Best Bites: Dining out in Dallas-Fort Worth March 9

by Teresa Gubbins

Ricky Avila, majordomo of the beloved, family-run Avila’s Mexican Restaurant on Maple, has branched out with an upscale traditional Mexican restaurant, called Tradicion. He’d been envisioning this concept for a while and seized the moment when Asian restaurant Fusion shut down and the space became available. The food is a neat blend of rustic and upscale, with fish and prime beef side by side with tacos al pastor, a soft corn tortilla filled with pork sliced extra-thin and topped with fresh pineapple. He loves sopa de fideo, the Mexican soup with broken vermicelli pasta, so that’s on the menu, as are sopes, the little masa pizza-ettes topped with beef, chicken, pork, lettuce-and-tomato, and crème fraiche. He’s installed a ceviche bar where the sushi bar used to be, to fill the gap between lunch and dinner, and he found a whole collection of funky chandeliers to dress up the space.

Ramen alert

Word of another Asian restaurant opening on Greenville Avenue in Richardson would ordinarily provoke a big yawn, but Ajisen Japanese Casual Dining is different from the rest, and not simply because it’s Japanese (as opposed to Chinese, which rules that area). Here it is: They do ramen noodle soup, in 16 flavors, no less. Ramen noodle shops are a THING in Japan, but Dallas doesn’t have one – not with 16 varieties, that's for sure. Another notable thing about Ajisen: chef Shige Tateno, whose experience at trendy Asian restaurants such as (the departed) Fishbowl and Tom Tom makes him conversant in trendy dishes such as, sigh, the obligatory beef cooked on a hot stone at your table. But that’s OK, trendy is good, and you only need to cast an eye on Ajisen’s hip interior as proof. Shige’s wife Lily Tang manages the front of house.

Richardson represents

Also up Richardson way is Michael Mark’s Trattoria, a neighborhood Italian in the II Creeks Shopping Center proud of its homeboy ownership. Owner-operator Mark Collins and his brother, manager Joe Collins, are from the neighborhood, and chefs Kelly Cameron (formerly of Patrizio’s and Café Pacific) and Lance Pearson are proud locals, too. Located in what used to be a Jewish bookstore, Michael Mark’s has a broad menu of Italian dishes, some with a twist, such as the smoked chicken lasagna or the Tuscan nachos made from thin pasta chips topped with marinara, white beans, and cheese. The patio has a 20-foot fireplace, and the kitchen is wide-open – customers are encouraged to talk to the chefs. But the eye catcher is the huge mural painted by local artist Rex Kare, which depicts a Tuscan valley scene – grapes, rolling hills, sunset, you get the drift.

Mint gone wrong

There are two things in life you can usually rely on: the flavor "mint" and Jack in the Box milkshakes. But JITB's new Andes Mint Milkshake is, how to put it, a crushing disappointment. Like JITB's (tragically discontinued) malted milkball shake, this has candy bits spread throughout – not a good idea – and the flavor is not minty enough. The only good thing about it is that JITB comes up with new limited-edition milkshake flavors fairly often, so this won't be around forever.

Chick-fil-A, on the other hand, hardly ever issues limited-edition shakes at all, making its venture into this realm a walk on the wild side. So what flavor did it choose? Mint Cookies and Cream Milkshake. Say, there’s an original idea. It’s available through June 30.