After living in the DFW area for over seven years, I have recognized that Dallas is a largely corporate city. But I’ve come to appreciate the city’s diverse restaurant scene, large shopping centers and active nightlife despite the metroplex’s apparent rule by companies and stock tickers. The city is filled with variety in entertainment and recreation, but Dallas ultimately lacks culture because of the city’s neglect of creative industries — and championing and expanding on what we have is how we as DFW residents change that.
When I think of major cities in Texas and across the U.S., certain aspects of each city’s culture come to mind. It is easy to pinpoint that Austin is known for its lively arts and music scene, Chicago for its architecture, Houston for NASA and L.A. for its laid-back West Coast lifestyle. Above all, New York City thrives because of its deep-rooted culture standing on a fabulous foundation of art, fashion, food and popular landmarks.
Too often, Dallas’ lack of city culture leads to residents getting excited about popular businesses from other cities coming to Dallas rather than promoting businesses in their own city. Recently, Prince Street Pizza and Brooklyn Dumpling Shop from New York City have opened new Dallas restaurants, leading to social media promotion and excitement from Dallas locals. I, too, have gotten excited about such businesses as I anticipate my first trip to newly opened L.A.-based clothing store Reformation and look forward to the opening of Palestinian restaurant Ayat from New York City.
Too often, Dallas’ lack of city culture leads to residents getting excited about popular businesses from other cities coming to Dallas rather than promoting businesses in their own city.
These “foreign” restaurants and clothing stores shouldn’t stop coming to Dallas; we just need to give DFW’s amazing local businesses — some of my favorites being Sheesh Kitchen and Fair and Square Imports — their flowers by spreading the word, promoting them on social media and becoming regulars in order to create a culturally rich city.
Beyond that, Dallas needs to cultivate a unique city culture by hyping up its already diverse restaurants, expanding its arts and fashion scene and creating distinct cultural landmarks that will make the city more vibrant. It is easy to find at least one restaurant from most countries here in DFW because of the diversity of the metroplex and the prominence of small businesses as well as chains. I’ve heard of Fijian, Nicaraguan and Lao restaurants in Dallas, which are not often available in large numbers outside their respective countries. Even distinguished fine dining restaurants are available in no small numbers, as DFW is home to two Michelin-star restaurants including Tatsu Dallas, a Japanese sushi restaurant, and Mamani, an upscale French restaurant.
Despite the variety of dining options, it’s hard to pinpoint what restaurants or even cuisines that Dallas is known for. While our food scene is diverse, it lacks direction. Our city doesn’t have a specific cuisine that it’s known for or any recognizable Dallas staples. Our culinary strength is in diversity, but not enough people know just how creative some restaurants are in reflecting this. In Dallas, we have a vast number of fusion restaurants which specialize in taking the significant cultural influences throughout the city and incorporating them into culinary art. From ice cream shop Scoop N’ Buns fusing Filipino and Mexican inspired flavors and Halal Fusionz which combines Pakistani and Tex-Mex cuisine, famously reviewed in high numbers by popular TikTok food critic Keith Lee, one-of-a-kind food spots are unforgettable parts of eating out in Dallas. Centering our culinary landscape around fusion restaurants will both highlight the cultural diversity in the city and bring a unique charm which will attract many.
While our food scene is diverse, it lacks direction.
Along with restaurants, the arts scene has footing in Dallas and while it is growing, we need to bring this industry to the forefront. Dallas does have a large art museum — the free-to-enter Dallas Museum of Art — and other smaller galleries around downtown including Art on Main and Cris Worley Fine Arts. These independent galleries are common throughout the city and represent the indie arts scene, a niche cultural characteristic of Dallas. Along with physical artists, we also have musicians in Dallas such as Chadney Christle, whose voice is both mellow and spirited, and Vandell Andrew, a brilliant saxophonist whose jazz music is satisfying and smooth. All of these galleries and artists deserve recognition for their work in making Dallas a genuinely artsy place.
All of these galleries and artists deserve recognition for their work in making Dallas a genuinely artsy place.
Fashion, too, has so much potential to grow in Dallas. Some designers like Munisa Khuramova, founder of fashion brand Munelle De Vie and Valerie Garmino have already planted the seeds of a fashion culture in Dallas by debuting and promoting their collections in the city. Vintage stores and boutiques like Hideaway Vintage and Hold Steady Vintage have also been popping up around the city too, but we need more. Dallas is growing in its number of fashion fanatics — including myself — so more designers should debut their collections at Dallas Fashion Week to feed the growing industry, and more curated thrift stores should be available throughout the metroplex.
Lastly, Dallas needs more cultural landmarks. During my time in Dallas, I’ve visited both the Reunion Tower and Dallas Arboretum, which are both frankly quite boring. We need more attractions that reflect the unique aspects of this city. Think of The Alamo, Millennium Park and the Golden Gate Bridge. Such monuments symbolize something unique about other cities, and Dallas has unique aspects too, including its technological innovations and its rich economic history. Building more landmarks and museums that reflect this will be pivotal in developing a real culture in Dallas.
Dallas has unique aspects too, including its technological innovations and its rich economic history.
Ultimately, a unique culture can only be developed in a few ways. Firstly, we need to focus on promoting our favorite businesses in Dallas. Whether it be your favorite restaurant, cafe, clothing store or art gallery, make a social media post, share a flyer or even speak to people in your daily life about the business. It is important for us UTD students to promote these businesses so we can ensure they stay profitable for years to come.
On top of this, we need more creatives to put down roots in this city. UTD holds the next generation of Dallas creatives and the art and fashion culture of the city won’t develop itself, so if you are considering a creative field, we need you and more people like you to hone their crafts and promote their art in Dallas.
Imagine walking around downtown Dallas on a busy weekend where many are out and about. You stop every few blocks to visit local boutiques which you recognize from social media. They have lines out the door due to their popularity, but you don’t mind waiting because you’ve heard these stores are must-visits. Later, you stumble upon an indie art gallery filled with unique pieces and bustling with industry creatives. Down the block is a famous Dallas museum which showcases the city’s history. Famished from your exciting day acting as a tourist in your own city, you grab a bite to eat at a Dallas staple — a fusion restaurant which blends flavors from different continents.
This is what Dallas could be, but it’s up to us to create this future for our city.