Routh Street Café / Stephan Pyles

Chef Stephan Pyles is one of the defining figures in American regional cooking, and the restaurant bearing his name in Dallas's Arts District represents the mature expression of the Southwestern cuisine movement he helped found in the 1980s. Pyles opened Routh Street Café in 1983—one of the first restaurants in the nation to seriously articulate a regional American cuisine using Texas and Southwestern ingredients, techniques derived from Mexican and Native American cooking, and fine dining presentation. That original restaurant was shuttered in 1991, but Pyles returned with subsequent projects culminating in the Arts District location at 1807 Ross Avenue, where the kitchen continues to pursue his vision of Nuevo Latino and New Texas cuisine. The menu blends wild boar chops with mole negro, Gulf red snapper with Veracruz-inspired salsas, and smoked duck tamales that bridge the gap between fine dining and Texas culinary tradition. Pyles earned multiple James Beard Award nominations over his career and has been instrumental in training a generation of Texas chefs who now operate their own celebrated restaurants. The tasting menu is the most complete expression of the chef's philosophy—a journey through Texas and Latin flavors executed with French technical precision. The dining room in the Arts District context is sophisticated and contemporary, befitting a neighborhood that includes the AT&T Performing Arts Center and the Nasher Sculpture Center. Wine service is professional with a list leaning toward French and Spanish selections appropriate to the Latin-influenced menu.