A NOTE TO OUR READERS:
"Dallas: Tastes Beyond Texas" is from the November 2001 issue of Southern Living. Because prices, dates, and other specifics are subject to change, please check all information to make sure it's still current before making your travel plans.

Lola
In a city rich with high-energy restaurants, this tiny house tucked away in Uptown soothes with quiet decor, a subtly amazing menu, and sleek service. The wine list stuns and beckons, offering hard-to-find bottles (such as Turley, Harlan Estate, Williams Selyem, and Penfolds Grange), as well as a whole page of likable, unassuming "twenty-somethings."

The fare, like the wine, covers the globe. Begin with homemade ravioli stuffed with silky foie gras, garnished with shaved black truffle and port reduction. The soup pot nods to Texas with a vibrant puree of tomatillos and poblanos, cooled with avocado relish. From the Mediterranean, mild seared halibut, crowned in bright tapenade (olive relish), sits atop pungent chickpea puree.

Finally, surrender to fluffy French chocolate bread pudding with hazelnut crème anglaise. Chef Jamie Samford worked under Kevin Rathbun at long-ago Baby Routh, while sous chef Chris Peters came from Dean Fearing's kitchen. They surely make their mentors proud. 2917 Fairmount; (214) 855-0700. Prix fixe menus offer two to six courses for $34 to $59 a person.

Salve!
This swanky place hardly looks Italian, but it sure tastes it. While surrounded by cool, celery-green walls sparsely accented with botanical prints, make your way through classics such as beef carpaccio, fried calamari, handmade tagliatelle with meaty Bolognese sauce, and risottos served family style in copper pots. Go light with mild seafood, such as John Dory with asparagus and artichokes, or opt for earthy with tender, braised veal shank or rosemary rack of lamb. Perfection rather than creativity with abandon rules here--and rules nicely. The wine list, like the menu, hails only Italy. 2120 McKinney Avenue; (214) 220-0070. Dinner entrées: $26-$36.

Citizen
I wanted to dislike this hip, loud restaurant where it seemed only the young and glamorous were allowed; it made me tired. But everything I ordered swayed my opinion to thumbs-up. It seems that a restaurant can hardly be stylish anymore without having sushi as an option, so I nibbled accordingly. I liked that my choice spiked the soft, mild fish with a Texas kick of jalapeño and a single leaf of cilantro. The salad wooed me most: a cold, creamy cylinder of crabmeat next to roasted artichokes splashed with spunky cumin-coriander vinaigrette. And each bite of the sweet crème brûlée brought a refreshing Asian wash of fresh ginger. 3858 Oak Lawn Avenue; (214) 522-7253. Dinner entrées: $16-$29.