Best restaurants by cusine in DFW (Dallas, Plano: appointed, 2013, home)

[jgn2013]

I was thinking about food as I'm prone to do, and started making a mental list of my favorite restaurants. We have quite a few top notch smaller chains/mom & pop operations in DFW. The diversity of cuisines here is criminally underrated. My greatest hits list:

Pizza (NYC/NJ-ish style) - Piggie Pies.......and I'm not sure I've had much better around here

Pizza (thin crust) - Fireside Pies.....the flavors are bold and I'm certain they get ingredients from Jimmy's

Tex Mex - Actually enjoy (gasp!) El Fenix. Not the biggest fan of this cuisine because I never feel like I get enough food relative to the money I've spent. The gap between "good" and "ok" is smaller here.

BBQ - Pecan Lodge. I prefer East TX/Deep South inspired 'Que more than central Texas; basically sweet potato pie, sauce ON MY MEAT and hot links though I love both types. Still miss Carter's BBQ in south Dallas but PL's 'que and their mac N cheese are awesome.

Americanized Chinese - Moon Wok. The decent AC restaurants are pretty similar to each other so one's "favorite" is a matter of proximity.

Ethiopian - Desta, but need to try more

Indian - Vindu/Taj Mahal/Iravat....I like different things at each place (Chicken 65 and Goat Curry at Vindu, Biryani at Iravat etc.)

Burgers - Love the flavor of Jakes but the burgers can be dry depending on the cook. Twisted Root is OK but again, even if you order 'medium' it seems like the burgers are little drier than I'd like. Among the smaller chains (Root, Jake's, Grub Burger Bar etc), I've never had a "bad" burger...always pretty good.

Sandwiches/Subs - Big Tony's West Philly Cheesesteak. They blow Texadelphia and probably any other cheese steaks nearby out of the water. Big Tony seems to use the bread I remember having at Tony Luke's in Philadelphia. They also understand the concept of CHEESE-steak. The ratio of whiz/provolone to meat is better as other places use way more steak than cheese.


"Fancy" (can easily spend $80-100 per person without drinks) - Eddie V's. Great ambiance and the best steak I ever had (a filet mignon that I mostly cut with a fork).

Soul Food - I'll need to do more research on this. I'm looking for a spot with fried catfish, collard greens, cornbread, black-eyed peas, sweet potatoes/sweet potato pie, chess pie, cobbler, oxtails etc. Down home and soul food are similar but not exactly the same.

[chrismartin756]

My votes:


Cuban - Caribbean Cuba in Carrolton


BBQ - I second Pecan Lodge. Get the fried ribs, when they are available.


Peruvian - Inca's Café in Carrolton


Mediterranean - Sanibel's in Addison, amazing lunch buffet for $10


Greek - Platia in Frisco

[kyam11]

Cattleack is 10x better than Pecan Lodge. Beef Ribs and Burnt Ends when available.

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by chrismartin756

My votes:
Cuban - Caribbean Cuba in Carrolton

BBQ - I second Pecan Lodge. Get the fried ribs, when they are available.

Peruvian - Inca's Café in Carrolton

Mediterranean - Sanibel's in Addison, amazing lunch buffet for $10

Greek - Platia in Frisco

For Greek, we prefer Stratos in Dallas (although they've been hit or miss on our trips there) and we were very underwhelmed with Platia in Frisco (although IIRC, the owners are Greeks originally from Chicago). However, my wife is Greek so we're really finicky about our Greek food.

[dallasgoldrush]

Originally Posted by jgn2013

I was thinking about food as I'm prone to do, and started making a mental list of my favorite restaurants. We have quite a few top notch smaller chains/mom & pop operations in DFW. The diversity of cuisines here is criminally underrated. My greatest hits list:

Pizza (NYC/NJ-ish style) - Piggie Pies.......and I'm not sure I've had much better around here

Pizza (thin crust) - Fireside Pies.....the flavors are bold and I'm certain they get ingredients from Jimmy's

Tex Mex - Actually enjoy (gasp!) El Fenix. Not the biggest fan of this cuisine because I never feel like I get enough food relative to the money I've spent. The gap between "good" and "ok" is smaller here.

BBQ - Pecan Lodge. I prefer East TX/Deep South inspired 'Que more than central Texas; basically sweet potato pie, sauce ON MY MEAT and hot links though I love both types. Still miss Carter's BBQ in south Dallas but PL's 'que and their mac N cheese are awesome.

Americanized Chinese - Moon Wok. The decent AC restaurants are pretty similar to each other so one's "favorite" is a matter of proximity.

Ethiopian - Desta, but need to try more

Indian - Vindu/Taj Mahal/Iravat....I like different things at each place (Chicken 65 and Goat Curry at Vindu, Biryani at Iravat etc.)

Burgers - Love the flavor of Jakes but the burgers can be dry depending on the cook. Twisted Root is OK but again, even if you order 'medium' it seems like the burgers are little drier than I'd like. Among the smaller chains (Root, Jake's, Grub Burger Bar etc), I've never had a "bad" burger...always pretty good.

Sandwiches/Subs - Big Tony's West Philly Cheesesteak. They blow Texadelphia and probably any other cheese steaks nearby out of the water. Big Tony seems to use the bread I remember having at Tony Luke's in Philadelphia. They also understand the concept of CHEESE-steak. The ratio of whiz/provolone to meat is better as other places use way more steak than cheese.


"Fancy" (can easily spend $80-100 per person without drinks) - Eddie V's. Great ambiance and the best steak I ever had (a filet mignon that I mostly cut with a fork).

Soul Food - I'll need to do more research on this. I'm looking for a spot with fried catfish, collard greens, cornbread, black-eyed peas, sweet potatoes/sweet potato pie, chess pie, cobbler, oxtails etc. Down home and soul food are similar but not exactly the same.

There are too many to choose from in all these categories. After over five years I still haven't gotten to all the great places in my neighborhood, let alone the entire Metroplex. But I'll list a few standouts I can think of off the top of my head (some of these are national chains):

Pizza (NYC/NJ-ish style) - don't know

Pizza (thin crust) - https://www.campisis.us/

Tex Mex - Dallas Page | Casa Mama

BBQ - https://www.bonedaddys.com/

Americanized Chinese - https://www.pfchangs.com/locations/u...s-tollway.html

Ethiopian - don't know

Indian - don't know

Burgers - https://www.shakeshack.com/location/uptown-dallas/

Sandwiches/Subs - don't know

"Fancy" (can easily spend $80-100 per person without drinks) - I'm afraid I can't afford to give an informed opinion on this one.

Soul Food - (I mourned this place when it closed; food was INCREDIBLE!) https://www.papercitymag.com/culture...ef-departures/

Originally Posted by synchronicity

For Greek, we prefer Stratos in Dallas (although they've been hit or miss on our trips there) and we were very underwhelmed with Platia in Frisco (although IIRC, the owners are Greeks originally from Chicago). However, my wife is Greek so we're really finicky about our Greek food.

For Greek, I'm going with this place: Yanni's Greek Cafe

[DarkStar1013]

Italian - Roman Cucina by a landslide

[Tigerbait73]

Originally Posted by synchronicity

For Greek, we prefer Stratos in Dallas (although they've been hit or miss on our trips there) and we were very underwhelmed with Platia in Frisco (although IIRC, the owners are Greeks originally from Chicago). However, my wife is Greek so we're really finicky about our Greek food.

We were also disappointed by Platia as well. We like Kostas Café in Plano but our favorite 'Mediterranean' food has to be Pera Turkish Kitchen in North Dallas. Always had a great meal there.

[serger]

Pizza - Dough
Spanish (tapas) - café Madrid
Burgers - Kenny's

[stargirl007]

Off the top of my head.. (pretty much all of these are in or near Plano.

Pizza wise, we love Taverna Rossa.
Tex-Mex - Frankie's Mexican Cuisine in Richardson.
I second the recommendation for Kenny's Burgers.

Other favorites.

Bavarian Grill
Sushi Sake in Richardson
Bar food we love the Holy Grail Pub.
Whistle Britches for fried chicken

New sushi favorite is Wa Kubota in Plano. Similar price point to Sushi Sake, but was extremely good. Gyu-Kaku in Addison too (basically Japanese BBQ).

[HockeyDadof2]

Originally Posted by DarkStar1013

Italian - Roman Cucina by a landslide

I second this!! I love that it use to be a Taco Bueno (the one in Richardson that is). Food and service have always been spot on.