Lakewood Bar and Grill Closes After 18 Years In East Dallas

The Lakewood Bar and Grill announced a permanent closure via its Facebook page yesterday. According to a short post on their wall: I am sad to say that after 18 years of serving the Lakewood area the LBG is closed! Thank you to all the bands that played and for…

Learning To Love Gulf Oysters at S&D Oyster Company

My McKinney Avenue walk was more than just a bar crawl. I also checked an item off my list I’ve been avoiding. I could say that I’ve been waiting till September to enjoy the delicacy I enjoyed many times before, but really I’d been using the old rule as an…

Homesick Texan Releases Homesick Cookbook

Native Texan Lisa Fain is living the quintessential food blogger dream. After five years of compiling recipes in CSS and HTML, her writings will appear on paper in hardback, available on Amazon and at other booksellers this September 13th. Fain has been a salve for displaced Texans, working up recipes…

7-11’s Hot Dog Potato Chips Taste Shockingly Hot Doggy

7-Eleven has a storied tradition of attempting foods that taste like other foods rather than just making the foods themselves edible. But this time around, your favorite gas station-grocery-movie-rental store hit a grand slam in synthetic flavor simulation. That’s right: I tried 7 Select Big Bite Hot Dog Flavored Potato…

Red Fork Tavern’s Mussels and Fries: Eat Them. Like, Soon.

Last weekend I had a mussel craving, and because cravings, for me, always seem to turn into epic eating, events I tried three different versions in two days. The Grape’s mussels were traditional, clean with white wine and shallots. For brunch on Sunday I ate chorizo-scented mussels while sitting at…

Bigger Burgers Are Better, But When Is Enough Enough?

It’s all things The Grape this week (who, incidentally released their September menu last night). Of course, when talk turns to this Lower Greeville standby, it naturally leads to in-depth burger discussions. Yesterday I blogged about how The Grape’s burger became Texas’ most coveted sandwich. Commenter Beda chimed in with…

CBS Is Looking For The Best Food Blogger, Kinda

Early last month, the CBS-11 announced a friendly competition to crown the area’s Most Valuable Bloggers. Categories include local affairs, sports, lifestyle, entertainment and dining, among others. Contestants are entered into the event through a nomination process in which anyone can participate. Currently 17 blogs have entered the food fray…

I Could Love You, Office Cafeteria, But You Make It So Damn Hard

I try and eat something interesting for lunch every day I can. Zaguan is a great Latin bakery across the street from the Observer HQ that serves a decent arepas. I covet Reina Pepiada: a salad of pulled chicken and avocado. Nosh, up the street, composes some beautiful plates at…

How A Burger Took Over The Grape’s Brunch

Yesterday I wrote that scorecards aren’t any fun for restaurant critics. They can be useful in certain applications, though, like comparing many versions of the same thing over time. Judges at food competitions use them. And it was a scorecard designed by Texas Monthly that forever changed dining at The…

The Grape is Stuck in the Past, Right Where it Belongs

Lower Greenville Avenue has seen a lot of change lately, and it’s going to see a lot more. An Asian behemoth, Rohst, and a revamped Terilli’s have risen from the ashes of a four-alarm fire. Bucket loaders, backhoes and jackhammers are making a mess of the street and sidewalks, and…

Saying Goodbye To Summer: Which Foods Will You Miss Most?

For the love of God, slow down people. I understand Labor Day weekend is coming and summer is close to ending, but jumping forward into State Fair musings, fried foods and other fall fare seems a little premature, no? Winter’s just on the heels of cooler weather, and we’ll likely…

Looking at The Grape Through The Eyes of Three Critics

I chose The Grape for this week’s review with a specific purpose: to reflect on the mechanics of restaurant criticism, and to gain a better understanding of Dallas’ dining culture. The restaurant was recently reviewed by both D and the Morning News. What better way to learn about two critics…

Five Ways to Improve Sigel’s Second Food Truck Festival

Jasper Russo is an ambitious man. Not three days after his inaugural DFW Food Truck Festival he’s announced a sequel. Saturday, November 12th Sigel’s will host the DFW Winter Food Truck Festival, at the same location as this past weekend’s event. Will he be ready? His setup is far from…

Dallas Line Cooks Need To Work On Their Burger Mechanics

Some burger town. I’ve probably had 20 or so since I got here, and I’ve noticed an alarming trend. Almost all of my burgers have arrived over-cooked. In fact of all the burgers I’ve had, only two or so (thanks, Grape and NHS) were cooked as ordered. The rest? Woefully…

Can Walmart Save Southern Dallas From Food Desert Conditions?

The Dallas Morning News, that gray thing that piles up on your old neighbor’s lawn when she’s on vacation, was loaded with food coverage over the weekend, including a story that identified the city’s “food deserts” — areas without adequate grocery shopping options for residents. That term, “food desert,” was…