I was born a not-Texan, but I moved here from Virginia when I was 4. On one of my first trips to Dallas in the late 1980s, I napped under my dad’s chair while he and my mom voraciously ate Tex-Mex at El Fenix. I was a Texan. And yet,…
In a small and reliably stodgy restaurant scene like Dallas’, change isn’t something that comes easily. At Kitchen LTO, though, change is the only thing reliably on the menu. This “permanent pop-up” concept is now in its third incarnation, with a brand new chef, Brooke Egger, who’s largely unknown to…
I traveled north of The Wall (Frisco) last weekend and noticed that there are so many breastaurants around, restaurant owners are having to get creative with their boob-food themes. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of a breastaurant, let me explain: It’s food + scantily clad female employees. It’s Bennigan’s,…
To prepare for this fall’s Best of Dallas® 2014 issue, we’re counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there’s a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me. The food truck selection is always decent at Jason Boso’s Truck…
The next addition to Trinity Groves opens today, and I’m going to log it as the least likely restaurant in the group to serve as a pre-prom dinner locale. Potato Flats offerspotatoes baked until they’re soft and fluffy, topped with your choice of just about everything that’s been put on…
Ah, yes, Taco Bueno buildings. Such distinct architecture, so difficult to mask. But dammit if Habip Kargin, chef and owner of Pera Wine and Tapas, hasn’t tried. This particular former Taco Bueno, near the corner of Belt Line and Preston, has been reincarnated several times over the years. It’s been…
At restaurants all over town, elusive eats await under the radar. Menus are updated, new items are added, and sometimes the best things are not on the menu at all. Let Off the Menu guide you to some of Dallas’ lesser-known culinary creations. “Is Chris Young working? We hear he…
To prepare for this fall’s Best of Dallas® 2014 issue, we’re counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there’s a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me. While there are a few more to come, this is the…
City of Ate thinks you should get out of your neighborhood rut this summer, even if only for one weekend evening. This is the first in a series of neighborhood guides. According to some people with access to spreadsheets, computers and maybe even some pocket protectors, Dallas is one of…
To prepare for this fall’s Best of Dallas® 2014 issue, we’re counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there’s a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me. A freshly made paratha is a wonderful thing, even on its…
It’d be fair to say that I’ve never thought so much about what makes up a perfect burger more than the few hours after eating CBD Provisions’ cheeseburger. It may have started with Sam Sifton’s story for The New York Times, where a perfect burger means a deepening crust from…
Naeng myun, like revenge, is a dish best served cold. While there are many permutations of this Koreanchilled-noodle staple, the two main types are mul naeng myun and bibim naeng myun. Mul naeng myun is made with soft, buckwheat noodles and surrounded by icy pheasant or beef broth. This preparation is…
The corner of Crutcher Street and Haskel Avenue has been pretty sleepy the past few years. I’ve passed this small standalone building hundreds of times now on the way home from the gym and for the longest time a sign out front offered hamburgers and other pedestrian specials. It just…
D’Carlo Italian Cuisine was a subterranean restaurant off of Oak Lawn Avenue, since converted to a Thai space called Si Lom. Before it was d’Carlo, the space was called Daniele Osteria, another Italian restaurant owned and operated by chef Daniele Puleo. Puleo sold out in 2011, and has been opening…
Amid the afternoon rush, George Rubio zooms about behind the counter of his store. Between his tangle of curly brown hair and blazing yellow Brazil jersey, he stands out from his small army of high-school-age employees. “Are you ordering something? Our line’s building,” the cashier tells me while eyeing the…
To prepare for this fall’s Best of Dallas® 2014 issue, we’re counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there’s a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me. Just off of Columbia Avenue on Carroll Road, there’s a tiny…
In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz. See the entire Dallas Observer People Issue here. After a decade-plus in the service industry, Matt Tobin and Josh Yingling had seen plenty of bartenders…
In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz. See the entire Dallas Observer People Issue here. After Michelle Obama visited Dallas’ public schools in 2012, Dora Rivas, the district’s executive director of food…
When Smoke landed on a hill in Oak Cliff in 2009, people assumed a barbecue restaurant had tucked itself in behind the Belmont Hotel. It was a logical assumption, since Smoke was more than just a name. It billowed from the kitchen, enveloping beef ribs in a gentle embrace until…
To prepare for this fall’s Best of Dallas® 2014 issue, we’re counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there’s a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me. Hungry? Grab a friend and make haste to Royal Sichuan. Actually,…
Let me explain to you what the Hella-Peño burger is. The Hella-Peño burger from Jack in the Box is the new, severe-heartburn-timeframe-only available (9 p.m. to 5 a.m.) burger that is topped with jalapeños, other jalapeños with cheese in them and a liquid cheese “taco sauce.” In this press photo,…
It’s no surprise that Dallas lacks in the French pastry department. The involved, highly-technical processes of making macarons, croissants, and other French baked goods just isn’t practical for today’s high-volume, birthday-cake-and-cookies kind of bakery. Samantha Rush of Rush Patisserie in Oak Cliff, though, prefers to keep things old school. Her…
