u/dfwfoodcritic

Over the last year, I visited 35 steakhouses (and more non-steakhouses that serve steaks) to identify Dallas' best for D Magazine. I spent $16,958 of D's money, no free meals or pay-for-play.

Judging 35 steakhouses sounds like a dream job, but it was a year of quantity over quality. I counted at least 60 contenders, and couldn't visit them all because I want to live to age 40. But Dallas doesn't have enough ideas. Many live on '90s nostalgia or are bland, corporate new chains with identical menus. Nowhere does Dallas' mythmaking diverge from reality so dramatically as with our civic pride in our steakhouses. We've wet aged ourselves.

Today we're publishing the results.

The Dallas Steakhouse Is Cooked - narrative essay about the state of the scene.

Some reasons our steak scene has fallen behind cities like Chicago, NYC, even Austin:

• The decline of Texas beef. This is outside steakhouses' control, obviously, but a lot of Texas ranches are selling to big corporate concerns or simply closing. Drought, inflation, younger people aren't as interested in being ranch workers.

• The current economic environment of inequality and high rent is creating a wave of new steakhouses, but they're mostly identical big pricey chains.

• A lack of the eclectic/diverse ideas you can see at steakhouses in other markets.

• Here is a list of local steakhouses that get some or all their beef from the exact same supply company: Al Biernat's, Brass Ram, Dakota's, Dee Lincoln Prime, Del Frisco's, Delilah, Evelyn, Hillstone, Nick & Sam's, Palladino's, SĒR, Stillwell's, Tango Room, The Mexican, Town Hearth, Winsome Prime

The Top 8 Steakhouses in Dallas - based on my meals, these are the best places right now. It's not a list that will surprise you, tbh. Nuri, Town Hearth, Tango Room, Pappas...a lot of known suspects. The big upset is Palladino's, which opened earlier this year. Joseph Palladino was a co-founder of Nick & Sam's, but don't worry, the new spot is for grown-ups.

I'll be chilling in the comments for a while today and probably a while tomorrow too.

What is your favorite specific action that happens in a local steakhouse? The best tableside salad prep show. The best flambeed dessert. A chef who comes out to carve your beef. A place that rolls a martini cart to your table. A drink that lights on fire. Going to the salad bar at Dunston's. Going down the elevator at Dakota's.

The moment. What's your favorite moment?

This is not a "favorite steakhouse" thread. IF YOU JUST SAY "AL'S" AND HIT REPLY, I WILL FORCE FEED YOU COLD IN N OUT FRIES.

The Dallas Observer chose me as their new food critic and ran my first review on May 3, 2016. For the last 4+ years I've been full time at D Magazine, producing reviews, lists, guides, interviews, features, and the 50 Best Restaurants. For the last 15 months or so, I've been the only professional dining critic in Dallas, that is to say, the only person who follows ethics rules, visits unannounced multiple times, and pays for meals as an actual job.

Let's chat!!! I'll be here all afternoon.

10 years column (that is also my 500th piece for D Mag): I’ve Been Reviewing Dallas Restaurants for 10 Years. Here’s What I’ve Learned.

FAQ

How can I get paid to review restaurants? Maybe convince the Dallas Morning News to hire a reviewer since they haven't had one since 2019. (But seriously, I trained as a writer and especially in persuasive and opinionated writing. Then, as a person with a Middle Eastern parent, I wanted to write about immigrant owned restaurants. The Observer paid me $25 per article to start.)

How often do you dine out? 257 restaurant meals in 2024, 320 in 2025, so far this year 76.

What's really new and good right now? Puerto Cocina. AM/FM Diner. Prime Doner in Plano. Seegars Deli. Ateliê. The Bread Club for bread and laminated pastries but not for cookies or scones.

Doesn't D Mag take bribes for restaurant reviews? No. We pay for everything. PROOF!!

Wait, you've written 500 articles? How come they're not all in this sub? To not be spammy. But here's some cool recent stuff: unmasking a restaurant group that gives customers freebies in exchange for 5 stars on Google, asking Beyoncé's personal stylist why he's a culinary school intern now, trying a new Uyghur spot in Plano, deflating the Prince Street Pizza hype, and talking to Dallas tourism execs about the numbers behind Michelin. We publish about 3-4 food articles a week on dmagazine.com and send an email newsletter digest weekly!

What's your favorite restaurant? Ugh! Literally the worst question, I have like 15 favorites. According to my log, the restaurants I visit most are Encina and Cenzo's. Last year my birthday party was a crawl of Easy Slider + Las Almas Rotas.