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…
Sitting on a pine-hewn picnic bench with a cold beer in hand isn’t a bad place to be in these last days of summer. It’s even nicer when you’re flanked by a lovely lady. Tonight, it’s Luna by my side — a 5-year-old pitbull mix. There are lots of canines…
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…
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…
Dallas is not, on the whole, a walkable city, but there are many strands that cater to pedestrians. As the heat subdued, I decided to see how foot-friendly McKinney Avenue was on this past sunny, Saturday afternoon. I started at Fitzhugh around noon and wandered south, checking in at several…
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…
You could hear the soft sounds of Mr. Pink the second you broke the seal on the restaurant’s front door. No need to ask for directions, just follow the music and you’ll find the party. The Rosewood Mansion at Turtle Creek is a polished place, but this weekend several variables…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
It’s been almost a year and a half since Amanda Ahern’s telephone rang early one March morning, prompting her to turn on the television and witness the fire that would burn her mother’s Greenville Avenue restaurant to the ground. Ahern drove to Mom’s house to deliver the news, and spent…
Gentrification continues its march along Fitzhugh pushing eastward and leaving Red Fork Tavern and now Strangeways in its wake. The new bar, dubbed a “pub without the Irish theme to it” in a recent Pegusus article, was opened by sibling owners Eric and Erica Sanchez, who sought to create a…
The latest D Magazine hit news stands last week with much anticipation in the food world, after editors hyped the cover story on Commissary chef John Tesar as a story about Dallas’ “most hated chef.” Before I started, the Observer wrote a pretty nasty review of Tesar’s latest addition to…
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…
The Meddlesome Moth will hold a special dinner featuring the Lips of Faith Brewery on September 12. But what caught my eye was the title bestowed upon Colorado-based Belgium Brewery’s Lauren Salazar, who’s hosting the event. She’s dubbed a “Sensory Specialist,” and she spoke to me by cell phone while…
