Word that a wildly popular TikTok food reviewer is coming to town has sparked spirited discussion about which Dallas restaurants should get the spotlight and even more discussion, perhaps, on which ones shouldn’t.

Keith Lee, who’s amassed millions of social media followers with his candid reviews of small, largely Black-owned restaurants, put a call out to Dallas locals asking them where he should eat during his upcoming visit to the city. Within minutes, his video’s comment section began to swell with recommendations and pleas for Dallas not to fumble the opportunity.

When The Dallas Morning News shared an Instagram post on Wednesday of reader-submitted suggestions for Lee — which included non-local, high-end spots like Carbone and Komodo, and few, if any, Black-owned restaurants — a flood of frustration and rebuke overwhelmed the comments. For some people, the list was confirmation that this city’s culinary priorities are grossly out of whack. For others, the absence of Black-owned businesses demonstrated not only a lack of understanding of Lee and his mission but also a lack of diversity in the restaurants that often get the spotlight.

North Texas-based chef Tiffany Derry, owner of Roots Southern Table, Roots Chicken Shak and the new Radici, said she was surprised and disappointed by the suggestions.

“What I love about what Keith Lee is doing is shining a light on Black-owned, family-operated and smaller restaurants who most of the time do not have marketing budgets,” Derry said to The News. “Before him, I had never heard of a person influencing our food scene quite like he has been able to do so successfully. So it was especially surprising to see the list.”

So many of D-FW’s great restaurants don’t get recognition or make annual “best of” roundups because their owners are constantly working in the business, not on it, Derry said. She’d like to see those kinds of places, the ones quietly doing the work, have their time in the sun.

Her picks for Lee? Cookie Society, Smokey John’s Bar-B-Que, Restaurant Beatrice, Pangea, Bam’s Vegan, Zense Thai, Cris and John, La Casita Bakeshop, Daily Grinds, District One Saigon Street Food, and her restaurants Roots Southern Table and Roots Chicken Shak.

A visit from a viral TikToker may seem trivial to some, but Dallasite Val Jean-Bart, owner of Val’s Cheesecakes, said it can give restaurants an incredible financial boost, especially marginalized ones that have a difficult time securing financing.

“It’s almost like going to a bank and getting a loan, getting that Keith Lee spotlight,” he said. “That’s how I see it. It’s going to the bank without all the headaches and paperwork, but you have to have some minimum qualifications, too.”

Val’s received dozens of mentions in the comments of Lee’s video asking for recommendations, and just having his business tagged under Lee’s videos is invaluable, he said.

“I’ve never seen this amount of tagging in my life, and that is worth capital,” Jean-Bart said.

Jean-Bart would, of course, like for Lee to visit his cheesecake shop, he said, but his suggestions for Lee are his own local food scene inspirations: Kessler Baking Studio, CocoAndré, TLC Vegan Kitchen and Vegan Food House.

The notion that expensive restaurants like New York-based Carbone or Komodo, the top-grossing restaurant in the country in 2022, would even be suggestions for someone looking to highlight Dallas’ small businesses strikes a particular nerve because it comes at a time when the Dallas restaurant scene has been inundated with new high-end culinary concepts.

Last year brought the simultaneous closures of a handful of independent, chef-led restaurants and the arrival of others backed by out-of-town restaurant groups. It’s a push and pull seen in every large city’s restaurant scene, but it’s top of mind in a place where many small neighborhood restaurants struggle to stay open.

In an age when performance and theater dominate the dining experience and society too often measures food by how photogenic it is, June Chow, owner of Beijing street food shop Hello Dumpling in Dallas, said she gravitates toward restaurants that keep things simple and rooted in authenticity. She hopes Lee does the same.

“There are so many stories of people who transfer their childhood foods into this lovely, modernized representation that hits the comfort buttons,” Chow said. “Those are the places I want to eat at. Places that are authentic to the culinary fabric of this city.”

Chow said her advice for Lee is no different than it would be for anyone else from out of town.

“When I have company who comes here, I take them to places where I know the story,” she said. “If I hear about a family legacy or someone who grew up in their grandma’s kitchen, those are the kind of places I look for.”

Restaurants like Smoke‘N Ash BBQ, a distinctive Tex-Ethiopian smokehouse in Arlington where doro wat is served alongside brisket and Texas toast, should be on Lee’s list, Chow said. Or Kalachandji’s, a vegetarian Indian restaurant tucked inside the courtyard of a Hare Krishna temple in East Dallas.

She’d also put her own restaurant up for consideration for Lee’s list, mostly because she knows exactly what she’d serve him if given the chance.

“He’s going to want to have my bowl of braised beef soup noodles. That’s what I’m gonna feed him. Oh God, yeah, there’s nothing better,” she said. “It’s the ultimate comfort food.”

José Ralat, Texas Monthly’s taco editor, said Trompo in Oak Cliff is a restaurant that has been frequently mentioned online as a place Lee should visit, and Ralat agrees.

“They’ve had it rough lately,” Ralat said, referring to the restaurant’s recent closure and subsequent reopening thanks to community crowdfunding. “The taqueria is great. The community should support it and so should Keith Lee.”

Wherever Lee goes, Ralat said he hopes the focus isn’t just on the food, but the people behind it, too.

Lee’s visit will be a win for Dallas, particularly for the city’s Black-owned businesses, said Smokey John’s Bar-B-Que owner Brent Reaves, who made a cheeky TikTok video with his restaurant staff as a bid for Lee’s patronage.

“I think it will be huge for the Black restaurant community. I think there are some phenomenal Black-owned restaurants that don’t get the accolades and don’t get the hype others do,” he said.

But Lee can bring that hype, Reaves said.

“There are some quality gems and diamonds that might be in areas people would never look. I think that’s the beauty of Keith Lee. He can expose those diamonds in the rough,” he said. “If you can add another 200 customers a month to someone’s business, that’s incredibly impactful on the family behind that restaurant and the families that business supports.”

Reaves would love for Lee to make a stop at his restaurant to try the ribs, fried catfish and mac-n-cheese, but he’d also love to see him visit some of his favorite D-FW spots like SouthSide Steaks and Cakes, Shrimp Doc, Vegan Food House, Roots Southern Table, Red Stix Street Food, Breakfast Brothers and Designs by Cake Daddy.

“I hope he sees the diversity in Dallas,” he said. “So many people are moving to Dallas from other places and they’re bringing their flavors to Dallas. I hope he sees those flavors.”