100 BEST OF DALLAS® 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | SPORTS & RECREATION | FOOD & DRINK | SHOPPING & SERVICES | READERS’ CHOICE | CONTENTS BEST RUNNING STORE Luke’s Locker 3046 Mockingbird Lane, Dallas lukeslocker.com We know, we know – picking Luke’s Locker for Best Running Store is like picking the Cow- boys for best losing team. It’s not the most ex- citing choice; it’s not a hot new IG-ready shoe installation with a coffee bar attached. It’s just been such a go-to spot for so long. After all these decades, it’s still family-run, still hand-fitting every customer, and still hosting weekly social runs. Sometimes the old favor- ites became our new picks for a reason. BEST SPORTING GOODS STORE Soccer City 2141 E. Arapaho Road, Richardson soccercityonline.net OK, who cares if Soccer City isn’t your typi- cal sporting goods store? Sorry, we’re still not done obsessing over the 2026 World Cup, so this year, “sporting goods” might as well mean “soccer stuff.” This giant Rich- ardson hub is packed with cleats, jerseys, goalie gloves and gear for every level of the game. The staff actually knows the sport and wants to share the love. BEST INDOOR ACTION PARK FOR ADULTS Slick City Multiple locations slickcity.com/tx-north-dallas/ These days, you don’t need a five-year-old as an excuse to launch yourself down a 20-foot dry slide at terrifying speed. Slick City’s Mega Launch, Big Wave half-pipe and four- lane racing slides don’t check IDs, and the air-cushioned Sport Court turns basketball and dodgeball into a full-body flying circus. Best part: Adults Only Night turns the whole place into grown-up fun, meaning you can regress to age eight without a single tiny hu- man cutting the line. .............................. Plano Super Bowl 2521 K Ave., Plano planosuperbowl.com There are plenty of sleek bowling-and-bar concepts in Dallas chasing a nightclub vibe, and then there’s Plano Super Bowl, which has been doing this the honest way since the ‘80s. Open 24/7, 365 days a year, with more than 40 lanes, it’s a real neighborhood bowling spot, not a lifestyle brand. No craft cocktails required, no minimalist design, just affordable games, bumper lanes for the kids, and Saturday night glow bowling if you’re feeling fancy. ............... Puttshack 5100 Belt Line Road, Dallas puttshack.com Look, mini-golf used to mean a squeaky windmill and a scorecard you definitely lied on. Puttshack doesn’t play that. Four nine- hole courses, Trackaball technology that scores every shot for you (so you can’t lie your way to victory), and holes that morph into trivia battles or Beer Pong-style show- downs depending on your luck. There’s even a Challenge Hole, because apparently regular mini-golf wasn’t competitive enough. Add a cocktail in hand at all times and you’ve got a mini-golf experience that takes itself just seriously enough to be de- lightfully ridiculous. BEST FOR REAL GOLF COURSE Fields Ranch East 3725 PGA Parkway, Frisco fieldsranch.com Fields Ranch East is what happens when you give the group responsible for pro golf in the U.S. thousands of yards of Texas ranch land and tell them money’s no object, appar- ently. These rolling hills will host the PGA Championship in 2027, and conveniently, it’s also a short drive from that area’s ab- surdly opulent high school football stadi- ums, so you can spend one afternoon watching millionaires putt and the next watching teenagers play in a facility nicer than most NFL practice bubbles. BEST UNEXPECTED SPORTS DEVELOPMENT Dallas Pulse Wins Pro Volleyball Championship Dallas hasn’t seen a pro sports champion- ship in a few years, and it took an expansion volleyball team to finally break the drought. In their first-ever season, the Dallas Pulse went 20-8 and beat the Omaha Supernovas in a five-set thriller to win the 2026 MLV Championship, becoming the first expan- sion franchise in league history to win it all in year one. .................... Kevin Jennings It’s been an exciting couple of years to fol- low SMU football. No doubt that Head Coach Rhett Lashlee deserves all the credit he has been given for bringing the Mustangs back into national prominence after many decades in the dark, but where would they be without QB Kevin Jen- nings? The former South Oak Cliff star has been an absolute hero during SMU’s big- gest wins against Miami, Louisville and more. He’s back for his senior season and has his team as a top contender for the ACC title yet again. ......................... Jacy Abii The résumé alone is impressive—back-to- back UIL state championships at Frisco Liberty, two USA Basketball gold medals, a five-star ranking. But what makes Jacy Abii even more impressive is what happened in between. A torn ACL wiped out her entire junior season, but she returned as the No. 9 women’s basketball recruit in the nation. This fall, the 6-foot-2 forward heads to Notre Dame, the next stop on her impressive comeback trail. BEST SPORTS MEDIA ........... Mike Leslie We like the snarky radio guys and podcast hosts who cuss and make fart jokes as much as the next local media outlet, but sometimes, as a sports fan, it’s nice to follow an old-school sportcaster who just talks ball. WFAA’s Mike Lesslie has been that trusty sort of sports anchor around here for years, and he’s not only found on Channel 8 news these days either. He regularly takes to social media to engage North Texas sports lovers with takes that aren’t too hot, but warm enough to spur the comment section, and these days he can be found chipping it up with other WFAA sportscasters on the station’s new streaming Ultimate Dallas Sports Show. BEST MAVERICK NOT NAMED COOPER FLAGG Masai Ujiri Masai Ujiri wasn’t even two weeks into the job before he showed Dallas he meant business. Weeks after being installed as team president, Ujiri parted ways with head coach Jason Kidd, calling it a tough decision but one he made alone in pursuit of a “clean slate.” After the disaster of the Luka Doncic trade and two straight missed playoffs, Mavs fans needed exactly that. Ujiri has been building his own relationship with Cooper Flagg while signaling total organizational accountability. It’s not flashy, but for a franchise desperate for stability, Ujiri’s decisiveness might be the most important move the Mavs have made all year. Photo by Stacy Revere / Getty Images Provided by Omni PGA Frisco Jessica Shepard Fields Ranch East