On the fourth Sunday of every month, an assortment of vegetarians–police officers, an airline pilot, animal activists, nurses and all manner of otherwise normal people–gather for all-you-can-eat vegan Sunday brunch at Veggie Garden in Richardson. The restaurant is small and casual, occupying an unassuming suite in a strip mall near…
I always wondered about the wisdom of that bit of advice that urges road-trippers to stop at diners with a bunch of trucks parked outside. Not that truckers don’t know a good plate of hash browns, mind you, but do big-rig jocks really grasp the finer things? There’s no reason…
Through all my phases, from finicky meat-eater to cheese-hating vegetarian to vegan, I’ve never had a server actually encourage me to complicate my order. But at the Cliff Café last Friday our server, Ryan H., did–even after my “girly lunch” group had finagled a table on the sunny, secluded back…
Remember the old saying “never trust a skinny chef”? Well, our waiter—the one with gunmetal hair—nods toward the back room where Didier Viriot ambles back and forth, carrying his bulk confidently. The implication is clear: Have faith in the chef and his restaurant, Citrus Bistro. But should you trust a…
Minutes it took me to decide what I wanted because there was so much good-lookin’ stuff on the menu count: 5 Minutes I waited for my food once I’d ordered it count: 3 You ever have one of those moments when you just feel like you’ve been living a lie?…
Our new feature searching for vegan and vegetarian dining options in Dallas–both at restaurants committed to the cause and regular, meat eating places. Being vegan is supposed to do lots of lovely spiritual and gastrointestinal things to you. You’re supposed to feel lighter and healthier, for one. And your bowels…
You just gotta go. This little place wedged into a Garland strip alongside dollar outlets and shabby marts is worth the drive from wherever, if only for the novelty. It’s not often you find rural Pennsylvania finery replicated so perfectly, right down to the mismatched chairs, whitewashed latticework and cutesy…
Galilee Grill TV count: 0 Kubbi I ate count: 32 Super buffets can be dangerous. They can be old-people-ridden. They can have room-temperature sushi next to room-temperature marshmallow barf Jell-O. They can include boobie dancers, sweat-panty lap dances and all-you-can-eat herpes. Or they can be so awesome that they make…
Our monthly wrap-up of restaurant openings and closings around Dallas. See what’s been canned, what’s new and what’s sizzling on the back-burner in local restaurant news. Entered Nick & Sam’s Grill: a casual spin-off of Nick & Sam’s Steakhouse recently opened in Uptown. It replaced Strong’s Everyday Tavern at 2816…
What is it about tamales? Lucky ones who grew up with tamales as a staple dish could script odes to the steaming cylinders of masa. Yet few big-time professional kitchens can match the comforting texture and warm, earthen flavors you get even ordering from some roadside vendors. Perhaps they balk…
Yogilicious Some people count yogurt as a meal. I call those people shartfaces. They say shit like, “It’s good for you if you’re trying to cut calories,” and “It builds healthier skin!” Translation: “I’m so bulimic I just ate my own vomit and vomited it back up! I love being…
It has always been a point of envy how gracefully Alberto Lombardi’s restaurants blend casual comfort with a strange sense of pretense. His sort of crowd enjoys homespun simplicity, from the bistro feel of Toulouse to Taverna’s everyday vibe—just as long as the place doesn’t get bogged down by suburbanites…
Once upon a time, supper clubs ruled the American dining scene. These were fancy dress and cocktail destinations with cigarette girls roaming the aisles and big bands providing ambience. Now and again, someone will catch an old black and white film and be captivated enough by the elegance of such…
Firehouse Subs Fire pole count: 0 At Firehouse Subs, it’s clear that dudes decorated this place. They were like, “OK. Fireman theme. What says firehouse? Go!” and that’s when they came up with the Dalmatian-printed tables and hanging axes and multiple fire alarms on the walls because that totally goes…
In a windowless, climate-controlled chamber on the third floor of the Dedman Life Sciences building at Southern Methodist University, thousands of fruit flies are on a diet so someday you won’t have to be. The crumb-sized insects, weighing just 1 milligram each, live in slim glass and plastic tubes—100 flies…
This is the tale of two restaurants. Not one of those Dickensian best of- worst of- dichotomies, mind you. No, this is a story about strange but not completely off-putting flaws on one hand and a playful sophistication that turns out extraordinarily well on the other. Just what the hell…
Nearly 4 inches long, the “Sand Dune” oyster from Prince Edward Island was so plump, it was bulging out of its shell “like a large breast in a small brassiere,” as Rodney Clark, the owner of Rodney’s Oyster House in Toronto, put it. Intensely briny and wonderfully sweet, the big,…
OysterSpecies Guide There are five species of oysters eaten in the Western world. Crassostrea virginica (C. virginica) Common names: Eastern oyster, Atlantic oyster, Gulf oyster, Blue Point, Malpeque This is the great American oyster, the species that occurs naturally from Canada down the East Coast to New York and Chesapeake…
Stroller count: 3 Dude count: 1 I heard that the chicken salad at Zoe’s Kitchen was The Shit, so I stopped by the Lovers Lane location to check it out. And when I got there, it was clear to me that I hadn’t been fully briefed on the dress code…
Does Dallas need another steakhouse? Well, it’s not as if we’ve really added one, as Fruia’s Tre Amici merely fills in a gap vacated by Rick Stein’s—covering, fortunately, some of Stein’s bordello red paint scheme in the process. But the massive new restaurant’s opening brings up a more interesting debate,…
Eric Clapton to Vietnamese pop on the playlist ratio: 1:1 Ways I’ve pronounced pho wrong count: 250 Iheard about Lá Me recently, and after a quick visit to their Web site (which features tons of hot chicks on their patio), I decided to go. When I got there, though, I…
Cadillac Ranch Three different servers interrupted my lunch, each seemingly desperate to know what I thought of the fried oysters. One even admitted that these crusty half shell bites represent the best thing on their menu. The only break in this cavalcade of overtly beaming faces was a comment I…
