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Start a Top 5 for SouthernEditor’s picks
Press picks, until locals rank their own Top 5s. Sourced from the local food press. As seen in CultureMap Dallas, Dallas Observer, and The Dallas Morning News. Updated September 2026.
Norma's Cafe · Oak Cliff, Dallas
Norma Manis opened this Oak Cliff diner in 1956, and it has been a Dallas institution ever since for its chicken-fried steak, biscuits and gravy, and house-baked Mile-High Pies. The portions have stayed as generous as the reputation, and the original Davis Street room anchors a handful of locations.
Ellen's · West End, Dallas
Joe Groves opened Ellen's in 2012, named for his mother, and it helped kick off Dallas' brunch boom before brunch was everywhere. After a nearly two-year closure it reopened in June 2026, still serving steak and eggs, migas, and its layered pancake dishes alongside a spread of eggs Benedict variations.
Paris Coffee Shop · Near Southside, Fort Worth
A Near Southside institution since the 1920s, this Magnolia Avenue diner runs on daily blue-plate specials, chicken-fried pork loin, ham hocks, and fresh-made pies. It reopened after a careful renovation and is less about any single showstopper than a whole menu of steady, unpretentious Southern cooking Fort Worth has relied on for generations.
Celebration Restaurant & Catering · West Lovers Lane, Dallas
Opened in 1971 on West Lovers Lane and still run by one family, Celebration led Dallas toward farm-to-table cooking long before the phrase caught on, and the Dallas Observer marked its fiftieth year with the rotating menu of fresh, local and sustainable plates intact. Meals still begin with a basket of yeast rolls, muffins and cornbread baked in house. Five decades have spread it across a cluster of old houses with a bar and a fountain patio. Order the meatloaf or the roasted chicken, with three sides.