The Best Dishes Eater Dallas Ate in March

Fried chicken, oatmeal cookies, and a delicious plate of pappardelle were on the menu this month

by Courtney E. Smith Updated Mar 31, 2023, 3:10pm CDT

An off-white bowl holds pappardelle with ragu.

Courtney E. Smith is the editor of Eater Dallas. She's a journalist of 20 years who was born and raised in Texas, with bylines in Pitchfork, Wired, Esquire, Yahoo!, Salon, Refinery29, and more. When she's not writing about food, she co-hosts the podcast Songs My Ex Ruined.

The amount of excellent food available in Dallas is dizzying, yet mediocre meals somehow keep worming their way into our lives. With your Eater Dallas editor dining out frequently, that means coming across lots of standout dishes and drinks that need to be shared.

A white plate holds four slices of bread and a small cast iron skillet on a white napkin. In the skillet is tomato bisque with a baked egg nestled in it. — Baked egg and piperade with grilled bread for brunch at Knox Bistro.

Knox Bistro

Brunch service remains strong at this Knox/Henderson bistro. The baked egg and piperade were savory and acidic thanks to the tomato bisque the eggs are nestled in. And, of course, the grilled country bread was the perfect scooper.

A pastry box holds an almond croissant, an oatmeal cookie, and a pastry with egg and chorizo. — A smattering of offerings from Lubellas Patisserie.

Lubellas Patisserie

Get over there if you haven’t checked out Lubellas on Ferguson Road. When I popped in, the entire family was in the restaurant, with baker Maria Becerra and her husband Ismael Trejo Gonzalez in the kitchen while their son manned the counter and suggested a slew of options. The almond croissant and oatmeal cookie were especially memorable. No surprise there — Becerra previously worked as a pastry chef under Bruno Davaillon at Bullion and Stephan Pyles and Flora Street Cafe.

La Stella Cucina Verace

This Italian spot across the street from the Dallas Symphony may not be on everyone’s dining map — it has a built-in audience of ticket holders and visitors to the AT&T Center in the Arts District. But La Stella is making some changes. It recently brought in a new executive chef, Nicola Bacchi, who tells Eater Dallas that some modifications will soon hit the menu. Bacchi and the owners are all Italian — and committed to offering authentic dishes. Several of those were sampled on this visit, but this not-yet-on-the-menu dish, Genovese Della Mamma, was a stunner.

A clear glass bowl holds a head of cooked cabbage, mouse, and a dollop of caviar. — Chou farci at the French Room.

The French Room “Be Our Guest” series with chef Victoria Blamey

The final day of the French Room’s series with Blamey is on April 1, unfortunately, but it was a treat to try her tasting menu while it was there. Her Chilean background and the French techniques she perfected working at various New York City eateries, including her own, Mena, were on display in the inventive dishes with nods to Texas cuisine via the choice of seasonal ingredients. The chou farci, cabbage with a scallop mousse topped with caviar, was a remarkable, inventive dish.

A black and white patterend plate holds a wire chicken filled with fried chicken. Waffles and watermelon sit next to it. People are at the table in the background. — Fried chicken and waffles for the table at Yardbird.

Yardbird

I’ve meant to go to Yardbird for a while and see if the fried chicken holds up — it does. The smell will pull you into this place, but the quiet stars are the mashed potatoes loaded with chives and made into the texture of a loaded baked potato and the crispy Brussels sprout with spiced honey.

Correction: Friday, March 31, 2023 at 3:09 p.m.: Corrected to reflect a change to the dish from La Stella.