Cris and John

Cris and John is a well-known Vietnamese/Mexican fusion restaurant opened by Christina Mendez and John Pham that opened in 2017 in a small and fairly hidden strip mall in Dallas. It successfully marries the two cuisines with unique items like Phorittos, Ramenrittos, Phodillas, Birria Baos, and more. Their original location was always crowded with long lines, and so in July 2025 they moved to the current bigger and nicer location. I’ve visited Cris and John many times over the years and my favorite item so far is their Birria Baos. It takes standard Chinese white bao buns which are then deep fried, filled with spicy beef short rib and mozzarella cheese, and served with a side of angry pho consume. The tacos and standard non-fried baos are good as well. I wasn’t as taken by their phoritto, which I found to be a bit plain. On this most recent visit I decided to try their Pho Noodles with angry beef broth, short rib meat, and ramen noodles. The angry beef broth was excellent and much better than a similar birria noodle soup I had recently had Dragon Casa. The short ribs ($6 upcharge) were 2 large tender beef ribs that came with a ton of tender rib meat. I would highly recommend getting the short rib. The ramen noodles, however, were bad as they were way overcooked and mushy. I could not eat the noodles at all but ate all the meat and drank most of the broth. The interior is well decorated and lively, and the service was friendly. When I visited during lunch on Friday the place was almost entirely full within 20 minutes of opening. I’m glad the restaurant is doing well as I applaud their menu creativity, and hope they improve on their ramen noodle texture and overall consistency from visit to visit.

Unique food! Something fun and different