Where to Eat Now 2015

Honorable Mentions

AUSTIN

La V: This beautifully appointed venue is where you take the boss for dinner. The menu is French but approachable, and the 1,200-plus-label wine cellar has few peers.  

DALLAS

Blind Butcher: A rusticated early-twentieth-century space, dark as midnight, draws the young of heart and artery. Who else could eat poutine, charcuterie boards, and bacon caramel popcorn?

Oso: Denizens of oh-so-far-north Dallas are slurping up surprisingly fancy fare, like pappardelle and oxtails with charred beet salsa, at this unpretentious neighborhood restaurant. 

FORT WORTH

Clay Pigeon: Gilt-framed mirrors lend class to a brick-walled former gas station where the kitchen sends forth the likes of grilled duck breast on potato-kale hash topped with a teeny fresh salad of flat-leaf parsley. 

Righteous Foods: Fine dining has married healthy eating! Sit at a bare pine table amid colorful spice jars and feast on farro topped by a lean, perfectly cooked flank steak and baby shiitakes.

HOUSTON

BCN Taste & Tradition: The lovely cream-hued cottage sports a few original Mirós, but customers go for new takes on Spanish classics, like Iberian ham with foie gras and a fried egg and branzino with almonds and pistachios.

SAN ANTONIO

Cured: Take a tip from the well-stocked meat locker up front and try the sausage, ham, and charcuterie in this great 110-year-old building. The kitchen also does a mean gumbo with okra and smoked andouille.