5 Foods Missing in Dallas

Dallas is one of the great food cities in the U.S., but let's not kid ourselves. We are severely lacking in a few major cuisines that can be found in many other parts of the U.S. These cuisines aren't based on regionally available ingredients, like oysters, so why aren't they in Dallas?

Perhaps, we get so fixated on our great TexMex, BBQ, burgers and iced tea, that we don't stop to think about what's missing. So let's do that. There's great opportunities here for anyone looking to open a new restaurant or food truck in Dallas. As you read this list, what other foods come to mind as M.I.A. in Dallas? Be sure to tell everyone with a comment below.

1. Real Pizza

Photo I took while eating the holy grail of real pizza, rated best in Cleveland, at Angelo's in Lakewood, Ohio.

Any Dallasite I've met who has lived in the East agrees: Dallas does not have real pizza. We have many attempts at pizza... California style. It's thin crust, light on the sauce, light on the cheese, crazy with the toppings, and floppy in the hand. It's okay. Even the Pizza Huts here don't seem to make it as good as their counterparts in the East.

Real pizza has a stiff crust that is golden brown on the bottom and almost bread-like in the middle. The red sauce is noticeable—visually and every time you take a bite. The cheese is abundant and stringy; you may even have to stretch your slice out in front of you to get the strings to snap away (see evidence of cheese strings in the photo). You can put many toppings on this pizza, but that real pizza flavor will still be there.

2. Desserts, Pastry Chefs & Bakeries

Photo I took of an amazing chocolate mousse dessert in a podunk town in New Mexico, of all places.

In San Francisco, it seems like every respectable bistro and restaurant has artfully crafted desserts in a refrigerated glass case next to the front door, and a pastry chef on staff. In Paris, there are just as many and sometimes more desserts on the menu than main courses. In Cleveland and Chicago, every neighborhood has a mom 'n pop bakery specializing in pastries and/or breads from a different country. In New York City, they have all of these things.

In Dallas, I can sum up our dessert and bakery options in one sentence: We have 4 cupcake shops, 2 chocolatiers, La Duni's bakery, Bread Winners' chilled dessert case, Rise's souffles, and Asian Mint's dessert bar. Where's the real chocolate, layered custards, specialty breads and bagels, flakey European pastries and artful dessert masterpieces created by real pastry chefs?

3. French Cuisine

My first Parisian meal– a crepe with egg, ham and cheese and a glass of cider. Also pictured is a plain crepe with salad.

Have you ever Googled or Yelped for "French restaurant Dallas"? There aren't many results, and all of those La Madeleines don't really count. After recently spending two weeks in Paris, I have to let you know that the limited French food we have here isn't real French food. The first problem is that U.S. ingredients are too processed, and you can taste the difference. Second, I didn't see a single souffle on a menu, and not very many cream sauces either. French cuisine is mostly about drinks, desserts, crepes filled with real fruit or egg and cheese, bread that's hard and flakey on the outside yet soft on the inside, all types of egg dishes, handmade cheeses, beef, and real, pure, dark chocolate used in every way you can imagine.

If you want to know what real Parisian bread, butter, and hot chocolate tastes like, you have one option in Dallas— Rise No. 1. But real French crepes are totally non-existent here. We get Americanized strawberry flavor high fructose corn syrup and chicken alfredo crepes. It'd be so easy to pull off the real deal, too. Just open a crepe food truck at lunch in downtown and late-night in uptown. It's the perfect cheap, quick, fresh, hand-held street food available in sweet and savory flavors.

4. Central European Cuisine

Chicken Paprikash is readily available in Cleveland area deli cases.

I was shocked the first time I learned that many people in Dallas have never heard the words "Pierogi" or "Chicken Paprikash". I certainly have never ever seen either of them on a menu in Dallas. Yet I grew up on these foods, and so did my Polish Chicago friend. These dishes are so popular in Cleveland that I've occasionally seen both on restaurant and bar menus (often sold out for the day), and you can buy them pre-made by local merchants in grocery stores.

The Eastern and Midwestern U.S. is dotted with pockets of central European immigrants, so it's no wonder that Hungarian, Slovak, and Polish comfort foods are completely M.I.A. in Dallas. But it's mostly potato and pasta-based food, so I think Dallas would have no problem falling in love with these cuisines.

5. Philly Foods

A handmade soft pretzel is an odd shape, slightly crisp on the outside and slightly chewy soft inside, and authentically served on the street with brown mustard. Photo courtesy of Food For Laughter blog.

If there is one American cuisine that we get really wrong in Dallas, it's Philadelphia's finest foods. Hand-rolled soft pretzel? Good luck finding one. Philly Cheesesteak? Sorry Texadelphia, but you only serve messed-up Texan versions of the real deal. Brown mustard? You're more likely to find a bottle of hot sauce in your condiments here. These Philly foods are a Dallas food truck waiting to happen.

So, what other cuisines and food scenes are missing in Dallas?