The Best Thing I Ever Ate in Texas

Times have been tough for restaurants. For nearly two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented a gauntlet of challenges for businesses small and large whose primary passion is pleasing their customers with satisfying grub and service. Instead, restaurateurs have had to reckon with shuttered dining rooms, safety measures, weather disasters, supply-chain interruptions, rising food prices, changing business models, staffing shortages, nervous employees, and a tentative public. There’s no manual for navigating times like these.

“We love throwing a great dinner party every night in the restaurant—being around people, working for people, making people happy,” says Jon Bonnell, the chef and owner of four Fort Worth restaurants, including the popular Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine. “It was so hard to see an industry that I’ve loved for over 20 years falling apart when nobody did anything wrong. I think it’s worth fighting for and worth saving.”

We couldn’t agree more. At their best, restaurant experiences are like mini-vacations. We go out to eat not only for a break from cooking at home, but also for a sensory escape from our day-to-day routines. And we’re lucky to have great options, too: Numerous Texas chefs and eateries have been honored with James Beard Foundation awards, the Oscars of the restaurant world.

To celebrate the state’s acclaimed dining scene, we reached out to noteworthy Texans and asked them to share their favorite restaurant meals. The responses ran the gamut. Hank the Cowdog author John R. Erickson, who lives on a Panhandle ranch, told us about the gargantuan carne asada burrito at Chihua’s in Perryton. Businessman and former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Dat Nguyen said grilled spring rolls are his barometer of a good Vietnamese restaurant—and his favorites are at his sister’s restaurant, Hu-Dat Noodle House in Corpus Christi. You’ll find something for pretty much every taste here.

We hope this story will inspire you to support your favorite restaurants, but we also urge patience. Restaurants face continued struggles prioritizing health policies, maintaining a labor force, and keeping their kitchens stocked. “We can’t predict what the next problem is going to be, but we know there will be problems,” says Bonnell, who chronicled his pandemic experience in the book Carry Out, Carry On: A Year in the Life of a Texas Chef. “On the positive side, people want to go out. Business is booming and restaurants are full.” —Matt Joyce