There’s a scene in the football-bashing film North Dallas Forty in which a doltish offensive lineman sets out to meet some investors who plan to use his name on a chain of restaurants. Before leaving the clubhouse, he’s confronted by the comparatively brainy Nick Nolte, who christens the place “Joe…
Mention gin, and people instantly respond. Often it’s with a disrespectful groan. Kenny Daniel, bartender at Primo’s, just shakes his head ruefully when you say the dreaded word. “The worst hangover I ever had was over gin,” he says. “Three days.” A woman by the name of Ashley, whom we…
Self-styled “foodies” regularly fire off tedious monologues on the evils of processed foods and commercial farming. Personally, we think curbing outbreaks of scurvy is a reasonable payoff for all those crates of tasteless vegetables sitting in grocery bins. In any case, the Burning Question crew is more offended by popular…
When the inaugural Savor Dallas event wrapped up last February, Jim White and co-founder Vicki Briley-White declared the thing successful. After all, some 4,000 people showed up for a two-day bender, along with dozens of local restaurants and hundreds of wineries. Yet glitches occurred: A registration area staffed by volunteers…
Food is the new whatever used to occupy the portion of our minds devoted to culture. Unfortunately, that implies a certain amount of the old “wine snob” mentality. Diners flashing authority in culinary matters expect to learn arcane details when scanning menus, and woe to chefs who fail to identify…
Curb appeal is important in this city, or so we’re told. Gotta look good at the valet stand, so upwardly mobile guys lease well-appointed Beemers. Best to sign over a good chunk of credit to bartenders and waitstaff, too. Otherwise dates, colleagues or friends might discover you earn a paltry…
Once a restaurateur reaches a certain level of success, he or she often branches out. It’s nothing unusual to see a second Monica’s pop up in the ‘burbs or another Mi Cocina open somewhere. Well perhaps Iris owner Susie Priore doesn’t understand the concept of local expansion. She’s teaming with…
It’s Saturday night in Eden, and the gods are angry. We’re sitting inside the small converted ranch house watching a restaurant in the midst of a serious meltdown. The air conditioning unit malfunctions. Butter melts on the plate, and our waitress, already frazzled, wipes damp wilting hair from her glistening…
Never know when a craving for chicken tajine might strike, but just hang on. Rocky Boustani signed a deal to set up an upscale Moroccan restaurant called Tangerine in the space once occupied by Sipango. Expect mostly authentic cuisine with a few contemporary touches and a couple nods to the…
Things aren’t always what they seem. Take, for example, Main Street Blues Room. At first glance it’s a rustic tin utility building more suited to storing old tractor parts than housing a restaurant. The name itself evokes lurid images of precarious dives, boozehounds slumped at the bar, sultry music and…
Each year when we reexamine the people mixing cocktails around the city, a certain, shall we say, insecurity creeps into our minds. Thousands of bartenders work in Dallas and its surrounding ‘burbs and most pour a decent drink. By the time the fifth martini begins severing contact between brain cells…
James Pintello was tending his usual Sunday night shift behind the bar at Sevy’s when he received a rather unusual phone call. Someone on the other line began quizzing him–full name, military service and so on. So the veteran bartender nipped the session and asked for a quick explanation. Don’t…
Buzz past Manny’s Uptown Tex-Mex Restaurante during prime time on a Saturday night, and you’ll likely glimpse a chaotic scene. Hungry would-be diners mob the entry waiting for a table. They loiter in clusters on the lawn, bump elbows at the bar and mill about the patio. Sometimes people wait…
Some time back in the ’80s, college baseball players began donning “rally caps” late in losing games. Nothing magical, really, just regular ball caps twisted into bizarre shapes. We doubt there’s a statistical correlation between manhandled hats and come-from-behind victories. In fact, deep down most of us know spells designed…
The once-hip patio and lounge known as Republic shut down without warning a few weeks ago–you know that much, particularly if you banged on the doors for a while. Now Jason Quiroga, initial bar manager, reports that he and one of the original investors, Bill McCrorey, regained control of the…
Urban provincialism is an interesting thing. Over and over we hear people inside the loop dismiss anything north of LBJ or lodged in the mid-cities. Much more difficult, it seems, to navigate an unbending multi-lane highway than suffer the halting drive on Oak Lawn Avenue. So they miss out on…
There’s an inspiring point in the Disney film Miracle, when hockey coach Kurt Russell lectures his team on moments, opportunities or something. We’ve pretty much memorized the speech. Naturally it came to mind when we first considered this week’s topic. The real Dallas; well, to solve that riddle would quickly…
Check out this assessment of the West End, gleaned from a self-described elitist, liberal, over-educated aging punk rocker whose name we somehow failed to catch: “It attracts and retains those people that I hate to be around, making them easier to avoid.” Hmm. Why must cultural groups bicker so? After…
Here’s to resurrection: About a year ago, rumors floated through the in-the-know circles that Phil Romano and Joe Palladino were set to open a pizza joint somewhere near Medici. Then the upscale lounge slumped, directing their concerns elsewhere–namely, saving the well-publicized club. Now, Medici is reborn and drawing multitudes. So…
Envision standing beer in hand on a Saturday night, waiting for a table in a place overwhelmed by blubber-laden, hairy men in ball caps and T-shirts. Must’ve sauntered in from a nearby WWF match or truck race. At a dining table near the bar slumps a guy with bulldog jowls,…
Not to sound brash or anything, but we’ve always suspected our antics would make great television. Just think of it: the Burning Question crew swigging tequila straight from the bottle, staggering up to a camera slurbing “Wha chu lookin’ at?” and trying out pickup moves on morning news anchors. Ratings…
Before launching into this week’s topic, members of the Burning Question crew wish to declare that we, too, love Katie Holmes. So step aside, Tom. If she ditches you and accepts our deal, no need to sacrifice her virginity–more than once–just help us promote our religion: alcohol. We’ll have our…
