Three of the Dallas Morning News' 2008 Best New Restaurants are in one building, One Arts Plaza. Thank goodness my office is not in that building - I would be broke and even more rotund than I already am. I recently had the pleasure of enjoying lunch at Dali Wine Bar and Cellar and dinner at Screen Door. Something was blowing up at work the day I ate with friends at Dali. So, sadly, I did not have wine. My lunch was delicious, and the other ladies liked theirs too. The space is really strange. It is tiny and the location of the front door is not obvious or convenient. It's small, like being in the bar space of a restaurant. But best I could tell, that room constituted the entire space.
In contrast, the interior of Screen Door is fabulous - natural and clever and luxurious all at the same time. The wine list is long. The chairs are comfy. The tables are roomy. I even liked what the servers wear. The menu is essentially contemporary Southern cuisine. The food was very good and very well prepared. If I am paying $19 for fried chicken - something we ate often in my home growing up - it better be perfect fried chicken. It was mm mm good. No breading tops my mom's, of course. But this was super juicy chicken with crisp and well-seasoned breading. The greens were perfectly cooked. The fried catfish gets equal praise and was teamed with red potatoes and crisp slaw. I enjoyed it.
When the Wyly theater and the Opera house are completed, these restaurants should be wonderful for outdoor seating and will be places to see and be seen on event nights. Right now there are lots of cranes and dust.
Also in the building are Tei An (the other of the "best new"), Fedora (owned by a Campisi?) and Jorge's (an outpost of the Austin establishment).
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