From the start, Potato Flats feels off. In line, a woman asks if I want a white or sweet potato. Not having prepared for that one, I say, “uh, white?” She proceeds to cut and clobber a white potato with a silver potato-clobbering machine. She asks if I want salt,…
While nothing complements a cup of coffee better than a baked something, many area coffee shops really muck that something up. I’ve encountered croissants with the consistency of challah bread and muffins that were dense and gooey. I’ve had stale scones that eat like biscotti and stale biscotti that eats…
The West End’s glory days in Dallas have long since passed. Now, the touristy area is just a couple of sad-looking chain restaurants and the House of Blues. Most people in Dallas haven’t even been to the West End since the 1990s, but you may soon have a delicious new…
It seems like this week, plumbing issues are damned and determined to take out some of Dallas’ best places to buy and eat delicious food. First, we found out that Tom Spicer was losing his Spiceman 1410 storefrontover extensive plumbing issues in his ancient building, and now, Driftwood in Bishop…
I’ve found it. For sure. Casa Rubia’s Pintxo Social Hour is the greatest happy hour to ever happen ever. I’ll preface this entire blog post by noting I’m incredibly late to the game — the early evening bar special has been going on for some time now. But it’s better…
When talking about burgers with other people who like them, it would be totally appropriate to yell, “Dallas is a burger destination!” Shout it with confidence. If we weren’t a destination for great burgers before, we’re one now. Make the claim, and I’ll back you. There is a lot of…
Since 2006, a Father-Son duo has helped give the suburbs north of Dallas a true beer-nerd clubhouse in the form of Lonestar Beverages in Carrollton. But as of the past week, Sam and Rick Ali have added a seductive new element to craft-beer loving here in the Dallas-area as Lonestar…
On Tom Spicer’s little patch of land in East Dallas, Spicer’s Spiceman 1410 has been providing local produce to all of Dallas’ best restaurants for years, and also operated a small retail shop in a space adjacent to Jimmy’s Food Store. If you’ve ever had that especially spicy arugula or…
It’s not that you hate them. When several sects of your family hierarchy descend Griswold-style on a single-family home, it is a joyous occasion for sure. Family gatherings are rare opportunities to measure ourselves against our genetic equivalents, to note, perhaps even out loud, that in comparison to cousin Johnny,…
When Henderson Avenue’s Tried and True closed last year, its departure further reduced the stock of restaurants or bars with dedicated menus for whiskey. Scotch and Sausage has helped fill the void, but the need for whiskey-friendly joints is still in demand. Hello, California-based Eureka…
Editor’s note: Derek Beaton is a PhD student in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas. He also loves beer, so recently he set out to scientifically prove which local beer is Dallas’ favorite. Here are his results. Have you ever wondered what…
The holiday season is 65 percent about desserts, or it should be. There are pies, trifles, bars and cookies to choose from, but most importantly, there are cakes. Your mom is probably busy making her famous lemon bars or chocolate chip cookies, but the bakers at Dallas’ Frosted Art Bakery…
Chef Michael Ehlert is a pretty simple guy. Even though the food he’s cooking at Front Room Tavern is rapidly becoming some of the most refined in the city, that doesn’t mean he’s dining on foie gras and steaks every night. Even chefs occasionally need a break from all that…
When a dish at a restaurant I’m reviewing is exceptional, I’ll often order it a second time, just to be sure I’m not gushing about an experience that was a temporary fluke. Beyond that, I don’t typically engage in repeated dish-eating that often because I’m always looking for the next…
After a long wait, Small Brewpub, the Oak Cliff brewpub that promises to turn the Gordon Bierch beer-and-pub-grub model upside down (before tossing it in the Trinity) opens tonight for its first full dinner service. Over previous weekends, Small has held a number of semi-private events at the restaurant, pouring…
I have an almost magnetic attraction to dishes and drinks that are fussy. Call it a natural predisposition toward being high-maintenance. If it requires some kind of complicated technique or a bunch of painstaking work to make it happen, I want to try it. Unfortunately, because the things that are…
If you think about it, the holidays are at least a little trashy. Unless you grew up in some fancy household where Christmas dinner is actually served on China and you’re expected to wear non-stretchy pants, you’re probably going to be spending the time leading up to December 25 fighting…
When I was in college, moonshine was hardly a trendy thing; the backwoods spirit distilled from a corn mash was an all out ass-kicker that could quickly put you down. One of my friends returned to classes each fall with a gallon jar of maraschino cherries whose red liquid had…
Unleash your inner Dowager Countess of Grantham at The Dallas Arboretum. The Arboretum is hosting a special three-course holiday tea every day from now through January 4. Guests will enjoy a first course of roasted chestnut soup with cheese wafer, a second course of assorted tea sandwiches and a dessert…
Shul lung tang, at LA Han Bat and elsewhere, doesn’t make a great first impression. It’s a Korean soup made from beef bones and cuts of meat, and it’s bland and lacking at first, like a blurry picture of what seems like an otherwise respectable bowl of sustenance. But the…
The craft brewery explosion across the country is the unlikeliest of events, especially in Texas. Ten years ago, no one would have thought that the entire state of Texas — least of all Dallas-Fort Worth — would be home to some of the country’s finest craft brewers, but here we…
We are officially well into Dallas’ renaissance as a destination for excellent food. Still, there are very few restaurants that meet the only star system in town’s criteria for four stars, and a five-star rating is even more rare. Amidst the chefs versus critic debacle that has dominated the food…
