Every city has its short list. These are the places locals take visiting relatives to, the reservations people set alarms for, and the lines that are still worth the wait years after the buzz should have faded.
This one covers all of Dallas-Fort Worth and every budget. There’s an omakase counter with only a handful of seats, a fried chicken house where the whole menu fits in one breath, a taqueria where the tacos are still a bargain, and a dining room at the Ritz-Carlton that has been part of the Dallas story for nearly two decades. Several of these places were honored again in the 2026 Michelin Guide Texas earlier this month. A few have never needed anybody’s guide.
Work through it at your own pace. Some of these are once-a-year dinners. Others are Tuesday lunch.
Tatsu Dallas, Deep Ellum
Chef Tatsuya Sekiguchi spent ten years at Sushi Yasuda in New York before moving to Dallas and opening this intimate omakase counter inside the Continental Gin Building, one of the oldest commercial buildings in the city. He is a fourth-generation sushi chef from Saitama, and he works in the Edomae tradition, where fish is cured, aged or marinated before it reaches the rice.
There are only 10 seats at the counter and no printed menu. Sekiguchi watches how each guest eats and builds the meal from there, finishing with a hand roll, miso soup and dessert. Tatsu held its Michelin star again this year, and seats go fast when the reservation window opens. This is the splurge on the list, and it earns it.
3309 Elm St., Suite 120, Dallas
Mamani, Uptown
Christophe De Lellis led the kitchen at Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas before coming to Dallas, and Mamani earned a Michelin star within weeks of opening in fall 2025. It kept that star this year. The restaurant takes its name from the grandmother of owners Brandon and Henry Cohanim, a cook who split her life between Paris and the South of France. De Lellis, a Paris native, draws on his own Italian grandmother’s cooking too, and it shows in dishes like the veal Cordon Bleu, served with the silky potato purée Robuchon made famous.
The dry-aged duck is the other dish people talk about on the drive home. Come for a celebration and plan to stay a while.
2681 Howell St., Suite BU4, Dallas
Resident Taqueria, Lake Highlands
Andrew Savoie cooked at the Inn at Little Washington, Thomas Keller’s Bouchon and Jean-Georges in New York, then taught at the Art Institute of Dallas before opening a taqueria in his own Lake Highlands neighborhood in 2015. Michelin finally caught up this year and gave Resident a Bib Gourmand, which recognizes good cooking at a fair price.
Tortillas are made to order, corn or flour. The roasted cauliflower taco with kale, pepitas and lime-epazote salsa is the one regulars order every time, and it made Texas Monthly’s list of the 50 best tacos in the state. After that, check the board for the rotating specials, which lately have included a char siu brisket taco. Resident opens at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday for breakfast tacos, and the Agave Cocktail Lounge in the Marigold Room stays open late Thursday through Saturday.
9661 Audelia Road, Suite 112, Dallas
Fearing’s, Uptown
Dean Fearing helped invent what the rest of the country came to call Southwestern cuisine, and since 2007 he has run this sprawling restaurant off the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton, Dallas. On most nights he’s still working the room in cowboy boots, stopping at tables to ask if everybody’s ready to eat.
Order Dean’s tortilla soup, poured tableside over avocado and crisp tortilla strips. It’s the dish that made his name, and it has barely changed in decades. After that, go for game. The maple and black peppercorn soaked buffalo tenderloin has been one of his signatures for years, sweet and peppery with a deep char. The Rattlesnake Bar, just off the dining room, is a good place to start or end the night.
2121 McKinney Ave., Dallas
Goldee’s Bar-B-Q, Fort Worth
Fort Worth got its first Michelin star this month, and it went to a barn-red barbecue joint on Dick Price Road near Kennedale. A group of friends who grew up together in Arlington opened Goldee’s in early 2020 after training at some of the best barbecue kitchens in Central Texas. Texas Monthly named it the best barbecue joint in the state in 2021.
Goldee’s opens only a few days a week, and the line forms well before the doors do. Bring a lawn chair. Get the brisket, the jalapeño-cheddar sausage and a slice of turkey, and don’t skip the banana pudding.
4645 Dick Price Road, Fort Worth
Far Out, near Fair Park
Misti Norris is one of the most original cooks Dallas has produced, and Far Out gives her a kitchen that matches her instincts. The restaurant and bar sit inside a Quonset hut on South Haskell Avenue that used to be a mechanic shop, with a big patio out back.
The menu is short and changes with the seasons, built around Texas produce, fermentation and whole-animal cooking. Past menus have included Texas tomatoes with preserved lime and crispy pig ears, a cured hiramasa tostada with avocado and chiles toreados, and tagliatelle with white Bolognese. You’ll know you’re eating her food within a bite or two. Go with friends, order most of the menu, and stay for a drink on the patio.
1906 S. Haskell Ave., Dallas
The original Babe’s opened on April 22, 1993, in a 1908 building on Oak Street in downtown Roanoke that once housed a hardware store and a grocery. There are other locations around North Texas now, but this is the one to visit at least once.
The menu is short. Pick fried chicken, hickory-smoked chicken or chicken fried steak, and the table fills with family-style bowls of salad, mashed potatoes, cream gravy, corn and buttermilk biscuits. It’s an easy, affordable dinner that works for the whole family.
104 N. Oak St., Roanoke
Lucia, Bishop Arts District
David Uygur and his wife, Jennifer, opened Lucia in December 2010, and it was the hardest reservation in Dallas almost immediately. Fifteen years later, it’s still one of the most personal restaurants in the city. David runs the kitchen, and Jennifer runs the room and the mostly Italian wine list.
The house-cured salumi is the place to start. Fresh pasta comes next, followed by whatever Uygur is doing with pork that season. Michelin moved Lucia from its Bib Gourmand list to its Recommended list this year, which tells you something about how the cooking has grown.
287 N. Bishop Ave., Dallas
Ngon Vietnamese Kitchen, Lower Greenville
Carol Nguyen grew up in Hanoi and opened Ngon on Greenville Avenue in 2020 with a menu built on northern Vietnamese street food. The name means “delicious,” and it’s also a tribute to her mother, Ngôn. Michelin has given Ngon a Bib Gourmand every year since the guide came to Texas.
Order the Hanoi-style pho, with its clearer broth and heavy hand of herbs, and a noodle bowl topped with chargrilled pork and crisp imperial rolls. The green papaya salad with house-made beef jerky is a good addition for the table. It’s one of the best values on this list.
1907 Greenville Ave., Dallas
Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Fort Worth Stockyards
When Tim Love opened Lonesome Dove in 2000, the Stockyards were a place to find a fight before a fine dinner. Twenty-five years later, his “urban Western” cooking is a big reason the neighborhood looks the way it does now. There’s fresh energy in the kitchen, too. Chef TJ Lengneck is back in North Texas and cooking at Lonesome Dove.
This is the place for game. The rabbit and rattlesnake sausage has been on the menu for years, and the kangaroo carpaccio and elk rib-eye show up for the adventurous. Plan an evening in the Stockyards around it.
2406 N. Main St., Fort Worth
Jashan, Plano
Prasanna Singaraju left the tech world to open Jashan at the Shops at Legacy North last November. Executive chef Ramesh Thangaraj leads a kitchen that moves through India region by region, and Michelin added the restaurant to its Recommended list this year.
The Dil Se tasting menu, served at the chef’s table in the middle of the dining room, is the full experience. If you’d rather order à la carte, save room for the rasmalai tiramisu. This is the best argument on the list for driving to Plano on a weeknight.
7401 Lone Star Drive, Suite B120, Plano
Tei-An, Arts District
Teiichi Sakurai helped build the Dallas Japanese dining scene with Teppo in 1995, then opened Tei-An at One Arts Plaza in 2008 to focus on handmade soba. It remains one of the calmest dining rooms in the city. Order the soba hot or cold. Cold lets you taste the noodle most clearly.
Tei-An is a good fit before a show at the Winspear or the Meyerson, or for a long, quiet lunch when you need one.
1722 Routh St., Dallas
Sushi Kozy, Arts District
Paul Ko spent seven years at Uchi Dallas, eventually running its sushi bar, before opening his own place on Ross Avenue in 2025. The name plays on his last name. Michelin added it to the guide within months of opening, and it holds that spot again this year.
The omakase blends kaiseki-style courses with nigiri, and RJ Yoakum now leads the non-sushi side of the menu alongside Ko. Expect composed bites like kombu-cured sea bass crudo before the nigiri arrives. Ask for a seat at the cypress counter.
2000 Ross Ave., Suite 150, Dallas
Birrieria y Taqueria Cortez, Fort Worth
Rogelio Cortez Jr. built a following with a food truck before opening this brick-and-mortar spot on East Rosedale Street. Birria is the only meat on the menu, served in tacos, flautas, tortas, burritos and quesadillas.
Get the quesatacos, two corn tortillas filled with birria and mozzarella and crisped at the edges. It’s the least expensive meal on this list and one of the most satisfying. The family announced plans this spring for a seafood sister restaurant, Mariscos Cortez, across the street.
2108 E. Rosedale St., Fort Worth
Gemma, Henderson Avenue
Stephen Rogers and Allison Yoder met working at Press in Napa Valley, then came back to Rogers’ home state to open Gemma on Henderson Avenue. It’s a neighborhood restaurant that cooks at a level most neighborhoods never see. Rogers runs the kitchen, and Yoder’s wine list rewards some time spent reading it.
Gemma holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand again this year. Start with the warm raisin scone and the fried Castelvetrano olives with Texas pecans, then let the seasonal menu take it from there.
2323 N. Henderson Ave., Suite 109, Dallas
Cattleack Barbeque, Farmers Branch
Todd and Misty David started Cattleack as a second career after Todd sold the disaster restoration company he ran for 30 years, and it has been one of the most respected names in Dallas barbecue ever since. It sits in an industrial park off Gamma Road and serves lunch Wednesday through Friday, plus the first Saturday of each month, until the meat runs out.
The beef is Akaushi Wagyu from HeartBrand Ranch. Get the brisket and the ribs, and if you have room, the Toddfather sandwich and a slice of the crack cake. It’s BYOB and credit card only. Cattleack kept its Michelin Bib Gourmand again this year.
13628 Gamma Road, Farmers Branch
That’s sixteen to start. Check one off this month, then work through the rest.
