Pepe & Mito’s

Lunch Specials: Two enchiladas, rice and beans for $5.75; two tacos rice and beans for $5.75; three tamales, rice and beans for $5.75; two 2 fajita tacos rice and beans for $6.75. Step 1: Drive to Deep Ellum. Step 2: Drive down Main Street past Monica’s Aca Y Alla. Step…

Review: BLT Steak

There’s something to be said for loose paper menus. Unlike the leather-bound ones, they’re easy to manipulate. You can fold them and slip them into your coat or purse without arousing suspicion. They’re easy reference points that can be consulted again and again—as the food arrives, as you eat, as…

Mama’s Daughters’ Diner

“Darlin'” count: 1,298 Homemade pies on the counter count: 5 Holy shit,” I mumbled, a mouthful of spicy fried chicken sandwich in my mouth, “this is fuckin’ stupendous.” No, I wasn’t at Wendy’s, you dumbass. I was scarfing down a sandwich and Texas fries (for a mere $9.64, and I…

Tex-Mex Horse Meat

Because a year ago the courts shut down the last two slaughterhouses in Texas that turned horses into meat for human diners, most people think American equines are no longer being killed to satiate appetites in Europe and Asia. Yet thousands of horses are being exported to Mexico and killed…

Review: Urban Taco

My favorite dining companion put it this way: Urban Taco sounds like something you’d order from the J. Peterman catalog. He’s onto something. Think cute but functional. Trendy but not pushy. A little on the pricey side. But you want it anyway. Urban Taco fits all of those categories, and…

Szechuan Chinese Restaurant

Lunch special: $5.25 buffet 7 days a week. As I was pointing and laughing at the bright orange Oompa Loompas who were leaving the B-Tan Tanning Superstore with their totally natural mid-winter radiation-kissed tan, my bitchiness made me hungry, so I walked next door to the Szechuan Chinese Restaurant, and…

Victory: That Gasoline Smell…

Victory. It’s the biggest Dallas dining story of 2007—maybe of the new century, until some wily engineer figures out how to transform the Trinity River project into a profitable floating sushi buffet. Victory has it all: the steak; the wonderfully convenient parking chaos; the Swiss chard; the crowds in designer…

Avila’s Mexican Restaurant

Lunch special: Cheese enchilada with meat sauce, beef taco, rice, beans and a drink, $7.95 Parking spots out front count: 4 Front door that makes them look closed even when they’re open count: 1 My New Year’s resolution is to stop going to restaurants in Dallas that blow. Next time…

Review: Bukhara Grille

You don’t get the pinks or the sheers, the lavish brasses or the visages of Shiva. You don’t get the busy pungent fogs of a hundred spices ground and goaded to cloak the hearty smells of protein buried deep within: lentils and lamb, shrimp and chicken. At night the Bukhara…

I Want It All

Lunch special: Buffet $5.99 Water refills: 20 Plate refills: 20 A tasty food magnet drew my car to the “$5.99 Buffet” sign in front of Taj Express. And I would like to take this moment to thank that magnet for bringing the wonder and merriment of the Indian food buffet…

The Quarter in Addison

Some proprietors are meant to be bar owners and some are meant to run restaurants. I’d venture that Rudy Delgado and Alex Vest should open up a sports bar and leave the French Quarter-themed eatery to someone else. As it is now, the two concepts collide inside a loud, dark,…

Review: Genki Sushi & Steak

In Japanese, it is written, genki means energy, vigor or spirit. To this the Genki Sushi & Steak menu adds: “It is our hope and commitment to restore your full energy with our dishes.” Genki strives to live up to such boldness. Lined up on the mantel above the sushi…

Park It at PD’s

Laps of parking lot required before you’ll find a spot count: 15 Chip varieties count: Bites left on your plate count: 0 I saw the Web video “2 Girls, 1 Cup” (do NOT look that up) and that made me feel like having some lunch, so I decided to check…

Burgers With Balls

Lunch special: Hamburger, sweet potato chips and a drink for $9.46. Homemade root beer at the fountain count: 1 “Sofa King tasty” jokes count: 1 Paper towel holders hanging on the wall for you to use as napkins count: 58 Some days, I’m just hungry. But other days, my stomach…

Review: Exposition Park Café

You can order food to go at Exposition Park Café, but just about the only reason to do it would be to get a change of scenery if you already ate all your meals there. A sign over the bar at this decidedly un-haute haunt says, “Welcome, You Are Home,”…

South Dallas Café

Lunch specials: Monday-Friday $5.95 TVs playing soap operas: 2 Guy walking around asking if everything’s OK and refilling my Kool-Aid: 1 South Dallas Café has a big sign outside that says, “No Panhandling. No Loitering. No Soliciting. No Trespassing.” So I went inside instead. I knew they offered a bunch…

Review: Aló Cenaduria & Piqueos

Not long after the Aló Cenaduria & Piqueos menu was unleashed, founding chef Taco Borga was chided for his spelling. Ceviche is lettered “cebiche” on the menu, a composition Borga hastens to add was molded with the considerable help of Aló executive chef Julia Lopez, who steeped herself in Peruvian…

Review: Sultan Café in Richardson

There’s an old adage that gets thrown around at business dinners and happy hours and parental lectures: Do one thing and do it well. Or, as someone who helped pay my college tuition once said with frustration, “Focus. Remember, it’s better to be great at one thing than to do…

Mooyah Burgers

Lunch special: Burger, fries and a drink for $7.85 People in line in front of me: 15 Number of french fries in one order of french fries: 572 A fan of Mooyah recommended that I test it out, so with high expectations, I did. Almost completely distracted by the fact…

Big D’s Dogs

Lunch: Dog and a drink for $6.33 Times employees resist making hot dog/dick jokes a day count: 1,000 Times employees make hot dog/dick jokes a day count: 1,000 As I was waiting for the Condom Sense on Lower Greenville Avenue to open so I could purchase a dildo (which I…

Review: Pho New Bay

There is no music in Pho New Bay, but there is a high-definition television set anchored in one corner. It is tuned to the Discovery Channel. Right now on the screen is Bear Grylls, British Special Forces hunk-turned-adventurer-survivalist star of Discovery’s Man vs. Wild (among his favorite reads is Messy…

Tacos y Mas

Lunch special: three tacos, rice, beans and a drink for $6.16 Cashier yelling at her cook in Spanish count: 1 Tables and chairs indoors count: 0 I was driving down Ross Avenue a few days ago, and the lunch special signage at Tacos Y Mas taco/burger stand at Ross and…