18 December 12 - 18, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Green Point is open for lunch and dinner, and a seat at the horseshoe-shaped bar in the middle of the restaurant is a great perch. The space is chic and unfussy, and the menu is chock full of fresh daily seafood and oys- ters procured from waters around the globe. As impressive as the food is, Green Point’s drink menu is even lengthier than the food menu, with a selection of cocktails fronting an almost daunting wine list available by the glass or bottle. Top pick: If you’re famished and looking to gorge (or are dining with a group), order the La Perla Tower with 10 oysters, eight jumbo cocktail shrimp and chilled lobster tail for $95. Turan Uyghur Kitchen 2001 Coit Road, Plano As one of the Dallas area’s only Uyghur res- taurants, Turan Uyghur Kitchen educates as well as nourishes. Uyghur cuisine promi- nently features roasted mutton and beef, rice dishes and kebabs. Since the majority of Uyghurs are Muslim, the food is predomi- nantly halal. Dishes like the big plate chicken are simply marvelous, and a small portion was huge, easily feeding two people. This is a braised bone-in chicken stew served on a bed of flat noodles and piled high with potatoes, spring onions, garlic and red and green bell peppers. If it’s available, don’t sleep on polow, a slightly sweet pilaf- style rice cooked with onions and carrots and served with a lamb shank. Top Pick: We can’t say enough about the deep and savory flavors in the big plate chicken. Bone in chicken and noodles are seasoned with star anise, cinnamon, clove, white and black pepper “and so on” (accord- ing to the menu). If this were the only item on the menu, Turan Uyghur Kitchen would be a success on this dish’s merits alone. The POT Baked Potato Bar 1639 South Blvd. The 75215 zip code in South Dallas is con- sidered a food desert by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But Sheena Marie Scott, owner and creator of The POT Baked Potato Bar, is changing that by flipping the spud game on its head. The POT Baked Potato Bar is a to-go-only kitchen that offers eight dif- ferent spuds. The baked potatoes with a crisp outer skin serve as the base and are topped with items like marinated lamb chops, salmon and jumbo shrimp with a Ca- jun cream sauce, and grilled ribeye. The Humbler keeps things simple with bacon, butter, sour cream and cheese. Everything is topped with a dash of their own seasoning. Order online for easy pick-up and find a place with some elbow room to dig in. Top Pick: The Chop Pot comes with two marinated lamb chops grilled to absolute tender perfection and served with a house- made Cajun cream sauce. Get napkins and get messy. Mayor’s House by Selda 635 N. Zang Blvd. The Mayor’s House by Selda is an offshoot of North Dallas’ Selda Mediterranean Grill. This second home in Oak Cliff’s Bishop Arts District is a historic two-story house built in the early 1900s that was at one time home to Dallas mayor George Sergeant. The space is both historic and modern with Turkish rugs and colorful pendant lights adding a Medi- terranean flair. The menu is large, and things can get out of hand quickly, but just let that happen. You’ll for sure want to get as many breads as you can (like the cheese pide) and don’t skip the halloumi cheese. Kebabs are a signature dish: hand-chopped lamb and red peppers are cooked over charcoal. Then, there’s the dessert tray: everything is made in-house with some traditional desserts, like cheesecake and tres leches, with a Mediter- ranean spin. Top Pick: The cheese pide with spoonfuls of the chunky spicy ezme is maximalist. But the best thing about this restaurant might be the large, relaxing breezy patios bordered with billowing white drapes for some oasis getaway vibes. South Polk Pizzeria 3939 S. Polk St. Chef Terrill Burnett of South Polk Pizzeria once had another chef tell him “We only sell winners,” and it’s a motto he lives by. When Burnett, who cut his chops at Nobu and Knife, got an opportunity to open this pizza spot, he studied all types of dough and set- tled on a cross between Neapolitan and New York style, which he calls Neo-New York. The thin crust has good bounce. Ingredi- ents, like the dough and sauce, are made in- house and others are sourced locally, like the sausage from Jimmy’s. Top Pick: A simple pepperoni with jalape- ños is our go-to here. Cup and char pepper- oni with crispy edges add a pop of flavor and texture. The Tango Room 1617 Hi Line Drive Some Dallas restaurants are great, then there are restaurants that make Dallas great. The Tango Room is ... both. The ex- perience starts when you walk into the res- taurant, which sits quietly in the shadows of showy Carbone. Here a demure red neon sign no more than a two feet high whispers its presence. Inside, Andy War- hol’s Diamond Dust Shoes hangs to the right of the hostess stands (owner, Tim Headington, is a renowned collector). We hear they spend more on art insurance than rent. The Tango Room originally opened in 2021, but it recently got a refresh with a new executive chef and bar pro- gram. Steaks are core to the menu but sea- food takes a good shot at stealing the spotlight, all of it propped up with French cuisine techniques. With just a dozen booths and a mid-sized bar, it’s sexy, quaint and exclusive, but no jacket required. Top Pick: The rich dark semicircle booths here are made for deal-making. But if that’s not in the cards, grab a seat at the bar during happy hour for half-priced drinks and hope the special that night is fruits de mer pasta, with its light butter and cream sauce over tender crab, lobster and shrimp. Otherwise, the seared foie gras with a small kouign- amann is four bites of art. STILL THE TOPS Al Markaz: For more than two decades years, Al Markaz has been an institution in the Dallas- area Indian and Pakistani communities. Some of the original employees are still here, and the lunch combo is still an outrageously good deal. That long history, and those low prices, are still a big part of the restaurant’s appeal, but there are plenty of good dishes coming out of the kitchen, including lentil stews and probably the best butter chicken within a dozen miles. It’s especially fun to visit in the evening during Ra- madan and watch dozens of families arrive si- multaneously to order mountainous, fast-breaking meals.1205 W. Trinity Mills Road #112, Carrollton, 972-245-9525. AllGood Cafe: If you designed the diner of your dreams, and you happened to be from south- central Texas rather than, say, New York or the Midwest, the result would look a lot like AllGood Cafe. The food here adds gentle Texan touches to American classics, like the fat slices of roasted poblano pepper in the terrific grilled cheese sandwich, or the fact that all sandwiches come with a side of tortilla chips rather than fries. The chicken-fried steak, with enormous, crisp batter that sprawls across a whole takeout container, is advertised as the “world’s best.” We don’t know if that’s true, but to find better, you’d probably have to drive to some tiny town in the Hill Coun- try. 2934 Main St., Dallas, 214-742-5362, www.allgoodcafe.com. Armoury D.E.: When Armoury D.E. opened its doors in 2015, its mission was to offer some of the best cocktails, food and live music Deep El- lum had seen in years. The Armoury has stuck to what it knows best, offering a casual dining ex- perience with a diverse selection of Hungarian comfort foods and other good stuff that doesn’t quite fit anywhere else. Be sure to ask about the burger of the week while you’re there. Also, ven- ture out back to catch one of the free live shows, curated with a music taste as refined as the bar’s choice in booze. 2714 Elm St., Dallas, 972-803- 5151, armouryde.com. Ayahuasca: Ayahuasca is possibly the most diffi- cult-to-find restaurant in Dallas. To get there, enter the Xaman Cafe in Oak Cliff, then head down a back hallway to a wooden door. Inside, owner Mauricio Gallegos and chef Monica Lopez serve pre-Hispanic dishes and techniques influ- enced by Oaxaca. The dishes are steeped in au- thenticity, from the pulpo y tinta (octopus and ink), caldo de piedra or chicharron en salsa verde. Fear not if you’re unfamiliar with the fare; servers are happy to walk guests through the menu, asking them what looks interesting or what kind of dish they’re looking for. 334 Jeffer- son Blvd., Dallas, 469-687-0005, www.xaman- cafe.com/ayahuasca. Baby Back Shak: A half slab at this barbecue joint means seven baby back ribs kissed with smoke, spiced with pepper and just-right ten- der: 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. 1800 S. Akard St., Dallas, 214-428-7427, babybackshak.com. Barsotti’s: The former (and in our minds, origi- nal) Carbone’s Fine Foods has been reincar- nated as Barsotti’s. The trappings of the new space feel a little more upscale since the re- model, but the restaurant still executes classic and unpretentious Italian fare. Classic dishes like vodka rigatoni or lasagna Bolognese stream through the dining room regularly. Be sure to wrap up your meal with one of Barsotti’s text- book cannolis. 4208 Oak Lawn Ave., 214-522- 4208, www.barsottis-dallas.com. Bilad Bakery & Restaurant: The Iraqi restaurant Bilad is a neighborhood institution. The superb bakery got its start turning out excellent samoon bread from Iraq and trays of delightful desserts like pistachio puffs and baklava. Bilad has an excellent kitchen serving Iraqi specialties, including some of the region’s better shawarma and falafel, zhug (an acidic hot pepper sauce), fresh tabbouleh and garlicky hummus. Kebab meat may look charred on the outside, but the interior is still perfectly tender. Grab a bag of that samoon bread as you leave, or visit the small grocery next door. 850 S. Greenville Ave., Richardson, 972-744-9599 Billy Can Can: For a certain kind of tourist or vis- iting family member, this fancified, all-frills sa- loon in Victory Park is a guaranteed hit. It presents a dressed-up, Wild West atmosphere that verges on kitsch (and, in the name, crosses that verge), while serving up food and drink vastly better than the gimmick might suggest. Top 100 Restaurants from p16 Alison McLean Al Markaz’s Chicken Karahi
