Welcome to “You Like This,” in which we ask chefs two questions: 1) What’s the best-selling dish at your restaurant? and 2) What’s your favorite dish at your restaurant? We hope the answer to the first question will open your eyes to the fan favorites and the Dallas palate and…
Lakewood Smokehouse softly opened last week near lower Abrams Road arousing the neighborhood with whiffs of smoke. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that type of stimulation. While there is plenty of restaurants but no barbecue, owners Jason Hall (who owns 3 Stacks Smoke & Tap House in Frisco), John Patenburg,…
Dear McKinney: Congratulations. You no longer have to drive to Dallas when you want to leave the kids at home and have a nice meal out. Sugarbacon Proper Kitchen fits the bill. When you walk into the restaurant, you’re greeted by still-trendy industrial decor, tastefully balanced with thick-cushioned leather seating…
Welcome to How Hipster Is It, a new series where we try food and drink from popular Dallas bars and restaurants, and ask, how hipster is it? We evaluate the establishment’s general atmosphere, plus its most hipster menu item, using the world’s universally recognized unit of hipsterness measurement, the Bill…
You’ve made it through the beginning of January. You’ve stayed firm to your resolution to lose the weight. You’ve eaten more vegetables, you didn’t partake in the leftover Christmas candy your coworker brought to the office, and you’ve even gone for a couple of walks despite the cold. You’re on…
The Observer has a new food editor on the way at the end of January. Her name’s Beth Rankin, and for the past five years she has been editing the Beaumont Enterprise’s Cat5 Magazine, a weekly arts, entertainment and dining tabloid. She also created, hosted and produced the Local Scene on 91.3 KVLU,…
On an otherwise gray Wednesday in Denton, the meat beacon shone bright from Locust Street as The Juicy Pig swung open its doors and its walk-up window for an anticipated, if brisket-less, soft opening. To be sure, even after The Pig hits its stride, which a couple opening-day issues say…
Larded Jack Snipe. Bermuda Potato. Hamlet’s Omelettes. They’re all real restaurant menu items from our past, and they’re all available for browsing at the New York Public Library’s dazzling new Internet time-waster, What’s on the Menu? An archive of digitized restaurant menus dating all the way back to 1851, What’s…
Last week, West Texas farmer Larry Hancock left his home in Muleshoe to survey the damage of Winter Storm Goliath on his cattle. He’s farmed this land since 1978, but that day he saw a weird, alien landscape. “We’re in the desert so we’re used to drought, not a lot of…
Dutch Ovens: the bane of Girl Scouts and pioneer women alike. Those impossible heaps of cast iron that turn reasonable cooking times into sweaty marathons of fire-tending hell. But maybe you’re weird. Maybe four hour dump cake is your kind of bag. Maybe you like risking heat exhaustion in the…
Our former Englishman in barbecue sauce, BBQ critic and web editor, Gavin Cleaver, had to return home to England many months ago thanks to pesky U.S. immigration law. He still keeps a place in his heart and stomach for Dallas food, though. Hear are six things that have him cranking…
I have a quick confession: In all my years of living in Dallas, I’ve never been to a Dallas Mavericks game. This was my first time in the arena for anything related to basketball, and it was for a cheeseburger. I’m not sure if that’s embarrassing or not, but there…
January 1st, the new open-carry gun law in Texas took effect, allowing handgun license owners to carry their guns in visible holsters in most public places. If you’re a private business owner, however, you can opt out of open carry and ban guns in your establishment if you so choose…
It’s hard enough to open one restaurant and not fail within the first year, but Steve Shin and Greg and Sandy Bussey, owners of bbbop Seoul Kitchen, have rolled the dice in Oak Cliff to keep the momentum going for their blossoming Korean food chain. The original location opened in…
Cut a Texan open and she’ll bleed queso. The yellow kind, made possible by the industrial revolution and modern science — the darling of Tex-Mex. Texans love everything about this bastard of a cuisine: the cheese, the rice, the sopapillas drenched in honey, the sizzling sound of fajitas against cast…
There’s some kind of ever-present warmth at Kuby’s. The lighting comforts; the people glow; potato salad simmers. Sweater vests, once thought to be extinct, still keep patrons warm and homey. As a whole, there’s a feeling when you’re inside Kuby’s like you’ve stepped inside a painting of a restaurant. In…
New Year’s Eve is a time of reflection. For normal people, this means examining the year that was – where we started, where we ended and how the events in between changed our perspectives and shaped our personal histories. But for people who read City of Ate, we know there is a lot…
John Tesar (executive chef at Knife and possible lover of steak gordita supremes) is getting some fresh press for hating on things in an interview with Playboy, but we’d like to show everyone the softer side of Tesar. So, instead of re-quoting all the things he’s already said that are entertainingly…
Welcome to “You Like This,” in which we ask chefs two questions: 1) What’s the best-selling dish at your restaurant? and 2) What’s your favorite dish at your restaurant? We hope the answer to the first question will open your eyes to the fan favorites and the Dallas palate, and…
At the corner of Davis Street and Bishop Avenue was once a botanica that sold herbs and roots, magical oils, religious candles and other items to ward off evil spirits. The vintage 1930s building is now a new neighborhood joint where you can devour a sandwich, guzzle beer and knock…
Checking in at The Theodore’s film-inspired hostess stand, you imagine checking in at a hotel. You half expect to be given a key to access the lodge-like dining room, which features a vaulted ceiling modeled after Theodore Roosevelt’s summer vacation home. With a fire roaring in the psychedelic fireplace and…
There’s a pervasive itch that the always-busy scratch at around the holidays: Sometimes you just want to disappear from it all. You want to disappear into the mountains, carrying nothing but a grill fork, a thermos of whiskey and beef jerky. Become Gollum! Eat raw fish and whisper into the…
