Taco Cabana

The 14 Best Spots to Get Cheap Food and Drinks on Cinco De Mayo in Dallas

It's certainly not a weekend for lightweights. Leave your fanny pack at the house and imbibe in many of the options around town as we collectively celebrate General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín's defeat of the French in 1862 in the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. Despite the fiesta, many ... More >>

The LOT Opens, J. Pepe's Tex Mex Closes and More Restaurant Happenings from February

Another busy month has come and gone and with it a handful of restaurants have opened and closed. Read on for the full list of restaurants happenings in February, and be sure to share tips about new and/or dead restaurants in the comments section below or at dish@dallasobserver.com. Openings: The ... More >>

Singer Clint Niosi is Grateful for his Boring Job

Fort Worth singer-songwriter Clint Niosi, 33, works in the basement of a community college library doing on-site tech support and on-call tutoring. This does not sound fascinating, and I quickly see upon taking his invitation to meet him at his job that it really isn't. For about a half hour I watc ... More >>

Hook, Line and Sinker Opens Second Location on Preston Road (Photos)

The longtime uptown seafood staple Hook Line and Sinker has opened a second location at 17602 Preston Road, a bit north of Keller Springs, in an old Taco Cabaña. The original seafood shack first opened on Lemmon in May of 1996. Hook Line and Sinker is relic of uptown, prior to the area around it ... More >>

An Interview with John Tesar and Spoon's New Pastry Chef, David Collier

Last week Top Chef contestant and chef John Tesar hired an executive pastry chef for his high-end seafood restaurant in Preston Center, Spoon Bar & Kitchen. For the job, Tesar tapped David Collier, who previously worked with him at The Mansion. Collier is moving back to Texas this month after work ... More >>

Is Hopdoddy Just A One-Off Burger Concept, Or A Sign Of Better Food To Come

It was the Smackdown that lead me to reviewing Hopdoddy. I couldn't believe how much work the small chain put into burgers they charged so little for. Most customers will likely spend a little more on burgers topped elaborately with gourmet cheeses and toppings, but if you want, you can get a plain, ... More >>

Velvet Taco's Not-So-Taqueria

Taco purists don't love this Henderson Avenue restaurant, but that doesn't stop the hungry masses.

Cook Hall Opens, Love Shack Closes and More From a Very Busy October

Another very busy month has come and gone, and with it several Dallas restaurants have opened while others have closed their doors for good. Read on for the full list and be sure to share tips about restaurant openings or closings in the comments section below or at dish@dallasobserver.com. Opening ... More >>

Stemmons Freeway Taco Cabana Is Open For Business

Taco Cabana fans in Dallas have another option for their late-night black bean burrito cravings. The fast food chain opened another location on Stemmons Freeway just south of the Medical District this week. The updated restaurants are marked by the enclosed patio seating that features collapsible w ... More >>

Start's Potential

Erin McKool's Take on Fast Food Feels Like the Begining of Something Big.

Seven Awesome Tacos to Celebrate National Taco Day

Today is National Taco Day, so thousands of free corporate tacos will inundate American bellies. Taco Cabana and Taco Bueno are giving tacos away, but why not visit a real taqueria and mark the made-up holiday with something that actually tastes delicious? Who needs free when most of these tacos wil ... More >>

Six Ways to Ramen: How to Class-Up the Staple of Cheap College Food

If you're not broke in college, then you're not doing it right. It's mandatory, like puking at the coast. College students should be able to pull together a weekend's worth of food and gas via a bone marrow donation and condiments at a 7-Eleven. They should also know stores that take several days to ... More >>

The Universal Food Shame Scale

Damn. Eating that freezer burrito made you feel like an awful human being. But, exactly how awful? Wish there was a way to know exactly how much shame you should feel when you eat a horrible, awful food? Wish. Effing. Granted. Above is our very helpful, very scientific Universal Food Shame Scale: ... More >>

The Night They Turned Off the Lights at 7-Eleven And Other Tales of Greenville Ave.

​Yes, as a matter of fact, they did close the 7-Eleven on Lowest Greenville this morning -- at midnight, almost to the second. And, at just past midnight, the sidewalks -- which, moments before, had been thick with club-goers shuffling from drink special to drink special at the Pussycat Lounge, Ku ... More >>

The Week in Dallas Food: Tiny Sandwiches, Too-Sweet Desserts, and Lots and Lots of Beer

​This week we brewed at the zoo, ate some disappointing things, and Leslie Brenner told us another thing wrong with Dallas. Read on. City of Ate/Observer Even if Taj Chaat has Amruth beat as far as charm, interest and adventure, the humble vegetarian former stumbles into second place when it ... More >>

SUP, Service Bar and Yucatan? Not Your Late-Hours Permit. So Sorry. Ask City Council.

Photo by Leslie MinoraPhilip Kingston of the Lower Greenville Neighborhood Association takes the mic in opposition of Service Bar​Today brought another round in the ongoing fight over whether Lower Greenville is a daylight retail district or an evening entertainment strip. This afternoon, the ... More >>

A Rambling Item Starring David Seeley, Tango, Gary Myrick, Joe "King" Carrasco and the Crowns, Mike Rhyner and Lisa Loeb

Via.Tango and the work of the great Bob "Daddy-O" Wade​Speaking of late, great Lower Greenville venues ...Last weekend the boy and I picked over Paperbacks Plus, where I found a copy of David Seeley's Too Cool to Get Married, a 1989 paperback collection of pieces written for, mostly, Texas Monthly ... More >>

Peachy Week in the Food Blogosphere

He did it for America.​This week in food blogs, peach desserts were a big hit, ketchup haters learned to love Ketchup and Taco Cabana introduced different-tasting tacos. Read on. City of Ate Even Jenny Block, who doesn't like ketchup, enjoyed Ketchup the restaurant. In her review, she said th ... More >>

Good Records Recordings To Re-Issue Tripping Daisy Back Catalog and Unreleased Songs.

​The folks at Good Records sure are having some fun with all the news breaking out of their camp over the past couple of days. But, rest assured, most of it is just that: Fun.That cryptic tweet and Facebook post the store made today? The one about being "a part of history" if you stop by the store ... More >>

For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: Robert Cray and Stevie Ray at Club Redux For Q102

​Back in January 1987, if memory serves, Club Redux stood at the site of the present-day Taco Cabana on Lower Greenville, and that old Observer ad you see at right more or less hints at the kinds of acts that played there back when -- a little bit of this, a whole lotta that. But that advertisemen ... More >>

Week in Blogs: Smoked Meat, Meat Soap and Wiener Men. Can You say Freudian?

Sara KerensLockhart Smokehouse​This week, Dallasites get cheesy and try to wash away their troubles with meat soap. No, really. Read on. City of Ate Cedars Social isn't all that great, concludes Jose Ralat Maldonado. The "comfort" food is ultimately disappointing and over salted, but hopefull ... More >>

When Every Day Is a National Food Day, Is Food Still Special?

Look, we love a grilled cheese as much as anyone, but something in that kid's look gives us the willies, as though she plans to eat a grilled cheese ON GRANDMA'S GRAVE.​Happy National Rice Ball Day! Wait. You didn't know it was National Rice Ball Day? Did you know it's National Grilled Cheese ... More >>

Lent: No, It's Not the Vatican Diet Plan

​The tired, lame joke used to pop about annually this time of year among the lapsed Catholics in my family. "I'm giving up watermelon for Lent," assorted uncles would say with a grin. Har-har. Get it? Watermelon isn't in season during Lent, so as sacrifices go... Yeah, those old boys were ca ... More >>

Free Is Too Much for Jack in the Box Tacos

​"Our tacos have had a cult-like following since the 1950s, when they gained a permanent place on our menu. This is especially true in Dallas, where our guests are counted among our long-term favorites," Brian Luscomb, Jack in the Box spokesperson, told me over the phone. With those words in m ... More >>

Art Kegger

Taco Cabana Commemorates National Taco Day with Street Taco--Wait, Isn't Every Day National Taco Day?

​In the last few years, the taco has become a mad scientist's laboratory. Many well-intentioned Vincent Prices -- whether from south of the border or homegrown -- have sought to elevate the taco, fusing it with disparate parts. Their experiments are to be commended; the masses that have dipped ... More >>

Dallas City Council Members Angela Hunt and Pauline Medrano Have A Plan To Help Rid Lowest Greenville Avenue Of Crime. If Only They Can Get Neighborhood Businesses To Cooperate.

Remember When Tacos Were Just a Simple
Fast Food?

​Street food purists reviled Taco Bell's "cantina tacos," but the tenor of their response hasn't dissuaded a Texas-based chain from trying out the same shtick. Taco Cabana today announced it will launch street-style tacos on Monday. According to an e-mail from a publicist for the 150-outlet T ... More >>

Restaurant y Taquería Lupita's:
Poorly Sexed-up Tacos

​The temptation to rend clumps of facial hair as a response to a child's incessant "whys" is much like the reaction to being left hungry after a large meal. However, a little one's unbridled curiosity is difficult not to appreciate. Had I been able to ingest the trompa (lips) and buche (pig st ... More >>

Hops to the Stove

Honest food at Potager and a roll of the dice at The Mercury

Sara Kerens​This week's Dallas food bloggers learned to trust empty parking lots, took Mary into their own Bloody hands, and found peace on Earth at Potager Café and the Dallas Islamic Center. More Dallas restaurants have Gone Texan, and don't expect to find wines from any other place e ... More >>

Chick Fight: Popeye's vs. Pollo Campero

Photo by Steven DoylePollo Campero takes the prize by a beak.​Toque to Toque has made strides this year, delving into various cultures and cuisines. Some of our favorites included the mussel challenge, the soup dumpling debacle and the souffle cook-off where we met a former president. A chef ... More >>

Free Food for "Fiends" Who "Toil Not;"
Count the Observer Staff In

Odd, when we Googled a picture of bums, this came up, but these guys don't look like hobos.​The free food frenzy that's currently gripping Dallas could induce eaters to quit their jobs and loaf full time -- or so feared observers during the last era of widespread food giveaways. What's so sca ... More >>

Having a Pepper Ball on Lowest Greenville Early July 4. Was That Really Necessary, Officer?

Avi Adelman​I spent Saturday night -- and the wee small hours of Sunday morning -- riding shotgun with a certain Barking Dog as he kept watch over his favorite "scumbars," he likes to call them. And I got a little more than I'd bargained for: a nose and throat fill of pepper courtesy the Dallas Po ... More >>

Where Do Stephan Pyles, Tim Love and Dean Fearing Get Their Fast Food Fix?

The first Whataburger in Corpus Christi​Right -- this should probably be over on City of Ate, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to make this inexplicable (on my part) Esquire subscription count for something, so here goes. For the September issue, which just landed in the mailbox, editors asked ... More >>

Echoes and Reverberations: The Bad Sleep Good or Not At All.

They were loud, rude, bratty and obnoxious. They smoked pot, drank lots of beer, did drugs and slept in their clothes. If you were a guy who hung out at Theatre Gallery during the late '80s, chances are pretty good that one (or more) of them fucked your girlfriend. And they got away with it all be ... More >>

Girls' Night Out

The boys of She-Dick don their fake boobs, drag names and lady detective personas

Texas Bard

Guy Clark remains an understated statesman of true country

Play Dead

Texas has some of the weakest animal protection laws in the country

Best Tortillas

Taco Cabana

Moving On

Poor David's Pub preparing to enter new generation

Blue Note

It's a smash hit

Roky's road

The father of psychedelia is not insane, just a little crazy