Portabello burger from Village Burger Bar

Portabello burger from Village Burger Bar

It was an interesting year for the Dallas restaurant scene, particularly in our neighborhood. A new year calls for new adventures in dining. Sure, you’ll want to stick by all our old-time favorites, but keep these recently-opened spots on your radar for 2014:

1. Sprinkles Ice Cream + the Sprinkles ATM: Turns out, Sprinkles does ice cream just as well as cupcakes. Also, you can get your cupcake fix 24-7 now via the Sprinkles ATM.

2. Gas Monkey Bar ‘N Grill: OK, this is a little bit outside the neighborhood, but it may actually be worth the trip to check out the burger concept made famous by the Discovery Channel reality show, “Fast N’ Loud.”

3. Village Burger Bar: You don’t have to go to Uptown to have a gourmet burger and beer from this popular spot, which is also a test kitchen for new menu items.

4. True Food Kitchen: This was worthy of the hype surrounding its November opening. The healthy juices may taste a little strange at first, but a couple more sips of something like the Kale-Aid, and you’ve slurped down your day’s helping leafy greens and wish you had more. Plus, the food’s amazing — particularly the salmon and quinoa with golden beets. It’s all based on Dr. Andrew Weil’s anti-inflammatory diet.

5. Greenhouse Market, See’s Candies plus and more new mall spots: NorthPark Center always is buzzing with new business, and its restaurant scene is no different. To name a couple, the popular food truck Greenhouse opened a storefront, serving up farm-to-table, organic dishes. We also got a new chocolate shop in See’s Candies.

6. Kozy Kitchen: Here’s another well-known local restaurant that expanded near our neighborhood at LBJ and the Tollway. Kozy Kitchen is a great comfort-food diner, serving breakfast and lunch on weekdays.

7. Miss Chi: Of all the food genres, this is probably the one we need more of. We just featured this new Preston Center Vietnamese spot in our January issue.

8. Casita Tex-Mex: For Tex-Mex staples, this new spot opened in October at Preston and Royal in the old and short-lived Nando’s space. Owned by neighborhood resident Norma Valles, the restaurant serves up tacos, flautas, enchiladas and other typical fare.