Subject: Alex Flores

• Tiger Army: Dallas "Has No [Effing] Place to Play," Nothing Personal

  July 20, 2007

• Our Final Obama Rally Post: The Video and Photos Edition

  February 20, 2008

• Poster of the Week: John Congleton and Joey Kendall at Dan's Silverleaf Tonight

  Tonight at Dan's Silverleaf, the brains behind two of the region's most mind-blowing acts, John Congleton (of The Paper Chase) and Joey Kendall (of Mount Righteous), will join forces on a bill that features each of these intriguing minds performing solo sets.The above poster for the show uses an aesthetic not wholly unfamiliar to past posters for some of Kendall's shows, but that doesn't necessarily mean this one's not effective. Using strips of white to cover the eyes of The Wizard of Oz's Dor

  June 11, 2009

• Poster Of The Week: DOMA Showcase Saturday On Lower Greenville

  Created by Dallas Observer art director Alex Flores, this might be the most beautiful poster I've ever seen. Created by old-fashioned cutting and pasting (not the kind you do with a mouse, but with actual paper), his masterpiece perfectly encapsulates the DIY house-party aesthetic that we're proudly exploiting. This flyer (also available in yellow, red, blue and purple) lists the 40 Dallas Observer Music Awards nominees who will perform at the Billiard Bar, The Cavern, The Service Bar, Sofrano's

  July 16, 2009

• Mia's vs Taco Diner: The Battle Of The Briskets

  Alex FloresThe first round of our weekly dish duel features a venerable Tex-Mex veteran and a pretty boy from Uptown...You know, Texans brag almost constantly about brisket. Mention brisket tacos and you risk sending natives into a fugue state. We've always wondered why because, frankly, Dallas produces very few worthwhile examples. Of course, appearance fascinates local residents more than substance--at least according to, well, pretty much everyone.Not sure they're right about that...although

  July 21, 2009

• Bella vs Rathbun's Blue Plate Kitchen: Clash Of The Caesar's

  Alex Flores​Our weekly dish duel this time features a cagey newcomer and an old veteran working on new tricks...Think what we'd be missing out on if Caesar had never came, saw or conquered. Those who grew up in the 80s would have waited in lines at the Orange Justinian stand, for one.It's difficult to imagine a world without the Caesar salad, that simple combination of Romaine, stale bread and Parmesan, tossed with, amongst other things, coddled egg and Worcestershire sauce, yet known for slic

  July 31, 2009

• Sevy's vs Cuba Libre: Creme Brulee Crunchtime

  Alex Flores​Years and years ago, Aurora chef Avner Samuel blurted in the middle of a phone conversation that he had introduced creme brulee to Dallas--and vice versa, I suppose. Let's assume that's the case. Why then, didn't he go that one step further and show local chefs how to caramelize the sugar topping table side, with a branding iron? Makes quite a show, easy enough to do and it is a purely Texan twist.No restaurant (that I know of) goes to this extreme with their version of creme brule

  August 6, 2009

• Whataburger vs McDonald's: Fast Food Fisticuffs

  Alex Flores​When people say 'it tastes like cardboard,' what do they really mean? Well, after taking a bite from a box left over from my last Costco excursions--a corrugated job with a slick, four-color facing--I can report with some authority it has more character than the batch of McDonald's fries I ordered for this food fight.Yeah, the texture is rather unpleasant. But there's a bitter, resinous burn under the tiresome swale of paper--a complexity sadly lacking in the fries.I remember the d

  August 13, 2009

• Mi Cocina vs Carolina's Mexican Cuisine: Mole Melee

  Alex Flores​Like so many of the world's most famous dishes, the true origins of mole are shrouded by time. Is it, as many insist, from Puebla or did cooks in Oaxaca first concoct the spicy bitter chocolate sauce? Maybe it was created by nuns. Some say it resulted from a kitchen accident.Hardly seems to matter, really. The quality of mole found here and now in Dallas restaurants seems far more important than point of origin. And when a kind of family feud develops...Well, Carolina's Mexican Cui

  August 20, 2009

• Cowboy Chicken vs Boston Market: Rotisserie Rumble

  Alex Flores​Something about America's Northeastern states grates on us Southwestern hicks.OK, so I'm really a Midwestern hick--our distrust of New England is about the same. So the opportunity to pit a local enterprise against a national chain bearing a blue blood name? Couldn't resist.Rotisserie cooking relies on little more than heat and time. Yet somehow this simple combination can turn out chicken roasted to a copper color, exceedingly tender and steaming with natural flavor. When you walk

  August 27, 2009

• Gloria's vs Mattito's: Margarita Massacre

  Alex Flores​Dallas has always seemed a little confused about margaritas--even though the cocktail was reputedly invented by a local (albeit during a Mexico vacation).Perhaps it's just a misunderstanding of semantics. You see, 'cocktail' is generally a drink consisting of three or more ingredients, all of which either come through on the palate or somehow enhance one of the other flavors. A 'mixed drink,' on the other hand, uses fruit or Coke or another beverage to either completely or partiall

  September 3, 2009

• Marble Slab vs Braum's: Cone Confrontation

  Alex Flores​In the parlor, no one can hear you scream...Thanks to all the ruckus over frozen yogurt, some people might have forgotten about the stuff that doesn't contain active cultures. But ice cream has suffered through a number of indignities over the past two or three decades: Chunky Monkey, cute colors like pink and baby blue, the addition of Gummi Bears...Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, Peachy Paterno--these are the hallmark flavors of real ice cream, right? Um...Peachy Paterno is a fav

  September 10, 2009

• III Forks vs Bob's vs Outback: Three Way Steak Shootout

  Alex Flores​When you consider that most of the city's obscenely massive steak palaces buy from the same purveyor, a comparison seems rather pointless. Unless...You see, III Forks serves prime New York strip. This will run you almost $46. Bob's cuts corners, selling choice grade strip at the upscale rate of $35--at least that's true of the original location (in its embattled, waning days). Meanwhile, Outback gets a nod from Zagat's (fwhatever that's worth) for their steak. But it is Outback, a

  October 1, 2009

• Babe's vs Williams: Fried Chicken Fracas

  Alex Flores​Every time I go...strike that. The few times I've been to old downtown Carrollton, the square always seems deserted. Oh, there are cars, but few people--until you walk into Babe's, where you find the entire population of North Texas.So if, as writers at the New York Times suppose, Southern fried chicken is nothing special, just what the hell are all these folks doing here?Good question. Times writer Julia Moskin says, flat out, that "Southern fried chicken is usually seasoned with

  October 8, 2009

• The Porch vs Burguesa: Burger Bash

  Alex Flores​We're not just comparing any burgers here, but the monstrous La Monumental at Burguesa and The Porch's equally hefty Stodg.The first is a much-hyped stack consisting of two beef patties, a special sauce, lettuce, cheese--and then more cheese, ham, refried beans, tostada, chunks of avocado, some onions and tomato, all dripping from a bun. Really, it was a demented soul that decided to serve this beast from a take-away stand. And now that they've added a few roadside picnic tables, y

  October 15, 2009

• Luby's vs Furr's: Buffet Brawl

  Alex Flores​People tell me I have a glamorous job. They tell me over and over...until I respond with "gotta go to Furr's; want to come along?" As much as we dismiss pile-it-on buffets, however, we've all bellied along a serving line. Whether we regret it moments later or rationalize the experience as 'not too bad,' such places exist for many reasons: fixed budgets, dulled palates and those who really, truly miss the high school cafeteria experience...although, I have to say, a friend of mine

  October 22, 2009

• Poster of the Week: Built To Spill, Dinosaur Jr. and Lou Barlow And The Missingmen At The Granada Theater Thursday

  ​Round Rock artist Todd Slater designed this week's featured poster, which promotes tonight's bill of Built To Spill, Dinosaur Jr. and Lou Barlow and the Missingmen at The Granada. Look closely and you'll see that the ants crawling all over the woman's face; the design was inspired by the lyric to BTS's "Aisle 13," which includes the lines "One day I'll come home to find you covered with ants 'cause you're so sweet." I'd thought that was a really dark verse, implying the narrator feared he'd f

  October 22, 2009

• Starting Tomorrow, "Poster of the Week" Gets Re-Worked A Bit.

  ​For a year-and-a-half now, our clubs editor, Jesse Hughey, has dutifully handled that task of selecting the winners and writing the accompanying blurbs for our Poster of the Week items. (Check the archives--there are some real gems in there.)Starting tomorrow, though, Jesse's stepping aside from that post. And stepping in to take over the poster-judging gig? The Observer's esteemed, award-winning art director, Alex Flores.Meaning what, exactly? For one, more detailed critiques of each week's

  October 28, 2009

• Chocolate vs Fruit-Flavored: Halloween Fun-Size Candy Free-For-All

  Alex Flores​For this week's food fight, we asked a group of UNT students to buy bags of Halloween candy--"promising" to reimburse them, of course--pour them out on one of those dorm study tables and start munching. They picked up Fun Size Butterfinger, Baby Ruth and Nestle Crunch bars, Skittles, Starburst chews and Tootsie Rolls...though oddly enough, no Candy Corn. The results:Halloween is the perfect time of year for Americans to temporarily ditch their diets and rot their teeth out in one

  October 29, 2009

• Good Friday: Butthole Surfers, Peaches, MEN, Digital Leather, King Bucks, Ghoultown, John David Kent, Horrorble Party, Play-N-Skillz Halloween Bash, House Harkonnen and More

  Don't forget your costume. Here's one idea.​Love it when Halloween falls on a weekend, as is the case this year. What that means for music fans is lots of costume contests and tribute nights, and bands and fans will likely be even more intoxicated than usual--so be careful out there. Recently someone told me his drinking-and-driving strategy, which is to look for someone who appears even drunker than he is and tail them. I totally do not endorse that, and only share it so you can know what to

  October 30, 2009

• 7-Eleven vs Barefoot: War Of The Wines

  Alex Flores​Yesterday it came to our attention that 7-Eleven planned to introduce their own wine brand, priced at a Thunderbird-like $3.99 a bottle--that's right, $3.99 for .75 of Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon in glass with a real artificial cork. No screw-tops for wine this fancy.They call their brand Yosemite Road, as it is cellared by the Yosemite Road Vineyards in Livermore, California--somewhere between San Jose and Modesto, in other words. But local 7-Elevens already stock a Modesto w

  November 5, 2009

• Lucky's vs Allgood Cafe: Chicken Fried Steak Stand Off

  Alex Flores​There's always some confusion when non-Texans first encounter chicken fried steak. As former president Bush--the one with a measurable IQ, otherwise known as H.W.--admitted in a 1989 address, "I didn't know if chicken fried steak was a chicken fried like a steak or a steak that tasted like a chicken."Of course, being of blue blood stock he can be forgiven. Commoners from outside the state, meanwhile, will often ponder the difference between Texas' national dish and their own countr

  November 12, 2009

• Hut's vs Dixie Chicken: College Town Clash

  Alex Flores​In one week, the tea sippers battle that redneck military school for all important bragging rights. Yeah, Texas has to get past the Chickenhawks of KU first, while the Aggies go up against (yawn) Baylor. But on Thanksgiving day, it's either "Hook 'em Horns" or...what the hell does "Gig 'em" mean, anyway?Every college town has at least one or two iconic hangouts, of course. Not being a graduate of either--and never having been to College Station--I posed the "which one place do alum

  November 19, 2009