"For a landlocked city, Dallas has a world-class sushi scene, but you won’t find a mixture of playful and serious anywhere else in the Metroplex. At Pearl, chef Shine Tamaoki carefully cradles, um, pearls of white rice, forming them into structurally perfect platforms for nigiri—including superfatty otoro, delicate sea bream, and off-menu specials like flounder fin—right in front of you (if you sit at the bar). The rest of the menu is where things get fun: Japanese tradition for Texas palates. That means ponzu-soaked uni shooters, chawanmushi with tender snow crab swimming in savory custard, and a riff on fish and chips with battered whitefish and Japanese curry. Shine’s Fish Shack when?" - Rosin Saez