“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…
Recession? There must be one, judging by our paychecks and news today that Lola planned to shut down. Still, July saw an unprecedented (even in boom times) wave of restaurant openings.Strange–July and August are not generally considered the best of months by those in the food service industry. Maybe rents…
The City of Ate’s, um, kind and generous editor…yeah…once asked me what I thought this city needed in terms of vegan food. My answer: “I wish the Mexican restaurants would catch on.” Because it’s true–Mexican restaurants are slim pickings for vegans in Dallas due to the fact that most of…
As you know, each week we highlight some of our favorite reader posts–an idea we began sometime back in the hopes of giving away prizes, then dropped, then kinda stole from Leslie Brenner when she started doing it (without prizes) on Eats. Too much to choose from this time around…
“Little boxes on a hillside, little boxes made of ticky-tacky, little boxes, little…” Okay, okay–I’ll stop. But doesn’t The Colony remind you of that town Agrestic from the show Weeds? Well, maybe not quite as affluent. And there definitely aren’t any hills to speak of. But the houses all look…
Whatever the dreary setting may do to your psyche, whatever hope may fade at the sight of cellophane-wrapped meat and kitchen staff trotting bags of frozen okra from the walk-in, you have to grant Cobb Switch a plus or two. Their brisket shows far more character than you generally find…
I was sitting in Michelle’s Homestyle Cooking, sipping on sweet tea, waiting for my food to arrive and thinking to myself that I was living a pretty great life. I’ve got a loving family, great friends, Showtime—things are pretty perfect. And then my food arrived. After one bite of my…
There’s no denying that Dallas can be sorta cliquish. If you’re wearing the right shoes (or Tweeting from the hottest gadget), you might break into a particular crowd. Sure, the bar scene can be different. Hand someone a stiff drink, and you could find your BFF for the night. But…
So many interesting comments this week. If we were still trying to give out prizes, one of these people would have walked out of here with an empty bottle of Knob Creek bourbon, sent that way by the folks in Kentucky as a means of illustrating how high demand affects…
Months ago, I realized that the Barbecue Bus on Maple Avenue had disappeared. I cried and cried and prayed and prayed that it would come back—the Barbecue Man behind the cigarette counter who served me chopped beef sandwiches was awesome, and so was the food he served up. What happened,…
Kent Rathbun opening a down-home Southern kitchen is a lot like asking an accomplished concert violinist—Joshua Bell, say—to play a fiddle tune. He can get all the notes right and yet… I mean, there’s good old-fashioned fried chicken, sweating inside a crunchy, double-dipped batter, waiting to burst forth at the…
Our favorite comment from this week is this from Bruce, responding to the On The Range feature about menudo. Bruce would try the infamous soup if he came across a version without hominy. As he puts it in this week’s non-award-winning entry:”I dont think there is another food on the…
It’s a Grind is anything but. It’s a coffee shop, sure, and a franchised one at that, with a dizzying array of caffeinated choices, just like any other. There are lattes—whole milk and skim—frothy cappuccinos, eye-popping triple-shot espressos and baked goods that claim some modicum of nutrition but in the…
Remember that Charlie Chaplin film Modern Times? Industrial gears grind and turn, round and round, over and over, in a graceful yet ultimately repetitive sequence until the little tramp becomes ensnared in the machine. Masaryk reminds me of this Hollywood classic. There’s an elegant pattern to many of the dishes,…
It shouldn’t be this easy, right? I’ve pinned this entire column, too many times, on a long-winded kvetch about how many questions I have to ask–and how resentful I suspect the various wait staffers must feel–every time I go out to eat. So when I found out that not only…
We’ve stopped trying to give things away, but we do like to call some attention to clever/accurate/downright impressive comments posted on City of Ate. So our favorites from the past seven days, no prizes attached:From TLS, in response to the Question Of The Week:”The Costco sampling stations are always crowded…
