Saigon

Rice and Wheat Delivers a Great Bowl of Pho in the Heart of Burgerland

Timing has never been kind to me. So it was just my usual temporal bad luck that Rice and Wheat opened its doors for business last Thursday. After seven years of living next to the building that now houses this new Vietnamese/Thai/Sushi restaurant, I am bidding adieu not only to the Maple-Medical Di ... More >>

The 11 Busiest (and Buzziest) Days in Texas Music

From 35 Denton to SXSW, Snoop to Spillover, traversing Texas in search sonic bliss.

What You're Missing at SXSW: Missed Connections and Crappy Free Crap

Awwwww, I know it is a shame you aren't here with us at SXSW in Austin. I can only imagine the aching and longing in your heart for walking aimlessly and standing in long lines for no reason, and sweating through your cardigan to see a band you heard on one of the Twilight soundtracks. You don't w ... More >>

DC9er Mixtape, Vol. 49: Wanz Dover's End of the World Edition

In honor of the supposed impending apocalypse, we reached out to DJ/musician Wanz Dover and asked for his ideal apoca-mix. Says Dover: "I went kind of cinematic with my end-of-the-world mix, complete with epic love story at the end of the world." And it's a pretty great mix, featuring This Heat, O ... More >>

The City of Ate Interview: DaLat Owner Khanh Nguyen on the Power and Problems of Pho

Khanh Nguyen had a successful career as a local attorney when he decided to take a little time off, a sabbatical of sorts, between projects. During that time, he immersed himself in traditional Vietnamese cooking, spending months trying to perfect various recipes, mainly concentrating on pho, which ... More >>

A Conversation with Malai Thai's Chef-Owners Will Make You Want to Eat Pho, Like, Now

Chef Braden Wages of Malai Thai in the West Village is originally from upstate New York. He and his wife, Yasmin, who is from Weatherfod, met while in school at Cornell. Running a restaurant was a long-term dream for both of them. But the concept for that place was based on a what sounds like an epi ... More >>

The Dallas Observer 2011 MasterMind Awards

The winners of our second annual art awards delve into the past and personal loss to bring new visions to Dallas

Pho Colonial Brings Pho to Main Street on Wednesday

​Last minute invitations often result in accidental food discoveries. Last night a friend asked me to join her for dinner, which turned out to be the "soft opening" of a new restaurant in her downtown neighborhood. As City of Ate reported back in January, the creator of Steel is bringing a Vi ... More >>

Saigon Block's Big Fish Story: You Want How Much?

Photos by Kristy Yang​Three years have gone by since Saigon Block first opened to mass crowds, and although the hysteria has died down, it continues to be a must-go destination for fans of the restaurant's two most popular dishes: the indulgent seven courses of beef and the beastly baked whole ... More >>

Fill Your Super Bowl in Arlington. You're Going to Be Stuck in Traffic Anyway.

​As much as we hate to admit it, technically, the Super Bowl is being held in Arlington. So in honor of the big game in the little city west of us, here's a list of some Asian eateries to visit in Arlington. For banh mi: This is a toss up. Most locals are loyal to Ba Le on Browning. Indeed, ... More >>

Steel Creator Bringing Vietnamese Street Food to Downtown

​It was dark and cold yesterday morning when I biked past the empty storefront alongside Press Box Grill, so I elected not to check out the brand new permits posted in the window. But D Magazine's Tim Rogers is obviously a better -- or at least warmer -- cycling newshound than I am, since he s ... More >>

Pop Quiz: Can You Tell One City from Another By Menus?

​I recently had occasion to look up a menu from a town where I used to live, and was startled by how ostentatiously it flaunted the region's culinary biases. The menu was so obviously issued by a restaurant in this particular town that I'm pretty sure I could pick it out of a line-up of 100 me ... More >>

It's a Southern Thing: Who Gets Credit
For Introducing Vietnamese to Crawfish?

​Andrea Nguyen's presentation at the Southern Foodways Alliance symposium this weekend was bound to be a bit contentious, as the award-winning cookbook author was slated to explain to a roomful of proud Southern eaters and cooks that the Vietnamese crawfish tradition rightly belongs to Califor ... More >>

West Meets East and Comes Back
With a Full Stomach

All photos by Kristy YangAt the Food Court in Thailand​I've been away for the past few weeks tending to some family stuff in Asia and have been a tad too busy to do any blogging. I'm sure the editor's ulcer will be relieved to know that I'm back now with my one measly post a week. While away, ... More >>

Pho From Home: From Saigon Kitchen to the Super H Mart and Back

Photos by Kristy YangSoup at Saigon Kitchen​Is it safe to come out? Someone's writing sure did bring about a lot of ire last week, but I've always felt food, like puppies and babies, is a unifier not a divider. So let's get started again. Like many food finding expeditions I've had in the past w ... More >>

From the Dallas Tornado's 1967-'68 World Tour, This Flashback's For Sale

​Last week we put the biscuit in the basket with this rare look back at the Dallas Texans, our first pro hockey team. Which is why Friend of Unfair Park PeterK sends this latest look back at yet another beloved golden oldie on the auction block: the Dallas Tornado, three members of which -- from l ... More >>

Pho From Home: Houston

​My affair with our I-45 rival can be best described as a love/hate relationship, heavy on the hate. Past trips I've made to Houston consistently involved cursed adventures and unlucky mishaps with scars--yes actual scars--to prove it. From the time a two inch nail left a lifelong mark in my ad ... More >>

Pho From Home: Hanoi Style

Pho Hung, Ho Chi Minh City.​In Pho From Home we seek out the variety of pho--authentic, Texified, good and bad--available in restaurants, starting in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City and winding all the way around the Dallas area. This time, we wrap up our excursion through Vietnam. Next week, we ... More >>

Pho From Home: Vietnam

In Pho From Home we seek out the variety of pho--authentic, Texified, good and bad--available in restaurants, starting in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City and winding all the way around the Dallas area.​As a little Vietnamese kid in a primarily white world, I never thought these three letters wou ... More >>

Sane in the Membrane

Despite drinking enough syrup to kill a small horse, Lil Wayne is actually quite calculated

The Roots

Tuesday, June 17, at House of Blues

Vietnam in Dallas, Something to Crow About

The War Moves from Iraq to Vietnam to the Dallas UPI Offices in 1975. Time Travel Much?

Asia or Bust

The Asian Film Festival of Dallas celebrates five years

Head East

Alessio's is Euro-friendly

Lost Generation Concert Series

Chop Suey Syndrome

Our restaurant critic travels to China to unravel the riddle: Why can't Dallas do Chinese?

Fog of War

A group of veterans says John Kerry stretches the truth about his Vietnam service. Who can you believe? Who knows?

Saigon Smokes

Tragic, so it must be good

She's Gotta Serve It

Dallas dining is largely controlled by men. Seven women are trying to change that.

Quiet Strength

Love it or hate it, few will be able to look away from Phillip Noyce's provocative Greene adaptation

Moving Story

Pacing, lengthiness slow down Green Dragon

The Spirits Move Them

Followers of Cao Dai, a Vietnamese sect with frail tendrils in Dallas, say their time has come to spread the word. Just ask Victor Hugo.

Secret Worlds

Vertical Ray brightly illuminates Vietnamese family life

Our House

Together is a bittersweet look at '70s commune life in Sweden

Lost Son

The Vietnamese son of a black American soldier faces a long trip "home"

East Meets West

The twain date and mate at a Fort Worth dating service

Fillet this fish

How many silly story lines can one movie hold? Fewer, clearly, than Catfish stuffs in.

Hash Over

Steel feel; Web wine unsnarled?

Vietnam in transition

Tony Bui shows a country looking to regain its identity

Last dance

In Dallas' cantinas, where the company of pretty young meseras is doled out by the drink, a killer lurks

The garden of life

In East Dallas' Little Asia, a community blooms in fields of litter

Transcendental dining

Delight is in the details at Saigon Bistro

Less than a stranger

She said it was abuse. He said it was manipulation. By the time a Denton court got through with this messy custody battle, a good mother would lose her kids forever.

Coming home

Saigon Savour brings a rich Western touch to Vietnamese