After months of anticipation, Pop Diner (3600 McKinneyAve.) has officially opened its doors to the West Village. The 24-hour diner, located next to Max’s Wine Dive, celebrated its soft-opening this morning. At quarter past eleven, owner Nik Gjonaj boisterously announced to his staff (who’d been darting around in their lime…
The best thing about the Top Chef chefs being in Alaska is that Josh Valentine gets to wear even more hats! He wore three hats in this episode. You think that’s uninteresting, and that nobody gives any of their shits about what he’s wearing? I completely agree. And it’s still…
Last night Hofmann’s Hots held a media preview at their new hot dog restaurant in Trinity Groves. They gave out a bunch of free hot dogs, and a lot of bloggers and reporters from newspapers took pictures and conducted interviews. The fast food restaurant is brought to you by the…
Dallas restaurateur Phil Romano opened the first Macaroni Grill in 1988 and thus began the schooling of waiters around the country on how to write their name upside down. (That was a thing the waiters once did there. Not sure exactly why, but people seemed to like it.) In 1989,…
J. Pepe’s Tex Mex at 3619 Greenville Ave. was oddly empty during lunch on an otherwise picturesque day for a plate of nachos on the patio. Party’s over, folks. Everybody out of the pool. Pegasus News got the scoop late last week from long-time owner Jimmy Bharmao that they have…
I couldn’t wait any longer. I’m a sucker for good seafood, and Marc Cassel’s new casual restaurant promised oysters on the half shell, fish and chips, sandwiches and more. Cassel leased the space right next to Goodfriend and Good 2 Go, rounding out a trio of restaurants offering tacos and…
Even in reality TV-obsessed Texas, where there are more shows filmed about drunks, housewives, pint-sized beauty queens, gays, bling, dance moms and cowboys than you can count, odds are you won’t score a cameo in one. Still, the more I hear about new Trinity Groves concept Kitchen LTO, the more…
I don’t normally point to the Daily Deals promotion that’s offered in tandem with the Observer website, but this one looks too good to pass up. If you read my recent review of Qariah Lebanese Restaurant & Lounge you know I’m pretty smitten with their sandwiches and lunch buffet. Today…
My excitement for Meso Maya quickly withered after dining at the restaurant two times. The food isn’t bad. In fact, some of it is quite good. What’s disappointing is what’s left on the table when multiple locations of the same restaurant open in one city. It’s boring. See also: -…
Meso Maya has a very likable chef working its kitchen. If you sit at the bar at downtown’s newest Mexican restaurant, which opened last December, you’ll easily find Nico Sanchez. Just over the bottles of tequila stacked behind the bar like a yellow sunset you’ll see him in the open…
In this week’s news feature, Observer staff writer Brantley Hargrove takes an in-depth look at the demise of Irving-based snack food company Hostess. The photos that accompany the story feature Hostess products strategically places in CSI-type scenarios. Below are a few of my favorite photos from the shoot. Also, make…
Last year when the folks at the Common Table had an idea for a little craft beer block party in front of their Uptown restaurant, they probably didn’t realize they were creating a monster. A really loveable and wonderful monster like Mr. Snuffleupagus, though. Interest in the craft beer event…
Thursday, February 7 Bolsa Mercado is reviving Meet & Eat this Thursday. Chef Jeff Harris is creating a dinner in honor of the Meridian, Texas-based Red Caboose Winery, which was recently selected as a Top 10 Hot Brands by Wine Business Monthly. Dinner includes Gulf Coast red snapper, roasted and…
Both the Bowery and The Stand sought to bring casual hot dog concepts to McKinney Avenue. Each closed shortly after opening. It would seem the Uptown hot dog bubble collapsed as quickly as it inflated. Now the Bowery’s creators, Richard & Tiffanee Ellman from Oak and John Paul Valverde, who…
Mia’s, Rafa’s, Desperados, Matt’s, El Fenix — certainly I haven’t eaten all the beef fajitas in Dallas, but I’ve eaten quite a few versions. I’ve been looking for perfectly cooked skirt steak, and most renditions I’ve had have been extremely tough and dry. See also: – Tasting the Worst Fajitas…
I have a special place in my heart for Norma’s, probably because it was where I had my first chicken-fried steak. It strikes me as odd that CFS isn’t more popular outside of Texas but it isn’t. And the fact that its become a regular part of my new culinary…
Oh snap! Pizza Hut is trying to steal some thunder from IHOP by giving away free pizza on National Pancake Day. Now all day we’ll argue with ourselves, “Pizza! No, pancakes! Well, maybe pizza. No, pancakes! Both!” Both, of course. Always go for both. IHOP gives away free hotcakes on…
Plano-based Pizza Hut unveiled its new gift to the world yesterday as part of a Super Bowl “Hut-Hut!” marketing campaign. The particulars of how it played out don’t really matter (and they’re kind of weird anyway), but Pizza Hut now has pizza sliders. See also: – Dallas’ Five Best Pizzas…
When I wrote about Ascension’s fancy coffee machine and said a monkey with a tamper could make good coffee with the thing, I meant it as a tongue and cheek comment about the automated capabilities of the equipment. Certainly skill is still required to draw flawless java, no matter how…
UPDATE: I just confirmed with a spokesperson for Hofmann’s Hots that the restaurant will be open for hot dog consumption this Friday morning at 11 a.m. The restaurant will operate from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily. Original Post Hofmann Hots, the diner-themed hot dog restaurant in the Trinity Groves complex, will…
Another busy month has come and gone and with it a handful of restaurants have opened and closed. Read on for the full list of restaurants happenings in January, and be sure to share tips about new and/or dead restaurants in the comments section below or at dish@dallasobserver.com. Openings: Sunset…
The concept of a mobile barbecue food truck, which may appear next to me at any moment in any situation, is a health danger on a par with snakes, shoddily constructed buildings and being fired out of a cannon into the sun. Especially snakes. I really hate snakes. Previously, I…
