As someone who grew up going to steakhouses with floors littered with peanut shells and decorated with old license plates, I appreciate the simplicity and straightforwardness of a place like Dunston’s Steakhouse. The steaks are prime, the walls are unfinished, and the atmosphere is like a fancier Golden Corral, complete…
Nine Band Brewery in Allen opened its taproom doors for the first time over the weekend, because people in Allen deserve to slug high-ABV beers under the auspices of locavorism, too, OK? Large, handmade wooden tables and stools fill the room, and a number of TVs line each wall. Open…
Even though I can’t generally afford to drop 30 bucks on a bowl of pasta at Proof + Pantry, I do find myself occasionally wandering into the restaurant in the late afternoon hours. Between lunch and dinner service, Proof + Pantry closes the kitchen but keeps the bar open for…
I have a long and sordid history with lemonade and vodka as a drinker. This classic combination has gotten me through countless college parties, New Year’s Eves and other festive occasions. But I’ve been trying to drink better. I’ve stopped ordering vodka-cranberries at the bar, and I haven’t had any…
You may (or may not!) remember Club Schmitz. Everyone was talking about, blogging about and drinking inside the friendly dive last year as it served its last beers. Now, it’s all but forgotten. See also: Club Schmitz, One of Dallas’ Best True Dive Bars, Could Get Gobbled by RaceTrac I…
Vodka cocktails typically aren’t very nuanced. They’re poured from a well or an overpriced bottle of Grey Goose, then watered down with a squirt of cranberry juice or soda from those disgusting behind-the-bar guns. There is really no sense in making vodka more complicated than it has to be –…
When you’re drinking at a place like Midnight Rambler, you have to make it count. I wandered into the speakeasy-style bar in the basement of the Joule Hotel after dinner with friends, knowing that I was the fool who would soon be parting with her money. It’s hard to find…
On Rotation, a new taproom and brewery opened next to Lakewood’s Cane Rosso, opened over the weekend. The self-described craft beer laboratory didn’t have any house brews to offer, but their computer controlled brewing system was on display behind a large glass door. Boiling and fermentations tanks sat at the…
When Ashley North Compton isn’t busy as a graphic designer or psychology graduate student, she is making homemade bitters and herbal infusions in her Marfa home. Compton’s interest in homemade bitters and infusions is really a secret cover for her love of herbs. “Herbs have really amazing restorative properties and…
The interior of Clark Food & Wine does not appeal to my bohemian sensibilities. It is too clean, too organized, and a place that I am likely to get kicked out of for swearing too loudly after several cocktails. Bars, in my estimation, are not intended to be neat and…
Belly up to a bar in Dallas these days (especially one that’s an industry hangout) and chances are high you’ll see shots of Fernet tossed back by the customers or staff. The Italian amaro has become an industry favorite, loved for its bitter, almost painful bite; it’s a bartender’s handshake…
Liquor stores are the grown-up equivalent of toy stores. These are the places that lushes are more excited to go to than anywhere else, and will happily plunk down a huge chunk of money on barrel-aged, triple-distilled ways to make our heads hurt really, really bad the next morning. We’ve…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
I know nothing about sherry, except that it got that guy in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado in some serious trouble. As such, I don’t make a habit of ordering it on its own, or choosing a cocktail with sherry as the main ingredient. But thanks to the…
After a couple of sips of Lakewood Brewery’s Holiday Bonus, I started wondering if a cocao aficionado could identify the chocolate that was used to flavor the brew. Dark, rich chocolate is the first and most prominent flavor to present itself when you taste the brewery’s new porter. There’s some…
Nestled between Crush Craft Thai and a liquor store, and across the street from Dee Lincoln Steak and Burger Bar, is the newly opened TnT Tacos and Tequila. The Austin-based restaurant comes from the same group that birthed the Blue Mesa chain. The polished industrial style of the interior delivers…
November in Dallas: You never know what you’re gonna get. One day, you’re leaving the house in cut-offs and flip-flops, wondering if the FOE pool is still open. A day later, warm weather seems a dim memory, as you trudge outside with a spatula to scrape frost off your windshield…
After outgrowing it’s original facility in Rowlett, FireWheel Brewing has announced a grand opening event for a new, expanded brewery. Owner Brad Perkinson says he has reached the point where demand has outpaced his ability to fill kegs with beer with his first facility. The expansion was the only next…
