Unless you’re a school kid enjoying the surprise days off, February is indisputably the worst month of the year. And this has been an especially bad one in the Dallas area, what with the ice storms making us look like cheap clueless hicks in front of the world — and…
First they came for Sparks, and I didn’t speak out because I didn’t drink Sparks.Then they came for Four Loko, and I didn’t speak out because I didn’t drink Four Loko. Then they came for Moonshot ’69, and I didn’t speak out because I didn’t drink Moonshot ’69. Then they…
The most amusing thing about living near the Super Bowl host city is watching local institutions scramble to incorporate football or the don’t-have-to-buy-usage-rights phrase “Big Game” into products or services that have nothing to do with the sport–or anything remotely fun. But riding trains is fun, and so is answering…
We’re just speculating here, as we can get winded after an intense round of darts. But it seems like after retiring from a grueling, aerobic, high-impact sport you might have some competitive spirit left, but would prefer a game where you’re not likely to suffer a concussion or fracture a…
Each week City of Ate will give you the lowdown on a local happy hour in Quittin’ Time, with the details and why you should or shouldn’t take up the featured bar or restaurant on its drink specials.Where: Club Dada, 2720 Elm St.When: Starting today, 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday…
A close game is generally more exciting than a blowout for most sports fans. But if you’re the kind of Mavericks fan who gets more entertainment out of watching your team deliver a thorough ass-kicking–or if your ticker or stomach can’t handle the stress of a tense, down-to-the-wire contest–Dallas vs…
Like the heavy metal for which he has an unabashed dorky fondness, Brian Posehn’s act is rabidly loved by a marginal niche fan base, even if the squarest, most boring, Dane Cook-loving mainstreamers are now throwing the devil horns. His latest record, 2010’s Fart And Wiener Jokes, was even released…
It’s hard to appreciate Stevie Ray Vaughan’s talent when you’re in the act of lunging to change the station the second you hear the opening lick to “Little Sister” or one of his other overplayed radio hits. It’s even harder if you happen into a bar whose featured entertainment is…
Have dinner plans tonight? Cancel them. As mentioned Monday, tonight’s beer dinner at the Libertine Bar features beers from St. Paul’s Summit Brewing Company. Cost is $50 per person, plus tax, which lets you taste five beers and five courses specially created to pair with each brew. The dinner starts…
As impressive as I found Commercial Suicide, from Austin’s Jester King Brewery, I didn’t have a chance to sample any of Jester King’s other offerings until last week, when The Common Table featured Black Metal Imperial Stout on BrewsDay Tuesday. And while I wasn’t completely blown away, it really was…
Each week City of Ate will give you the lowdown on a local happy hour in Quittin’ Time, with the details and why you should or shouldn’t take up the featured bar or restaurant on its drink specials.Where: The Texas Theatre, 231 W. Jefferson Blvd.When: 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday…
Fitting that Sleep Whale, or at least some members of the experimental ambient instrumental band, would perform at the opening reception for Slow Cheetah at Plush Gallery. The three-artist show includes abstract resin figures created by C.J. Davis, formerly the label rep for Sleep Whale, back when they were known…
Special effects may have made some serious advances in the 30-plus years since Dario Argento’s 1977 horror classic Suspiria, but no matter how accurately colored the blood spurting from an arterial wound may look in a modern CGI-enhanced horror movie, few come even close to matching the gut-wrenching, cold-blooded brutality…
The holidays are over, and unless you’ve got Martin Luther King Jr. Day or Presidents’ Day off, there aren’t any work holidays until Memorial Day on May 30. Christmas and holiday beers are disappearing from taps and shelves faster than your New Year’s resolutions. But before you put a gun…
The tendency, as calendars start moving past their expiration dates, is to wrap up the year in music with an interminable parade of year’s best lists—beginning, oh, around September. That, then, is followed by speculation, prediction and a whole slew of wild guesses about what the upcoming year in music…
If there’s any hope that civilization will continue to create art and literature more worthy of preservation than a passing Photoshop meme or blog post, it lies with the teenagers still developing their talents. Recognition of their hard work is the best way to ensure they stick with it, rather…
“Save room for dessert” is our most-ignored culinary request. We’d rather save room for a second (OK, fourth) helping of meat or a second (OK, fourth) beer. But the four treats (including goat cheese souffles with mixed citrus compote in sparkling Champagne and yuzu jelly) taught by pastry chef David…
Each week City of Ate will give you the lowdown on a local happy hour in Quittin’ Time, with the details and why you should or shouldn’t take up the featured bar or restaurant on its drink specials.Where: El Ranchito, 610 W. Jefferson Blvd., 214-946-4238When: 2-6 p.m. Monday through FridayWhat:…
Contrary to our first guess, slitscan photography is not a euphemism for office-created porn made by hiking up one’s skirt and sitting on a scanner. (Copiers are sturdier anyway, so stick to the Xerox machine.) It’s actually a photographic technique that captures motion, stretching its subject to impossible lengths, and…
Two of us at the Observer competed year-before-last in a hot-wing eating contest, racing to down 25 drummettes and wingettes so powerful our skin numbed wherever the sticky orange-red sauce touched. After going the distance, Patrick Michels downed soothing milk, while I begged for mercy and a beer after 13…
Paul Hightower at Dallas Craft Beer Examiner has a good round-up of the month’s beer events on his January Craft Beer Calendar, and Brian Brown of Plano Craft Beer Examiner has a more thorough run-down of the week’s area beer events. Both of them mention something I’ve had penciled on…
Overall, it’s been another great year for beer, at least from my perspective here in North Texas. If I didn’t suspect reader list burnout, I could probably do another top 10 piece on the best developments of the past year, and even another on things I’m most looking forward to…
