The State Fair of Texas is looking to be a far different experience this year, but today, leaders at the fair also announced the Big Tex Choice Awards for the best fair foods is still happening. The whole competition will take place online with the first of five voting rounds…
For some of us, in paralleled, precedented and certain times, eating at restaurants was a major part of life. A hobby. Potentially a character-defining personality trait. While some have returned or are on their way to returning to a pre-pandemic level of restaurant dining, others have chosen to continue to…
A couple of weeks ago, we went to a random Golden Chick in Oak Cliff, sat in the drive-thru and drove away with three decent versions of Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs. But simple food isn’t always easy to execute, and not every location has delivered solid versions of the State…
Online ordering and delivery has quickly become an extremely valuable and integral part of the restaurant industry. Nearly every restaurant has had to adapt to this new system or close their doors. Despite being handled by various companies — ranging from monolithic to mom-and-pop — their business models are almost…
A Deep Ellum standby is getting a major facelift. After having closed earlier this year for renovations, then being forced to remain closed longer because of the pandemic, Serious Pizza is gearing up for a grand return. Serious Pizza first opened in 2011 as a small, hole-in-the-wall pizza joint on…
Fed up with his current situation, Omar Yeefoon took to Facebook to express himself. There, the owner of Shoals Sound & Service in Deep Ellum posted his thoughts on what has become a staple industry during the pandemic. “Food delivery apps are pimps,” Yeefoon wrote. “Your favorite restaurants are being…
Based on the number of readers who checked in when we talked about Jollibee opening, it seemed people were more than excited. The fast-food chain from the Philippines, which already had locations elsewhere in the United States, was coming to the Dallas area. And for weeks since it opened, you…
Good to Go is a column in which our food writers explore Dallas’ restaurant scene through takeout orders, delivery boxes and reheated leftovers. The white paper bag has just a touch of grease seeping through after a few minutes from when you pick it up. Inside is a simple-enough looking…
I never really know who reads this stuff. How many of you are the sort of Observer-obsessive who’s keeping close enough notes to know a) that I write for the paper about once a month and b) that during those times I have written exclusively about places that have drive-thrus?…
Carlos de la Fuente initially opened a produce stand and small grocery store at an old gas station and garage in North Oak Cliff in 1989. In 2005, he hired Alex Segreto to make piñatas at the store on West Davis Street. Soon, the craft business overtook the grocery options. …
Stay a while at Open Palette, have a marg in a can by the pool, or make a cocktail to save the bees!
Opening a restaurant is an audacious career move at any time. But in the middle of an unprecedented public health crisis during an equally unprecedented collapse of helpful government function — well, opening a restaurant now just seems plain crazy. But a number of people in Dallas are doing it,…
As many restaurants close permanently during the coronavirus pandemic, others pivot and find new ways to stay open, and some are leaning heavily into social media. For brothers Juan and Brent Reaves, owners of Smokey John’s Bar-B-Que & Home Cooking, social media has been vital in surviving the pandemic. “There’s…
Good to Go is a column in which our food writers explore Dallas’ restaurant scene through takeout orders, delivery boxes and reheated leftovers. Tracy German grew up in Augusta, Georgia, watching her mother bake cakes from scratch, tweaking the recipes along the way to her own liking. German inherited her…
Dallas’ Medical District has a new Vietnamese takeaway spot that specializes in a total reinvention of the spring roll. Housed in a former doughnut shop, LaVui Vietnamese Restaurant is the third business from Thanh Nguyen, who also operates the two Oishii sushi spots in Dallas. At LaVui, the focus is…
Profound Foods has announced a major expansion that will significantly increase its capacity to serve as a food hub and farm-based kitchen for North Texas. Profound Foods was founded by husband and wife Jeff and Lee Bednar, farmers themselves, in 2018. Late last week, they announced they’ve acquired a 13,000-square-foot…
It all started with a blueberry bundt cake and a promise to cure a baking rut. I didn’t realize I was in a baking rut, unless avoiding turning the oven on for long periods during the Texas summer qualifies as a rut. The recipe I followed was written in narrative form;…
Since they opened the Oak Cliff location in 2019, the owners of Del Sur Tacos have had to deal with the growing pains of a new business. Then the COVID-19 pandemic forced them close temporarily before they reopened and attempted new ways to keep the business up and running. One…
More than two years ago, we were writing about how one of the hottest brewers of Deep Ellum Brewing Co. left to go “gypsy.” It was then that we got to taste the work of Barrett Tillman in his very own brews under the label BlackMan Brewing, commonly from bottles…
Last week the Dallas Observer hosted its annual Iron Fork competition, which was worlds different from normal but just as fun. Plus, in the chef competition — which put Dallas and Houston head-to-head — our city’s chef Luke Rogers won. Now before you go on rolling your eyes: It’s 2020,…
Barbecue fans in Dallas can turn their preferences of smoked meat into a competitive sport, and Heim Barbecue is about to give us another team to root for. With two restaurants in Fort Worth, the popular barbecue spot known for its bacon burnt ends is ready to land near Love…
I’m stealing the fast-food beat from Observer contributor TC Fleming. And I’m breaking my personl stay-out-of-drive-thru rule. I’m breaking those rules because there’s an opportunity to get a proper corn dog any day of the week. It’s $5 at Golden Chick locations, and considering I don’t have to go to…
