When the aptly-named Hickory & Fry opened in Denton’s Fry Street district early last year, I told anyone who would listen how excited I was we were finally getting a tapas bar. “A TOPLESS bar?!” they said? Um, no. Sadly, Hickory & Fry announced via their Facebook page yesterday they…
Jimmy’s Food Store, Dallas’ beloved ma and pa grocer turned Italian specialty shop, is now 50-years-old. Their sausage and meatballs are the best in town—having them on the menu is a good get for virtually any restaurant. These folks have a complicated understanding of what Italians want. They have deep…
Things are polished at Sugarbacon. Splatter-pattern art, like an alien ocean, sparkles near the entrance. Shiny copper reaches the ceiling behind the bar, and a couple of TVs, encased in smooth black, glisten. Sitting at the bar at Sugarbacon, looking towards the glowing liquors with the big chalkboard announcing draught…
Sartre argues that Hell is other people. I disagree. I think Hell is living in a city without Indian food. Currently there are only two places in Denton to satisfy your curry craving and I can only in good conscience recommend one. Recent real estate dealings had locals worried about…
To the uninitiated, the restaurant scene in Dallas can feel overwhelming. I would know, having recently moved here myself to cover food for the Observer, a daunting task in a metropolitan area with such a vibrant, diverse food culture. Southern, Vietnamese, Cajun, barbecue, Japanese, Tex-Mex, French-continental — with everything from steakhouses…
The Denton location of Taps & Caps, a growler shop featuring a rotating selection of 50 taps, will host BrainDead’s latest food and beer dinner and bottle release. The four course dinner features tequila shrimp, roasted Brussels sprouts with cactus fruit syrup, rye battered chicken and stout beer chocolate cupcakes…
Want to get your name into the Guinness World Book of Records? Then show up at the Dallas Convention Center on Saturday morning. There, you’ll team up to break the existing record of 1,481 for Most People Making Sandwiches Simultaneously. Not only will you gain the notoriety of becoming a world…
On April 27, it’s going down: More than 40 Dallas restaurants will fill Centennial Hall with delicious dishes that enable you to taste fare from multiple eateries in one night without losing your hair in I-35 traffic. This annual tasting event has it all, baby: The ticket price covers entry,…
Jeff Gregory quickly stoops down, shielded by his friend from the watchful eyes of the vineyard workers. He surreptitiously bags a bit of soil for his collection. Collecting and comparing soil is one of the many ways he educates himself about wine; later this trip he’ll buy a hard-to-find book…
It could be said that 2015 was the year of the brewery for Dallas-Fort Worth, with more than a dozen breweries opening their doors and filling kegs for all to enjoy. Currently, it seems as though each city in the metroplex is on track to have its own brewery, with…
If you want to launch golf balls for fun within the city limits of Dallas, you can use one finger on one hand to count the applicable places. If you want to hit golf balls at busted and broken down automobiles at a rustic beer garden with various billiards, you’re…
You can almost smell the scent of brine in the air when you step into Preston Center’s Montlake Cut. The small but mighty vessel, helmed by acclaimed chef and restaurateur Nick Badovinus, is tucked quietly into a corner on Westchester Drive in the space formerly occupied by Spoon, another high-end…
Situated in Fort Worth’s museum district, Hanabi Ramen has been quietly gaining acclaim since it opened in summer 2014, and the praise is entirely deserved. For Japanese food fiends in Dallas, Hanabi is the perfect excuse for a day trip. Just down the road from the Kimbell, Amon Carter and…
When we heard that Taco Bell was introducing a new food-type item called the Quesalupa, we did what any normal food citizens would have done: We asked Dean Fearing to make his version of the Quesalupa for us. Asking fancy chefs to “elevate” national fast food fads is the best…
At first glance, Irving can look like Any Suburb, USA — but a surging Asian Indian population adds a plethora of Indian restaurants, grocery stores, movie theaters and churches. North Texas has had a strong Asian Indian presence for several decades, but the population skyrocketed from 2000 to 2010. Since…
When Goodfriend Beer Garden owners Matt Tobin and Josh Yingling opened the Blind Butcher with Chef Oliver Sitrin, they created a meat-lover’s paradise inside a simple but classic old school Greenville Avenue barroom. The space has the feel of a prohibition-era saloon but also offers neighborhood warmth. Inside the Blind Butcher,…
The story of our food isn’t exactly on the forefront of table conversation. What seemed to start as a trend, the farm-to-table movement has plowed through Dallas restaurants with no signs of slowing down. If you need proof, look no further than 30 minutes north of Dallas, where McKinney has…
Seconds after putting in an order for a half-pound burger at Harvey B’s, the kind lady who took my order yells “half!” to the kitchen behind her. It’s all about simplicity, stripped down the very keywords, at Harvey B’s. The menu reads like a collection of the words you’d yell,…
Let’s face it, Thursdays are a fickle mistress — close enough to the weekend to where sleeping in seems within a hair’s breadth, yet far enough away that your workweek still has you in its coffee-stained grip. But occasionally, a food event presents itself and you find yourself snacking on…
If you call yourself a foodie, you’ve been champing at the bit for this new restaurant to open. East Dallas, the time has finally come: Waffle House on Ross Avenue is officially ready for business. Excitement. Helmed by executive chef, This Guy, and sous chef, That Lady, Waffle House offers…
EVERYBODY STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING — the 2016 James Beard semifinalists have been announced and there are some familiar Dallas names. Yeah, OK, maybe it’s just food industry folk who give a shit, but still. Here’s what we’ve got: In Best Chef: Southwest, Dallas has four chef nominations out of…
This is where the Alec Baldwin narration could begin: A cream-colored menu with illustrations is placed in front of MAN WHO LIKES BURGERS (Me, 31). A burger illustration wears a crown at the top of the menu. The man looks at the menu for a minute, and points, with one…
