From Across the Pond Finds Some Success Pivoting Methods

From Across the Pond has been serving English fare in North Richland Hills for more than a decade. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it hit them hard.  “We literally did 99% of our business through dine-in,” owner Lee Herdman says. “Take-out was maybe 1% of our business.” “We used…

Good to Go: Meatballs from Il Bracco Hold up Across Town

Good to Go is a column where our food writers explore Dallas’ restaurant scene through takeout orders, delivery boxes and reheated leftovers. For months now, chefs in town have been posting about a certain to-go container full of sauce-drenched meatballs from Il Bracco in University Park. That’s for good reason…

Good to Go: How Does a $23 Burger Hold up During Takeout?

Good to Go is a column in which our food writers explore Dallas’ restaurant scene through takeout orders, delivery boxes and reheated leftovers. One of the strangest food moments of the year has to be ordering takeout from a luxury steakhouse during a pandemic. The Town Hearth parking lot was…

Michelle Bonds of Trova Talks Opening During a Pandemic

Historically speaking, when opening a new restaurant, owners wouldn’t typically plan for a pandemic. If there’s anything we’ve learned during COVID-19, it’s that optimizing a store for service during an international health crisis may be the new normal. Such is the case for Michelle Bonds, owner of Trova Wine and…

The Amazing Sandwich Sounds at Brown Bag Provisions

Porchetta is a signpost that leads to great things. In Rome, you’ll see them in the salumeria windows, some halved like a gemstone. The cross section reveals ores of fennel, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper stuffed loin, wrapped and cinched in pork belly. It’s rolled up in the shape of…

Good to Go: Ka-Tip Offers a Wealth of Flavor Curbside

Months ago, just after critic Brian Reinhart had already visited and raved about the flavors coming out of Ka-Tip Thai Street Food, I tasted something I hadn’t experienced since sitting outside some restaurant in Bangkok years ago. The soup, rice dishes and appetizers we tried were wonderful, but the first…

First Look: La Tarte Tropézienne Is Finally Downtown

It’s nearly eight months later than planned, but La Tarte Tropézienne is fully open in downtown Dallas. Fully open in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, that is, offering curbside takeout. But considering they were waiting on permits in mid-January for a place they had wanted to open in November,…

Closing and Opening News for Restaurants

Yelp updated its Local Economic Impact Report June 25 and reported that from March 1 to late June, 23,981 restaurants across the United States have closed. Locally, it doesn’t seem like we’ve seen the full spate of closings yet. In many cases, it’s hard to determine if a restaurant is…

Good to Go: Si Lom’s Mango Sticky Rice Is a Welcome Respite

Good to Go is a column where our food writers explore Dallas’ restaurant scene through takeout orders, delivery boxes and reheated leftovers. There is something so wonderful about fulfilling a craving you’ve had for weeks. I’ve been thinking about mango sticky rice (khao neow ma muang) since Mother’s Day, when…

How Palmer’s Is About More than Fried Chicken

This summer, Palmer’s Hot Chicken will be one of the new Nashville hot chicken establishments opening in Dallas. It’s the brainchild of Palmer Fortune, who is also the owner of two Porch restaurants in St. Simon’s Island, Georgia. The menu at Palmer’s will be identical to that of Porch, offering…

For a Taste of Homegrown Freshness, Pay a Farm a Visit

Businesses are slowly bringing back some food events — which you can attend masked up and staying the heck away from other people — and whether or not you decide to be a patron at one of those, one can start to feel cooped up after 100 days in a…

An Ode to the Kolaches (Klobasneks) at Jarams Donuts

We’re moving like chess pieces. The summer heat is heavy as iron, even in the morning; we’re sweating through our masks as the line spills onto the sidewalk in front of Jarams Donuts in East Dallas. Each of us seems ready to face the new challenges that come with grabbing…

To Brunch or Not to Brunch? If You Do, Try Zaguán.

There has been some talk about how the restaurant industry might look when we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic: Maybe QR menus should stay. What will happen to fine dining? Perhaps being able to purchase alcohol to-go from a restaurant could stick around. It’s entirely possible that months ago,…

Kouign-Amann Day, a Retrospective

The tipping point happened in a parking lot just off the Dallas North Tollway, while I was sitting in my car. The sun had only put in a few hours’ work that day and was casting a golden yolk haze inside my Honda. I was holding a kouign-amann (pronounced “queen…