More creative, envelope-pushing food. After the pandemic, diners rushed to their favorite old comfort foods, rewarding restaurants that prioritized hospitality over creativity.
But we’ve had a year to order the usual, now. Customers have rekindled trust in their favorite chef. We’re hopeful that more creative fare will be the result. You can see hints around town: the whimsical, inventive Mexican food at the recent opening of El Carlos Elegante with the thoroughly unimaginative stuff at an early 2022 arrival, The Mexican.
More prix-fixe menus. Prix fixe is a format that hardly existed in Dallas six months ago, unless you count the discount “half soup, half sandwich” casual spot. In many other cities, this menu format—choose one of these three appetizers, one of these three mains, and so on, for a set price of $75 or $99 or whatever—is commonplace. In Europe, set lunches are especially popular. Here are seven examples from other regions. (I’ve been to and loved the first three; the next four are on my must-visit list.)
Now we’re finally getting a few prix-fixe offerings of our own. The chef’s-tour tasting menu is becoming more common, too, at restaurants like The Charles. Bring on more options that will broaden Dallasites’ eating habits! — B.R.
More integrated, diverse food neighborhoods. This is a goal where Dallas could backslide just as easily as it could advance. But 2022 was a surprisingly good year for the creation of more diverse food neighborhoods, as Greenville Avenue saw new Chinese, Afghan, and vegan openings and Deep Ellum welcomed more Mexican and Japanese food. I’m especially excited that Fortune House will be opening on Greenville Avenue; it’s the kind of restaurant that we used to say “only existed in the suburbs.” If it’s successful, maybe that will be a sign that Dallas is open to more diverse offerings in the city center. — B.R.
More mocktails. Yep. Cocktails are great, but virgin cocktails are on the rise and are expected to become a familiar trend in 2023, according to Yelp. The michelagua, the non-alcoholic version of the michelada, has risen more than 60 percent in searches, and Dallas seems to perpetually be in a michelada phase. And take Liquid Death, the edgy canned water sold at concert venues and bars. Folks who don’t drink but who want to be out at bars with their friends love it. It paves the way for more non-alcoholic versions of popular cocktails, beers, wines, and more—and Dallas’ bar scene has the talent to make it happen. — N.K.
And, of course, after The Charles’ ownership launched their Mexican restaurant and named it El Carlos Elegante.
