When it comes to big restaurants, Dallas has a target on its back. Or is it more like a\u00a0bull\u2019s-eye?<\/p>\n
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Dallas has been a magnet for restaurants<\/a> for as long as chains have existed. Dickey\u2019s Barbecue Pit started in a small house in East Dallas<\/a> more than 85 years ago. Chili\u2019s<\/a> was born on Dallas\u2019 Greenville Avenue over 50 years ago. Dallas-Fort Worth has since been the birthplace of La Madeleine, Black-Eyed Pea, On the Border, Twin Peaks, Velvet Taco and more.<\/p>\n Dallas is also a breeding ground for restaurants that began elsewhere and are looking for a trampoline within Texas. In-N-Out<\/a>, Portillo\u2019s<\/a> and Dave\u2019s Hot Chicken<\/a> got a jumpstart in D-FW, then bounced to other Texas cities.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Even flashy New York restaurants Catch and Carbone picked Dallas<\/a> during a major dining crisis. Amid a COVID collapse that flattened the restaurant economy in other major cities, the number of restaurants in D-FW<\/a> actually rose.<\/p>\n For years, an invisible highway has run from big cities like Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Las Vegas, and all roads lead to Dallas. Out-of-town restaurants, some backed by private equity money, tell a loud story about food coming to Texas.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Dallas is the most desirable big city in Texas for a growing restaurant brand, said Emily Williams Knight, president and CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re looking to expand into a new state,\u201d she said, \u201cyou need to pick the safest bet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But why is Dallas the Texas capital for replicable restaurants, when these brands could have chosen Houston, Austin or San Antonio first? What makes it the safest bet?<\/p>\n Place a bull\u2019s-eye on D-FW, and Knight said its geographical design allows restaurants to expand from Dallas outward, \u201cin rings.\u201d Many suburbs near the city are affluent, which offers a restaurant chain opportunities to reach consumers willing to pay for something new.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cYou go way north to Denton, or west to Fort Worth,\u201d Knight said, \u201cand one company has a decade of expansion opportunity.\u201d That cross-region real estate play is how we scooped up Salt and Straw, which opened its first Texas ice cream shop<\/a> in East Dallas last week. A second opens in Fort Worth on Friday.<\/p>\n D-FW\u2019s suburbs aren\u2019t as sprawled as those in Houston, meaning some restaurant groups believe it\u2019s easier to expand within North Texas.<\/p>\n Another factor: supply chain logistics. Dallas-Fort Worth has two public airports, and Southwest Airlines and American Airlines are both headquartered here.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDallas is easy to get in and out of,\u201d said Ron Ruggless, a former restaurant reporter based in Dallas who covered chain restaurants for over 30 years. Ease of travel is as important for executives scouting for real estate as it is for the companies delivering restaurant supplies across the region.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n When the owners of New York City bakery Maman considered expanding to Texas, discussions about logistics and distribution drove some of the decision-making. Maman uses a commissary kitchen, or an off-site place where its cookie dough and croissants are made before they\u2019re delivered to each local shop. Maman\u2019s team could find \u2014 and afford \u2014 a commissary kitchen in Dallas.<\/p>\n Outsiders are noticing. \u201cWhy does Dallas get everything?<\/a>\u201d national media company Morning Brew asked in a YouTube video, noting the string of restaurants moving into Dallas. Morning Brew suggested the price of land in Dallas, which is generally lower than Los Angeles or New York, is part of the story. Many restaurant companies expanding into Dallas are leasing spaces, not buying real estate, but their focus on D-FW has inflated rent rates.\u00a0<\/p>\n Also pertinent, Ruggless added, is some Dallas developers or property owners offer to pay for part of a restaurant buildout, in what\u2019s called a tenant improvement allowance. It\u2019s a way to lower costs for out-of-town companies and sweeten a lease deal. That\u2019s one reason Dallas attracted Prince St. Pizza<\/a>, the New York City slice shop that opened on Henderson Avenue in late 2025.<\/p>\n More people are moving into D-FW, especially in Denton, Collin and Tarrant counties<\/a>. That\u2019s how we landed White Castle, the 105-year-old burger joint that will open in The Colony in 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an area that\u2019s vibrant and growing \u2014 both for native Texans as well as people coming in from all over the country,\u201d White Castle Chief Marketing Officer Jamie Richardson said.<\/p>\n Stick around Dallas long enough and you\u2019ll hear someone say: If a chain restaurant can work in Dallas, it can work anywhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt used to be true,\u201d Ruggless said. \u201cCompetition is much more intense.\u201d <\/p>\n Which raises another consequential question: Can these restaurants last?<\/p>\n Shannon Wynne, a Dallas restaurateur who co-owns 35 restaurants and has been in the business for nearly 50 years, has seen big restaurant groups move into D-FW year after year.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n He was\u00a0priced out of the Dallas Design District<\/a> when his 15-year-old gastropub Meddlesome Moth closed in 2025. Less than a year later, the space is already filled. Top Chef contestant Jackson Kalb, a California resident, opened Italian restaurant Ospi<\/a> a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n \u201cOur experience is, somebody comes into the Design District and builds a fancy New York restaurant. They blow the doors off,\u201d Wynne said. \u201cA year later, they do half the revenue.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Dallas-based business owners face an increasing challenge to sway diners to spend their dollars in locally owned restaurants. At the same time, national restaurant brands have exploded in Texas in the past year, luring Dallasites to shiny, new dining rooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look at why seven of those restaurants picked Dallas first.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Delilah in the Dallas Design District<\/p>\n For\u00a0supperclub Delilah, exclusivity is everything. \u201cI don\u2019t think Delilah can be taken anywhere. It is a pretty serious place,\u201d co-founder John Terzian said two years before Delilah opened in the Dallas Design District<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dallas made the cut on a short list of cities where diners will spend big and dress up.\u00a0<\/p>\n Delilah opened in Dallas<\/a> in 2026, and parts of the sexy space are reminiscent of the original in Los Angeles and of similarly flashy Delilah spinoffs in Las Vegas and Miami.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe think Delilah can and should only be in a handful of cities in the world, and Dallas is one of those,\u201d Terzian said. \u201cIt\u2019s got a great mix of sports \u2014 NFL, NBA and colleges. And you\u2019ve got a great, strong art gallery scene.\u201d<\/p>\n He ticks off the cities that matter for Delilah: \u201cTo me, there\u2019s LA, there\u2019s Miami, there\u2019s Vegas, there\u2019s Dallas.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Done, done, done and done.<\/p>\n There\u2019s likely one more expansion location for Delilah, Terzian said: New York. Lady Delilah is expected to open in NYC later in 2026.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A \u201cNo Photos Please\u201d sign welcomes guests to Delilah in Dallas.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Craft Beer Market in Dallas\u2019 Preston Center<\/p>\n The founder of Canadian company Craft Beer Market made the leap from Calgary to Dallas because he thought the\u00a0two cities had similar personalities<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “The synergies between Dallas and Calgary are big,\u201d founder PJ L’Heureux said, noting the business-forward urban cores, each with Western charm. The two-story Craft Beer Market that opened at Northwest Highway and Preston Road in Dallas is the first in the United States, picked over opportunities in Colorado, Tennessee and Florida.<\/p>\n L’Heureux added: \u201cIn Canada, finding a 10,000-square-foot space is hard. In Texas, it isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Craft Beer Market’s first restaurant in the United States has a Texas-sized first floor (pictured) with a rooftop.<\/p>\n Shafkat Anowar\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Prince St. Pizza in East Dallas<\/p>\n While some restaurant operators spend months or years scouting locations in Dallas and beyond, Prince St. Pizza CEO Lawrence\u00a0Longo signed a lease on Henderson Avenue \u201csight unseen.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n He already liked Dallas, he said<\/a>. When the company hosted a pizza pop-up in Deep Ellum in 2021, Longo realized the Dallas customer \u201chas a really good palate.\u201d (He also learned Dallas customers don\u2019t mind standing in line for pizza they\u2019ve seen on Instagram.) The hype was high when Prince St. opened in late 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n Prince St. has grown from New York to Chicago, Charleston, Miami, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and more, but so far, Dallas is the only shop in Texas. Longo said in 2025 he\u2019d be willing to open more Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants, but he put pressure on Dallas consumers:<\/p>\n \u201cIt really depends on how much you like the brand.\u201d<\/p>\n Prince St. Pizza is a slice joint from New York that expanded to Dallas in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n Courtesy Prince Street<\/p>\n Maman in University Park and East Dallas<\/p>\n Maman founders Elisa Marshall and Ben Sormonte\u00a0knew they were \u201conto something\u201d in 2014 in the first few months of selling cookies from their bakery in New York\u2019s SoHo neighborhood.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe had lines around the block,\u201d Marshall said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The founders seized the opportunity to expand their coffee and pastry shop outside New York City, though Marshall was nervous about leaving the nest. \u201cThings work in New York,\u201d she said, \u201cbut sometimes they just work in New York.\u201d Not so with Maman, which grew to Washington, D.C., in 2022, then to Florida.<\/p>\n Dallas is Maman\u2019s focus now, and Marshall said the \u201cmultitude of neighborhoods\u201d was one of the reasons she was comfortable expanding into North Texas. The company has two shops open in D-FW now \u2014 one in University Park<\/a> and another in East Dallas<\/a> \u2014 and eight more bakeries are planned for North Texas within a few years<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dallas was the most appealing Texas city, she said. \u201cWe can open Mamans 10 minutes from one another, and yet it feels like a different world,\u201d she said. Next up are Mamans at Casa Linda in East Dallas; Central Expressway and Haskell Avenue; the Dallas Design District and the Shops at Legacy East in Plano.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Maman\u00a0is known for its croissants, like this cube topped with meringue.<\/p>\n Christine Vo\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Avra\u00a0in Uptown Dallas<\/p>\n The owners of New York City Greek restaurant\u00a0Avra\u00a0had just one location in mind for their Texas expansion. \u201cIt was always going to be the Crescent,\u201d said Avra co-owner Nick Pashalis in a 2025 interview. \u201cWe thought that was the best space for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n It\u2019s rare for a restaurant to have such focus within a state as sprawling as Texas. When Avra opened in fall 2025<\/a>, it took over a whopping 14,000 square feet at the Crescent. The restaurant can fit 350 diners eating Greek salads and whole roasted fish.<\/p>\n While other restaurateurs might move onto the next flashy city, co-owners and cousins Nick Tsoulos and Nick Pashalis seem to work more cautiously. Dallas is their only Texas restaurant for now, but they\u2019re interested in expanding to other parts of the state.<\/p>\n Avra’s fish market shows off seafood flown into Dallas each day. The restaurant opened in September 2025 in Uptown Dallas’ Crescent development.<\/p>\n Shafkat Anowar\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Salt and Straw ice cream in East Dallas<\/p>\n After looking at Dallas real estate for more than seven years, Salt and Straw\u2019s founders opened their first Texas location<\/a> in mid-May 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Cousins Kim and Tyler Malek picked Dallas because of the construction on parts of Henderson Avenue\u2019s eastern end. Canadian company Local Public Eatery<\/a> and New York chain Prince St. Pizza<\/a> have already opened restaurants on Henderson Avenue. Soon, PopUp Bagels will open next door<\/a> to Salt and Straw.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen this redevelopment in Knox Henderson started, it seemed like the perfect time to open there,\u201d co-founder Kim Malek said. To celebrate its entry into the Lone Star state, Salt and Straw released two Texas-only flavors: paloma sherbet and cream cheese jalape\u00f1o jelly ice cream.<\/p>\n Salt and Straw ice cream has 18 core flavors and five monthly newcomers.<\/p>\n Steve Hamm\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n White Castle \u2014 coming soon to The Colony<\/p>\n For 105 years, White Castle has never sold its fast-food burgers in a Texas restaurant<\/a>. That changes in fall 2026, when the family-owned company opens its first White Castle in The Colony<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n\n
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