Last month we started experimenting with this new monthly food news roundup format. The goal is to get you everything you need to know about where to eat and what to talk about in Dallas food this month, without the filler. It’s not a traditional news roundup, in that I (a critic, not just a reporter) get to make judgment calls about what’s interesting enough to include.
Since the format is still new, we welcome your feedback about what’s most useful and what changes you’d like to see. Fill my inbox.
Meals of the month
The Jamie’ RX sandwich at Enzo’s Deli and Imports
This is briefly going to sound like the hot take section of the roundup, but don’t worry, we’re not there yet. OK, here’s the hot take: I’m not a roast beef sandwich guy. Or I wasn’t until I went to Enzo’s, a newish Italian deli in Plano. They’re making a sandwich, the bizarrely named and punctuated Jamie’ RX, with roast beef and an eye-popping amount of Calabrian chile pepper spread. It’s served on housemade bread with so many ripples, bubbles, and air pockets that it looks like a painting. And boy, does it taste good. Jamie is the new Plano takeout queen, and we’re fitting her for her crown.
The pop-up Aguasal menu at Rye
Until Labor Day (ish), Rye is taking a “summer vacation” as a beach resort-themed restaurant called Aguasal, with culinary influences from Jamaica, Mexico, Cuba, and Venezuela—plus daiquiris, margaritas, and more beach bar drinks. The Aguasal doubles as recipe testing for a possible future restaurant concept, but I visited in the very first week and it sure feels like they’ve got everything nailed down already. I ordered a Jamaican beef patty, a “not Cuban” sandwich, veggie escovitch, and a fruity-salty Rice Krispie-based dessert. All terrific. We’ll have a full writeup next week, and I’ll be going back to try that curried fish.
News of the month
The rejuvenation of Trinity Groves
The food park recently turned 10 years old—but didn’t have a lot to celebrate, since it was half-empty. Now more of the tired old concepts are closing, but they’re being replaced with cool new stuff as the food park finally opens itself to outside chefs and restaurateurs on traditional leases. Missed all the news? I have an in-depth feature that includes interviews with Trinity Groves leadership, former chefs from the park, and residents of the neighborhood who feel that they’ve never been the food park’s target audience.
Where to go in July
Far East Pizza Co. This longtime Richardson ghost kitchen has graduated to a full-on brick-and-mortar restaurant in Allen. The thin-crust pizzas showcase Indian flavors, with toppings like butter chicken, paneer, and a halal all-beef sausage pie. It’s great to see them move from pickups at the unmarked back door of an office building to a real dining room. 2023 W. McDermott Dr., Ste. 220, Allen
Ookuma Japanese Burger. Now we know what’ll be in the former Sandwich Hag kitchen: Ookuma Burger, a super-casual Japanese menu from Jettison owner George Kaiho and his wife, Ka-Tip Thai Street Food owner YuYee Sakpanichkul Kaiho. The menu includes teriyaki beef or pork burgers, a vegan burger, takoyaki, “sumo fries” (with bonito flakes, furikake seasoning, green onions, and cheese), a side salad with sesame dressing, and slices of matcha strawberry chiffon cake. Simple and enticing. 1902 Botham Jean Blvd.
Aguasal. See my comments above—and note that Aguasal is currently closed for staff summer vacation. (Not a vacation-themed business, a real vacation.) It reopens July 9, and the pop-up menu should continue until Labor Day. 1920 Greenville Ave.
Meat Papi. On July 4, Netflix uploads season 3 of Barbecue Showdown, and America will meet Luis Rivera, who took an underdog role as the only amateur in the competition. Between then and now, he’s turned pro with his Meat Papi menu at Outfit Brewing. I enjoyed my first taste and caught up with Rivera about his journey from an Illinois backyard to Dallas and (maybe) TV stardom. Read that profile here. 7135 John W. Carpenter Fwy.
Khao Horm Thai. This newcomer replaced the previous tenant in the space, Ari District Thai, a few months ago. Ari District went for a minimalist aesthetic, which Khao Horm preserves. The new kitchen turns out a mix of Thai and Lao specialties; start with the Laos egg rolls, made by frying rice paper until it’s bubbly and crisp. My order of khao soi was absolutely delightful, a flavor bomb of noodles, chicken, pickled vegetables, spicy chile oil, and fried noodles. At lunchtime, main courses come with free spring rolls. One of the best places to eat near the Medical District. 2525 Inwood Rd., Ste. 123
Del Sur Tacos. The beloved Oak Cliff taco and burrito spot is inaugurating a comfy-looking new patio. I know it’s not patio season, but this one—called the Maya Lounge—is partially covered, beautifully furnished, and stocked up with both cocktails and hookah. 720 E. Jefferson Blvd.
Tacos El Metro, Ruins, Revolver Gastro Cantina, and more. When it’s hot, our thoughts turn to ceviche. That, and…
Hot dogs. Need help finding one? Start at New York Sub.
Five one-sentence restaurant reviews
In the final stages of researching an upcoming Tex-Mex feature, I fell for Carmen’s in far West Dallas, the kind of restaurant that thrives by feeding hearty portions to a lunchtime crowd of nearby industrial workers. Via Triozzi has a big hit on its hands with a dish of mussels in spicy ‘nduja broth, topped with crispy chickpeas. Every single thing at Goodwins is exactly what you want it to be. I liked the Punjabi food at Chandigarh Wale so much, we’ll try to get you a full review soon. Our August issue will contain a full review of Radici, but here’s a teaser: order the rabbit pasta, avoid the pork chop, and save room for dessert.
Bonus non-Dallas review: a coworker brought me a takeout tray from Interstellar BBQ in Austin, and I made almost a whole dinner out of the beautifully cooked spare rib and pulled lamb. We unpatriotically turned their Texas toast into French toast. (Thanks, Nikhael!)
Required reading
- TJ’s Seafood is such a comforting meal that a customer requested shrimp cocktail shipped to another state as one of their dying wishes. The Dallas Morning News’ Claire Ballor has that and more stories of emotional TJ’s orders.
- Only a few years ago, there was barely any decent bread anywhere in Dallas. But, as the Dallas Observer’s Nick Reynolds tells us, the sourdough revolution is going so strong that even Waxahachie is very well-supplied.
- Remember our epic review of the overblown, overhyped restaurants at The Epic? Eater’s Courtney Smith followed up this summer after the worst of the three restaurants, La Neta, announced major changes to its menu, staffing, and service to address criticisms. Smith got La Neta’s leadership on the record about what went wrong—and then she fact-checked their claims to have fixed it.
- I got a good laugh out of the moment in this interview by Sarah Blaskovich in which Exxir Hospitality founder Michael Nazerian says that he designed Paradiso to be Instagram bait, but “it irks me that this is seen as a pretty face.” Lean into it, man! Joking aside, though, there’s all sorts of intel about the huge changes he has planned for the Bishop Arts District—including a hotel and “at least five restaurants.”
- Not Dallas-based, but applicable to Dallas: Defector’s Albert Burneko would like to slap some bologna and salami on a Tesla Cybertruck and see if they fry in the summer sun. The first Cybertruck I ever saw was in Preston Center, of course. What if you walked past it at 5 p.m., carrying a few slices of uncooked bacon? As Burneko says: “Imagine the sound of it!”
Three hot takes
Food writers need to spend more time in industrial parks
The ugliest industrial neighborhoods in town—full of plants and warehouses and baking concrete parking lots—can be pretty good places to eat. Why? Thousands of workers are clocking out at midday, looking for a hearty meal that doesn’t stink and delivers quality for price.
I was reminded of that twice this month, once at Carmen’s, a Tex-Mex spot on Singleton Avenue with the unusual opening hours of 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (2 p.m. on weekends), and again at Lito’s Kitchen, a sandwich spot in the Garland warehouse district that puts in the work to bake all its own bread. Maybe we need to be spending less time looking for great food in high-rent districts, and more time posting up next to the factory. Pro tip: get to spots like these at 11:55 a.m.
Neighborhood restaurants make my job easier and harder at the same time
For many years, Dallas lacked good middle-class neighborhood restaurants. The kind of bar and grill, bistro, or tapas bar where you can dress up for a nice date or drop in unplanned because, oh, say, the power’s out at home. A step up in class from a barbecue tray, but not a meal you plan your paycheck around, either.
I might already be in hot take territory with my claim that we lacked those spots until recently. Here are three pieces of evidence. First: the ones we have now are better. Second: I’ve run that take by a half-dozen chefs and they agree with it. Third: I’ve had the unpleasant, un-fun experience of sending national food writers to some of our best neighborhood restaurants, then getting their scalding feedback in return: “You know every other city already had this, right?” Ouch.
Anyway, we’ve cleared the first hot-take hurdle. Dallas has better neighborhood restaurants than ever before. Now on to the real take: this is very good, but it also might completely explode our 50 Best Restaurants list. That ranking includes a gallery of destination spots worth driving across town for, some one-of-a-kind only-in-Dallas experiences, and weird little spots doing super cool things.
But it also features good neighborhood restaurants.
How am I supposed to decide which good neighborhood spots make the cut and which don’t? How am I supposed to rank them in some kind of order? How can I tell you which are worth driving 10 miles for? It’s nonsense! For example: Encina is the epitome of what a neighborhood joint should be. But it also happens to be the one in my own neighborhood. (Or near enough.) Location means I visit Encina more often than I will ever visit, say, Goldie’s in Lake Highlands. But does that mean I also overrate my spot?
If you want to pick apart the neighborhood restaurant portion of our 50 Best, you could drive me to fits of anxiety. I think I can defend picking Alamo Club over Neighborhood Services. Or Parigi over Bobbie’s. Or Knox Bistro over The Mitchell. But if you started arguing back at me—well, to be honest, I’m not so sure after all.
Overall, this is a boon for Dallas. The idea that you don’t need to leave your neighborhood for a nice, somewhat upscale meal is foundational to a good food city. It just makes the media’s already-absurd need to rate restaurants in order even more preposterous. Send your feedback to my bosses, please!
Monster Beverage is my new worst enemy
Back on May 30, we relayed the news (announced on Instagram) that Deep Ellum Brewing Co. had closed its Dallas operations down, part of its capitulation to unimaginative corporate overlords at Monster Beverage. A couple weeks later, Mitchell Parton of the Dallas Business Journal published a deep dive into the company’s failure, including interviews with other Dallas brewers about rising costs in the industry and the challenges of creating products that appeal to younger drinkers. His feature is mandatory reading for any beer fan, and although the DBJ requires a subscription, the article was republished by WFAA.
But closing Deep Ellum Brewing down isn’t what earned Monster its new status as my worst enemy. They got that job by announcing that they plan to keep brewing beer under the Deep Ellum name—in other states. I haven’t gotten official word, but two people knowledgeable about Monster’s operations tell me the beer could be made in Colorado or Utah.
That’s the problem. On the can, “Deep Ellum” isn’t a local historical district anymore. It isn’t a complex neighborhood where artsy rebels and gentrifiers do battle. It’s just a cool name for the same boring, generic beer made by every corporate behemoth everywhere.
For those keeping track at home, Monster Beverage takes the place of my former worst enemy, Jerry Reinsdorf.
What’s coming on SideDish in July
Along with more words about Aguasal and glorious summertime sandwiches, we’ll also have a lot of new Tex-Mex stories to tell, so get your chip basket ready to dig in.
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