.
Best Coffeehouse
Davis Street Espresso
Jenni and Shannon Neffendorf’s Davis Street storefront quietly became a coffee shop where dried coffee cherry husks are turned into a fizz, a line of bean-to-bar chocolate thrives, and meticulously tended sourdough makes a mean avocado toast. The Neffendorfs are pioneers, but they keep things simple.
Best Gourmet Shop
Commissary
This gourmet grab-and-go, with its blue-and-white tile exterior, is home to breads, charcuterie, exquisite gelato, and an eye-catching case of pastries that is almost modern art. Morning bagels are blitzed with poppy seeds. The French dip and rotisserie chicken are exceptional. Fare warning: your eyes are guaranteed to be bigger than your stomach.
Best Seafood Restaurant
Lovers Seafood & Market
At Lovers Seafood & Market, you can drift over to the raw bar for oysters or drop anchor and order slabs of pristine fish, prepared how you want it. Do not miss Copper River salmon season. But also come for weekend crab cakes Benedict. (And don’t pass up the roasted poblano Jack cheese grits.)
Best Butcher Shop
American Butchers
After hanging up their Army helicopter flight suits, the husband-and-wife team of Calvin and Desiree Wineland opened a meat shop in the Dallas Farmers Market. Calvin keeps the small family farmers who supply the beef, lamb, and pork on speed dial to answer any of your questions.
Best Sweets Shop
9 Rabbits Bakery and Boba House
Grace Koo has re-created a Seoul coffee shop in a light-filled, friendly spot in Old Koreatown. Order cold brew and admire how her Paris-honed pastry skills translate to Asian-style treats, like fluffy sweet buns; light-as-a-dream, cream-filled sponge rolls in flavors like taro and matcha; and sweet potato cakes decorated with meringue bunnies.
Best Place to Buy Booze
Bar & Garden
The crew at Bar & Garden—quite possibly the only local liquor store filled with houseplants and succulents-to-go—knows its stuff. They’re happy to educate you on natural wine and artificial additive-free spirits. Saturday tastings in the extremely Instagrammable shop are a perfect way to begin your clean drinking journey.
Best Cheese Shop
Scardello
We love the selection—150 cheeses to choose from at the Oak Lawn location and nearly 100 at the Dallas Farmers Market. We also pine over the gooey, gourmet sandwiches and curated beer and wine selection. And don’t forget the cheese classes.
Most Instagrammable Desserts
Sweet Daze Dessert Bar
There’s always a new creative confection at this bakery/ice cream spot/coffee shop that keeps us coming back to indulge and snap pics. Take a selfie in front of the fluorescent “Sweet Daze Ahead” sign or ’gram a mermaid doughnut with swirling black velvet soft serve on top—we can guarantee some sweet likes.