Forbes recently listed 30 movers and shakers in the national food scene who are under 30. The article highlights the new guard, the young chefs and food purveyors who promise to carry the torch for the next generation of restaurant patrons. Dallas has some younger chefs worth mention on the…
Dickey’s Barbecue done growed up. The restaurant chain celebrated its seventh decade of existence in October, and now it celebrates another major milestone: its 200th location. While new locations have been popping up across 36 states, this latest opening is a little closer to home. Dwain and LaLena Carpenter opened…
When Bolsa announced Jeff Harris and Matt Balke would be taking over the kitchen and running the soon to open (and now opened) Bolsa Mercado, little was said about the chef they replaced. Graham Dodds was understandably quiet about his departure. In a short interview with D, he declined to…
The last weeks of December always serve as an inflection point: We spend 1/4 of our time reflecting on the past year and 1/4 of our time resolving to make the next year a little better. The other half we spend getting fat and drunk. (After all, it’s easier to…
I love eating lunch out. I like long, luxurious mid-day meals with wine and a course or three, with coffee for dessert. But who’s got time for that? I admit, now that I eat for a living I indulge myself way more often than I used to, but deadlines are…
When I dreamed up my ideas for the RedFork space (which are never going to happen), it jogged my memory about many restaurants that I’d love to see arrive and thrive in Dallas. Here are a few more; consider this my Christmas list. If you think a reputable version of…
Ouch. Remember that whole Bar 828 thing in Oak Cliff? Seems like a distant memory. While milling around out back of the event, I asked a bartender (details fuzzy for obvious reasons) his best hangover cure. He told me a gin and tonic water poured over a couple of alka-seltzer…
‘Tis the season for cliche. I could do with fewer references to chilly weather and the warming bowls of soup I’m reading on food blogs lately. How about booze? How about hot booze? That’s the stuff to warm up with. Observer bar-and-clubs guru Daniel Hopkins came to my office this…
An article in The New York Times has me thinking about the contents of my refrigerator again. The last time we looked in my icebox an empty cardboard six-pack holder of light beer and withered strawberries graced the shelves. Not much has changed since August. The strawberries are gone, replaced…
Free this Saturday? Feel like doing some good for all of humanity? The kind of good that tastes like tacos, cupcakes and grilled cheese sandwiches? Then you, sir or madam, might want to check out the Food Truck Holiday Party hosted by Three Men and a Taco in the Arts…
Jay Jarrier confirmed today that he’s signed a lease on the space next door to his Deep Ellum pizza restaurant, Cane Rosso. The 1500 square-foot space will be turned into a mixed-use area, filled with private dining space and tables for overflow when the main room gets crowded. And that…
If you consider yourself a lover of good food, you ought to check out NPR’s Food Podcast. Every Thursday they drop 30 minutes highly digestible food news , and while some of it’s a little campy, it’s mostly quite good. Last week’s podcast featured the next great food trend: meatballs…
My taco post about El Si Hay earned me some shit. A few commenters said those tacos are trash. They called me a gringo. Get yourself to El Tizoncito, one said. Another agreed. Next thing you know, I’m sitting in a silver minivan with another Ater, teetering down Interstate 35…
A few weeks back we told you (reminded you, really) about the evils of McDonald’s pork supplier, Smithfield Foods. The Humane Society was roasting the commercial pig factory for its use of gestation crates, noted for their impossibly small size and generally considered a cruel and unusual way of breeding…
Every morning around 9, a large pot of water containing dried white corn and lime comes to a boil inside the kitchen of Meso Maya — the first step of a two-day process that yields fresh hand-made tortillas for hundreds of diners each day. The procedure is straightforward but hardly…
Does authenticity matter? What the hell is authenticity, anyway? Look it up in a dictionary and words like “real” and “genuine” stab at a definition. Framed this way, authentic seems a prefect descriptor for a Topps baseball card or a Rolex watch. Put the word authentic next to a taco…
You walk into a dark cocktail den and take a seat at the bar. A bartender hands you a small, leather-bound menu featuring drinks from 1930s with some wild modern flavor combinations mixed in, to keep the staff from getting bored. You’re a classicist, though, so you settle on an…
Red tide, the naturally occurring algae bloom that causes toxicity in shellfish, continues to plague the state’s coastline — keeping Texas oysters out of local restaurants and threatening the $18.5 million Texas oyster industry. The state closed the entire coast of Texas to oyster fishing due to the red tide…
Megan Wilkes can’t help herself. When talking business, every word she utters that contains a long “I” is fodder for another pie pun. She calls herself a pie-oneer for instance. She’s always looking for her next great pie-dea. Fortunately her baking skills outdo her saccharine one-liners. A mutual friend paired…
Burger House turns 60 this month and is celebrating today with contests, giveaways and the only thing you really care about: 60-cent cheeseburgers. The deal will be available at all Burger House locations across Dallas, Plano, Rockwall and Lubbock throughout the day. The Observer has long had a bit of…
I headed over to the Libertine Bar this weekend to indulge in their weekend fish and chips special with a few cold Boddingtons. The move was a preemptive measure based an article published in The New York Times this weekend, which hints that cod fisheries could be in trouble. The…
Food & Wine anointed the country’s 50 best bars in its latest issue. The list, featuring swanky cocktail dens that pour upscale drinks, leans heavily on New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington D.C.. Texas received mention for only one bar, the Anvil Bar & Refuge in Houston. Dallas…
