Texas Monthly adds and updates approximately sixty restaurant listings to our Dining Guide each month. There’s limited space in the print issue, but the entire searchable guide to the best of Texas cuisine is at your fingertips online!

Below are a few highlights from the new restaurants reviewed in our August 2022 issue. Click “More Info” for further detail on each restaurant:

Fort Worth

The Beast & Co.

In a smartly renovated Fairmont neighborhood storefront, this casual spot delivers a sophisticated menu. We nibbled on assorted olives (in a marinade of citrus, chiles, and rosemary), accompanied by Marcona almonds alongside a silken chicken liver pâté, itself a beautiful platter with freshly made chowchow and grilled bread. Lightly charred and chilled green and white asparagus formed the centerpiece of a gorgeous salad plate, as did milky white burrata with peach sofrito. Eggplant dumplings bathed in coconut broth with lemongrass sambal elicited audible swoons, quieted only by sips of a blanc de blancs brut from Emilia-Romagna. 

Modern American | ⭑⭑⭑ | $$$$ | More Info

Dallas

Odelay

Julian Barsotti is known for his Italian restaurants (Nonna, Carbone’s), but at this handsome spot he celebrates Tex-Mex. Pretty tiled floors, arched
walls adorned with bright murals, and colorful folk art trend more stylish than old-school. With ingredient upgrades such as Wagyu beef, the kitchen turns out some righteous classics: perfectly fried gorditas stuffed with your choice of protein (our ground beef was wonderfully spiced); cheese enchiladas covered with chile con carne; tender brisket tacos with tomatillo-serrano salsa in house-made flour tortillas. Snapper Calabacita—the fried Gulf fish in a creamy chile verde–zucchini sauce (one of three snapper dishes)—is an outlier, skewing a bit upscale from the rest of the menu, and it’s delicious.

Tex-Mex | ⭑⭑⭑ | $$$ | More Info

Katy

Phat Eatery

For a fun date night, make your way to Katy Asian Town and this buzzworthy space, which dishes out Malaysian street food with aplomb. The decor is modern—neon, brick, bare wood, concrete—and the service is friendly. With glasses of wine, we enjoyed delicately crispy roti canai (like a puffy flatbread) and a platter of sizzling beef with black pepper. Picking a curry was tough, but the mildly spicy laksa proved a winner, with its sliced chicken and plump shrimp. Impeccable stir-fried green beans arrived glistening and thoroughly
speckled with bits of garlic. Kudos to the affable, community-minded chef owner Alex Au-Yeung, who was a 2022 contender for the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Texas.

Malaysian | ⭑⭑⭑ | $$ | More Info

San Antonio

Vintage Wine Bar

In the Alley on Bitters, this imaginative wine bar astonished us with some of the best duck confit we’ve had outside the South of France. Owners PJ and Lindsey Edwards offer a deli counter filled with charcuterie (some made locally, some prepared in-house) and a roster of groceries that makes us wish we lived nearby. Our selection of fromage arrived with roasted almonds and
cherry compote, to which we added a sourdough service with fancy butter. Just a few tables in the cafe and on the deck mean you should go soon. This chic spot won’t stay under the radar for long.

Wine Bar | ⭑⭑⭑ | $$ | More Info

Dallas

Vino

This sparkling Heights restaurant in the M-K-T development, brought to you by the geniuses behind Oporto, is a magical mix of Anglo-Indian and Portuguese food by way of colonial Goa. Bullet naan (a spicy take on the original) comes swiped with garlic butter sauce and is perfect for scooping up the aloo gobi bravas (crispy fried potatoes and cauliflower), creamy Goan fish stew (snapper, shrimp, and crab in a turmeric-coconut curry masala), and mishkaki, East African–inspired skewers of beef tenderloin with yuca and raita.

Italian | ⭑⭑⭑⭑ | $$$ | More Info

Rating System

Our reviews are written by critics who live in the cities and regions they cover. They remain anonymous to ensure that they receive no special treatment. The magazine pays for all meals and accepts no advertising or other consideration in exchange for a listing. Comments? .