I’m sure you’ve been there before. You walk into a restaurant, take your seat and unfold your napkin. You place a drink order with your waiter, and while looking at the menu, you casually ask “So, what’s good here?” Sometimes you’ll get a great recommendation or two. Sometimes a waiter…
We offer many different perspectives here at the City of Ate, and on occasion we even dabble in being good Samaritans. This is one of those times. If you order Gatorade by color, you must stop. Immediately. “Hey, I’m at the store need anything?” “Yeah, can you pick me up…
Ah, the holidays, that time when you frantically try to figure out what exactly to give whoever you got stuck with in the secret Santa drawing. Maybe you got lucky and selected a music fan; maybe you think you want to give that music fan something that’s not just the…
If you’re noticing a light number of posts here on City of Ate, or on any other Observer blog, you should know we’ve been a little distracted as of late. It seems Hypnotic Donuts has installed a massive billboard just outside our news room window, and it’s making everyone a…
Silly Canucks. The Canadian offshoot of Dallas-based Pizza Hut turned what was originally intended as a marketing joke into reality — they’ve created Pizza Hut pizza-scented perfume. See also: The 10 Worst Fast Food Trends of 2012 Their Facebook page details the fiasco. A post asking what Facebook fans would…
The Los Angeles Times published an op-ed today calling for less government meddling in our dietary choices. Julie Gunlock’s piece questions whether recent state controls regarding food labeling, bans on trans fat and taxes on unhealthy foods are really fitting for a country of free citizens with a limited government…
2012 saw some big-name comebacks, emotional reunions, and just plain weird occurrences, proving that America’s thirst for nostalgia has still not been quenched. Have recent years been the worst for this, or have I just forgotten about the last decade already? Could something as joyous as the resurrection of long-dead…
For years, non-metal people have been accusing various metal bands of influencing their flock with hidden messages that could only be heard by playing the vinyl backwards. Overnight, this “backmasking” became a threat to national security, especially after Dan Rather played clips of hidden messages on CBS Evening News in…
Because there are multiple decades of jazz, it’s almost impossible to pick the top 10 albums of all time; the hip cats with their canes and cool shades will throw their used saxophone reeds in my direction and call me a young whippersnapper. The debate is so polemic that I…
We all love national recognition. We feel so blessed when a big glossy mag celebrates a little local restaurant and showers it with praise. It just feels so good. But a recent pick by Food and Wine has me really questioning the magazine’s knowledge of Dallas food culture. It has…
Tomorrow night sees the arrival of unstoppable force Gotye, as the Belgian-Australian singer and his cohorts take over a sold-out Verizon Theater to play a bunch of songs no one wants to hear till he closes the show with “Somebody That I Used to Know.” The song plays on the…
The lobster roll has been fetishized in Dallas. What started as an obscure menu option offered most notably at Sea Breeze, Rex’s and Cafe Pacific is becoming a full blown trend in Dallas. See Also: Lobster Roll Smack Down: Rex’s Versus Sea Breeze Rex’s Friday Lobster Rolls: They’re Good, and…
A new marketing ploy is gaining popularity. It’s called the shortage. The technique was successfully leveraged a few weeks ago to drum up press for the already over-hyped pork product we all love way too much: bacon. Now Starbucks is getting into the shortage game with an alleged pumpkin spice…
I don’t know about you, but this election coverage is really starting to wear on me. Headline after headline, months and months of media saturation, all to convince me to wake up 25 minutes earlier on November 4 to hit an elementary school on the way to work. I’m so…
Some time ago, a planeload of my family came to Dallas from New York City. After searching for the most Texan-y place to eat, someone thought it’d be funny to take the freshly deplaned New Yorkers to Trail Dust steakhouse. We made sure my uncle wore a tie with his…
Does this look like Michael Bolton to you?By John Seaborn Gray Used to be you’d have to hit bar after bar until you found just the right jukebox, which promptly became your own personal lair of alcohol consumption. Folks demanded more freedom of choice, however, so many bars have switched…
When I wrote about a small tavern in Oak Cliff, I praised small menus, saying that kitchens tasked with too many dishes often end up with watered-down plates fraught with errors, or that the menus themselves are just a pain in the ass to read through. My last few meals,…
Korean comedian/musician PSY’s track “Gangnam Style” became a global viral hit over the summer and served as an example of the Hallyu, or Korean wave. This week, Schoolboy Records (the crew behind Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen) picked PSY up for releases in North America, the most high-profile deal…
Lyle Lovett is a modern legend. His laid-back vocal delivery offers a flirtatious wink at the listener and is as identifiable as his wild-ass hair has been, since he began performing in the early ’80s. The 54-year-old troubadour could sing the words to a Panda Express menu and it would…
Remember when Sean Connery ordered a Smirnoff martini “shaken, not stirred,” while appearing in Goldfinger? The vodka bottle’s label was not-so-casually displayed facing the camera, kicking off a whorish product placement campaign that runs through all the Bond films. Back in the Connery days, though, vodka was simple. It came…
Seeing that the first show I ever took my son to was Iron Maiden, I get a special feeling every time the legendary metal act makes its way to our area. Anyone who calls themselves a metalhead knows the “hits,” so in honor of the band playing tonight at Gexa…
This weekend I spent some time at the Dallas Farmers Market. I showed up Saturday around noon and milled about, checking out various vendors and wondering how the market will change if the proposed privatization effort is completed. As I wandered around tasting tomatoes, slices of cantaloupe and strawberries, I…
