About the list
Một Hai Ba
It's like American/Vietnamese, and the chef is Serbian, ironically enough. It's a Bib Gourmand restaurant that got awarded this year. Garlic noodles are amazing that they make in-house, the Swiss chard tempura is one of my favorite things, and foie gras beef dumplings. Super fun, but out there, and super small. It’s definitely a homey place, but done at a super high level. The chef, Peja Krstic, is a super good friend, and he kind of welcomed me in here in Dallas and was like the first friend I had, but also like an older brother.
Mr. Max Izakaya Restaurant
It’s Japanese with anything from sashimi, ramen, tempura, and super small hole-in-the-wall that you would definitely find in Japan, or even in LA or San Francisco. It’s super cool, and when you walk in there's actually tables that are on the floor where you would take your shoes off and sit down in a super traditional way.
It's a yakitori restaurant that was awarded one of the best restaurants by Esquire. They only do eight guests at a time, it's basically like an omakase but with skewers, just like how you get in Japan that's super good.
Quarter Acre
Ironically, the opening chef at Georgie, he's from New Zealand, and he has a restaurant that’s kind of mixed between French and New Zealand food. I had never known there could have been a cuisine of New Zealand, but there is, and it's down the street from where I live. And a fun one he does is a coconut ceviche with hiramasa (yellowtail) that’s really fun to eat.
Lucia
The guy has been nominated like every year for freaking James Beard and never won. David Uygur is super talented. Any pasta he makes is great, he makes probably the best culatello I've ever had outside of Italy with his charcuterie, but that's if you can get in. It's one of my favorite places in Dallas, and it's definitely a staple.
