Dallas’ 12 most popular food and restaurant stories in 2025

It's family-style food at Babe's.

The food word for 2025 was beef.

In a glance at the 50 most-read Dallas-Fort Worth restaurant stories in 2025, we obsessed over burgers, we cried at the loss of longtime steakhouses, we binged on barbecue and we beefed about Michelin’s lack of attention.

The French company’s restaurant reviews in Texas dominated our food-news coverage last year — Michelin’s first year in the Lone Star State. Now in 2025, we were ready to see how well these out-of-towners got to know North Texas food.

Fort Worth restaurants were ignored almost completely. Michelin didn’t seem to appreciate our Mexican or Tex-Mex food. The list of seven “value-driven” restaurants honored with a Bib Gourmand didn’t change at all from 2024.

Just two new D-FW restaurants were added to the Michelin Guide Texas, one of which was a brand-new French-Italian restaurant that earned a surprise star.

As we look back at Dallas’ most high-profile food-news stories, there’s plenty to grumble about. But we also had the opportunity to tell the stories of the people behind the food.

There’s Greg Artkop, the barbecue fanatic traveling tens of thousands of miles this year to eat smoked meat. You met Drew Stephenson, who earned the nickname the Michelin Man for his obsessive visits to Texas’ 1-star Michelin restaurants. We told you about Petey Feng, the line cook detained by ICE who is getting support from high-profile Dallas chefs. We went behind the scenes with Mariano Martinez and his history-changing margarita.

Also in 2025, Dallas diners seem hungrier than ever for world-class food. Chefs are up for the challenge. But can we cool it with the prices? We’ll keep talking about that in 2026.

We look now at a dozen of 2025’s most popular food stories on dallasnews.com — the ones you clicked on most.

No, not the beef!

I couldn’t have guessed that the Dallas Morning News' top-read food story of 2025 would be about a 40-year-old steakhouse. Morton’s was “one of the best” steakhouses in Dallas in its heyday, The News said. It was a fancy place for a sophisticated meal, before Uptown Dallas was studded with beefy restaurants on every block. When Morton’s closed in late 2024, nostalgic Dallasites shared stories by the dozens.

CJ and Sabrina Henley, pictured here at Yearby's Barbecue and Waterice in Pilot Point, moved the restaurant to Plano.

“I fashioned a lot of what I do at Bob’s after the original Morton’s,” said Bob Sambol, of Bob’s Steak and Chop House in Dallas. Plenty of others in Dallas did, too.

‘Deadly’ fettuccine

Many of us went hunting through our fridges in September 2025 after the USDA warned of the dangers of heat-and-eat pastas sold at Walmart and Trader Joe’s. In this widely read Associated Press story, people were informed of exactly what to look for on the label to avoid the threat of listeria. Cajun chicken fettuccine Alfredo and linguine with meatballs and marinara had never seemed so scary.

White Castle sliders are small. Better order a few.

End of an era

When the Meddlesome Moth’s owner Shannon Wynne announced to The News in early 2025 that he “couldn’t afford to stay” in the Dallas Design District, his comments set off a wave of concern from restaurateurs and diners that continues today.

On one hand, it’s exciting to see neighborhoods like the Dallas Design District become beacons for nationally known restaurants like Carbone and Delilah. On the other, rent prices in this neighborhood and others are going up by the year, and local operators are concerned they’ll be priced out entirely.

The Meddlesome Moth was a pioneer in the Design District, serving gastropub fare for 15 years. It closed in May 2025. Its iconic stained glass windows are still looking for a new home.

Fieri still on fire

The latest season of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives featured an impressive seven Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants, and News readers wanted all the details. We were pleased to see Food Network icon Guy Fieri visit some true local gems, like Chinese restaurant Hello Dumpling in East Dallas, barbecue joint Slow Bone in the Design District and vegan taco shop El Palote Panaderia in Pleasant Grove.

Yes, the beef!

For the first time in 105 years, fast-food burger joint White Castle will enter the Lone Star State. We broke the news that White Castle’s first stop in Texas would be in The Colony, just down the street from home decor megastore Nebraska Furniture Mart. We’ll have more on this brand expansion into Texas in 2026. For now, we’ll leave you dreaming of griddled onions, a hallmark of White Castle’s sliders.

The Meddlesome Moth was open in the Dallas Design District for 15 years.

Salad and Gone

Greg Artkop is driving across Texas to eat barbecue. Here, he's at Smokey Joe's BBQ in Dallas.

When Salad and Go announced it was closing dozens of locations across Texas and Oklahoma, our Claire Ballor followed up with a list of which drive-throughs would close permanently. Your reactions were delightful surprises to all of us on the food team: Y’all love a drive-through salad! Part of the allure of Salad and Go is its low prices, to be sure. (We’re regular customers, too.)

One big story from Michelin in 2025 was that French-Italian restaurant Mamani earned 1 Michelin star after being open for less than 2 months.

Here’s some news you can use: Even though 18 Salad and Gos closed in D-FW, two-dozen stayed open.

Shutting the screen door

The Porch closed on Henderson Avenue in Dallas this year, a sudden move for the comfort-food restaurant. The company said the restaurant experienced a “perfect storm of losses” this year, despite efforts to drum up new customers with $5 cocktails. When The Porch closed, it was one of the last standing restaurants from an era when Henderson Avenue was at the center of the Dallas dining scene.

A moment for halal barbecue

Your top barbecue story from 2025 comes from Ballor, about Yearby’s relocation from Pilot Point to Plano. Its halal barbecue is some of the best in the state, and it earned a spot on Texas Monthly’s 50 Best list. The menu includes brisket, chicken and meatloaf — just no pork.

Consider stopping in to the new Plano restaurant over the holidays. Hours are Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

So long to Hong Kong

Dallas’ longest continuously operating Chinese restaurant, Hong Kong, closed in mid-May 2025 after more than 60 years. For some Dallas-born neighbors, Hong Kong was their first foray into egg foo yung and yu dow gai ding. In fact, local middle schoolers took field trips there after learning about China in social studies class.

With Hong Kong Restaurant’s closure, a significant piece of Chinese-American food history is gone in Dallas.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner

Babe’s Chicken Dinner House serves some of the best Southern food in the United States, Southern Living said. I think we can all see why that’s worth reading about! The writer said the food “brought a guest to tears — of joy."

Remembering Chris Carpenter

Dallas bar partner Chris Carpenter died at age 41 — a surprise to friends and family. He opened Hendy’s on Henderson about a month prior, and customers saw him there nightly, leading the team. He had become a significant operator in the Dallas nightlife and bar scene.

“He lived fully, loved deeply and led with a rare combination of passion and generosity,” said Cote Bona, one of his best friends and a business partner in Hendy’s.

Bulldozing Sambuca

It’s been years since we’ve been to dinner-and-a-show restaurant Sambuca, as it closed on Dallas’ McKinney Avenue in 2018. The building stood empty at a busy Uptown Dallas intersection since then. In October 2025, excavators bulldozed Sambuca. Crews cleared the debris and laid grass in its place — so pretty and neat that it’s almost like Sambuca was never there. It isn’t clear yet what will happen to this prime piece of Dallas real estate.

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