Nonna | Tabu

Nonna has been doing pasta differently since 2007, and two decades of menu changes haven't dulled that instinct. Ten or more pasta options rotate most nights, with shapes most Dallas diners won't recognize on sight — lorighittas, tajarin, a saffron bucatini run through with Thai flavors. That's the restaurant's whole case: it treats pasta as a place to take risks, not a safe middle course.

The rest of the menu backs it up rather than filling space. The blue crab cartocci splits the difference between a crab cake and a churro and works. The chicken milanese gets the crispy-to-juicy ratio right, which sounds simple and rarely is. The dining room runs full and loud, regulars elbow to elbow with couples trading bites, and that energy is part of what you're paying for.

It isn't flawless — service can lag on a packed night, and the hype occasionally outruns what lands on the plate. But the kitchen's pasta range is real, not a gimmick, and back-to-back Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition confirms what the regulars already knew. Order something you can't pronounce. That's the move here.