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Each month, Community Impact Newspaper chooses a local restaurant to feature. Below is a roundup of the 12 restaurants highlighted in 2019.
Dog Haus Biergarten’s tagline is “the absolute wurst,” which is a far cry from the reputation it has earned since opening in August 2017. Its owner, Ron Ryan, has woven Dog Haus into the fabric of the local dining scene by serving gourmet hot dogs with a side of community service.
Before emigrating from Mexico City to Dallas in 1976, Fernando Padilla had never heard of a nacho, a chimichanga or a burrito. Fast forward to 2019 and Padilla, along with his business partner, Anne Cowden, are the management team behind one of Dallas’ Tex-Mex institutions, Fernando’s Mexican Cuisine.
The secret to perfectly smoked meats is time and consistency, Ten50 BBQ chief pitmaster William Weisiger said. At Ten50 BBQ, meats like brisket and pork butt spend upwards of 10 hours cooking “low and slow” over post-oak wood chips.
Pigeonholing the specific type of food served at Tricky Fish is not easy, and the company’s president, Chris Degan, said that is on purpose.Tricky Fish is an outlet for all of the ideas and concepts he said he knew could never work at his other restaurant, longtime Dallas-Fort Worth institution Razzoo’s Cajun Cafe.
If the number of handmade dumplings sold each month is an indicator of success, Richardson’s Jeng Chi is knocking it out of the park. The restaurant has been located in the DFW China Town development off Greenville Avenue for nearly 30 years, and while its dough-based menu is a relic of the early days—thousands of dumplings are sold each month—not much else is the same.
When owner Bill Hyde purchased Jasper’s 12 years ago, he said he was looking to get in on the ground floor of a culinary trend sweeping the nation. The time commitment and cost of fine dining no longer meshed with the everyday person’s busy lives, he said. What emerged instead, Hyde said, was a less costly and time-consuming version of fine dining known as high-end casual.
Hossein “Hoss” Taher grew up in a family that owned restaurants. But when he immigrated to the United States from Iran in the 1970s, he had his sights on American food. Specifically, he wanted to cook burgers. Taher took over Richardson's historic Del's Charcoal Burgers in 2003.
Josh and Andrew Strickland, like many other teenagers, were trying to earn pocket money by washing dishes at a restaurant in California. Over their 14 years at that restaurant, the Stricklands learned the delicate art of preparing Japanese dishes from the restaurant’s owner, Taka Itoyama. That first job planted the seed for what would become the concept for Yoshi Shabu Shabu, which the two brothers opened with Itoyama in April 2014 in Richardson.
A dedicated chef and foodie, Ye Shire Tavern owner John Barrilleaux sets a high standard by making sure all dishes are made from scratch. He also stays on the cutting edge of the industry by keeping up with the latest food trends.
After working in Dallas’ fine dining scene for almost two decades, Nick Barclay moved his family to his native England and risked everything on a small hotel in Cornwall. In 2015, the family found themselves in Richardson. Barclay worked in consulting for a few years; however, he never gave up on the idea of a restaurant concept centered around the British tradition of fish and chips, or, in American terms, fish and french fries.
For nearly 20 years, Cafe Amore has been known for serving hearty Italian fare to the people of Richardson. Tables are topped with fresh flowers and white linens, but the atmosphere at Cafe Amore is neighborhood casual. The restaurant, situated along Coit Road, hosts parties, anniversaries, bar mitzvahs and reunions in addition to its daily lunch and dinner crowds.
When Kirin Court began serving the Richardson community roughly a decade ago, owner and manager Michael Chan said he wanted to create a traditional Chinese restaurant for the large Asian community in Richardson. The restaurant is known for its dim sum, Chan said, and it stays busy, especially on weekends.
