West Village

Pop Diner is a Big Bust

Closing time: You don't have to go home, but don't go here.

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 >>

Pop Diner is Now Open in the West Village

After months of anticipation, Pop Diner (3600 McKinneyAve.) has officially opened its doors to the West Village. The 24-hour diner, located next to Max's Wine Dive, celebrated its soft-opening this morning. At quarter past eleven, owner Nik Gjonaj boisterously announced to his staff (who'd been dart ... More >>

Free Range Concepts & Pat Green Announce "The Rustic"

Dallas is going to get a really big bar. At least it looks pretty big in this rendering. "The Rustic" will open this spring, according to Josh Sepkowitz and Kyle Noonan, who also opened Bowl and Barrel recently on Park Lane. See also: - Bowl and Barrel to Open Soon with Some Potentially Impressive ... More >>

My 10 Favorite Food Shots of 2012

When our web editor, Nick Rallo, asked me to put together a list of the best food photos I took this year I jumped on the opportunity. "Piece of cake!" I said to him, or maybe that was in my head, but either way I was stoked. I didn't realize how difficult the task of narrowing down my selection wou ... More >>

Five Great New Year's Eve Parties to Ring in 2013

OK, it's almost here. Time to slip into that annual existential crisis and wonder just WHERE IS YOUR LIFE GOING? Look, there is no real answer to that question. Also, you can totally contribute to where your life is going. But before we swim through the waters of your put-off resolutions, let's ma ... More >>

This Week's Events for the Culinary Inclined, December 5 - 11

Saturday, December 8 Saturday brings the 4th Annual Holiday Market at the White Rock Local Market. In addition to the usual bounty of local produce, meats, cheeses, baked goods and other culinary treats, there will be more than 50 artists pedaling their crafty creations. The Dave Burris Group will ... More >>

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 >>

Tu-Lu's Bakery is Now Open and Serving Gluten-Free Goodies in the West Village

Tu-Lu's Gluten Free Bakery opened its second Dallas location in the West Village on Thursday. The tiny, bubblegum-pink bakery serves up loads of gluten-free treats from cupcakes and cake balls to coffee cake, quiche and even paninis. We stopped in for a quick peek and snapped some photos of the bake ... More >>

Friday's Lettuce Wrap Up: Now With Fresh Greens

Have you been outside today? While things may feel a little overcast over at the State Fair on account of Big Tex's mishap, the rest of Dallas is bright and sunny with a cool, fall breeze. It's time to kick off our weekends, but first there's a week to wrap up. This week I reviewed Monica's new res ... More >>

Tu-Lu's Bakery To Open New Store in West Village

Tu-Lu's Gluten Free Bakery is opening a second Dallas location in the West Village Shopping Center this Thursday. Owner and baker Tully Phillips is originally from Memphis and graduated from SMU. After completing culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Austin, Philips moved to New York City, where sh ... More >>

Restaurants Come and Go: Openings and Closing in September

September was another churning month for the Dallas restaurant community. Sisu opened in Uptown, Ser took over the 27th floor of the Hilton Anatole and Campo said goodbye. Read on for the full list of openings and closings and be sure to share tips about shifts in the scene in the comments section b ... More >>

Owners of JoJo to Take Over old Lemon Bar Space in the West Village

Previously we've told you about the new restaurant JoJo in Uptown, owned in part by French chef Laurent Poupart, which is slated to open within a month. Poupart has worked at many great restaurants around the world including Au Crocodile in Strasbourg, France, and Metropole and Les Celebrites in N ... More >>

Monica's Nueva Cocina Opens, Rohst Closes and More From a Busy August

At last, August has left us, bringing us that much closer to the promise of cooler weather. Someday soon, we hope. In the meantime, the month brought Dallas several new restaurants and wilted a few others. Read on for the full list of openings and closings and be sure to share tips about shifts in t ... More >>

Campania's in the West Village is Celebrating a Lease Extension

A few weeks ago the Campania's Pizza at the West Village posted to their Facebook page that their landlords "informed us that they would not be renewing our lease and the we must vacate the building by 08/31/12." Bummer. To make matters worse, they haven't had any luck finding a new digs yet. Luck ... More >>

With Tight Shirts, Everyone Benefits

Modern Mexican, Drunken Olympics and Dining In The Bubble: This Week in Dallas Dining

Wrapping up that work day and getting ready to head home watch the Olympics and do some drinking? Easy now. The gymnastics events are in full swing and Alice's instruction to drink every time you see a wedgie promises to intoxicate an entire planet. Before you pick up your shot glass, we have a week ... More >>

Twenty-Four Hour Diner Coming to the West Village

Late night West Village wanderers will soon have a new place to fill their bellies. Signs in the window at 3600 McKinney Ave. foretell the arrival of Pop Diner - -and there shall be booze, as indicated by the TABC application also posted up. The new spot will go in right alongside the previously a ... More >>

The Importance of Seeing Ernest

100 Favorite Dishes, No. 77: Pho At Lemongrass

To prepare for this fall's Best of Dallas® 2012 issue, we're counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there's a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me. Most of the oho I've eaten in Dallas leaves a lot to be desired. It's salty as sin and ... More >>

I'm Watchin' Here

An Ode to the Shandy: The Perfect Drink for Liquid Lunches and Long Matches

Last week I had to interview another local food writer for an upcoming project. He suggested we meet at Union Bear and I jumped on it. It was a warm, sunny day, and I remembered their killer indoor/outdoor bar. Sitting outside with the sun at my back and a cool breeze pouring through the West Villa ... More >>

Union Bear Bartender Jonathan Colley on Crime and Punishment and Local Beer

Jonathan Colley is one of the resident barkeeps and beer nerds in the basement at West Village (aka Union Bear). He got into the beer biz by frequenting his neighborhood watering holes in Oak Cliff, where he met the ambitious Spillers Group. When they recently opened Union Bear, they hired Colley, w ... More >>

Be Cool with the Uptown Gang

Reviewing the Review: Union Bear

The West Village, and perhaps all of Uptown, has a reputation for a rather homogenous following. When I first heard about Union Bear, the subject of this week's review, a fellow staffer called it "Hipster Island," referring to the customers the new restaurant was drawing in comparison with a typical ... More >>

Beer, Taco Wars, and Matt McCallister: This Week In Dallas Dining

Last week seemed slow: I could hardly find any stories to string together into a Lettuce wrap up. This week, however, I'm having trouble deciding how to fit all of these interesting stories in. Happy hour's in only getting closer, so I better cut to the chase. This was the week of pink slime for Ci ... More >>

Preparing For The Onslaught: This Week In Dallas Food Blogging

Welcome to the longest weekend of your life. Between the parade, block party, concerts (stoked for Ryan Bingham by the way) English breakfasts, cabbage dinners, green beers, Irish pubs, whiskey shots, sunshine, crowds, food truck parties and other happenings, there's a good chance some of us will ne ... More >>

Union Bear Opens in the West Village Tonight. Here are Some Photos and Details.

Union Bear in the West Village is set to open tonight. Just across from the Magnolia Theatre, the space is split between a street level, which has a large retractable windows and a bar (technically opening next week), and an underground level where there are several distinct dining areas, another la ... More >>

Happy Hour at Malai Kitchen, Where Five Dollars Will Make You Hollar for Another One

The West Village isn't typically a favorite destination 'hood of mine unless I'm seeking fro-yo or a sale on cardigans, but a Yelp search pointed me in the direction of Thai-Vietnamese spot Malai when I found myself in dire need of a drink on a Sunday evening. I have zero desire to wait 30 minutes ... More >>

At Baboush, the Flavors of Morocco Taste Even Better with Gin and Vodka

This week I was looking something different, my palate weary from ringing in the new year with an excess of cheap California champagne. So I headed to Baboush in the West Village in search of new flavors. Situated between sushi haven The Fish and Cork wine boutique, you might forget you're in Upto ... More >>

Let There Be Latkes: Eight Reasons Gentiles Should Appreciate Hanukkah, Too

FlickrDo you have these at Christmas. DO YOU?​As we all well know from years and years of church and advertising, there are plenty of reasons to appreciate Christmas: Mistletoe, candy canes, presents, Santa, Christmas Lights, presents, holiday songs, holiday drinking, holiday hams, holiday nut ... More >>

Painting the Town Pop

Crimson Asian Cuisine Now Serving Pho in West Village

Lauren Drewes Daniels​Crimson Asian Cuisine opened last week at corner of Blackburn and McKinney in the West Village, serving pho and other Vietnamese dishes such as stir-fries, rice noodles and spring roles. The atmosphere is on the casual side. Not fancy, but nice. There's a decent size pati ... More >>

A Battle of Some of Dallas' Best Pizzas

​ If you've been trying to find Dallas' best 'za, an event slated September 29, will afford the opportunity to try three pizzaioli's handiwork all in one shot. Côtes du Coeur Wine Society members get in for free; the rest of us have to shell out $20. The event benefits the American Heart Associa ... More >>

Plan Commissioners: This Isn't Just About a Bowling Alley, But Future of Lower Greenville

A look back at the plans for the new-look Lower Greenville Avenue​I've tried several times this morning to reach Michael Northrup, the attorney repping a coalition of neighborhood associations at yesterday's City Plan Commission meeting where Madison Partners' bowling alley concept was voted down ... More >>

Third Annual Taste of West Village Benefiting the North Texas Food Bank

​The West Village may seem more crowded than usual tonight, but before getting too upset about the traffic and cursing the fact that you have to park on the roof of the parking garage, rest assured that all the commotion is for a good cause. The neighborhood is hosting its third annual Taste of We ... More >>

Trolley Trestle Lowered into Cityplace Turntable, Positioned For Influx of More Charming Vehicles (People Too)

Photos by Leslie MinoraThe construction team lowers the turntable trestle at Cityplace Station.​For 14 years, a salvaged portion of a Southern Pacific Railroad bridge from 1909 gathered dust, waiting to be recycled as main support of the trolley turntable now under construction at Cityplace Statio ... More >>

Looking Back, Locally

West Village's Malai Kitchen: Asian Fusion Hobbled by Growing Pains

The good news is that Malai Kitchen is a vast improvement over Tom Tom Noodle House, the Asian-styled restaurant that once occupied West Village. The less than good news is Malai restaurant still faces some growing pains. ​Asian fusion can be catastrophic, but compared with Tom Tom, there is ... More >>

Famous Faces

A Trip Down Memory Lane at Tex-Mex Date Favorite Mi Cocina

Mi Cocina's West Village location.​For a lot of my friends, Mi Cocina is their go-to restaurant for Mexican and Tex-Mex food in the DFW area. I'm still partial to the New Mexican food I grew up on, with all of its green chile and tons of cheese, but I've come to like Mi Cocina. It consistently ser ... More >>

Are You Ready For Some Art, Y'all?

Revolving Doors: All's Well That Ends Well

​As December comes to a close, it seems all is well, or at least better, as many highly anticipated restaurants made their debuts. David Uygur was back in the kitchen, plus a New York deli and the latest Lombardi venture both opened. We were expecting few restaurants to shutter since, being the ... More >>

Aural Ambush: West Village Rocks Turbo Fruits

Or if YouTube is more your flavor, click here... This week, we traveled to West Village to see how people there felt about Turbo Fruits, the Tennessee-based indie rock outfit.The folks we stumbled across in West Village compared Turbo Fruits' "Where The Stars Don't Shine" to the likes of the Ramones ... More >>

Picture Show: Keith Urban Pre-Thanksgiving Show at The West Village

Stephen MaskerSee more from Urbania at the West Village in our slideshow.​First of all, before the palace intrigue, we must wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. As we alerted yesterday, West Village-goers got a big treat from last night in the form of a massive country star: yes, oh yes, it was Kei ... More >>

Keith Urban Fans Unite! At West Village. Tonight.

​You may already know about Australian country music star Keith Urban's upcoming Thanksgiving Day performance with the Dallas Cowboys, which kicks off of the 2010 Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign. Apparently, it's supposed to get quite brisk tomorrow. Tonight, however, should be nice and balmy-- ... More >>

Cafe Madrid: Rain Couldn't Dampen the Tapas,
But Mr. Pedestrian Did

​A week ago, two friends and I ate dinner at Café Madrid. One had never eaten there -- shame on her. The other friend and I remarked how we both loved Café Madrid's tapas but hadn't been there in awhile. Then I remembered how long it had been and who I had been there with last -- the infamou ... More >>

Lemon Bar Brunch Lives Up To Its Name

Photos by Andrea GrimesThis Bloody Mary was jacked up well beyond its Blue Book price.​Woke up Saturday morning with my head on fire after spending Friday evening trying to beer-away a truly horrible week. I wanted bar food. I needed a Bloody Mary. And possibly a wheelchair. After much discussion ... More >>

Review: The Fish

The Fish could use a touch of poison to spice up its menu

Hash Over

Rope twister; Mixed hash; List watch