It’s the holidays. A time filled with magic and wonder — a time when wishes are granted. A time when getting completely blackout drunk is socially acceptable and everyone’s nice to grocery store cashiers. Any other time of year, people would call you creepy if you waited in line for…
Lest we forget our fellow man in the flurry of cookie baking and online shopping, here are a few goings-on in Dallas to tickle your good-will lobe. The Thing: Deep Ellum Outdoor Market The Cause: Local artists, crafters and businesses The Deep Ellum Outdoor Market is setting up shop this…
Dallas is a taco wonderland. When questions of the best local culinary offerings are raised, the taco is among the first victuals mentioned by the celebrity chef and vagrant alike. That being so, on Saturday, December 11, three friends and I, including tour leader and former City of Ate blogger…
Food can be an inspired holiday present, but gourmet retailers say it sometimes takes a bit of razzle-dazzle packaging to make edibles seem more like a gift than groceries. Rather than stick a lonely hunk of parmesan under the Christmas tree, staffers at Central Market suggest using the cheese -…
To be honest with you, if I’d known before we sat down at the Lakewood Penne Pomodoro on Sunday morning that they’re a beer- and wine-only joint, I’d never have gone. No liquor means no Bloody Mary, and no Bloody Mary is a crappy way to spend Sunday morning. But…
Urbano Café on Fitzhugh Avenue is a great place for dates and day drinking, especially on a lazy Saturday. Before Thanksgiving, I met a date there for lunch. I drove around the East Dallas restaurant awhile before I found parking on a side street. Cars occupied all of the parking…
In part one of last week’s Three Course Meal, we gave you a look at Julia Lopez, corporate chef at La Duni. In part two, we asked Lopez to complete our thoughts for us. In today’s final installment — delayed by an editor’s glitch — she shares a recipe for…
This week, Dallas food blogs are tittering about what’s new and exciting. We have equal rights for cookies, a new gadget for barbecue, more angles on the possibility of food trucks and (predictably) a new list of places of restaurants willing to work on Christmas Day. And that’s just the…
You’re probably going to a few holiday parties this year that you’d rather skip. We’re trying to come up with an excuse to skip the tacky Christmas sweater party our family has every year, but unfortunately mom’s giving us a guilt trip. Go to a party tomorrow night you actually…
Researching this week’s feature story on the Dallas dining scene gave me the chance to visit the archives of the Dallas Public Library, where I spent hours immersed in dozens of old community cookbooks uncovered by Texas/Dallas History Department manager Carol Roark – who would qualify for a dedication if…
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is giving North Texas smoked meat aficionados a sneak preview of its first new meat product in 58 years. The Dallas-based chain, which now has 134 locations across the country, is testing its spicy cheddar sausage at its newest store in McKinney. The sausage will be released…
Oh, the infamous holiday office party. Every year, the members of our editorial staff put down their Blackberrys and log off their computers to join together at a nearby restaurant for our holiday lunch party. Even Schutze stops griping about the jackasses at City Hall long enough to enjoy a…
We all know those fast food ad wizards have their tricks — fake water droplets on the fresh red tomatoes, onions peeking just so out from under a perfectly thick sesame bun. Of course, nothing’s going to look delicious oozing out of a greasy wrapper in a blurry cell phone…
Rachael Ray’s new program, Week in a Day, on the equally fresh Cooking Channel, makes for surprisingly pleasant — and informative — viewing. Confession: Despite Ray’s vaunted status as one of the original founding chefs, along with Emeril, of the original Food Network, I’ve always found her to be a…
Winter hasn’t even officially begun, but winter beers and holiday seasonals have already been on the shelves and bar taps long enough that I thought I’d offer a quick rundown of those I’ve particularly enjoyed so far this year — and one that gave me a good laugh. This is…
With the holidays upon us, money is tight. What better time than now to take advantage of the many happy hour food specials available throughout the city? Several Dallas restaurants are feeling the pinch, too, and are offering up great discounted food specials to bring in the happy hour crowds…
It should be easy to shop for food lovers, since their hobby’s been so relentlessly commodified. Any self-respecting big-box store stocks cooking utensils, cooking gizmos, cooking show DVDs, cookbooks and cooking magazines. But which of those items are really worth buying? We asked a few local chefs which attractive culinary…
Each week City of Ate will give you the lowdown on a local happy hour in Quittin’ Time, with the details and why you should or shouldn’t take up the featured bar or restaurant on its drink specials.Where: Nodding Donkey, 2900 Thomas Ave., 214-922-8898When: 2 to 7 p.m. Monday through…
Tea at Christmastime tends to be a Victorian affair, complete with jam cakes and velveteen trimmings. But Farmers Branch Historical Park is this month reminding visitors that Brits don’t have the monopoly on hot tea service. A traveling exhibit on global tea traditions, curated by Tea in Texas Magazine, is…
With 22 days left for online voting, Dallas is trailing the leader in a Walmart-sponsored contest for food bank funding by more than 11,000 votes. Walmart’s “Fighting Hunger Together” program pits the nation’s 100 metropolitan areas with the highest rates of food hardship against one another in a Facebook race…
Let’s face it, business lunches suck. There’s nothing more you’d rather do during your one hour away from the office than dine with coworkers or your boss, right? You can’t always avoid the dreaded lunch with the boss, but at least you can get a good meal out of it…
Yesterday, we gave you the goods on Julia Lopez, corporate chef for La Duni restaurants. Today, we asked Lopez to finish a few sentences for us. Tomorrow, she shares one of her delicious recipes. (Lopez’s words are after the ellipses.) I grew up… on a small little ranch in Chihuahua,…
