Fort Worth

Teddy Wongs is the kind of place that shouldn't work on paper — dumplings, Fort Worth, Wine Spectator award — and yet here we are. If you let the list guide you toward Alsace or Texas instead of defaulting to the California crowd-pleasers, you'll eat and drink extremely well for the money.

Don Artemio is doing something genuinely unusual in Texas steakhouse territory: building a wine list around Mexican producers that deserve serious attention, backed by a sommelier who knows the material. If you care at all about wine, skip the Napa defaults and let Adrian point you toward Baja — you won't regret it.