Several years ago Jeffrey Yarbrough thought up a wild idea for his wife’s 25th birthday. Anyone could reserve a table at some Dallas hot spot, he decided, but only a hardy few would dare brave the vast uncharted territories outside the metro area. So the owner of Club Clearview and…
It’s difficult to imagine a more important year in baseball annals than 1908. It was the year of “Merkle’s Boner,” which isn’t what you think it is. In an era when cocks woke people up in the morning, bungholes opened kegs, and dicks patrolled the streets, respectable men and women…
Retro commercials on TV Land assure us of several critical things. A Coke, for example, tamed angry 1970s linebackers. Cartoon owls knew the answers to universal riddles, like the number of licks necessary to break through to the center of a Tootsie Pop. Most important, America’s seafood industry dredged only…
Every time this country ends up with a Bush in the White House, several things most assuredly occur: The government inflicts some regrettable incident on Japan, the nation tumbles into a recession, a presidential pet writes a book, and everyone worries about the vice president’s ability to run things. We’re…
Only a few weeks from the planned opening of their first restaurant in 1996, Texadelphia owners Brian Mitts and Tom Landis ran into a little problem. “We were in an old house, a pier-and-beam construction house,” Mitts recalls. An inspector looked at the foundation and called the owners together. “We…
Dixie Cups rank high in the pantheon of great inventions. They are sturdy, compact, disposable and capable of filling a room with oily black smoke when ignited. The Burning Question crew prefers to say no more about that last attribute. The little plastic cups are perfect for a late-night swig…
A night out on Lower Greenville Avenue provides enough stuff for a Hollywood movie. The story line would be something gripping about a lone antagonist threatening small-business owners. Or perhaps a feel-good piece where a group of money-hungry capitalists trample the rights of residents until one man takes a stand…
Way back in the days of classic film noir, reporters spent their workdays hanging out in squalid taverns, knocking back whiskey and blurting vintage slang, piecing together stories in a haze of alcohol and stale cigarette smoke. The Burning Question crew misses everything about those days. Except for the hangovers…
For some reason we always think the Chinese hold the key to success, happiness and all of life’s little secrets. For example, we’re suddenly a nation of feng shui devotees who believe–quite seriously–that the proper alignment of décor leads to wealth or serenity. Geez. How much does a country of…
Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas operates a level-one trauma center, a violence intervention program, a palliative care department–and a McDonald’s. Shoppers at Super Target can pick up kitchen appliances, toys and a Personal Pan Pizza from Pizza Hut. Forget where you parked your car? No problem. The Foley’s parking garage…
We tend to define human progress in terms of personal wealth or the amount of open space bulldozed by developers. But a mere glance at history texts reveals at every turn some unknown feature rearing up to stall the advancement of our species–the mysteries of fire, disease or grade inflation,…
Laura Raymond disagrees with the conclusion of this article. “Lunch dates are for wussies,” she explains. “If you really like someone, take her out at night, have a few drinks and have fun.” Married now, Raymond speaks bluntly about past lunch dates. Sure, a traditional date puts certain pressure on…
The human brain is an amazing thing. It can conceive pyramids, space travel and the Popeil Pocket Fisherman. But when the brain confronts the menu board at ice cream shops, synapses break apart, neurons scatter in chaos, and all functions cease. We stand gaping, unable to pick from the listed…
On a Saturday evening at Green Papaya, glasses clink together and occasionally shatter. Doors creak open, allowing the sharp banter of pots and pans to spill from the kitchen. Voices blend into a consistent buzz, pierced by a bit of laughter here and there. Forks scrape, waiters call out, and…
Sometimes comparisons just don’t work. For example, New Englanders speak with grating accents just like Southerners. They contributed sports, literature, education and rebellion to the annals of American culture–again, just like the Old South. Of course, New England’s literary greats–Thoreau, Emerson and the like–overshadow Faulkner and his Yaknapa-something County or…
Sometimes the Burning Question crew suspects that the editors wish us jail time, disfigurement, death or worse. It’s not that they necessarily hate us, mind you. They just have this thing about deadlines. More than once they’ve sent “goons” around to “teach us a lesson.” Fortunately, these goons are really…
Ah, the glamorous life of a Dallas chef: the long hours, the stifling kitchens, the wicked pace of dinner rush, the competition. At least they get to wear cool outfits. In addition, every chef knows that in order to maintain the status of their restaurant, attract new customers or keep…
No one in the restaurant industry wears the “trendy” label without complaint. They scowl when they hear the term and quickly correct unwary types who direct the word at their establishments. Rock Gennaro, mâitre d’ at Samba Room, launched into a lengthy and impassioned denial when the Burning Question crew…
In an old Warner Bros. cartoon, Daffy Duck ambles south of the border, knocks back a shot of tequila in a local saloon and stiffens suddenly, wide-eyed and pale–much like an unprepped George W. facing reporters without Daddy’s friends nearby. Tequila once served as a drink for the masses, powerful…
In a moment of clarity, the very late Frank Zappa pointed out that “you can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team or some nuclear weapons,” he continued, “but at the very least you…
Every once in a while the Burning Question crew selects a topic so straightforward that we pursue a few minutes of effortless research and spend the rest of the weekend bowled over in a drunken stupor, participating in events we vaguely remember, thanking those responsible for Miranda rights. But we…
Other than a few odd moments of confrontation–Fred and Ginger bickering over pronunciation, Dan Quayle “correcting” a grade school kid’s spelling–the potato (sorry, Dan) enjoyed a relatively placid existence over the years. For example, through war and protest, boom and bust, the classic mashed potato recipe remained a dinner staple,…
