Southern in Dallas

230 N. Center St. Arlington

817-801-0300

Fried Chicken, Southern, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Readers' Choice

The small menu here reflects the predominantly fried All-Stars of Texan and Southern cuisine. There's fried chicken and chicken-fried steak, natch. There's fried catfish and pot roast. There's fried chicken tenders and smoked chicken. That's the entire selection of main dishes at Babe's Chicken Dinner House. No joke. And that's a relief to see in a market chock-full of Southern/soul food shops slinging what seems like infinite permutations on the fried. The selection of side dishes (gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet corn, green beans, green salad and biscuits) and desserts (pineapple upside-down cake, chocolate meringue pie, coconut meringue pie, lemon meringue pie and banana pudding) is similarly tiny. But what's not tiny? The portions. They're served in true down-home style, with helpings as large as the elastic-waistband pants needed to eat at Paul Vinyard's 11,000 square-foot homage to poultry.

4 articles

Babe's Chicken Dinner House

1006 W. Main St. Carrollton/Farmers Branch

972-245-7773

Fried Chicken, Southern, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Readers' Choice

The small menu here reflects the predominantly fried All-Stars of Texan and Southern cuisine. There's fried chicken and chicken-fried steak, natch. There's fried catfish and pot roast. There's fried chicken tenders and smoked chicken. That's the entire selection of main dishes at Babe's Chicken Dinner House. No joke. And that's a relief to see in a market chock-full of Southern/soul food shops slinging what seems like infinite permutations on the fried. The selection of side dishes (gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet corn, green beans, green salad and biscuits) and desserts (pineapple upside-down cake, chocolate meringue pie, coconut meringue pie, lemon meringue pie and banana pudding) is similarly tiny. But what's not tiny? The portions. They're served in true down-home style, with helpings as large as the elastic-waistband pants needed to eat at Paul Vinyard's 11,000 square-foot homage to poultry.

8 articles

Babe's Chicken Dinner House

104 N. Oak St., Roanoke Fort Worth

817-491-2900

American, Comfort Foods, Fried Chicken, Southern, Traditional, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Menu, Readers' Choice

The small menu here reflects the predominantly fried All-Stars of Texan and Southern cuisine. There's fried chicken and chicken-fried steak. That's the entire selection of main dishes at Babe's Chicken Dinner House. No joke. And that's a relief to see in a market chock-full of Southern/soul food shops slinging what seems like infinite permutations on the fried. The selection of side dishes (gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet corn, green salad and biscuits) is similarly tiny. But what's not tiny? The portions. They're served in true down-home style, with helpings as large as the elastic-waistband pants needed to eat at Paul Vinyard's original Babe's location.

10 articles

Babe's Chicken Dinner House

1456 Belt Line Rd., #171 Garland & Vicinity

972-496-1041

American, Comfort Foods, Fried Chicken, Southern, Traditional, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Menu, Readers' Choice

We figure there's something wrong with people who can't enjoy an occasional fried chicken dinner. Nonetheless, we feared we'd be wandering onto the documentary set piece for America: The Obese at Babe's, a venerable family dining establishment in a Garland strip mall, a place where you'd expect to find an all you can eat fried chicken restaurant. We were wrong, sort of. Not everyone looked like they'd been feeding on fried chicken skin their entire lives, but all-you-can-eat places do tend to serve as magnets for the gluttonous. If we're going to overdo it, it might as well be with fried chicken and side dishes as tasty as these. Babe's serves up family-style dinners which include piles of super-crispy, thick-breaded monster chicken pieces, an iceberg lettuce salad (very fresh, with a sweet vinaigrette), tasty green beans, creamed corn (for those who can stand the sight of it), biscuits and excellent mashed potatoes. Everything, it seems, is doused in butter. Babe's has a few other things on the menu as well, including hickory-smoked chicken, pot roast, chicken-fried steak and fried catfish. Eat till you explode.

15 articles

Babe's Chicken Dinner House

120 S. Main St., Burleson South Fort Worth Suburbs

817-447-3400

American, Soul Food, Southern, Traditional, Recommended, Best Of, Menu, Readers' Choice

The small menu here reflects the predominantly fried All-Stars of Texan and Southern cuisine. There's fried chicken and chicken-fried steak, natch. There's fried catfish and pot roast. There's fried chicken tenders and smoked chicken. That's the entire selection of main dishes at Babe's Chicken Dinner House. No joke. And that's a relief to see in a market chock-full of Southern/soul food shops slinging what seems like infinite permutations on the fried. The selection of side dishes (gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet corn and green beans) and desserts (pineapple upside-down cake) is similarly tiny. But what's not tiny? The portions. They're served in true down-home style, with helpings as large as the elastic-waistband pants needed to eat at Paul Vinyard's 11,000 square-foot homage to poultry.

7 articles

Billy Can Can

2386 Victory Park Lane Uptown/Oak Lawn

214-296-2610

Modern American, Southern, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Essentials

For a certain kind of tourist or visiting family member, this fancified, all-frills saloon in Victory Park is a guaranteed hit. It presents a dressed-up, Wild West atmosphere that verges on kitsch (and, in the name, crosses that verge), while serving up food and drink vastly better than the gimmick might suggest. An adventurous, affordable selection of wines and cocktails backs up pretty killer renditions of skillet cornbread, Texas red chili, hot fried quail and summer okra succotash. Some of the mains, such as the big-boned pork chop, are over-the-top in a good way. Alongside Knife and Town Hearth, this is one of the best places to take out-of-town guests who ask for a stereotypically Dallas experience but still care about the food being good.

Top pick: The crispy oyster sliders with comeback sauce make a pretty flawless appetizer, and the burger is a meaty dream bathed in Longhorn cheddar.

9 articles

Brian's Cafe Delicious Soul Food Restaurant

5209 S. Lamar St. Oak Cliff/South Dallas

214-931-6715

Southern

Bucky Moonshine's Southern Eats and Bar

2912 Elm St. Downtown/Deep Ellum

214-748-6901

Southern, Menu

1 article

Buttons Jazz Cafe

209 E. Pleasant Run Rd., De Soto Duncanville/DeSoto

972-223-5800

Soul Food, Southern, Bars and Clubs, Coffee Shops, Music Venues

The trays on the waitresses’ arms at Buttons Jazz Café in Desoto are filled with neon blue and red cocktails as they pass through a crowd of well-dressed patrons on a Thursday night. While the dinner rush has come and gone, there are still food orders being placed in front of patrons, but everyone is there for one reason. A popular jazz band performs on the high stage that sits on the back wall directly behind the bar. And though the place is set up like a proper chain restaurant (there are other Buttons locations in Fort Worth and Addison), it doesn’t stop people from scooting the tables out of the way so they can cut a rug.

Cake Bar

3011 Gulden Lane, #117 West Dallas

972-684-5801

Bakery, Southern

1 article

Chicken Moto

2069 N. Central Expressway Richardson & Vicinity

Korean, Southern

1 article

Chicken Scratch

2303 Pittman St. Oak Cliff/South Dallas

214-749-1112

Fried Chicken, Soul Food, Southern, Critics' Pick, Menu

You could almost pretend you're in your friend's backyard when you're hanging out here. The east side of the courtyard is framed by the two buildings that house the restaurant and bar. To the west, shipping containers that once sat stacked on railcars have been reinvented as furnished front porches. To the north is an open-sided building with a few more tables and a setup for games. To the south is Dallas' most attractive outdoor stage, built from wooden shipping pallets stacked into a cascading rounded giant that drunkenly leans to the side. The four sides frame what might be Dallas' coolest outdoor space, serving food that would be at home at any picnic, and lots of beer. Fried chicken boasts spotty skin that can't stay put, but is big on flavor. Wood-roasted chicken tinged with subtle smoke comes draped in tangy barbecue sauce. Sides are decent across the board. Paired with a beer from the Foundry (or seven) you'll have the makings of a fine afternoon picnic.

10 articles

Crossroads Diner

8121 Walnut Hill Lane, #1100 Northeast Dallas

214-346-3491

American, Southern, Best Of, Menu

Tom Fleming-late of some of the city's fanciest restaurants-decided to ditch the white tablecloth model for a simple café specializing in American diner classics. But simple isn't synonymous with easy: Nearly everything on the menu at Crossroads Diner is made in-house, including the greaseless, golden potato chips that show up with every sandwich order and the phenomenal corned beef that's brine-cured in the kitchen. And what Fleming can't make, he sources from the best producers: The list of suppliers on Crossroads' menu reads like an all-star roster of players in Dallas' local, fresh and seasonal movement. The sticky buns are especially popular.

6 articles

Eden

4416 W. Lovers Lane Park Cities

972-267-3336

American, Bakery, Burgers, Creole, Deli, Fine Dining, Sandwiches, Seafood, Soul Food, Southern, Menu

Goldmine Family Restaurant

3127 S. 1st St. Garland & Vicinity

972-840-1337

American, Soul Food, Southern, Best Of

The Goldmine Family Restaurant is the epitome of a greasy spoon: cheap breakfasts, worn-out booths, waitresses who will probably call you “honey,” plenty of elderly regulars nursing their sixth cup of coffee. Biscuits are fluffy, bacon is crisp and you will definitely never bear witness to the bottom of your coffee cup. Unlike many restaurants of its type, the Goldmine is open for dinner, serving up plenty of home-cooking staples such as chicken-fried steak, burgers, fried okra, onion rings and your standard cooked-to-death vegetables, just like grandma used to make. Weekend-goers may discover treasures like all-you-can-eat catfish or even crawfish.

1 article

Grayson Social

1555 Elm St. Downtown/Deep Ellum

Southern

8 articles

Hattie's

418 N. Bishop Ave. Oak Cliff/South Dallas

214-942-7400

Soul Food, Southern, Recommended, Best Of

If consistency is your thing, you’re probably going to like Hattie’s. The Bishop Arts District Restaurant with a Southern menu has been cooking up shrimp and grits in Oak Cliff for 20 years now and not a whole lot has changed since it first opened. The dining room is white, bright and full of light, and the staff that fills the place is always polite and professional. When Hattie’s first opened, it was a big enough draw to get Park Cities diners to venture across the dinner to dine. Two decades later, the restaurant is still a Dallas favorite.

9 articles

Haywire

1920 McKinney Ave., Ste 100 Uptown/Oak Lawn

469-501-5522

Fine Dining, Southern, Brunch, Best Of

Haywire offers elevated Southern fare in chic, highly-Instagrammable spaces, from a swank interior to a fun rooftop dining area with an Airstream trailer. The menu has classics from steaks, all farm-raised in Texas, to shrimp and grits made with tasso and andouille sausage red eye gravy. The bar program is ambitious and bold. Happy hour has a nice selection of $5 bites and drinks.

6 articles

Henderson Chicken

8266 Abrams Rd. Northeast Dallas

214-340-6191

Soul Food, Southern, Best Of

2 articles

Henderson Chicken

3103 Al Lipscomb Way Oak Cliff/South Dallas

214-238-2775

Soul Food, Southern, Best Of

1 article

Henderson Chicken

4121 N. Westmoreland Rd. West Dallas

214-421-1777

Soul Food, Southern, Best Of

1 article

Highland Park Cafeteria

1200 N. Buckner Blvd. White Rock Lake Area

214-324-5000

American, Southern, Best Of, Menu

It's difficult for any place to get any more popular than being christened "America's Cafeteria" by The New York Times. Since first opening in 1925 under the ownership of Sallie "Mother" Goodman and her son Dewey, Highland Park expanded to several locations and became destination dining for an entire nation before downsizing to one family-owned shop. It still holds tradition and loyalty in the utmost regard -- Mr. Bowen, one of the cooks, was hired in 1956. While the menu changes daily, it's anchored by Southern and Texas classics like chicken and dumplings and chicken-fried steak. It isn't exactly dining on the cheap, but the attention to detail and the service -- the servers help you with the food trays -- keep customers returning in droves. If the extensive offerings have you mired in confusion, consider the daily special (one entrée, two sides and a roll for under eight bucks).

2 articles

Ida Claire

5001 Belt Line Rd. Addison

214-377-8227

Southern, Slideshow, Readers' Choice

Southern restaurants are all the rage right now, and Ida Claire steps into the fray with her version of shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles and jalapeño mac and cheese. With a charming dining room, this latest restaurant from Fork It Over Restaurants (Whiskey Cake, Twin Peaks) seeks to charm diners with her looks, but the food only occasionally backs up her charm. Stick to the shrimp and grits, the oyster po’ boy and the burger if you want to play it safe, and skip dessert entirely. Don’t miss the front patio, complete with an Airstream trailer turned into outdoor seating. It’s all so very charming.

21 articles

Junction Craft Kitchen

2901 Elm St. Downtown/Deep Ellum

214-377-0757

Southern, Asian Fusion, Korean, Recommended, Menu, Slideshow

Just about every street corner in Dallas harbors a Southern fare kitchen offering deviled eggs, pork belly, burgers and the inevitable shrimp and grits. Many of them are good; some are excellent; most are forgettable. All, even the good ones, sort of run together. Except for the most daring of them all: Junction Craft Kitchen. The name is a mission statement from chef and part-owner Joshua Harmon, who keeps finding creative ways to bring East Asian, especially Korean, flavors to American Southern cooking. Harmon and his crew experiment with housemade pickles and kimchi — like a fantastic, surprisingly mellow, 8-month-old kimchi of black radishes pickled with squid ink. Junction has an ever-changing bao special that’s a reliable must-order. On one visit, it came with excellent if rather upscale housemade boudin (no casing) made from pork liver, thigh and ear, plus a bit of duck liver for good measure. Want to play it safe? There’s always the “double dirty” burger: two thin, griddle-smashed patties with ribbons of pink under warm, oozing blankets of caramelized onion, housemade American cheese and smoky kimchi aioli.

8 articles

Kendall Karsen’s Upscale Soul Food

3939 S. Polk St., #305 Oak Cliff/South Dallas

214-376-2171

Southern, Critics' Pick, Essentials

At the end of a strip center under the shadow of U.S. 67, chef Kevin Winston is rethinking classic Southern food. What’s remarkable about the dishes at Kendall Karsen’s is their confidence. No, those baked ribs don’t need a sauce, not with their peppery rub and tender meat that comes off the bone with a gentle tug. But there’s a cup of deep brown barbecue sauce on the side anyway, and it’s fantastic. No, these stewed collard greens don’t need half a saltshaker and a pound of bacon to achieve deeply satisfying flavor. (There are inch-wide planks of pork in the cabbage, though.) What’s even better than the food, though, is the outstanding hospitality of this ultra-friendly team, which serves a close-knit community of regulars. No wonder this spot has hosted celebrity visitors like Bun B.

Top pick: We just like being here and enjoying some of the friendliest staff in Dallas. Well, OK, and the ultra-gooey cheesefest that is the side cup of macaroni.

Fun fact: Kendall Karsen isn’t a real person: It’s two real people, a combination of the names of Winston’s sons.

1 article

Mama's Daughter's Diner

2014 Irving Blvd. Downtown/Deep Ellum

214-742-8646

American, Soul Food, Southern, Best Of, Menu

If the name didn't clue you in, Mama's is all in the family-a large family, with five offspring (by which we mean locations). From the beginning nearly 40 years ago, Mama has done things the hard way (i.e., from scratch). Home-cooked favorites include meat loaf, chicken and dumplings as well as the obligatory chicken-fried steak matched by classic Southern sides like turnip greens and candied yams, just to name a few. If you're not weighed down by all the fried goodness, enjoy a litany of pies, ice box and otherwise, for dessert.

10 articles

MAX's Wine Dive

3600 Mckinney Ave. Ste 100 Uptown/Oak Lawn

214-559-3483

Bar Food, Brunch, Southern, Wine Bar, Menu

Fried Chicken and Champagne... Why the Hell Not?!

1 article

Norma's Cafe

17721 Dallas Parkway Carrollton/Farmers Branch

972-380-8646

Southern, Diner, Best Of, Readers' Choice

Norma's is a diner where the popular biscuits and gravy and chicken-fried steak are on par with the friendly, veteran servers. This joint is replete in typical greasy-spoon trappings: counter service, vinyl booths, regulars on a first-name basis and a bountiful menu. If you're all by your lonesome on Thanksgiving, stop by for a free dinner with all the trimmings.

17 articles

Norma's Cafe

1123 W. Davis St. Oak Cliff/South Dallas

214-946-4711

Southern, Diner, Best Of, Readers' Choice

Norma's is a little Oak Cliff diner where the popular biscuits and gravy and chicken-fried steak are on par with the friendly, veteran servers. This joint is replete in typical greasy-spoon trappings: counter service, vinyl booths, regulars on a first-name basis and a bountiful menu. If you're all by your lonesome on Thanksgiving, stop by for a free dinner with all the trimmings. Just don't arrive at this Norma's location thinking it has the smoking section the Belt Line outpost does. It's Dallas, not Addison.

30 articles

Pecan Lodge

2702 Main St. Downtown/Deep Ellum

214-748-8900

Barbecue, Southern

Probably the best-known barbecue restaurant in Dallas, Pecan Lodge started as a Dallas Farmers Market stall before finding a permanent home in Deep Ellum. Now the stall is a memory, and it feels like Pecan Lodge has been here forever; like there has always been a line snaking out the door and around the corner, back to where the smokers warm the restaurant’s side wall. The best meats here include fatty, fork-tender brisket and crisp burnt ends. Jalapeño-cheddar sausage, by contrast, is a tray-soaking grease bomb.

Top pick: Grab the Hot Mess, an enormous baked sweet potato topped with a tangle of barbacoa, a hidden layer of cheese and green onions. Using sweet, rather than regular, potatoes is an inspired move. Make sure to grab some jalapeño slices to finish the picture.

58 articles

Pier 247

247 W Davis St. Oak Cliff/South Dallas

Cajun, Seafood, Southern, Best Of

4 articles

Pink Magnolia

642 W. Davis St. Oak Cliff/South Dallas

469-320-9220

Southern, Menu

Blythe Beck is back. Now with her own restaurant in Oak Cliff, the Naughty Chef has taken over a closed seafood restaurant and turned it into a glitzy nod to Southern comfort food. Expect chicken fried steak, bacon-wrapped meatloaf, hush puppies, mac and cheese and other favorites in a sleek dining room. If you’ve come to see Beck, consider nabbing a seat at the chef’s bar where you’ll be just inches from the action as she presides over plates destined for the dining room. A small patio adds outdoor seating and two porch swings add whimsy to this modern take on southern charm.

6 articles

Roots Southern Table

13050 Bee St. Carrollton/Farmers Branch

214-346-4441

Southern, American, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Essentials

Chef Tiffany Derry’s triumphant Farmers Branch restaurant oozes joy. The customers are happy, the staff is enthusiastic, the mood is like a family reunion and the food tastes like a celebration. Derry’s kitchen serves up Southern fare inspired by her Louisiana roots, and traditional and modern takes are brilliantly blended together by Derry and her team.

Top pick: Derry may be the area’s biggest consumer of duck fat, using it for French fries, dirty rice, but most important, fried chicken. The poultry is brined to keep the meat tender and juicy, marinated to give it a gently spicy heat, fried until a deep, dark brown and served family-style on a heaping plate.

13 articles

Southern in Dallas

Newsletter Sign Up

Enter your name, zip code, and email