The First Review Of Filament Is In; Dallas' Best Yakitori Is At Teppo

Everyone’s been talking about Filament, Matt McCallister’s Southern hot spot in Deep Ellum, but no critic had yet weighed in on the young restaurant until Wednesday. The Dallas Observer’s Brian Reinhart filed a review of the restaurant, giving the collaboration between McCallister and Chef Cody Sharp a pretty enthusiastic thumbs-up:

Surrounded by the young crowd at Filament, and likewise by its young cooks and floor staff, you can’t help but feel the ground shifting underneath the Dallas dining scene. Along with fellow trendsetters Rapscallion, FT33 and Small Brewpub, Filament is rewriting the rulebook for local cooking. You can have your potato salad, but it comes with grilled octopus. You can have your carrots, but they’re topped with tahini. Want a dip for your chip? Forget queso and try the refreshingly cool mix of deviled shrimp and crab meat ($12).

Paradigm-shifting crab dip aside, Reinhart also notes an "addicting" bowl of Hoppin’ John, and pastry chef Maggie Huff’s buttermilk pie that is so transcendent "it may in fact be violating the laws of physics."

The Dallas Morning News’ Leslie Brenner headed to Teppo, once owned by Chef Teiichi Sakurai before being sold to its current owner in 2008. In her review, Brenner offers helpful tips to first time Teppo diners:

It helps to have a plan when you dine there, as the menus, numerous and extensive, can be overwhelming. A regular one offers cold dishes, hot dishes, soups, noodles, rice dishes and more. There's a cold-specials menu and a hot-specials menu – spelled out on a blackboard above the sushi bar as well – along with a list of yakitori and kushiyaki dishes and another of sushi and sashimi.

Brenner also praises Chef Masayuki Otaka as the "yakitori king of Dallas," noting "nicely charred" cubes of beef tongue and small "premium" chicken thighs skewered on sticks. Four stars.

Elsewhere, the Dallas Observer’s Kellie Reynolds raved about the Dr. Pepper Chocolate Chip ice cream at Howdy Homemade, and D Magazine’s Eve Hill-Agnus spotlighted a must-try matcha latte with freshly-made almond milk at Local Press + Brew on Beckley Ave.