“We’re in a recession, hard times. We shouldn’t be hurting business. I’m not saying, ‘Let’s take away this issue.’ We’re just saying, ‘Let’s give these businesses some time.'” (Tennell Atkins, member of the Dallas City Council, on an effort to delay the city’s smoking ordinance, which bans lighting up in…
Well, refreshment, maybe not. Double your fun, though, sure. Toil and trouble all you want. It’s been a big week of twos here on City of Ate. A double dose of Veggie Girl, for instance. Two posts recapping the year’s first quarter. We even had a couple items for the…
If the owner of a restaurant serves you, do you still have to tip?…
Among the NFL’s labia-friendly rules changes for 2009 are that defenders knocked to the ground can’t tackle quarterbacks and kicking teams can’t bunch together more than five players for an on-sides kick attempt. A discussion on new pads to protect players’ ovaries was tabled.Richie Whitt in the Observer blog Sportatorium.Note:…
Gotta wonder if the folks at the Centers for Disease Control will come out with a list of top party schools now. A new study released by the organization says the typical American binge drinker is a white male, aged 18-34. No kidding. The news comes courtesy of Drugs.com. They…
They bill themselves as founding distillers of the infamous spirit. But Pernod should be ashamed of themselves after a performance given by their representative last Friday at Morton’s.Pernod teamed with the downtown steakhouse for an “introduction to absinthe” session, which included cocktails and samples served in the more traditional manner–dripping…
Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts Dallas announced its first ever graduating class yesterday, so con-grad-ulations (sorry) are in order to the newest crop of future Food Network stars,,,and corporate sous chefs. Along with 15 months of culinary coursework, students also slave away in Le Technique, an on-campus fine-dining restaurant. Some have…
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say he’s a fan of Texas Motor Speedway. After, all, Burton’s first career win in NASCAR’s top series came here in 1997. A decade later, he became the track’s first repeat winner.The South Boston, Virginia, native has taken the checkered flag 21 times in…
“Well let me just quote the late-great Colonel Sanders, who said ‘I’m too drunk to taste this chicken.'” (Ricky Bobby, as played by Will Ferrell, in Talladega Nights. Quoted because…what the hell, it’s race weekend.)…
Carbonated beverages sales are fizzing out, with reports showing 2008 as the fourth consecutive year of decline. Amidst a recession, fears of childhood obesity and the recent findings of BPA in soda cans, a 2009 comeback doesn’t look like a very safe bet, either. With sodas long thought to be…
Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough. –Mark Twain (and with Dogfish Head’s super-strong beers, barely enough really is enough)When I was a kid, my Papa Salfi had a framed poster in a guest bathroom from which I first learned about the effects of alcohol. It had a numbered…
State & Allen Lounge2400 Allen St.214-239-1990How can you not like a place that looks–from the outside, from the awning down–so damn Parisian? One set on a neighborhood corner so walkable?You don’t even have to like their menu to be drawn from your car and onto the patio for a drink…
A hat tip to the writers of Dude Food, who this February ensured that good ol’ meat-eatin’ men could dine successfully at Eatzi’s. So, it turns out, can veggie-eating types. Eatzi’s is one of those Oak Lawn institutions whose charming perks have given it staying power. It could be the…
Demonstrated by Jeffrey Kowitz of Taco Joint Ah, April. Time to gear up for another season of painfully polite pool parties and backyard cookouts set to the soundtrack of a pre-teen sleepover. Sigh. Might as well start the countdown to Oktoberfest… But wait–what if we told you that you might…
National Tartan Day, which has yet to show up on most of our day planner calendars, is fast approaching. From 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. April 6, Trinity Hall and The Macallan Scotch offer a whisky tasting with appetizers. The Macallan “brand ambassador” Jay Lidell (who revealed that he used…
You may not know his name. Short shies away from cameras and microphones, after all. But only a few chefs have a longer resume, at least when it comes to cooking in Dallas.Bella, a brand new spot in the Quadrangle, is his first small kitchen. Through much of his 25…
“I got a friend who wrecked a bar stool.” (From the tape of a 911 call in Newark, Ohio, that led to the arrest of a man for operating a vehicle–his motorized bar stool–while intoxicated. The 911 dispatcher asked if he hit his head on the floor and was informed…
Dallas loves celebrity chefs. Hell, Guy what’s-his-name, the one with the hair, from Food Network, drops by a restaurant or two and people practically wet themselves. The arrival of Nobu Matsuhisa, Charlie Palmer, Tom Colicchio or any famous name from either coast for a brief visit to their kitchens sends…
“No pets, shirt shoes required,” is my favorite sign inside Taco King on Park Lane. I’m pretty excited to go back without my cat and also without a shirt or shoes and order me up some tacos. Inside, it’s pretty sparse. One ceiling-mounted TV broadcasting the requisite telenovela with requisite…
Just in time for April Fool’s Day: Ponzi gardens, Beano for cows and breast enhancement in a bottle. But it may be all very real… Looking for a good excuse to jump head-first into gardening? Sarah Gilbert at Wallet Pop challenged herself and readers to start a garden for $25…
Allow us to reflect on these three months past.Looking back at our antics–pairing wine with sausage biscuits, Buffalo wings, Arby’s and such–we realized that graphic artist Patrick Michels deserves occasional recognition. Each week, after all, we ask him to risk sizable fines–or at least phone calls from copyright infringement lawyers,…
Corn or flour?Depends on the filling. This comes from Alison Cook, author of “Taco Capitol, USA,” a groundbreaking Texas Monthly cover story on the subject of Tex-Mex cuisine, who notes that while flour tortillas are better suited to Northern Mexico-style grilled meats and to breakfast tacos, “certain (soft) taco fillings…
