Alice Laussade

Don't like sauce on your brisket? Fine. Just dip your face in it.

We get it: You're too good to put sauce on your barbecue or ranch on your pizza. Us? We like our food better when it's wet, especially when these condiments are involved.

Have a condiment you like better? Dip your laptop in it or something. These are better.

The BBQ Sauce at Slow Bone (above)
Cool, thanks a bunch Slow Bone! We can't buy barbecue sauce anymore. Your BBQ sauce is king-like. It's got richness, smoke and a roundhouse of acid, which combined with the melt-in-your-mouth brisket makes for some of the best, exciting sauce applications in Dallas. Few things are more fun than filling a spot on the cafeteria tray, which is normally reserved for sides, with ladles of your insanely good barbecue sauce. This will forever ruin anything you buy at the store. -- Nick Rallo

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Oh, Nonna.

For the past few months we've been nibbling like rabbits on vegetables while visions of ourselves in bathing suits flicker on the projector screen in our brains. But now there's a snap in the air, and skimpy clothes and frail fabrics will slowly take the back seat to wardrobes with bulk. You could hide a lot underneath your old, favorite sweater -- two or three cassoulets-worth.

So dig your coat out of the back of you closet and abandon all shame. Here's where to eat in Dallas, now:

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Spinach lasagna at Carbone's

Any restaurant that turns out a lasagna like the one pictured above has got to be jockeying to be the Best Italian Restaurant in Dallas. And it turns out Carbone's, the Italian restaurant responsible for that plate up above, won just that award in our recent Best Of Dallas feature that celebrates exemplary everything around the city and beyond.

There's plenty of red sauce to be found, but none of it ever seems to be plated this prettily. The tomatoes in that sauce pop with flavor, and beneath those sheets of tender pasta are layer after layer of soft melted cheese and plenty of spinach. Prefer meat? There's a bolognese version, and then there are sandwiches, salads and loads of other pasta dishes, too.

But don't think Carbone's is the only Italian restaurant that's welcome in The Family. Here are four more that could have made the cut.

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This is Dallas' best burger. Order it at Boulevardier.

Best of Dallas has arrived, and in addition to arts, culture and music picks it's filled with more food than your stomach could ever hope hold for the rest of the year. I should know because I ate all of it.

I love each one of those picks, much like parents say they love each and every one of their children. But the thing is, we all know our parents were bullshitting us. Your older brother got better grades, was better at sports and fractionally earned more of your parent's affection.

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Foodbitch

Any restaurant with a selection like this on hand deserves a mention.

Picking the best of anything can really lead to some stress, if only because there are so many great restaurants and food businesses in and around Dallas. And since we're in the middle of a desert here, you might think there may not be too many seafood restaurants to choose from either, but that's not the case. DFW serves us well, and great seafood is shipped in every day.

Freshness is a given, but Las Palapas stands out as the best because of a few dishes they serve that I've not seen elsewhere. Their camarón en agua chile, in both red and green varieties, is a bowl of warmth no ceviche fan should go without trying, and some of their grilled fish dishes are outstanding. Still, they're not the only seafood restaurant around town that deserves some praise. Here are five I feel bad for snubbing.

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Tei-An

Thanks to a seemingly unstoppable food trend, ramen is no longer those disgusting packets you subsisted on in college. Iterations of the Japanese staple dish have been showing up on menus across Dallas for the past few years, especially as chefs like David Chang drove the dish to national prominence. Now there are entire restaurants in Dallas that are dedicated to crafting the city's best bowl of ramen noodles.

Whether you're looking for a straightforward ramen house or a menu with a little more variety, these 10 bowls of ramen are perfect for curing a hangover or the common cold, especially as we head into the cooler months of the year. Some of these bowls are less traditional than others, but they're all delicious.

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This isn't your mother's oatmeal.

For the longest time, we've been told breakfast was the most important meal of the day. Without two eggs and a square of toast before 9 a.m., we'd be doomed to walk around like reverse-negative sun zombies, drooling, chewing on pencil erasers and unable to form complete sentences.

Recently, though, the New York Times stood up and declared breakfast overrated. The article cited two studies that concluded if you're not hungry in the morning, you should skip the meal. Granola companies quivered, but maybe the news takes the pressure off. If breakfast is something you only have to do when you want, it suddenly becomes decadence akin to a much cooler version of brunch. Think about it: you already have to get up early five days a week for work. And those mimosas sucked anyway.

Here's where to get your brekkie:

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Valerie Elise Thompson

Nova's not a sports bar, but there's a TV and the food is great.

Want to get out of the house for the big game but don't want to pay hundreds of dollars for tickets only to watch the Cowboys lose on Jerry's massive super-screen? You could go to a sports bar like Gavin suggests in his list of Dallas' best sports bars, but the food will leave you almost as sad as the sight of everyone staring into their fantasy-football apps.

Tired nachos, rubbery chicken wings bathing in ranch, burgers cooked until the meat is the color of wet cardboard: These are just a few of the atrocities you can find at your average sports bar. So why not head to a good restaurant with a TV or two where the game is always on? Here are a few of our favorites.

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Catherine Downes

Those fries tho.

French fries can make or break a meal, especially when they're served alongside a burger. Soggy, flavorless industrial fries are an abomination to both potatoes and your palate, so you should seek out a place that pays as much respect to the potato as they do their beef. Whatever your preferences when it comes to deep fried potatoes, you're sure to find something on this list to love.

See also:
17 Off-the-Beaten-Path Burgers in North Texas

Scotch & Sausage (above)
These guys are relatively new to the scene, but they've already established a pretty solid cooking method for their fries. These thick-cut beauties undergo a three-step cooking process that involves blanching the potatoes quickly, freezing them to help maintain texture, and the classic double-frying method that produces a fry that Chef Trevor Bell describes as "the best chip you've ever had on the outside, the best mashed potatoes you've ever had on the inside."

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As Greenville Avenue continues to changes, the Libertine Bar has been a constant.

When I first moved to Dallas a few years back, Lower Greenville Avenue was a mess. The sidewalks and street had been obliterated and you couldn't walk anywhere without circumnavigating a construction barrier. Business cried out with banners hanging from their storefronts. "We're still open," they pleaded, hoping customers would keep them afloat until the construction was finished.

Meanwhile, city hall and the neighborhood association were waging a war against undesirable bars and night clubs using special use permits, and everyone was getting caught in the cross-fire. For some time, many of the storefronts along the street were shuttered. Many still are, but a lot of exceptional bars and restaurants have opened in the meantime.

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