Dallas, TX

Hot List: 6 of our favorite healthy restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth

Published

2 years ago

January 1, 2024

Hot List: 6 of our favorite healthy restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth

If you’re starting 2024 with ambitions to eat healthfully, we’re here to support you. Dallas-Fort Worth has plenty of restaurants selling delicious veggies and lean proteins. Some of you might be abstaining from alcohol during Dry January, and many of these restaurants have alcohol alternatives, kombucha or sparkling water. Happy 2024!

Restaurants are listed in alphabetical order.

Brix Barbecue in Fort Worth

Pick and chose your proteins at Brix Barbecue in Fort Worth, and you can build a delicious plate.(Julie Fisk)

One of the most exciting barbecue restaurants in Texas right now is Brix, the former food trailer that moved into its permanent home in Fort Worth in 2023. We met Texas Monthly barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn at Brix last fall to record an episode of our Eat Drink DFW podcast (listen here!), and we were enthralled by pitmaster Jeremiah Jemente’s Texas porchetta pork belly, Wagyu beef belly burnt ends and house-made jalapeño-cheddar sausage.

Now here’s the rub: You might not think “healthy” when you think of barbecue, but I want you to think again. Whole30 warriors can mostly eat all the protein they like as long as there’s not sugar added, and Brix’s brisket, barbacoa, Texas porchetta and pulled pork meet those requirements deliciously. (Just try to eat some veggies, too.)

Brix Barbecue is at 1012 S. Main St., Fort Worth. Closed Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Cava in Addison, Arlington, Coppell, Frisco, Dallas, Denton, Euless, Flower Mound, Forney, Fort Worth, Plano, Richardson and University Park

Cava is a Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant with many locations in Dallas-Fort Worth.(Shelby Tauber / Special Contributor)

We like Cava because it has something for everyone. The salads are a great way to pack a ton of veggies in one bowl and jazz it up with a vinaigrette, food editor Erin Booke says. The pitas, especially the crispy falafel, are comforting and can be vegetarian. The bowls with grains are filling but still healthy. And there’s even a build-your-own kid’s meal.

Every time I build a bowl — often, a Mediterranean spin with grilled chicken, hummus, cucumber and tomato — I giggle when I ask for Crazy Feta. It’s just feta with jalapeño, onions and olive oil, but it feels so much more dangerous.

Find a Cava at cava.com/locations.

Manhattan Project Beer Company in Dallas

The food at breweries can be great. We’ve known that since we ate BrainDead Brewing’s Coma Burger (may it rest in peace), since Community Beer Company reworked its menu, and since the new Wriggly Tin started selling pizza with its Small Beer Works pints. Problem is, it’s easy to splurge at a brewery instead of eating light. Food reporter Claire Ballor says the salmon salad with lemon-oregano vinaigrette at Manhattan Project is great. The menu confirms it’s “just as delicious as the fried chicken.” This is just the kind of positive peer pressure we need when we’re trying to eat healthfully.

Manhattan Project is at 2215 Sulphur St., Dallas.

Modern Market in Plano, Richardson, Las Colinas, Southlake and Dallas

Let’s hear it for soup season. Modern Market has three great ones: tomato-basil, green chicken chili and curry sweet potato. Then, pick your favorite veggies and fruit for a main course. The Urban Farmer salad has roasted butternut squash, red beets, dried cranberries and goat cheese with a maple-mustard dressing. The Jerk Tuna comes with roasted red peppers, cucumbers, avocado, mango salsa and a dressing made with Caribbean spices and Greek yogurt. Modern Market is one of food reporter Imelda García’s favorite spots for a salad or a bowl.

Find a Modern Market at modernmarket.com/locations.

Sachet in Highland Park

A friend recently remarked that Sachet is the nicest restaurant in Dallas to eat... — A friend recently remarked that Sachet is the nicest restaurant in Dallas to eat good-for-you food.(Jeffrey McWhorter / Special Contributor)

Sachet is one of the best places in Dallas for a business lunch. We crave the crudité with muhammara and herb labne; just ask for more veggies instead of the warm pita. (But oh! The pita is so good.) The “salady bowls” section of the menu is full of vegetables with chickpeas, chicken or salmon. If you’re extra hungry, opt for the chicken shawarma with spicy baba ghanoush; it’s so filling, you might have some left over for dinner.

Sachet is at 4270 Oak Lawn Ave., Dallas. Closed Sundays. Reservations recommended.

Sweetgreen in Addison, Dallas, Fort Worth and Southlake

I don’t want to know how much money I spent in 2023 just on the Chicken Pesto Parm salad at Sweetgreen. It’s my midday comfort-bowl go-to, with bright notes of hot sauce and pesto vinaigrette mixed with spinach, quinoa, spicy broccoli, tomatoes, Parmesan and za’atar breadcrumbs. If you’re watching your dairy or carb intake, cut the Parm and breadcrumbs — I’ve done it and still love it. The employees at Sweetgreen are attentive to allergies and dietary restrictions, so tell them what you can or can’t eat, and they can make a recommendation. Salads like the Italian Chopped and Kale Caesar are also great.

Find a Sweetgreen at sweetgreen.com/locations.

Claire Ballor, Erin Booke and Imelda García contributed to this story.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on X (formerly Twitter) at @sblaskovich.

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Dallas, TX

Stream of visitors shows Dallas is wise to invest in its water park

Published

2 hours ago

November 28, 2025

Press Room

Stream of visitors shows Dallas is wise to invest in its water park

Pool season ended in September, but we welcome a splash of good news anytime. And how’s this for a headline? Dallas has started work to replace a 20-year-old water feature at the popular Bahama Beach Waterpark in Red Bird — with the expectation that the new amenities will be ready by summer 2026.

As our newsroom colleague María Ramos Pacheco reported earlier this year, the $2.5 million upgrade for the water park is coming from a federal Community Development Block Grant and from the city’s Parkland Dedication Program Fund.

This water park is exactly the kind of aquatic facility that Dallas should be investing in. City Hall faced resistance this year over the closure of several community pools, but as we’ve written previously, those facilities’ days were numbered. With sparse attendance and with parts dating back decades and no economical replacements, to keep those pools open was to pour taxpayer money down the drain.

Today, communities across North Texas gravitate toward “spraygrounds,” aquatic centers and waterparks, which are larger facilities that combine pools with amenities such as lazy rivers, tubes and tall slides.

Bahama Beach Waterpark opened to much fanfare in 2005, and it remains a crowd favorite to this day. Annual attendance was 50,000 a decade ago and has risen to 76,000, Park and Recreation Director John Jenkins told us. The water park is also one of the city’s most cost-effective aquatic facilities. Bahama Beach, which charges a modest admission fee and also receives rental income, generates about $1.3 million in annual revenue and recovers 70% of its costs.

The latest upgrade will replace Coconut Grove, a playground styled like a water fortress featuring slides, pulleys and water buckets. It will be replaced by a bigger installation including 16 decks, more than 55 water features and new slides. It will also bring back the huge water-dumping bucket that is as much a hit with adults as it is with children.

This upgrade follows a more substantial overhaul in 2021, when the city invested $5.9 million to create an area dedicated to families with small children, including new restrooms.

“This is what folks want,” Jenkins said. “They want to have this type of amenity in their communities.”

The water park isn’t just for kids and their parents. Summer programming includes water aerobics classes for seniors.

Jenkins told us that the city has contracted with a company to seek corporate sponsorship opportunities for the park system, not including Fair Park and city parks with separate management. The park director said the city wants to keep fees affordable for families and is looking to sponsorships to generate more revenue and cover its costs at Bahama Beach.

Dallas residents vote with their feet, and they love their water park. City Hall is wise to keep its sole water park in great shape and to recognize that a commitment to Bahama Beach is a much-needed investment in southern Dallas.

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Dallas, TX

Chiefs vs. Cowboys: Three Bold Predictions As K.C. and Dallas Fight for Playoff Lives

Published

20 hours ago

November 27, 2025

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Chiefs vs. Cowboys: Three Bold Predictions As K.C. and Dallas Fight for Playoff Lives

CeeDee Lamb is looking to get back on track. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Travis Kelce, NFL, Chiefs — CeeDee Lamb is looking to get back on track. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

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Dallas, TX

Gut Feeling: Cowboys-Chiefs staff predictions

Published

2 days ago

November 26, 2025

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Gut Feeling: Cowboys-Chiefs staff predictions

FRISCO, Texas — For the first time since 1995, the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs will face off on Thanksgiving Day.

On that day 30 years ago, Troy Aikman’s 192 passing yards and two touchdowns were enough to beat Chiefs QB Steve Bono’s 276 yards passing as the Cowboys won 24-12.

Now, both teams are in a new era, with Dak Prescott leading the Cowboys and Patrick Mahomes the Chiefs. The two have only faced each other one time, with Mahomes and Kansas City getting the better of Prescott and the Cowboys 19-9 at Arrowhead Stadium back in 2021.

Who will come out on top in their first meeting since, with the Cowboys sitting at 5-5-1 and the Chiefs at 6-5? Our staff weighs in:

Patrik: This is yet another difficult one to predict, but it does feel a lot less impossible for the Cowboys to walk away with this one than, say, four weeks ago when they fell to 3-5-1 after being dismantled by the lowly Cardinals. One trade deadline and bye week later and they’ve added Quinnen Williams, Logan Wilson, DeMarvion Overshown and Shavon Revel to the active roster, and Caelen Carson looks rejuvenated in his return from IR. The problem now is self-inflicted wounds that continue to make things more difficult for the Cowboys than they need be, and including offensively, being a key reason Dak Prescott and Co. sputtered or stalled on several drives against Philly. Do that against the Chiefs and you’re eating an L for Thanksgiving dinner. Mahomes is still Mahomes, yes, but while Travis Kelce can impact games, he’s not a gamebreaker anymore, and I do think the Cowboys’ defense bottles up the KC rushing attack much how they successfully did Ashton Jeanty and Saquon Barkley; and the offensive line that deleted the Eagles’ acclaimed front gives me good vibes. A close one here, but Dallas finds a way … wow, I just said that, huh? 24-21, Cowboys

Tommy: There is no question that the Cowboys’ defense has improved a lot since the trade deadline when they made the moves to acquire Quinnen Williams and Logan Wilson, and were also able to get guys like DeMarvion Overshown back from injury. Because of that, Dallas has done what they’ve aimed to do all year the last two weeks: Stop the run. And it’s worked! I think it’ll work on Thursday against Kansas City as well. When your run game gets stopped offensively, what do you do? Well, throw the ball. The good thing for Dallas is in their last two games, the teams that have thrown the ball on them have been the 23rd (Eagles) and 25th (Raiders) passing offenses in the league. Kansas City is the 2nd best passing offense, right behind Dallas at #1. I don’t think the Cowboys secondary is at a place to where they can consistently stop Patrick Mahomes and his array of speedy wide receivers, plus Travis Kelce who may not be as shifty as he once was but is still plenty efficient and leads the team in receiving yards. I’m not as concerned about Dallas’ offense, but they’ll still have to beat a tricky Steve Spagnuolo defense that’s a top ten unit. Don’t be fooled by the Chiefs’ 6-5 record, all their losses have been by one possession. I don’t mean to ruin Thanksgiving, but I’m taking Kansas City. Chiefs 31, Cowboys 24

Nick: I love the build-up to this game, because a few weeks back, I didn’t think it would be any decision at all to pick this game. Every time we saw a quarterback such as Bo Nix, Jacob Brissett or even Bryce Young and Russell Wilson before that, all I could think of was how bad it’s going to be when Mahomes comes in here on Thanksgiving. Well, that defense is not the same. Just how different are they? We’ll find out soon enough. But more than just playing him, I wonder how consistent the Cowboys can be as a team. We haven’t seen three straight wins since 2023 and something tells me it’s just not going to happen this week. Kansas City might look the same with a 6-5 record, but they haven’t played many games with their entire offense – Kelce, Worthy, Pacheco, Hunt, Rice, etc. They’re all coming together again and I just think it’s going to be too much for the Cowboys to overcome. I think it’ll be high-scoring, but I’ll take the Chiefs 34-30.

Mickey: We’ve been seeing more and more of this in his two games with the Cowboys, defensive tackle Quinnen Williams becoming a nuisance for opposing offenses with his ability to disrupt up front. Well, the Chiefs will be without starting guard Trey Smith, and look for Q to take over the game up front, not only being a huge help stopping the Chiefs running attack but also applying pressure to QB Patrick Mahomes. So, thinking the Cowboys will get a game-ball like performance from Williams up front, dragging this defense along with him, enabling the Cowboys to pick up their third consecutive victory and inch above .500 for the first time this season.

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