Pastry chef Katherine Clapner founded Dude, Sweet Chocolate in 2009 with a mission to bend our perceptions of what chocolate can be. Using savory and sweet flavor profiles, along with quirky names, Dude will transform skepticism into addiction. Take FDA Chocolate Salami for instance, which has nary a bit of meat but rather figs, dates, almonds and dark chocolate mixed into a chocolate marzipan and formed into a salami-like tube. Fungus Amongus Soft Toffee goes great with a bit of cheese. And if you want to know why they call it Crack in Box, then try just one bite.

When you're standing in the warm, red-lighted embrace of Mike's Gemini Twin, a cocktail order is incomplete without an accompanying glizzy. The bar-top hot dog roaster is an unpretentious setup, but not much is better after a couple cold ones than the all-beef dog stuffed in a classic bun and served in a flimsy white paper tray. Drink deals — like the $12 dirty martini and dog combo offered on National Hot Dog Day — have solidified the weenies' rule over the swanky Cedars Bar.

Situated in an intimate and historic Uptown cottage, Si Tapas is ideal for a dressy date night or a casual happy hour. Spanish-style tapas offerings range from the traditional to the adventurous. Some of our favorite dishes include the cauliflower gratin, baby lamb chops and marinated baby shark. True to the Spanish ethos, Si Tapas' wine selection is as long as the food menu. If you find yourself out west, the restaurant recently expanded to a Fort Worth location.

As if we weren't already won over by the $15 mimosa carafes and house-made jams, the consistently low-to-no wait times on weekends make Crickles & Co. the best of the best. Open seating and the self-serve coffee bar make for an unpretentious dining experience. Everything is made from scratch, which is obvious from the first bite of buttermilk biscuit. The spicy bacon ciabatta, topped with bacon, fried eggs, tomato jelly, cheddar cheese and jalapeño aioli, was voted the best breakfast sandwich in Texas by Love Food.

4000 Cedar Springs Road

Located near the Katy Trail's famous Ice House, Tequila Social is just a hop, skip and a jump from the American Airlines Center. TVs and frozen margaritas are ideal for sipping through a pregame breakdown, and the crispy chicken flautas are some of our favorites anywhere. Tequila Social isn't the easiest to access by road, but if you're traveling to the AAC via The Katy Tail you won't miss the large, dog-friendly patio.

Croissants, cinnamon rolls, rye bread: it's all delicious at Oak Cliff Bread, but the sourdough loaves are the name of this bakery's game. The locally owned shop started out as a cottage bakery selling out of the Dallas Farmers Market and moved into a Tyler Station storefront last fall. The sourdough loaves are toasty on the outside and squishy on the inside and made fresh on the three days of the week (Thursday – Saturday) Oak Cliff Bread is open. Sourdough has become the trendiest loaf in recent years thanks to pandemic-era social media trends, but if you'd rather let the professionals handle bread baking, nobody does it better.

It's the perfect hangover meal. Actually, we can't think of a time when it isn't perfect to have a plate of chilaquiles. And no one does chilaquiles better than Taco Y Vino. Since opening in Bishop Arts in 2019, Taco Y Vino has been named to pretty much every Dallas outlet's "Best Restaurants" list. The tacos and wine have received endless acclaim, but it is the chilaquiles, served daily until 3 p.m., that we are highlighting here. Crispy, bite sized chips are tossed in your choice of red or green salsa and loaded with your choice of protein and eggs over medium or scrambled.

If you've grown weary of avocado toast for breakfast, it's time for White Rock Granola. It's made right here in Dallas, and you couldn't duplicate it if you tried. Choose from lots of flavors, but be sure to try the C4 Explosion, made with cinnamon, cashews, cranberries and a touch of cayenne pepper. It will make you want to get out of bed earlier than usual. Available online and from various Central Markets, Jimmy's, Opening Bell Coffee and, naturally, Rooster Home & Hardware and the Lakewood Ace Hardware (makes sense if you think about, but don't).

You might have to work for this one, but it's well worth the effort. Girl With Flour bakes indescribably delicious sourdough bread, croissants, focaccia, fougasse (the French version of focaccia), "pop tarts" that will make you forget all about that outfit in Battle Creek and lots of other goodies. GWF (also known as Erika Lam Radtke) doesn't have a storefront but she delivers to an area that includes southern McKinney, Allen, Plano, Far North Dallas, Castle Hills and Frisco. Otherwise, if you're lucky, you can catch her at a pop-up such as White Rock Market (1450 Old Gate Lane, East Dallas) on Saturdays.

You can tell a lot about someone from both the music they like and their coffee order. Spin Coffee and Vinyl allows you to cut out some of the small talk and get right to those points. It's a hybrid cafe and record store, as the name suggests, that also has a cereal bar and board games available for guests. Hey, there's two other things you can find out about your date: their favorite cereal and how competitive they are.