Oh, Aters. Twenty-nine days of bliss have passed us by and we haven’t lead you to a single wiener. We haven’t photographed one tubesteak, nor have we grilled a single frankfurter. July is hot dog month and we haven’t offered the slightest coverage. We’ve let you down. We’ve let down…
Last minute invitations often result in accidental food discoveries. Last night a friend asked me to join her for dinner, which turned out to be the “soft opening” of a new restaurant in her downtown neighborhood. As City of Ate reported back in January, the creator of Steel is bringing…
“Have you ever tried a pickle back?” I knew I was in for a long night as soon as I heard the question. We’d just strolled into the Double Wide to let off a little steam. Pickle backs (or pickle shots), for the uninitiated, refer to the pairing of whiskey…
Every week we highlight a different restaurant happy hour food menu. This week: The Moroccan happy-hour fare at Medina Oven and Bar. Where: Medina Oven and Bar, 2304 Victory Park Lane, Dallas, TX 75219 When: Monday through Friday, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The Scene: HH is available through the…
Tuesday night, sometime after 10. Charlie Papaceno, sporting vintage specs, was working the bar of the Windmill Lounge, a little dive on Maple. A couple huddled in the corner, and two more pairs sat at the bar. It was my first time. I saw Brooklyn lager on tap and I…
With its gargoyle logos and its cocky slogans and beer names, not to mention its intensely bitter IPAs, Stone Brewing Co. — which celebrated its 15th anniversary Tuesday — may try to maintain a bad-ass image. But a couple of new collaborations coming out this summer show that they’re really…
Tired of spending $10 for a mediocre lunch? Let the Cheap Bastard show you how to spend way less for something better, every Thursday on City of Ate and in the Dallas Observer. This week: Gandolfo’s New York Deli Food Truck. Minutes I waited for food: 3 Times the guy…
It’s a hard and fast rule of scenesterism, regardless of which sect you belong to: No matter how far you live from the ocean, stylish sushi must be in your dining rotation. Whether it’s Deep Ellum hipsters, Uptown collar-poppers (they still do that, right?) or people who are trendy simply…
Driving through the Design District totally lost (except for the fact that I knew I was in the Design District because of the signs on every tree, lamppost and fire hydrant that label the area as such; you’d think that of all places, the Design District would know that less…
Veracruz, a thin and wrinkly shaped state on the Gulf, wasn’t the most loved state in Mexico. The Spanish used the region as a gateway to the New World, trouncing local tribes in search of gold. But they also brought along olives, capers, almonds and other treasures from home, imprinting…
Some balls. A brand new food critic, strolling into town from far away, daring to review a Mexican restaurant in his debut? Even worse: I hail from up north, where most restaurants serve bastardized Tex-Mex produced by industrious El Salvadorians. But Mesa fell into my lap and ended up being…
Sunday was National Tequila Day, a time to celebrate a drink that has often gotten a bad rap — at least among high-minded drinkers who disdain slushy, sugary, kiddie cocktails or knocking back a shot off a stranger’s torso. And don’t get us started about the hangovers. Please. (Must have…
For several weeks now, as Top Chef crews have bounced around the state shooting next season’s Texas-centric version of the popular Bravo reality show, journalists and food bloggers have wondered: How much, if anything, did the state pay for the show to spotlight our state’s culinary scene? The answer, according…
Wednesday is Arts and Life and Style Day at the nation’s newspapers, which, believe it or not, still contain no small amount of interesting food news. Our Wednesday Feed highlights the best of it. Tim Carman at The Washington Post illuminates the faltered economy may not be so stagnant –…
Last week, using your wisdom as my guide, I set out to discover Dallas’ most authentic Buffalo-style chicken wings. And it worked. You lead me to Bryan Street, and Bryan Street led me to saucy contentment. So this week, dear Aters, a new mission, should your lunchtime hunger pangs choose…
After 24 straight days of 100-plus degree temperatures, there seems no way to escape the vile clutches of a sweat bath the instant you leave the house. Fortunately, City of Ate has found some places to bring your core temperature down from scalding. So before you rush out to the…
I’m still new to Dallas, but I’m not new to Restaurant Week. Most cities indulge a version of the pimped out dining orgy. In the past I’ve heard some complaints about the promotion. Some think the $30 price tag provides a lame, watered-down version of high-class dining. They complain that…
Wild Salsa, Dallas Restaurant Group’s latest addition to Dallas’ upscale Mexican scene, opened for lunch yesterday, doling out chips, salsa and pricey tamales to hungry downtowners. I stopped in just as a light lunch crowd began to ebb. There were three of us at the cement bar, and a handful…
So, a question for all of your doctors out there: If you eat bacon that cooked on the dashboard of a car parked outdoors in the midday, 100-plus degree heat, will you experience health issues?Ah, hell, never mind — that ship’s pretty much sailed. Yesterday at 1 p.m., after reading…
After months of drooling over the hedonistically obscene images of burgers, tacos and other meat and carb pornography my friends had been sending me, I finally had the chance to check out the source of their obsession: LA Burger.Along with a whimsical selection of traditionally western burgers, the restaurant, from…
I came to the ACF National Convention hungry and clearly wearing the wrong outfit. Surrounded by “white coats,” as chefs are called in the industry, I walked conspicuously through the crowd in my street clothes, making a beeline for Food Network star Alton Brown’s lecture about salt, efficiently dubbed “A…
Still feeling rudderless on the bar-food scene in Dallas, last week I asked Aters to help me find the city’s best chicken wings. I asked that they be crispy. I asked that they be sauced in Frank’s, and I ask that they be served with a side of baseball on…
