Bourbon and Meat: Gizmodo Celerates Dallas in Two Glorious Ways

Have you read Gizmodo’s latest ode to the “Big D?” They just published the details of the third leg of their trip, which was sponsored by Knob Creek® and featured Seattle, San Fransisco and most recently Dallas.

While it’s nice to be complimented by just about anyone, I’m worried the post missed some really good opportunities to showcase the best of Dallas’ restaurant scene. Here’s some highlights of what they captured.

We each ordered up a Knob Creek® Old Fashioned and soaked up some rays. As far as we can tell, almost all of the food at Acme F&B falls into the “definitely going to get you fat” category. Ultimately, we loved the drinks and the doughnuts, but the rest of the food put a hurting on us. Maybe we just tried to go too Texas too fast.

Man. Acme F&B has had more cooks in its kitchen than these guys visited in their Knob Creek® sponsored tour. I’m not surprised they didn’t have much nice to say about the place. Everyone knows you don’t go to Uptown to order CFS — you go to Babe’s, Bubba’s, Sissy’s or any other Southern restaurant that actually specializes submerging meat in bubbling oil.

Thankfully their next stop was Bolsa. This is when things started to turn around.

We love when we ask, “what’s good here?” and actually receive knowledgeable, passionate answers instead of the deflating, typical answer of, “oh, everything!” Thanks to our waitress, we crushed this place.

For some reason we had low expectations for Dallas. Bolsa helped put us in our place. It delivered the goods big time on both the food and the drinks. Next time we’re in town, we’ll most definitely be returning here and suggest you do the same.

I’m glad they got a great service, though recommendations aren’t that hard when a menu is as solid as Bolsa’s. I’d say this is the best pick across their whole list in terms of restaurant quality, service, food and also for drinking Knob Creek®. But hey, what’s with the the Dallas-is-shitty assumption?

Next the authors went out to the Woodshed. This is when things get pretty saccharine. I blame the whiskey.

You want this restaurant in your life….

We’re actually considering opening up an Immaculate Infatuation Ft. Worth office so we can hang out at the Woodshed all the time…

It’s just too gratuitous to quote in entirety. How many Knob Creek® drinks did these guys have before they stopped into this place? Click through if you want to read the rest, but be sure to turn on your private browsing.

When you’re done we can move on to The People’s Last Stand

In our experience, rolling into a shopping mall in search of something good to eat and drink usually results in a trip to Chili’s (if we’re lucky).

WELCOME TO TEXAS!!!! And wait till you see our suburbs. Some of our most interesting food comes from shopping malls.

Hidden in the back of a new residential apartment complex/shopping center and sandwiched between Urban Outfitters and West Elm, sits one of Dallas’ best cocktail bars

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It’s sad to read this.

The location of The People’s Last Stand is clearly their biggest challenge; it was pretty empty when we rolled through.

Sigh.

The whole real estate thing is a bummer here in Dallas. How can you expect a restaurant scene to flourish in new and creative ways when it’s easier to open up a cocktail den in a shopping mall than to repurpose a cool garage or convert some other space into something truly interesting?

Some restaurateurs with the cash and know-how are setting up some really great spaces. (You guys glossed over a lot of them, including, oh, I dunno, a JAMES BEARD NOMINEE.) Others get stuck next to DSW shoes. Whaddya gonna do?

From there the authors buddy up with Chef Dat who hosts a private dinner for the crew at his house. I wish they’d patronized a restaurant that the rest of us and other visitors to Dallas could patronize in the future. Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure David Temple threw a heck of a party, but other options in the city are much more accessible to the rest of us.

Then again Temple did introduce them to Tom Spicer’s greens, (I’m betting arugula) and TJ’s smoked salmon. We don’t have a ton of artisans making great things in Dallas, but we do have some good ones. In fact now that I think about it, Temple may have been the best culinary ambassador to Dallas on this list.

Thanks, dude. Did you happen to snag us a bottle of Knob Creek®?