Pizza is a provincial food. A New Yorker will tell you a slice should be thin and floppy, the sauce just like so. A New Havener would skulk if a crust was missing that requisite char and might prefer clams over peperoni. Chicagoans turn pizza into a literal pie, practically…
Deep Ellum dabbles in variety of things. The familiar: bars, music venues, restaurants, tattoo parlors and stores filled with vintage tchotchkes. Then there are a few surprises, like a winery, a cheese shop and ninja parking lot attendants. Hopefully soon they’ll add to the list of familiar a community garden…
I distinctly remember my first encounter with deviled eggs. I was at a Penn State football game, probably eight years old. I was nearing double-digit eggs before I realized I’d gone too far. To me the snack will always be a tailgating food, but to bars and restaurants, deviled eggs…
Main Street Garden hosted the inaugural TX/OU Red River BBQ Shootout on Friday night, and the BBQ carnage that ensued left folks young and old victim to great rib artistry. Amidst a backdrop of thick country music and a setting sun, Cousin’s BBQ of Ft Worth squared off against Leo’s…
Esquire has released its annual Best New Restaurants list. Sorry, Dallas, we weren’t included in the slideshow of winners. We did, however, get an honorable mention in the intro that described several growing trends in national dining. While describing gastro pubs, the continued rise of southern cooking, and the return…
While the rest of Deep Ellum bounced from music venue to serious slices on Friday night, I sat in a small makeshift restaurant in an unmarked building on Elm Street. The simple gray structure typically hosts My Private Chef, a Dallas-based food service that provides pre-cooked meals customers can eat…
Chef Aarón Sánchez, a regular on the Food Network and executive chef of Centrico in New York City, will sign copies of his new cookbook, Simple Food, Big Flavor, at Central Market on Lovers Lane this Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. In his Latin cuisine-inspired cookbook, Sánchez features…
October is Vegetarian Awareness Month. It’s true. Vegetarians do exist, even in Dallas. And not only that, they should be celebrated, if for nothing else than for eating all the world’s tofu so you don’t have to see it. Here are a few ways to help make everyone aware of…
Never in the dozen-plus years that I’ve been of legal drinking age have I seen beer as cheap as the $2.99 six-pack of Big Flats 1901 I espied at Walgreen’s the other day. Not even the Schlitz, Natty Light or Beast we drank in college was that cheap. There was…
Popular Deep Ellum coffee house It’s A Grind will close this evening at 6 o’clock. I was tipped off to the closure by Murray Street Coffee Shop’s Facebook page. They posted the following on their wall today. We understand today is the last day for It’s A Grind. A good…
The Stoneleigh P’s red neon sign serves as a beacon for those driving by. It also casts half the ambient light inside the bar, echoed in the burgundy painted walls. The televisions show the baseball game but not many are watching; the jukebox is filling the space with a mix…
The Common Table chef Mike Smith has been kind enough to play along with us this week in our Three-Course Meal series. In Part One, he divulged some of his favorite hangouts and dives. In Part Two he imparted knowledge gained after two decades in the restaurant business. And today,…
Okay, kids. We’re gonna do this thing in a couple weekends and I’m gonna need a good showing. Plan accordingly. The 2nd Annual Blues, Bandits & BBQ cook-off in Oak Cliff is on October 22 from noon to 6 p.m. Not only should you plan on heading out for some…
Dallas loves its half-priced food and drink deals, and we’re no different. That’s why we built the above calendar of half-price food and drink deals, listing the restaurant and time under each day. Every week, we’ll do our best to keep you up-to-date on a large chunk of weekly half-priced…
The folks over at Bravo have been teasing out info about the new contestants while they battle in court about your tax dollars. A set of clips released last week compiled a montage of each contestant and some of their dishes, drawn from the videos they submitted to enter the…
Dallas is without a doubt a brunching town. Every Saturday and Sunday, early in the afternoon, those with matted hair, stale breath and perhaps questionable bed mates drag themselves from shades-pulled comfort and into the harsh, bright world, descending upon the city’s restaurants en masse. It seems as if every…
I talked to chef and restaurateur Nick Badovinus last night, after an intense phone-stalking session spurred by rumors of an amazing sub-$5 burger and great sandwiches. His new restaurant in the Design District, Off-Site Kitchen (2226 Irving Blvd.), has been in teaser mode for weeks, and I’m ready to see…
In part one of our interview, we talked with Common Table chef Mike Smith about running a successful restaurant. Now, in part two of of three, we discuss the Dallas restaurant scene and some of his favorite off-duty places. Tune back in tomorrow for part three. What are your three…
Raise your hand if, when your spouse is out of town, you plan your meals like you’ve just been released from prison? Okay, put your hands down. This perplexes me. Honestly, does your spouse normally restrict or mandate what you eat? Why does where we eat become the biggest decision…
Back in July, there were a tense and strange couple days in the kitchen at RedFork, the then-brand-new gastropub in Knox-Henderson. An alleged gas leak had forced a short closure, and discord was swelling among the staff. So it probably wasn’t a surprise when cook Ryan Carbery, on his way…
Would you hang out in a terrible space if the food proves worthy of a sonnet? I do it all the time for good tacos and barbecue. Would you put up with an over-cooked steak because your server dotes on your table through the evening? These are the thoughts that…
First off, a big thanks to Observer art director Alexander Flores for the beautiful bracket above. As you can see, Round One of Oktoberbest 2011 is complete; Dallas Craft Beer Examiner Paul Hightower has determined the Texas Division winners, and Plano Craft Beer Examiner Brian Brown has picked which two…
