David C. Wilson Sr. was more than a restaurateur. For residents of Cedar Hill, the owner and operator of David’s Seafood Grill was also a respected civic leader. “He talked service and he lived service,” his son Shawn says. “It isn’t just service as in your customers; it’s service to…
You want Le Royale with cheese, go to Paris. You want Cheesecake Royale, go to Little Forest Hills. Groovy little places (Good Pagoda, Hypnotic Donuts) are popping up all over the decayed charm that is Garland Road, but this family-owned bakery has been in business since before it was trendy…
For Lower Greenville’s understated little bar Dallas Beer Kitchen, it’s been a state fair-ride of a year. Early into 2016, the bar shut down after construction laced its way across Greenville Avenue. Five days after shutting down forever, it reopened with different owners but still plagued by the torn-up streets directly…
Leading up to Thanksgiving, the Fort Worth Police Department made national news by giving away turkeys during traffic stops. As news of the acts of kindness spread, FWPD was contacted by PETA, who suggested the department do the same thing with tofu turkeys. Being the good sports they are, FWPD…
Unleash your inner Dowager Countess of Grantham at The Dallas Arboretum. The arboretum is hosting a special three-course holiday tea from now through Jan. 3. Guests will enjoy a first course of roasted chestnut soup with cheese wafer, a second course of assorted tea sandwiches and a dessert course. To…
Celebrity chef Tim Love has a new walk-up window for the beer-soaked masses in Fort Worth’s Stockyards. His Texas Red Chili from Lonesome Dove Western Bistro menu headlines the quick-serve window at his White Elephant Saloon that offers something warm and filling on a cold afternoon or evening.
Let’s get this out of the way first: Spiral Diner does not have a vegan burger that mimics the taste of a beef and bacon burger. A good cheeseburger, topped with undulating, crispy bacon, lives in a different place along the spectrum of joy. You’re not going to take a…
$300. Three hundred dollars. That’s how much it costs for a season-ticket-holding or suite-holding Dallas Cowboys fan to skip tailgating and have a pre-home-game meal at the new AT&T Stadium Club. To be fair, the restaurant offers one hell of a hook: that fee covers unlimited buffet food and drink…
It’s been a busy year for barbecue aficionados in the Dallas area. The “barbecue boom” of the last several years seems to show no signs of tapering off, which is a good thing for those always on the hunt for the next great spot for smoked meats. Here at the…
2016 was a year of change, promise, upheaval and disappointment in the Dallas restaurant scene. Few establishments embodied that full range of emotion quite like Deep Ellum’s “elevated-southern” kitchen, Filament. When it opened in December 2015, Filament had all sorts of exciting things going for it. It was the second…
The newest bar trend is adding activated charcoal to cocktails, but at what cost?
Ben and Jon Lee were improbable restaurant owners in 2011. Aged 25 and 23, respectively, the brothers had no restaurant or culinary experience, no loans and no investors. They didn’t understand food costs. They didn’t have a marketing budget. They didn’t know anything about bookkeeping, or how to find a…
Mercury is retrograding so hard right now, you guys. In terms of Dallas dining news, the week started sad and by Friday had snowballed into downright bizarre. Is it moon madness? End-of-year fatigue? Anybody wanna blame it on Obama? Who knows, but somebody needs to go burn some sage in…
Well, that’s the end of this saga. On the Lamb in Deep Ellum just posted the following message to their Facebook page: Yesterday we reported that, after news broke that chef Ross Demers had abruptly left the restaurant after dinner service on Friday, the restaurant shuttered and blamed an oven…
If you began this season of Top Chef, eager (some may say hungry) for Villain John Tesar, damn, I bet you’re disappointed. Because Dallas chef Tesar is totally nice and totally cool and totally a team player. Tesar’s first shot in this episode is him complimenting someone’s collared greens. And…
Despite all the bad news in the Dallas dining scene lately, all is not lost. This week, some local concepts are expanding even as others dial back. Big news in Dallas tacoland: Trompo, the West Dallas break-out hit that opened in April, is opening a new location, this one in…
All-American is a series that looks at beloved, longstanding North Texas eateries and examines their history while exploring how the food has changed — for the good or bad — over the years. For chef Brian Luscher, taking ownership of The Grape was like coming home. He’d been chef for…
This past weekend, Observer food critic Brian Reinhart went out to Deep Ellum to grab dinner at On the Lamb, the restaurant we recently selected as the best new Dallas restaurant of 2016. At 6:25 p.m., just as diners should have been filing in for cocktails and dinner, I got…
The ‘Spro Fizz isn’t just delicious, it’s sexy AF and the booze in it isn’t the only thing that will give you a little buzz.
Grayson Social, the Southern-inspired restaurant located in downtown Dallas’ LTV Tower, stands in stark contrast to the surrounding landscape. Outside, the streets and buildings and even the sky, somehow, swirl together into a mass of gray. Stepping inside Grayson Social, the work-worn city scene falls away and is replaced by…
If Frisco isn’t the first place you think of when you think about good coffee, it would be hard to blame you. The specialty coffee scene in Dallas proper has enjoyed a rapid explosion over the last several years, and while consumers throughout the DFW are increasingly focusing on local,…
Taco Stop owner Emilia Flores once called to notify me that she had been injured in a car wreck. As a result, she would be late setting up for the taco festival I was curating and at which Taco Stop was to be a vendor. Of course, I told her…
