I’ve been eyeing El Pollo Regio for a while now. So, when I heard that the one on Spring Valley recently got a score of 73 (that’s four points above failing, I’m told) from the health inspector, I got a little sad. Because it’s totally cool if you go into…
August is generally a slow restaurant month and this year was no exception. Aside from KRLD Restaurant Week madness, the surprise revelation about Lola, crowds piling into Marc Cassel’s Park and the buzz about Smoke, it was one lackluster stretch.September should be even more interesting, what with a grand opening…
A lot of people ask me where they can get some good vegan Tex-Mex around town. I usually guide them to Monica’s, where vegans can get the best enchiladas in Dallas, but I understand that driving down to Deep Ellum isn’t always practical…especially if you’re on the wrong other side…
So we could have awarded just about everyone posting comments to Eddie Garza’s piece this week on the waterborne controversy at Bliss. Just a few examples: bc: “In unrelated news, I’m going to live in a hyperbaric chamber filled with angel farts. Living angel farts.”Handsome Lance Manion: “Ever since they…
My good friend Sara and I met a few years ago at a yoga class. We instantly hit it off, and started doing everything together…grocery shopping, dining, working out. She even moved into my building. But over the past couple of months, we’ve both been on crazy schedules. No more…
Sometimes trying new things sucks. Por exemplo, I joined Twitter this week. And when I went to pick a username, I found out that @bigbagodongs was already taken (total suckitude), so I had to settle for @thecheapbastard. Super lame, but I guess that’s what I get for waiting so long…
“It’s kinda weird, honestly,” chef David Uygur says of the impending closure of a restaurant he’s been associated with for seven years. “It’s only gradually becoming real.” For almost a decade Lola—the Van Roberts-owned cottage restaurant on Fairmount—stood as an icon of fine dining in the Uptown area, whether in…
We know what you’re thinking: “Man, that beer dinner tonight at The Libertine sure sounds great, but I don’t have $100 to spare on a couple of seats.” And you’re right. The dinner, which we mentioned in Hash Over on Monday, features Southern Star’s Pine Belt Ale (a Hophead fave)…
The guys at Park are awfully proud of their wine list. It is pretty impressive. They even go as far as denoting which wines are organic, produced by women (what’s that all about?), and which are vegan. But while they can “get you drunk,” as our waitress joked, their vegan…
It was an unusually frantic week at City of Ate, thanks in part to those [expletive deleted]’s at Lazare, but more to our own tedious blogging software, which one day decided–all on its own–to block all comments.Still, we had a lot to work with. And if we were giving away…
After a rough Saturday night–I’ll spare you the details, but I will say this: there was much vodka involved–Sunday’s hangover carried into Monday. Tuesday–still not human. So I got online to Tweet about my misery. Then I saw a Tweet from one of my raw food friends that read, “Alcohol…
Everyone is familiar with Dean Fearings and Stephan Pyles and the other big boys of the Dallas dining set, but this year a group of relative unknowns is challenging their celebrity chef status. Sure, both continue at the top of the table, and the return of Nick Badovinus and Marc…
With many of my favorite homegrown Dallas restaurants closing down (Mr. Barbecue Bus is gone, Big D’s Dogs bit it and now Vern’s Place is shutting its doors? I hate choo, Dallas!), it’s not as easy to find a $10 lunch here as it used to be. Of course, I…
Funny how Vapiano, the German-based fast-casual restaurant in Mockingbird Station, actually feels like Germany. Maybe it’s the color scheme–a little like the Nutelleria in Frankfurt–or maybe it’s the fact that the system here is so foreign, and words sorta get lost in translation. As Date and I entered Vapiano, a…
Of course, nobody really wins on City of Ate. But if we ever do try prize giveaways again, there’s a mess of stuff to pick from. Let’s see here…a miniature bottle of Tuaca, a big ol’ container of Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Seasoning Blend, a packet of seeds and oats…
“Puff balls.” That’s what one of my non-veg friends calls the Orange “Chicken” at Suma Veggie Cafe. No–the guy’s not the brightest bulb on the block, but others unfamiliar with vegan meat substitutes might also find it difficult to describe the glazed balls of who-knows-what…although, I now have a funny…
They don’t mind telling you their story, the basic outline of which involves a graying couple moving from Hawaii to Oak Cliff and setting up a tiny café. Yeah, I know—doesn’t make much sense. She baked for 12 restaurants and two hotels, including the Kona Village Resort, and he’s a…
I’ve heard the legend of the Desperado taco for some time now. Usually starts with, “Oh my God—these things are life-changing,” or I get the typical straight punch to the uterus when someone discovers that I haven’t been there before. But, uterus punch or no, I avoided the place like…
The only thing worse than listening to Coldpay is listening to Coldplay on the sitar. Unfortunately, that’s the kind of crap you’ll hear while dining with your hot date at Bengal Coast.Yes, vegans can score hot dates, too…sometimes.Bengal Coast is a South Asian fusion restaurant located on the cusp of…
You know, we have some fine prize material piling up in my office, from a tiny pail full of paper clips all the way up to John Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine, a book full of food porn and recipes. Too bad no one ever wants one of our giveaways.So, on…
My fascination with other cultures started back in the summer of ’87 during a family vacation to Disney World’s Epcot Center. Yep, Epcot Center. I know what you’re thinking, but I remember dragging my folks around each prefabricated little country, collecting knick-knacks and sweets from shops along the way. Incidentally,…
Too bad no one can make it to Lumi. The restaurant is far more interesting than its immediate neighbors, although I say that with some hesitation. Just to the south sits Patio Bar & Grill. And there’s nothing wrong with Hook, Line & Sinker, on the other side. Sometimes you…
