State fair season is here, especially in northern states that don’t have to wait till summer’s swelter abates to have a little fried food fun. Iowa and Minnesota recently released their food menus for this year’s events, and there’s a whole lot more to eat than fried things on a…
Oh, just admit it. A national holiday is just two days away, which means you’re just one day away from an early departure from the office, and a whole lot of booze and a farmer’s tan. I’ll bet most of you’ve even put in notice to take Friday off, placing…
When I interviewed Alberto Neri for last week’s restaurant review, we talked a lot about textures. I was trying to figure out why the taco meats at some locations were consistently more crispy than others. Neri looked confused by my question. If I wanted crispy meats, all I had to…
News broke this morning on Culture Map that Brian Luscher has signed a lease on a restaurant space across the street from Elbow Room on Gaston Avenue. While the restaurant is still in its fetal stage (they’ve only just started renovations) Luscher concedes that his Post Oak Red Hots will…
Dallas Beer Kitchen opened just more than a week ago, bringing more beer, burgers and bar food to the Greenville Avenue nightlife scene. Bryan Kaeser and Joe Scribner, who have been blogging at Best Damn Things, opened the the restaurant and bar with their wives. The website, devoted to food,…
It goes without saying that most bread in this town is a massive let down. The most disappointing loaves can be found at grocery stores where blonde baguettes with a soft, almost waxy crust fill the bread baskets next to the even more terrible loaves branded simply as French or…
Every time I see a Reuben sandwich on a menu my pupils dilate a bit. I know I shouldn’t eat them as much as I do, and I’ve gotten pretty good at resisting lesser specimens, but there are a few finer points of sandwich craftsmanship I can’t turn down no…
This past Tuesday, The Common Table tapped the first aged barley wine from Peticolas Brewery. Michael Peticolas initially planned to age the brew till this November, but after tasting a little recently he’s having a hard time sitting on it. The early release is one of a few the brewer…
When Deep Ellum Brewing Co. first opened in 2011, expansion plans were always on the owners’ minds. They purchased their Deep Ellum property outright and then leased a portion of the space out to a printing company. If you came in the wrong door you had to walk through a…
In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 30 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Stanton Stephens. See the entire Dallas Observer People Issue here. When you walk into the Black Swan Saloon, a shoebox-sized bar in Deep Ellum, Gabe Sanchez doesn’t…
This was not what Alberto Neri had in mind when he pictured his new life in America. The Mexico City native would eventually make his name as the Suadero King in Dallas, but he got his start in Riverside, California. Neri, who had never so much as swung a hammer,…
The Dallas Farmers Market Friends released their summer program schedule this week. The series of five classes will help home cooks make good use of all the summer produce they have access to downtown and at other neighborhood farmers markets. The first class is July 13 with Abraham Salum demonstrating…
Years ago, the spot next to the 7-Eleven at the edge of Deep Ellum on Elm Street used to hold Sambuca. That bar and restaurant moved to Uptown and the space has laid dormant for more than a decade. Then, four weeks ago ago a bar named WOЯK opened, forcing…
Before Tacos La Banqueta changed its name from Tacos El Guero, and before it moved to its current location on Bryan Street, the tiny taqueria was even tinier. Alberto Neri opened his first restaurant in South Dallas more than a decade ago. His restaurants have come a long way since…
In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 30 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Stanton Stephens. See the entire Dallas Observer People Issue here. Local is a mantra in the craft-brewery business, but nobody takes it more seriously than Michael Peticolas…
While spring’s seasonal vegetables sprout up timidly from cold dirt, summer’s bounty arrives like a freight train. Go to your local farmers market in April and May and new vegetables and fruits slowly arrive one by one. In June though, the floodgates open, and squash, legumes, tomatoes and other produce…
It seems an odd bit of torture to me that anyone should celebrate okra before the peak of the season — before the toughened pods join chiles as the only vegetable that can handle Texas summer’s heat. There will be a lot of okra to come in the coming months,…
Moving is a strange thing. Flashy and exciting visualizations of the road ahead overstimulate, while a library of warm memories prompts longing as you realize you will never have those experiences in the same way again. Sure, you can buy a plane ticket and revisit plenty of them, but those…
This weekend’s New York Times had a headline that every Texan should appreciate. Apparently New Yorkers have finally realized that tacos are breakfast food — a revelation that has undoubtedly changed the lives of the supreme urbanites forever. See also: How To Make The Best Breakfast Tacos in Dallas Four…
There’s something different about Cosmo’s Bar and Lounge. Where else can you gather around a horseshoe bar with customers who order concoctions like Starfuckers and Nerds this far away from SMU? It’s the shottiest bar in all of Dallas. Cosmo’s is darker and a little more seedy and sexual than…
Updated update:There’s another video now, with a slightly higher production quality and a lot more apologies. Watch it while you still can… Original Update: The video has been taken down. Here’s a transcript of what you missed… I want to apologize to everybody, for the wrong that I’ve done. I…
Zomer Pilsner, the anticipated summer seasonal brew from Lakewood Brewery, was tapped at Craft and Growler last night. Lakewood’s previous seasonal, a farmhouse saison named Till and Toil, was widely popular throughout Dallas last spring. But while Till and Toil will certainly be missed, the beer nerds who came out…
