Everyone! The world is a good and wonderful place. Whataburger’s Twitter feed, and this fancy blog, confirms the rumor is true: Whataburger will be getting a limited batch of tiny, spicy ketchups on January 2. Well played, Whataburger. Well played. Sure, we’ve been known to prefer the double-double, but the…
On a brisk December evening, Highland Park Village is awash in light. Tiny white bulbs blanket every branch and every twig of every tree along the sidewalks, illuminating the high-end shops and storefronts in their golden glow. The scene’s almost akin to the Griswolds’ family Christmas, there are so many…
Shrimp and grits, the low-country fisherman’s breakfast staple, has been a mainstay on elevated southern menus for more than three decades. If you’re interested, Robb Walsh wrote up a history on the dish over on the Houston Press, but regardless of the lineage of the dish, its permanence as an…
Forbes recently listed 30 movers and shakers in the national food scene who are under 30. The article highlights the new guard, the young chefs and food purveyors who promise to carry the torch for the next generation of restaurant patrons. Dallas has some younger chefs worth mention on the…
I hate it when people get all pansy about last-minute shopping. We’re still four days out. It’s 2011. We can make so much happen in one hour it’s mind-boggling. “Last minute” is on the drive over you run in any place that’s open and buy a gift certificate or print…
In 1895, Austrian immigrant Martin Rudolph opened Rudolph’s Meat Market in Deep Ellum. Almost 50 years later, Cyrill “Sid” Pokladnik, who was an employee, bought the butcher shop, and it has remained in his family since. Pokladnik’s five grandchildren all take part in running it now. I recently spoke with…
Dickey’s Barbecue done growed up. The restaurant chain celebrated its seventh decade of existence in October, and now it celebrates another major milestone: its 200th location. While new locations have been popping up across 36 states, this latest opening is a little closer to home. Dwain and LaLena Carpenter opened…
Spec’s newest liquor-and-everything emporium opened this past weekend at Walnut Hill and Central. It’s hard to describe this spot because there’s just so much going on. You know how we do everything bigger in Texas? Ya, that. And I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. I like my…
When Bolsa announced Jeff Harris and Matt Balke would be taking over the kitchen and running the soon to open (and now opened) Bolsa Mercado, little was said about the chef they replaced. Graham Dodds was understandably quiet about his departure. In a short interview with D, he declined to…
The last weeks of December always serve as an inflection point: We spend 1/4 of our time reflecting on the past year and 1/4 of our time resolving to make the next year a little better. The other half we spend getting fat and drunk. (After all, it’s easier to…
No, no. You’re right. I know. It’s just that — no, you’re right. I won’t ask again…
Bread. The essential form of sustenance for most of us homo sapiens. More importantly, that from which doughnuts and cake evolved. I decided to take a look at different cultures’ spins on holiday bread, and why so few take up such an inordinate amount of shelf space this time of…
As we all well know from years and years of church and advertising, there are plenty of reasons to appreciate Christmas: Mistletoe, candy canes, presents, Santa, Christmas Lights, presents, holiday songs, holiday drinking, holiday hams, holiday nutcrackers, The Nutcracker ballet, Christmas movies, Christmas cookies, presents, gifts and more gifts and…
Earlier this year we approximated the possible future of Japan McDonald’s bizarre Big America 2 campaign, which features four Hulk-fist sized America-themed burgers (the “Texas 2” burger featured “flavors of the Lone Star State with spicy chili beans”). Our own product pitches included a massive, irradiated whole shell crab sitting…
Whenever I think of Mexican breakfast I default to breakfast tacos. But after a while they can get routine, and it feels like the cultural significance is diluted when you can get a breakfast taco practically anywhere. Mexicans have a storied history and an innate adoration of good food. It’s…
I love eating lunch out. I like long, luxurious mid-day meals with wine and a course or three, with coffee for dessert. But who’s got time for that? I admit, now that I eat for a living I indulge myself way more often than I used to, but deadlines are…
Food comas are an inherit part of the holidays. Gluttonous meals planned weeks in advance are devoured in less than 20 minutes, and all that’s left is the amazing mess to clean up while fighting through food fog and heavy lethargy. Excited? Yeah, me too. The day after Christmas is…
Don’t ask me out for a drink because, 1.) I’m cheap and 2.) at the height of holiday shopping insanity, I like to leave my house less than Sigorney Weaver in Copycat. So I stay home, watch TV, read and drink. My drink of choice is usually peppermint Schnapps in…
You may have heard of this whole Meatless Monday thing. It’s a simple idea: to abstain from eating meat for just one day a week. It’s not a radically new concept; the term was coined during WWI as a slogan (along with “Wheat-Free Wednesdays”) to encourage voluntary rationing of staple…
Whitney Filloon, our resident pastry chef/booze correspondent, took the week off from drinking to bring you these winter cocktail ideas. We have her assurances that she was sober when she wrote them. I enjoy a $12 cocktail as much as the next Dallas girl, but I decided I better trim…
Ouch. Remember that whole Bar 828 thing in Oak Cliff? Seems like a distant memory. While milling around out back of the event, I asked a bartender (details fuzzy for obvious reasons) his best hangover cure. He told me a gin and tonic water poured over a couple of alka-seltzer…
‘Tis the season for cliche. I could do with fewer references to chilly weather and the warming bowls of soup I’m reading on food blogs lately. How about booze? How about hot booze? That’s the stuff to warm up with. Observer bar-and-clubs guru Daniel Hopkins came to my office this…
