I wasn’t excited. It was early afternoon, the temperature was already 100, I was hungover and I was hungry. My invitation arrived by text: “Want to get elotes with us in 30 mins? There’s a place up on Maple.” I’d seen a version of this snack back in DC. Street…
Last minute invitations often result in accidental food discoveries. Last night a friend asked me to join her for dinner, which turned out to be the “soft opening” of a new restaurant in her downtown neighborhood. As City of Ate reported back in January, the creator of Steel is bringing…
Tired of spending $10 for a mediocre lunch? Let the Cheap Bastard show you how to spend way less for something better, every Thursday on City of Ate and in the Dallas Observer. This week: Gandolfo’s New York Deli Food Truck. Minutes I waited for food: 3 Times the guy…
It’s a hard and fast rule of scenesterism, regardless of which sect you belong to: No matter how far you live from the ocean, stylish sushi must be in your dining rotation. Whether it’s Deep Ellum hipsters, Uptown collar-poppers (they still do that, right?) or people who are trendy simply…
Driving through the Design District totally lost (except for the fact that I knew I was in the Design District because of the signs on every tree, lamppost and fire hydrant that label the area as such; you’d think that of all places, the Design District would know that less…
Veracruz, a thin and wrinkly shaped state on the Gulf, wasn’t the most loved state in Mexico. The Spanish used the region as a gateway to the New World, trouncing local tribes in search of gold. But they also brought along olives, capers, almonds and other treasures from home, imprinting…
Wild Salsa, Dallas Restaurant Group’s latest addition to Dallas’ upscale Mexican scene, opened for lunch yesterday, doling out chips, salsa and pricey tamales to hungry downtowners. I stopped in just as a light lunch crowd began to ebb. There were three of us at the cement bar, and a handful…
It was just after noon and the mercury was well into its death march upward as I walked up to Maple and Motor, looking for a cheap and decent meal that was close to the office. Out front under an overhang that produced a scant 12-inch strip of shade, those…
Walking into Oddfellows, on the Bishop Arts District restaurant row that also includes Hattie’s and Tillman’s Roadhouse, the place all but purrs relaxed, Bohemian cool. And its food is every bit as unpretentious as its insouciant aura. The restaurant’s interior immediately establishes the laid-back mood. The wood has clearly lived…
Days after paying $3 at a Taste of Dallas taco stand for the blandest taco experience I’ve ever had, I was in serious need of taco redemption. (Thanks for punishing me for trying something new, Three Guys and A Taco. Maybe you were just off your game that day? I…
I haven’t subscribed to cable in more than seven years. And I haven’t owned a TV for about half that time. When I was a junkie though, I indulged cooking shows with the mindless zeal of an addict. For whatever reason, a clip of Ming Tsai on a boat, stabbing…
California import In-N-Out Burger arrived in Frisco, and people lost their minds. They waited in line for hours. They cried tears of joy. And immediately after all the “OHMAHGAWDY’ALLIT’SFINALLYHERE!” crazydust settled, it was clear that among our readers there are two serious-as-their-obviously-impending-heart-attacks fast-food burger camps: You’re either Team In-N-Out or…
After a long night of doing shots in honor of the late Betty Ford (yeah, I’m going to hell. Window seat, please), brunch seemed like the best solution. So I picked myself up and went early Saturday morning afternoon to check out a new brunch spot, and get myself some…
Pho Bang and I have a sliding doors sort of relationship. My mom tells me I ate there with her as a permed tot, but of course I don’t remember that. (The perm part is more of an intentional denial.) When I moved back to Dallas a few years ago,…
Nammi is “cruisin’ Vietnamese fusion.” It’s a food truck! Yay! We begged heaven and its opposite, City Hall, to let us have food trucks in Dallas, and we’re so excited that they’re here, and now that we have them…apparently none of you effers go to them unless it’s opening day…
Ketchup, the neighborhood burger bar in cuisine-crowded Uptown, welcomes diners with a patio stocked with wicker chairs and tables tucked under wide umbrellas—an opening salvo that will no doubt be in high demand come fall. The inside offers a mishmash of seating, too: black-topped, metal-trimmed diner tables, classic booths with…
Another month flies by, and with it, a batch of restaurants opened and closed. In-N-Out Burger set up shop in Dallas-proper this month, and surprisingly enough, wasn’t bombarded by hoards of burger-lovers. We guess everyone got their fill of the Californian mega-chain last month. The Coffee Lab (4000 Cedar Springs…
The city of Nazareth sits 1,000 feet above sea level in northern Israel between the Mediterranean and the Sea of Galilee. In the late evening, lamps light up this ancient city’s white façade and buildings with a glow the color of desert sand. Perched in the hills with the dark…
You’ve been to gas-station taquerías. You’ve been to snow-cone stands. But have you ever been to a gas station taquería/snow-coneria? If not, lemme tell what I know about heaven. Cool & Hot Tacos is just off of Interstate 35 at Eighth Street. You’ve driven past it a million times on…
I see blond people. I am sitting in a leathery banquette at the new Marquee Grill & Bar in Highland Park Village, flanked on one side by what looks like a 20-year reunion of Kappa Kappa Gamma, and beset on the other by an attractive blond with matching baby. In…
Eclectic, per Merriam-Webster: Composed of elements drawn from various sources. At a menu-revamp unveiling last night, that is the word Screen Door’s chef David McMillan used to describe the direction in which he was taking the restaurant. Steering an upscale Southern comfort menu into a globally influenced path may sound…
Sure, any pizzeria somebody walks into technically offers off-the-menu items; the chefs will sprinkle some cheese and random toppings on a pie and voila! This being said, we weren’t on the hunt for elusive eats when we met some friends for pizza at Coal Vines in Uptown last week, but…
