Plano

Nosh Euro Bistro in Plano Has Closed

NOSH Euro Bistro in Plano has closed. The restaurant confirmed on its Facebook page on Wednesday with a message, "Thank you for all of your support!" along with a picture of owner Avner Samuel sort of smiling. He looks dapper in bright sweater. I suppose the message is, "I'm good, thanks." The ori ... More >>

Plano's Upcoming Liquor-Law Vote is Getting Ridiculous

Plano must have taken a hit when Dallas voters approved citywide beer and wine sales two-and-a-half years ago. No longer were the good people of Far North Dallas forced to drive north of the Bush Turnpike to stock up on beverages. They could simply go down the street to the grocery store. There's n ... More >>

Henry's Ice Cream: Yes. This.

You don't walk into Henry's Ice Cream in Plano by accident. Plano is far. You're here on purpose. On a mission. And because you made the pilgrimage all the way out here, your expectations are stupid high. Your toddler stares at neon signage of Henry's Ice Cream and thinks to herself, "This better ... More >>

Plano Finally Gets a Farmers Market with More Than 40 Local Vendors

Mark one down in the win column for Kari Gates of Plano. Actually, mark one down for all of Plano. Regardless of who gets the win, Gates is proof that sometimes determined persistence does payoff. And because of that, Plano will soon have its very own farmers market. Under new city regulations, The ... More >>

City of Ate Wins! Sriracha Chips Among Finalist for Lay's New Flavor.

Plano-based Frito-Lay has announced the winners of their Lay's Do Us A Flavors contest. Several months ago chip-eaters around the world were asked to submit their idea for a new flavor of chip. The three winning flavors and their people were on Good Morning America this morning; A lady from Land O ... More >>

A Famers' Market in Plano? Nah, Don't Be Silly.

Kari Gates, long-time Plano resident and purveyor of Spring Creek Organic Farm, lobbied for almost a year to persuade her city to change ordinances that essentially prevent farmers' markets from operating successfully there. It didn't work. Monday night, the Plano City Council discussed long-awai ... More >>

City of Plano Pushes Back on Farmers' Market Fight

Kari Gates grows seasonal fruits and vegetables over several acres of land at Spring Creek Organic Farms in West Plano. She drives her produce to several markets around the region, including Greenling. But, more recently she's exploring her options closer to home, particularly Fairview Farms near U. ... More >>

The Kolache Factory Opens First DFW Location in Plano

Most of the time my inbox is filled with boring invitations to big vineyard wine dinners, press releases about a restaurant's seventh new menu and announements for new creations at Taco Bell. So when I got an email from Katharine Shilcutt, the food critic at our sister paper Houston Press, I got exc ... More >>

Downtown Plano Is Waking Up With A New "Next-Mex" Spot That's Good

Downtown historic Plano has gained some character as of late. While dining at Urban Rio, the subject of this week's review, I talked to Nick Rallo a ton about how Plano has changed since he grew up there. While West Plano had a resurgence that centered around Preston and Park and the Shops at Legacy ... More >>

Here's the Recycling Ad That Was Deemed Way Too Racy for Plano

The ad above was intended to go on every electric bill in the city of Plano, part of a marketing campaign that would be "bold and memorable," Sustainability and Environmental Services Director Nancy Nevil told the City Council on Monday, according to the Morning News. "We feel like we need this typ ... More >>

Randy Travis Hospitalized After Cited For Fight In Church Parking Lot [UPDATED]

Update: 12:10 p.m.: Plano PD's David Tilley relates that just two citations for simple assault were issued, Class C misdemeanors, and no one appeared to be intoxicated. The altercation actually happened around 10 p.m. last night, and people were gathered at Prestonwood Baptist because a "field trip" ... More >>

The Five Best DFW Honky-Tonks

To call a place a honky-tonk is almost as nebulous as labeling a place a dive bar. Ask five different people what one is, and you're more than likely to get six different answers. Of course, North Texas has dozens of places that complement any of them. The earliest published mentions of the term h ... More >>

Cities Are Now Growing Faster Than Suburbs -- Except in Dallas, Of Course

When the U.S. Census Bureau released figures Thursday estimating cities' growth between 2010 and 2011, the big news locally was that eight of the 15 fastest growing cities are in Texas and, of those, five -- Plano, McKinney, Frisco, Denton, Carrollton -- are in our corner of the state. The big new ... More >>

Get Up, Stand Up, Bark Like a Dog

Pizza Hut Fights Subway With New, Fascinatingly-Named Sandwich: The P'Zolo

It's sandwich wars. Plano-based Pizza Hut is making a pass at sandwiches again, as The New York Times reported yesterday, with the three new designs bearing the name P'Zolo. Aside from the name sounding like a George Lucas character, the "sandwiches" are designed to destroy the uber-successful, f ... More >>

Run for Love

I Dream of the Perfect Chicken Sandwich

Remember this guy? Look at him, dimpling a dough round with the sharp corner of a drywall knife. Leslie Minora found his tiny bakery in Plano while researching Iraqi immigration, and I'm still thinking about him. Leslie returned from the trip with a bag full of freshly baked bread. The inside of the ... More >>

The City of Plano Really Doesn't Want its Citizens Using the New Cottage Foods Law

Last week the City of Plano Health Department posted the above video on its YouTube page, "informing" citizens about or the "Cottage Food Bill" that went into effect on September 1. Under the bill, Texans can make and sell certain non-potential hazardous baked goods in their home. The bill require ... More >>

It's Not Cheap to Mask Your Bank Robbery

​On the other side is the Richardson PD bulletin mentioned here this morning, in which police say they're looking for the "Handsome Guy" bandit who's hit six area banks, including ones in Dallas, Irving, Plano and Richardson beginning April 19. Says RPD, his most recent stick-em-up was July 14, wh ... More >>

What It's Like to Live in Plano, According to The Internet's List Makers. Everyone Loves Lists.

Image via Plano.govThat baby is actually 45 years old. ​Perhaps you heard that Plano was recently named the 12th longest-living city in the country by the Daily Beast. But what you may not know is that a whole bunch of other listicles ranking places based on their General Pleasantness have spotlig ... More >>

CBS News on How Video Games Saved Dallas

Inside the E. Park Boulevard-situated Plano offices of Gearbox​Technically, I guess, that'd be Plano -- if we're talking about Gearbox, which CBS Evening News's Mark Strassmann does in the piece that aired last night and follows after the jump. And Grapevine, since he mentions GameStop. And Mesqui ... More >>

Breckenridge Brewery Dinner Slams Screen Door, Holy Grail Gets Smoked Out, Urban Crust Hosts Dinner and More Beer Events

A rare chance to enjoy 120 Minute IPA Saturday.​Busy week for Breckenridge Brewery in Dallas: After a cask-tapping of 471 yesterday at the Meddlesome Moth and a Brewsday Tuesday at the Common Table the day before, Breckenridge Brewery is featured tonight in a 7 p.m. beer dinner at the Screen Door. ... More >>

Tequila in Cupcakes? Just Add Pork Rinds, and You Have Our Typical Dinner.

Jenny BlockThe tequila cupcake.​The adult cupcake. No dirty pictures on these. It's the ingredients, not the decorations, that make these for the 21 and over set only. They're tequila cupcakes from Elizabeth's Cakes in Plano. And I don't know if it's just the power of suggestion or not, but I ... More >>

Rolling in Dough at Noodle House

Photos by Kristy YangNoodle House's custom-made dough-roller.​It's 1 pm when I receive a phone call from an anxious voice on the other end of the line, asking me where I am. It's Sky Kuo, owner of Plano's Noodle House, and he's wondering if I am still coming by to snap pictures in the restaura ... More >>

Even Plano Couldn't Screw Up Mama's Daughters' Diner.

Tonight: Get Wine Drunk at Urban Crust

We swear it works better with white wine​For those who were at the malls in search of bargains or at the grocery store picking out a Butterball, it's time to relax tonight and have a glass -- or five -- of wine. Urban Crust in Plano is hosting a holiday wine tasting tonight that will make you ... More >>

Season-Ale Events Of Note At Some Of Our Favorite Beer Joints

Some brief programming notes before we get into the deets of a few upcoming beer events...​On tap for the next few weeks in Hophead are tasting notes on numerous beers, including some great holiday and winter seasonal brews as well as a hop-heavy Belgian import that is so far unavailable in Texas. ... More >>

It's a Modern Mix

Sure, Plano's Real Safe and All. Nice. But What's This You Say About the Grow Houses?

​Yes, yes, yes, I've seen it -- Forbes has named Plano "America's Safest City," based upon a low-low-low violent crime rate and a relatively low number of killer car crashes. Thanks to the many Friends who've sent the piece, which says money matters -- so too homogeneity. Which is nice and all. I' ... More >>

Leppert: Tax Hike Is "A Very Risky Gamble"

​Mayor Tom Leppert has said it time and again: No tax hike. No way, no how. But in case you missed it the first 29 times, his e-vite to tomorrow morning's council budget briefing serves as yet another just-say-no note in which he takes aim at Angela Hunt and the other seven council members support ... More >>

Giveaway: Two Pairs of Tickets To This Weekend's September To Remember Affair

​For the fourth year in a row now, the folks at Third String Productions are ringing in the return of the school year with its annual September to Remember affair, which grabs a whole bunch of mall-approved pop-punkers (a good chunk of which, it should be noted, are local) and offers them up in an ... More >>

Rollin' With The Homies

It's Time To Go Nuts

The Ginger Man Branches Into Plano Operating Under the Business Model of More Beer

​All pubs are not created equal. Typically, a Dallas pub, whether of English, Irish, or generic extraction, will have a wide selection of beers and ales on tap and in bottles, plus a sufficient selection of eats. You can usually count on fish and chips, burgers, sandwiches, maybe nachos, and a fe ... More >>

Free Ice Cream for Everyone, Cinnabon Adds a Sweet New Addition, Rathbun's Blue Plate Kitchen Hosts a Wine Dinner, While 8.0's Goes the Beer Route

www.sodahead.com​We were just thinking the other day that there should really be more free stuff available for the public. What if Steve Jobs set up shop on a street corner one day and just started giving away free computers and iPods? Or if Donald Trump decided it was a good day to rent a hot ... More >>

Elbow Room Delivers the Goods

​ The Elbow Room 3010 Gaston Ave. 214-828-9488 Roadrunner-like delivery speeds: 15 Delivers at extreme hours: 25 Ability to cure hangover: 18 Crazy good bar food: 30 Total: 88 I had an occasion to spend some time with a friend who lives in a loft in eye-shot of the Dallas Farmers Market. The ... More >>

PISD Off: How Redistricting Fight Was Both a Look Back and a Preview of What's to Come

​This morning, The Wall Street Journal takes up the issue of newcomers filling up the Plano Independent School District -- specifically, "a flood of poor, minority students" whose entry into the district prompted the contentious fight over redistricting. The district voted on a feeder alignment pl ... More >>

The Year/The Decade: Trends That Weren't At All Bad

​In thinking--and please understand that term in the spirit in which it's intended--through the past many years, we began to realize that life in the 2000s was a lot of fun...assuming you weren't, say, in the military, a friend of Bernie Madoff, an employee of an American company, or a Cowboys fan ... More >>

Bugs Of The Sea

Cookin' With The Lees

Short Orders: Sambuca 360

This is Plano.​Sambuca 3607200 Bishop, Plano469-467-3393The revamped glow of Sambuca's new Legacy space doesn't have the original's brick walls, screaming urban authenticity. It lacks the Addison location's dated, desperate atmosphere. The menu is less ambitious than their Uptown setting. And just ... More >>

Cooking Collegiate

The Texas Red Legs Competing in Shiner Records Contest

In the past couple of years, two of our area's best alt-country acts, Darryl Lee Rush and Somebody's Darling have been the recipients of a free album recording session, care of the fine folks at Shiner Records. This honor was bestowed upon them once they'd won the annual Shiner Rising Star battle of ... More >>

Walking In The 'Burbs

Not that I socialize much, but when I returned from my stint in Europe, two questions--approaching from different perspectives, but essentially the same--kept popping up in conversation: "are you glad to be back?" and "do you miss it?"Neither is easy to answer. Every city has its own set of positive ... More >>

Forever The Sickest Kids Starts Recording Its Sophomore Release Today...

In news that is sure to make the thousands of concert-going Plano teens go bonkers, scene-driving local mall punk act Forever the Sickest Kids has announced that it has started work on its new, sophomore record today.In interviews held over the course of research for this week's cover story, the ba ... More >>

Food For Thought 4.15.09

"Are the people who seek to restrict the use of tobacco everywhere--and for everyone--the same people who seek to promote the use of marijuana?" (Leonard Welsh of Plano, as quoted by the Dallas Morning News. Not sure if they are the same people, but the generation responsible for such restrictions-- ... More >>

Post-Preschool

Zounds Sounds opens a new school in Plano

Circumnavigation

Tonight: Go Crash Audio And A Kidnap in Color At The Door in Plano

I know that those who contribute to this blog--including me--have not been overly kind to bands of the emo variety. Sorry, but shows that start at 6:30 p.m. in Plano (especially on a Tuesday) just don't seem to warrant the attention of a weekend event at a venue in Dallas. Ah, but that's not the cas ... More >>

Thousands of EDS Employees Were Laid Off By HP This Week

A Friend of Unfair Park who works -- sorry, make that worked -- for Electronic Data Systems in Plano sends this missive:Amazing how the DMN or any of the local news outlets has not reported the fact EDS has laid off 8,000 to 10,000 people this week. I was one of them on Monday. I will be on the payr ... More >>