Congress grunted out a steaming pile of legislation known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, on March 27. First off, can we please stop with these horribly tortured acronyms for legislation names? They all remind me of the USA-PATRIOT Act, which reminds me to…
As soon as I saw it on the online menu for takeout at Red Stix Asian Street Food, I knew I had to have the duck fat-fried rice. Some of my closer friends know I’ll pretty much order anything that has the word “duck” in it, but there’s so much…
A few days ago, I traded a half-pint jar of raspberry-mango preserves for a butter roll recipe and some cookies — all via a porch drop with no physical contact. Next week, I’m following up on a lead to trade some jam for some tacos. When I got my hands…
On Friday, Dallas County Commissioners (most of them, anyway) voted to extend the county’s Public Health Emergency through May 20, and County Judge Clay Jenkins announced the shelter-in-place rules would continue through April 30. Of course, Dallas restaurants have evolved drastically since in-house dining was stopped March 17. Shelter-in-place rules…
Forcing yourself to get your food only to-go can make you look back a bit. At least, it has for me since I recently ordered something I frequently got in college: Cowboy Chicken. It still holds up. The quick-serve restaurant has been around since 1981, and while we’re focusing on…
Soon our current pressures will kick out the last leg of this doomed society, and the only thing any of us will eat is what we can hunt on the debris-strewn plains. But for now drive-thru service is still available. I eat at fast-food drive-thrus a lot, so I’ve prepared…
I’ll start with a disclaimer: I’m not a doctor. I have no expert knowledge about the coronavirus or COVID-19, the illness that results from it. But I am someone eating takeout every day at this point (it’s my job now, after all), exploring as many tips as possible on how…
The first step to a successful picnic in the time of COVID-19 is to find your own corner of the park — or, better yet, to find your own park entirely. After Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins tweeted out a warning March 28 that the trails around White Rock Lake…
Well, here we all are, crushing this shelter-in-place thing, for better and worse. Honestly, we’re super proud of you. Mom-level proud. For that, you should treat yourself! And help a local small business or baker at the same time. Air high-fives all over the place. Below are some ideas to…
Out of an abundance of caution and in order to follow the guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Dallas Observer is postponing its scheduled Iron Fork 2020 date (April 29) until Aug. 12. All tickets purchased for the prior date will be honored.
Ordinarily, a new Chinese restaurant opening near downtown Dallas, led by a chef who previously worked in the kitchens at Wu Wei Din and Royal China, would be front-page food news. Ordinarily, the prospect of ultra-experienced Weigou Cai cooking up mapo tofu, hand-pulled noodles and soup dumplings at a new spot…
Dating in the time of COVID-19 is tricky. Unless you’re using Zoom in a very creepy way, we know you single readers out there have your quarantine boo who’s still allowed to come over. Or maybe you even wound up cohabitating a bit ahead of schedule. Good luck getting your…
Peticolas Brewing Company has an excellent process for curbside pickup, probably the best I’ve experienced. And though its owner is grateful for the chance to keep business flowing because of that curbside plan, the company isn’t immune from coronavirus-fueled economic anxiety. On March 16, when Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson announced…
While all of us are adjusting to new norms, food banks have hit the trifecta of woes. First of all, more people are in need of assistance because of lost jobs. Tricia Cunningham, president and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank, said last week that the need “grew exponentially…
In the decades before the American Revolution, Britain profited greatly from its colonial possessions by not very strictly enforcing its own trade laws that otherwise would have extracted onerous payments from the colonies. This policy of salutary neglect kept things running smoothly for almost 100 years before war debts and…
What we love about restaurants is evolving these days, and one new important aspect is how well the food travels. For that well-accomplished task alone, you should add Brick and Bones in Deep Ellum to your list of places to get takeout. First note: It has the city’s amended emergency…
I first went into Brown Bag Provisions on my birthday. Which was March 17. Which was also the first day Dallas restaurants were closed for in-house dining. But at this Design District establishment, which opened March 9, things were still busy. Sure, people were getting items such as a stellar…
Within days of the coronavirus landing in Dallas, Homewood had a plan to help not just itself but its suppliers. The restaurant is serving family-style meals to go in enormous bags, and it’s also selling boxes of produce fresh from local farms, containing fruits, veggies, eggs and slabs of meat…
While the small restaurant Salaryman pushes out to-go orders like so many others in the country right now, chef and owner Justin Holt has been strategizing how to help other people in the industry. “I was having a conversation with a friend in a different state in a completely different…
Good to Go is a column where our food writers explore Dallas’ restaurant scene through takeout orders, delivery boxes and reheated leftovers. It feels like an eternity since Jonathon’s Oak Cliff wasn’t mentioned as the place to go for chicken and waffles in Dallas. Their perfectly seasoned fried chicken that…
On Lowest Greenville, just like the rest of the country, restaurants face empty dining rooms. Turned-over chairs sit atop tables, rooms are dark and signs reading “To-go only” are taped to exterior windows. But behind one of these quiet establishments, for three hours Monday through Friday, about 300 meals are…
Think about this: If a bakery in Dallas only supplies bread directly to restaurants, what option do they have when those restaurants close or drastically downsize to delivery only? Take Esmeralda’s Bakery in Northwest Dallas; they don’t have the infrastructure to do curbside or takeout service. While restaurants are forced…
