The Dallas restaurant scene continues to grow, and for some, its bountiful selection is reminiscent of the luxurious culinary scene in Dubai.
Famous names in high-end dining have begun to set up shop in Dallas, including La Neta Cocina y Lounge and Nusr-Et, the steakhouse operated by TikTok-famous Salt Bae.
While cities like Las Vegas and Miami have long enjoyed their reputations as culinary destinations, only recently has Dallas garnered the title. Now, more restaurateurs are pushing to open locations in the city.
Stephen Summers, whose family owns the upscale Highland Park Village, is hardly surprised.
“I have gotten calls from every single restaurant group in the country … Every group you can think of, from Los Angeles to New York City to international groups, seems to want to be in Dallas,” Summers told The New York Times.
While the COVID-19 pandemic and its corresponding lockdowns decimated the restaurant industry, it also motivated many Americans to move to North Texas. Fewer pandemic restrictions, a lower cost of living, and warm weather proved increasingly desirable.
Between April 2020 and July 2021, the Dallas-Fort Worth area gained 122,000 new residents, the most of any metro area in the United States. Still, the surrounding suburbs enjoy the lion’s share of the population gain. Dallas proper has stagnated partly due to its crime, homelessness, and vagrancy crisis, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Despite the city’s bad reputation when it comes to public safety, patrons are still lining up to try out new restaurants. Crown Block, a new spot in Reunion Tower, had roughly 10,000 reservations before it even published a menu.
Still, not everyone is enthusiastic about the city’s culinary transformation.
“If we are headed toward a world where the highest-end dining is just as chain-ified as the most basic fast food, it’s going to be harder for Dallas to maintain any sort of distinction or culinary character,” said Dallas local George White, a retired salesman, The New York Times reported.
For some restaurant owners, the changes have been devastating. Erin Willis had to shut her French restaurant RM 12:20 Bistro, blaming its demise on the influx of large corporate-backed establishments.
“These big corporate entities that now own all the restaurants, they can pay for more advertising, they have deeper pockets, they are more glitzy,” said Willis. “It puts the small places like myself into the background, and we can’t survive.”
