3 Best Restaurants in The Stockyards, Dallas and Fort Worth

If you can get to the Stockyards, you shouldn't miss dining at Lonesome Dove, where sophisticated and exotic food is served in a setting of brick walls, rustic hardwoods, and a pressed-tin ceiling. Chef Tim Love's creations include kangaroo carpaccio nachos with avocado relish, chili-rubbed foie-gras brûlée, and grilled New Zealand red deer chops served with truffle mac and cheese. Less adventurous options include, at lunch, meatloaf with barbecue sauce, chipotle mashed potatoes, and sautéed spinach and a grilled ham-and-cheese sandwich with tomato-basil soup.

Steaks are charcoal-grilled at the front of the room, and you can pick out your own cut of meat. Those steaks are the biggest draw, but the menu also includes seafood, chicken-fried steak, fried chicken, and grilled pork chops. The trusty, basic fare is served in a laid-back, unpretentious setting reminiscent of the 1950s.

This is the ultimate Tex-Mex joint. There's usually a wait for tables, but with seating for more than 1,000 in the maze of dining rooms and patio areas, the line moves quickly. Dinner is limited to two choices: an enchilada-and-taco combo plate or fajitas. Lunch offers a more traditional menu, and on weekends there are Mexican breakfast specials, including purported hangover-cure menudo (stew made with tripe, hominy, onions, and chili). Folks from all over the area drive to Fort Worth to take out-of-town guests to this lively restaurant about three blocks from the Stockyards—and often hope they'll be seated in one of many relaxing outdoor spots.