Restaurants in University Park

Wake up to a taste of the city that never sleeps because it's too busy making the most delicious subs and bagels in the world. Today's Groupon to Carmen's Bagel Cafe and Italian Deli gets you $20 worth of authentic, New York–style bagels, LaVazza Italian coffees, pastries soups, subs, homemade sandwiches, paninis, and more for just $10.Click here to discuss Groupon the Cat.

Though Casie Caldwell loved posh restaurant salads, she couldn’t afford to eat them on a regular basis. And casual salad bars, though inexpensive, were too often stocked with limp iceberg lettuce and tasteless tomatoes. Frustrated by this state of affairs, Casie quit her corporate job and opened Greenz, where she filled reasonably priced salads with gourmet ingredients such as brie, portobello mushrooms, and daikon. Her hard work quickly paid off; Greenz’s tasty, healthy food drew a wealth of media attention from the likes of WFAA’s Good Morning Texas, the Dallas Observer, the Dallas Business Journal, and Examiner.com. Soon, Casie was launching additional Greenz locations across the state.

Although their menus vary slightly, each of these spots draws diners in with fresh ingredients in creative combinations. Goat cheese and crumbled bacon rest on foundations of mesclun greens, baby spinach, and chopped romaine. Hawaiian influences come out in a salad topped with pineapple and seared ahi tuna, and Asian flavors yield a medley of panko-breaded shrimp, daikon, and wasabi peas. Diners can also design their own salads or transform them into wraps that, like babies born during a blanket shortage, are snugly swaddled in tortillas. The menu also extends to meatier options, such as a barbecued-pork sandwich or the turkey-chili soup featured on CBS DFW’s list of the Best Bread Bowls in DFW.

With fondue, as with many things, there is an etiquette to be followed. Let the long, slender fork linger over the pot so that drops of blended gourmet cheese fall gently back in the fondue, rather than dotting the top of an intimate, two-person booth. Dip each piece of fresh, local produce only once, covering it fully in gruyére, beer-tinged cheddar, or dark chocolate laced with cabernet. Place the sumptuous cuts of meat and seafood on a plate after dipping using a traditional fork to then cover them with accompanying sauces, made fresh daily in the kitchen. While generosity never begs enforcement, it is traditional for the person who first loses a morsel in the pot to buy the next round, and basic courtesy dictates that you not finger-paint on the pressed-tin paneling with your cheese.

The masterminds behind Simply Fondue don't make the rules, they just provide them to customers, along with five blends of cheese and 15 chocolate creations, with gourmet ingredients that are imported weekly. They engage minds with tradition and taste buds with sweet and savory pots, but they don't neglect the eye, lining the walls with sculptures from artist Barrett DeBusk and vibrantly colored abstract paintings that brighten the room.

Though waiters are commonly revered for their courtesy, the servers at Dick's Last Resort skip the usual niceties in favor of sarcastic quips. When they aren't jotting down orders and engaging in verbal jousting matches, they happily dole out balloons and paper-made dunce hats to diners willing to play along. Live entertainment and sports games shown on big screen TVs sustain the restaurant's festive, freewheeling atmosphere. Over in the kitchen, chefs complement the front of the house's high spirits by incorporating different kinds of spirits into bar food classics, from salmon coated in a Jack Daniels glaze to buckets of shrimp simmered in beer. The culinary team crafts plenty of other alcohol-free goodies, including deep-fried gator and frog legs, BBQ pork ribs, and half-baked chicken cooked over a half-extinguished fire.

If the apple-green walls in Vitality House Café fail to evoke the phrase "an apple a day keeps the doctor away," then a daily recommitment to healthy fare definitely will—keep the doctor away, that is. As graduates of Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, Chefs Chris and Sandy Smith aimed to create wellness-inducing meals for families, having just had a child of their own. Gluten-free and vegan preparations grace their menu, which specifically lists the number of calories for each dish. For instance, strawberry-almond pancakes harbor precisely 403 calories collectively, and the portabello-mushroom sandwich stacks up 301 calories. Heartier meals grace tables at dinnertime, including a maple-soy-glazed salmon with grilled broccolini and a roasted half chicken that is paired with a choice of two sides.

However tasty the dishes may be, they cannot grace the dine-in and catering menus until they have passed the scrutiny of in-house nutritionist Kelly Crawford. As a Cooper Institute–certified dietary guidance counselor and AFPA-certified nutrition and wellness consultant, she stays abreast of current food trends and offers nutritional services such as meal planning and sabotaging the tourism industry of Candy Land.

As many as 1,800 live shows grace the stages of Sambuca's four dinner clubs every year, entertaining diners and lounge crowds every day of the week with rock, blues, or frenetic dance beats. In its 20-year history, the club-and-dining-room hybrids have hosted nationally renowned artists, including Beck, Harry Connick Jr., and Wynton Marsalis.

To complement the eclectic assortment of musical acts, the restaurants' chefs forge equally varied menus that incorporate influences from American, Mexican, and Mediterranean cuisines. Lobster enchiladas arrive beneath a glaze of poblano-cream sauce, and a filet with port wine and walnut butter served with asparagus adds a touch of class to meals.