19 December 11 -17, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents other well-executed Italian basics. Naturally, there’s an impressive, red- heavy wine selection and a full bar with an inspired assortment of cocktails. Via Triozzi’s space is lovely, with every detail considered, and meals there feel like you’ve been invited into the home of your long- lost Italian family. It all adds up to an Italian restaurant Dallas can be proud of. If butternut squash ravioli is on the menu, it’s a must-order. BARBECUE Baby Back Shak The Cedars 1800 S. Akard St. babybackshak.com A HALF SLAB AT THIS BARBE- CUE joint means seven baby back ribs kissed with smoke, spiced with pepper and just-right tender: The meat doesn’t fall off the bone, but pulls off with the gentlest of tugs. It just narrowly beats out the boudin plate as our favorite order, but the boudin (here spelled boudain) is top-notch, too, especially dunked in a cup of sauce. The small dining room pays loving tribute to great blues musicians and displays two decades’ worth of media praise. We love two meaty sides: excellent, pep- pery, lick-the-takeout-container baked beans and the boudin links. Cattleack Barbeque Farmers Branch 13628 Gamma Road cattleackbbq.com IN AN INDUSTRIAL PARK IN Farmers Branch, Cattleack Bar- beque lives up to every bit of hype it’s received, including a Bib Gour- mand from Micheline Guide. Fabu- lous fatty brisket and extraordinary pulled whole hog are the stars, as is a vinegar-based coleslaw. Grab an- other bite of slaw and you’ll be pre- pared to tackle that next slice of Texas hot link. Some weeks, the Cat- tleack crew smokes beef ribs rubbed with a pastrami spice mix. The ribs are jaw-dropping; order an extra, take it home and throw it in a pot of beans the next day. In fact, order ex- tra of everything in general, and you’ll be cooking the best beans of your life. Smokey Joe’s BBQ South Dallas 6403 S. R L Thornton Freeway smokeyjoesbbqdallas.com REGULARS AT SMOKEY JOE’S know that its bricks of fabulously tender and minimally treated pork ribs are unbeatable. And owner Kris Manning’s personal passion happens to be brisket, which might be why his has become the best brisket between Cattleack and Waco. Its balance — not overly smoky, not harshly seasoned, fabu- lously tender and moist — is just right. There are some great barbe- cue sandwiches here, including the GF, with heaping brisket, pick- les and onion rings that stay crisp on the drive home. Zavala’s Barbecue Grand Prairie 421 W. Main St. zavalasbarbecue.com ZAVALA’S MEXICAN- influenced barbecue is deeply satis- fying. Every Friday is taco night, but every barbecue tray can be con- verted into a taco plate if you ask for tortillas. You may argue, but tortillas are a better accompani- ment to barbecue than white bread. A slice of Zava- la’s lean bris- ket, nestled in a fluffy torti- lla, topped with a cilan- tro-heavy house salsa verde, is per- fection. The ribs are perfectly cooked, too, espe- cially with a house bar- becue sauce that leans heavily on spice. Mak- ing the whole experi- ence even better, Zavala’s is housed in a tiny 1967 building in Grand Prai- rie’s mid-century downtown, with a big canopy hanging over the picnic tables out front. It’s an architectural gem, and a metaphor for the way that Zavala’s takes past traditions and uses them to build new tradi- tions of its own. TAQUERIAS, TEX-MEX AND MORE Del Sur Tacos South Dallas 720 E. Jefferson Blvd. instagram.com/DelsurTacos DEL SUR TACOS COMPETES with the best of Jefferson Boulevard’s crowd of rival taquerias, with in- spired specialty tacos featuring fill- ings such as a chile relleno, excellent carnitas, cochinita pibil and birria. This is a fun space (luchadora-in- spired), and it re- cently upgraded its patio, which is now party- ready; check out karaoke night on Wednesday nights, too. Grab some mu- litas and enjoy a dish of meat, beans and stacked tortillas. We’re in love with El Santo, a taco with a nearly even mixture of grilled pork and juli- enned radishes doused in fiery gua- jillo pepper salsa. Grab your tacos as a platter to get the excellent side cup of beans. There’s also a location in McKinney. El Come Taco East Dallas 2513 N. Fitzhugh Ave. elcometaco.com THIS OLD EAST DALLAS TACO joint is officially an institution. Everything at El Come is good, even the simple Jose taco with beans, cheese and avocado, but look out for unusual offerings like tripe, lengua, sesos (veal brains) and chapulines (grasshoppers). Big TVs make this a good place to watch a soccer game, too. The pa- tio here is great and, even better, is the adjacent speakeasy, La Vi- uda Negra. The facade of La Vi- uda is a bridal shop and has its own separate, ever-changing food menu to pair with its showy cock- tails. Getting the check at the bar is the real adventure. (The check is tucked into a leather journal where imbibers leave poems, thoughts and ... well, we can’t say everything, just go find out.) El Pueblo Oak Cliff 525 E. Jefferson Blvd. SOME OF THE BEST ENCHILA- DAS verdes in Dallas can be found at El Pueblo, and if you agree with us, you can order them in an enormous platter of six, or just get two as they come with sides of rice and beans. There are other hits on the menu too, including picadillo gorditas, len- gua tacos and divine mole. Stacks of tortillas make a carnitas platter or a plate of pollo en mole even more en- ticing. This is some of Oak Cliff’s best Mexican comfort food. La Calle Doce Oak Cliff 415 W. 12th St. lacalledoce-dallas.com SITTING ON THE PORCH AT LA Calle Doce in Oak Cliff, you could easily believe you were lunching in San Antonio, not Dallas. Upscale but not stuffy, this local institution (which also has an East Dallas loca- tion) serves some of the best-quality Mexican seafood in town, from cevi- che cocktails and tostadas to seafood chiles rellenos and perfectly grilled shrimp alambres. Many of the main courses come with appetizer cups of fish stew, so be careful not to overin- dulge in chips and salsa. Maskaras Mexican Grill South Dallas 2423 W. Kiest Blvd. maskarasmexicangrill.com SOME OF THE BEST Guadalajaran food in Dallas comes from this luchador-themed restaurant in the heart of Oak Cliff. Many first-timers come to Maskaras for its extraordinary collection of lucha libre masks, costumes and vintage posters, but they stay because of the awesome tacos ahogados (“drowned” tacos bathing in salsa), enormous tortas and rich carne en su jugo. The spicy shrimp burrito is more than a foot long, and the hospitality here is as big-hearted as the plates are, well, big. The sudden internet popularity of birria, a Jalisco spe- cialty, became a fan favorite at Maskaras, as the restaurant serves birria three ways: plated as a stew, in soft-tortilla “street” tacos or, most indulgently of all, in fried ta- cos that are also stuffed with gooey cheese. Milagro Taco Cantina West Dallas 440 Singleton Blvd. milagrotacocantina.com THIS SECOND ITERATION OF the once-popular taqueria, Tacos Mariachi, just a stone’s throw away from the original, reprised much of the menu along with a whole new slate of ceviche tostadas and a shrimp burger that comes topped with chicharron crumbles and a ja- lapeño glaze. The standards in- clude a fillet of smoked salmon wrapped in griddled cheese. The shrimp taco, or “taco gobernador” on the menu, is topped with sweet- sour pickled red onions, pico and a punchy salsa. Try the campechano, a surf-and-turf combination of carne asada, octopus and shrimp. We hear that in 2026, this spot will transition to a full-service restau- rant, which will elevate the experi- ence here. Alison McLean Smokey Joe’s BBQ’s barbecue sandwich with brisket, pickles, and onion rings. Al is on M cL ea n Maskaras Mexican Grill’s tacos ahogados.
