12 December 8–14, 2022 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Month XX–Month XX, 2014 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER | Classified | MusiC | dish | Movies | Culture | Night+day | feature | sChutze | uNfair Park | CoNteNts | more casual experience, but in the back is one of the prettiest dining rooms in Dallas. We’d be remiss not to mention house som- melier Amelia Henderson, who has crafted a Mediterranean-focused wine selection. Top Pick: A lamb pressé was a dish we just couldn’t forget. De Leon got a taste of a mu- hammara while working in Dubai. Here it’s served as a sweet and smoky sauce alongside a braised lamb shoulder. The fall-apart ten- der block of protein is stacked with Moroc- can carrots and thin shards of fried okra. Cris and John 5555 Preston Oaks Road, 972-803-4750 C ristina Mendez and John Pham opened Cris and John in 2017 in a North Dallas strip mall — bookended by a 7-Eleven and a laundromat — and have stood out with a cre- ative blend of Vietnamese and Mexican street fare. The center of Cris and John’s menu is the phoritto, which piles all the goodness of a bowl of pho into a warm and crispy tortilla. From there, the menu ex- pands to bao, tacos or banh mi with a variety of fillings, or more traditional pho and ra- men. Want loaded fries and spicy wings too? Cris and John has you covered, blending cuisines like few others in the city. Top pick: Each week, Cris and John cre- ates a $30 special tray filled with some of its most popular items, like Angry Pho, birria tacos, chicken wings or spring rolls. The tray offerings change each week, so there’s al- ways something new to try. If you see the option to add short rib to pho for a small up- charge, do it. Cry Wolf 4422 Gaston Ave., 214-272-3066 A t the end of a modest strip mall on Gas- ton Avenue sits Cry Wolf, where the fare is anything but unassuming. Chef Ross Demers’ technical skill and finesse are on full display here, with a menu that changes depending on what Demers, sous chef Liam Byres and team can get in that week. Think of the menu sequentially from smaller dishes to larger, with the freedom to order as little or as much as you like. Cry Wolf is inti- mate and creative, casual while elegant, and a shining example of one of the best culinary experiences that Dallas has to offer. For ex- ample, on our most recent visit, we tried a braised leg of lamb served on a bed of ta- gliatelle pasta that was a sonnet. Top pick: With a menu that changes so of- ten, no two visits will ever be the same. For the prime experience, try to make a reserva- tion at the chef’s table, the last four seats at the bar in front of the wood-fired grill, where you have a front-row seat as Demers and Byres make the magic happen. douglas Bar and grill 6818 Snider Plaza, 214-205-5888 W hen we spoke to Doug Pickering about his namesake barbecue venture in Snider Plaza, Douglas Bar and Grill, he addressed the elephant in the room right off the bat: the barbecue here is expensive. Douglas Bar and Grill is a beautiful space, and the barbecue is top-notch, from the phenomenal wagyu brisket and the perfectly cooked salmon to a barbecue burger that takes two hands to pick up. With much of Texas barbecue, one has to deal with limited hours, long lines or both. At Douglas, you can make reservations six days a week, have barbecue within minutes of sitting down and drink from a full bar to boot. For many, the extra cost for those perks strikes them as quite the value. Top pick: If the cost scares you away, Douglas runs a happy hour with cocktails and barbecue bites for just $10. Brisket bul- lets are brisket and cream cheese stuffed ja- lapeño peppers, which give just the right amount of peppery heat to go with the sa- vory brisket stuffing. faT ni 2528 Old Denton Road, Carrollton, and 111 W. Spring Creek Parkway, Plano, 469-900-8887 F at Ni is fun. Everything about it is fun. Well, it’s in a strip mall, but aside from the location, it’s a good time. To order you’ll get a sheet of paper on which to check off boxes, almost like ordering Girl Scout cook- ies. It allows newbies to get familiar with the options. Then, in the open kitchen you can watch the skewers of meat cooking over the grill. Each skewer is brought out as soon as it’s done, making for a parade of offerings to the table. “Oh! Scallops!” Top Pick: The lamb and tendon skewers are tender and flavorful, but we also de- voured every bit of a spicy chicken soup with house-made noodles. Super long noo- dles can at times make for awkward table manners, so maybe bring your own scissors. harWood arms 2850 N. Harwood St., No. 100, 214-273-5151 G astropubs are plentiful across Dallas, but with its combination of a cozy and welcoming dining room and fare that warms both the body and soul, Harwood Arms does the best job of bringing English sensibility and an authentic pub experience close to home. To step inside Harwood Arms is to step into a Welsh country house, with rich millwork, warm lighting and comfortable and secluded booths and tables. When it comes to food, Harwood Arms puts all other bar food to shame, whether you order the homey shepherd’s pie, a cooked-to-order salmon or the brilliant chicken tiki masala. Topping it off is Harwood’s amazing service, which only seems to improve when the pub gets busier, and every visit makes us feel right at home. Top Pick: Pop in on Sunday afternoon af- ter 4 p.m. and take in the Sunday roast, an English tradition. For $30 (or $50 for two), you get a slab of tender and juicy roast served with seasonal vegetables, roasted po- tatoes, Yorkshire pudding and traditional gravy. British accents not included. Knox BisTro 3230 Knox St., 469-250-4007 T oo often we associate French cuisine with stuffiness, arrogance, overpriced fare or some combination of the three. Thankfully, Dallas has Knox Bistro to show off the best that French cuisine has to offer in a much more approachable fashion. Knox Bistro’s menu offers ingredients that aren’t at all complex but are so brilliantly executed that they taste like something new and fresh. There are delicate soufflés, naturally, exqui- site seafood (don’t sleep on the brilliant branzino) and perfectly prepared vegeta- bles. It’s all reminiscent of chef-partner Bruno Davaillon’s home in the Loire Valley. His team, including executive chef Michael Ehlert, creates a casually elegant meal that should change anyone’s mind about French cuisine being too pretentious to enjoy. Top pick: Soufflés may be the essence of French cooking, and Knox Bistro’s chocolate dessert soufflé borders on a religious experi- ence. It’s light yet rich, chocolaty yet still bright, and should almost be a requirement to end your meal. naTional anThem 2130 Commerce St., 469-677-6166 N ick Badovinus has had plenty of res- taurant success in Dallas. With Na- tional Anthem, he has created a mix-tape of the greatest hits from his other ventures and stuffed them onto one menu. It’s all then served up with a playful smirk for those who are in on the joke. The result is a competent blend of steaks, seafood and sandwiches that will please all palates, served inside a dining room that instantly brightens your mood. Too often, we get trapped in the notion that well-executed dishes should always be taken seriously, but National Anthem is our reminder that it’s OK to smile and laugh when you enjoy a great meal. Top Pick: It seems low-brow, but with so many dishes that come with great sauces, ordering the bread service ($5) with the whipped and lightly salted butter is a must. The bread is great on its own, but using it to sop up all the flavors on your plate takes ev- erything to the next level. odelay 5600 W. Lovers Lane, No. 109, 972-707-0595 W hile Italian cuisine has defined Julian Barsotti’s other restaurant ventures, Odelay is his first foray into Tex-Mex. It’s the cuisine Barsottoi missed most when he lived out of state, and Odelay is an homage to those memorable meals with a focus on high-quality ingredients without compro- mises. That means wagyu brisket Top 100 from p11 Alison McLean Odelay offers memorable Tex-Mex meals. >> p14
