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At 26, Parx has developed a solid reputation as a songwriter.

Tayla Parx Has Written Hit Songs for Big Names; Now It's Time for Dallas to Learn Hers

By Garrett Gravley

Jun 17, 2020

It's a brisk Friday night in late January and a long, single-file line of ticket holders snakes around the House of Blues in Dallas. Tayla Parx sits in the green room, preparing herself for her homecoming show. She's played arenas as a supporting act before and isn't entirely overcome with stage fright...

Three Links in Deep Ellum produces live streaming bands online

What Will the Dallas Music Scene Look Like When Music Lives Again?

By Tyler Hicks

May 12, 2020

A lone light shines down on a stage shrouded in darkness. There's the faint sound of movement, of shoes shuffling, throats clearing. Seconds pass, and the electric feeling of anticipation rises, the moment of, “They’re here; the show is finally starting.” The performer finally steps into that spotlight and begins...

Fresh momos are more than street food to some.

For Momo Shack, a Momo Is More Than Just Food: ‘It Is Love’

By Sriya Reddy

Mar 5, 2020

Around the kitchen table, an assembly line is formed with each member assigned to one task. Some put the filling in the middle of the dough, while others, with a graceful and repetitive folding motion, finish up the momo. These memories are some of Leezen Amatya’s favorites. To him, momos...

Pilot Christy Wong and her plane, a Piper Warrior II

Come Fly With Us to Pilots’ Favorite ‘$100 Hamburgers’

By Lauren Drewes Daniels

Feb 17, 2020

Five pilots sat around a table over lunch recently, discussing gumbo, cargo flights out of Winnipeg and getting stuck in a holding pattern. They were at Ardmore Municipal Airport in Oklahoma watching planes come and go from the dining room at Jake's Joint. The chef-driven restaurant adjacent to the runway...

The Microfarm That Could: How Profound Is Bringing Fresher Produce to Dallas Chefs

By Taylor Adams

Feb 10, 2020

It’s possible your favorite restaurant has a little “provided by” section on its menu and “Profound Microfarms” is listed there. If so, that's because Jeff Bednar decided a few years ago to leave his job in real estate and start growing things. Many of the top restaurants in Dallas get...

Taylor Morgan lets Jesus take the wheel.

Soul Musician Taylor Morgan Just Wants to Praise God

By Tyler Hicks

Jan 22, 2020

“Oh, my God! Thank you, Jesus! God is so good! I love God!” This is Taylor Morgan, recounting the jubilation she felt after planning a successful event. Morgan, who's 30, plans jam sessions. She plans benefit concerts. Sometimes she sings. And she prays. She prays in her car. She prays...

McAlister’s cotton plants didn’t produce enough to be financially worth harvesting and selling this year. He will instead depend on insurance money to make ends meet.

Growing Pains: Stress Is Killing Farmers, But These Texans Keep Plowing Ahead

By Meredith Lawrence

Jan 21, 2020

Farmers across the country are struggling to make ends meet. In Texas, the stress weighs on farmers who sometimes struggle to figure out how to scrape together the next bill payment.

Moving on Up: A Project to Place Public Housing Tenants in Better Neighborhoods Gets a Boost

By Lucas Manfield

Jan 14, 2020

When Donna Pryor walked into her new three-bedroom home on a tree-lined street in Plano, she was mesmerized. There was a clean yard, a huge kitchen and a swimming pool out back. Finally, her children would be safe. Pryor left home when she was 13 to escape her drug-addicted mother. Pregnant...

Mallow Box’s Marshmallows — Ahem, S’mores — Exude Homemade Flavor

By Taylor Adams

Dec 30, 2019

There are marshmallows you get in a bag at the grocery store — the kind you can smell through the plastic as you approach that section in the aisle. Then there are real marshmallows — the ones that make you realize there can be a real freshness to these creations,...

Christmas waffles, for the morning after too much eggnog and bourbon

Waffle House? At Christmas? It’s More Than You Think.

By Lauren Drewes Daniels

Dec 25, 2019

Just going to be honest here: I’m fascinated by Waffle House for a variety of reasons. For example, FEMA’s Waffle House Index, which the agency uses to determine the level of assistance a community needs after a storm. Or the time on Parts Unknown when Anthony Bourdain said it was a...

Rania Alahmad, Rasha Sultan, Nawarah Shaker and Maissa Alkhadir after prepping a meal for Break Bread, Break Borders, a refugee-run catering company.

Food Sisters: Local Nonprofit Catering Company Gives Refugees a Hand Up

By Meredith Lawrence

Dec 23, 2019

Sunlight seeps into the small commercial kitchen in the Muslim American Society's Islamic Center as Maissa Alkhadir stirs a steaming pot of rice and potatoes. Reaching to a shelf above the stove, she grabs a plastic canister of dried spices and sprinkles some into the pot. Once it's done, she...

Flat Earth model builder Chris Pontius converses with guests at the Flat Earth International Conference held in November at the Frisco Hotel and Convention Center.

Discworld Is Real! Dive into Flat Earth Culture at their Global, Sorry, International Conference

By Danny Gallagher

Dec 10, 2019

"Be nice." That's the text message my mom always sends when I'm heading into a situation that's controversial or ridiculous. A Twilight film marathon, a Logan Paul concert, even Fyre Festival II — it doesn't matter. She'll still send the text because she's sweet and concerned for her first born...

Rastafarian culture changed a former inmate's life.

Oak Cliff Native Judah Left Prison Behind and Found Success with African and Rastafarian Shop

By Malen Blackmon

Dec 9, 2019

During a seven-year stint in federal prison, a man who goes simply by "Judah" found something that people around the world chase after their whole lives (and still might never find): peace and meaning. The past may mold, but not define, an individual — and the Oak Cliff native and...

The trio behind La Reunion: general manager and lead of the coffee program Ali Abderrahman, chef Matt Smith and owner Mike Mettendorf

La Reunion Isn’t a Coffee Shop, Restaurant or Bar, Yet It’s All of Those Things

By Taylor Adams

Dec 6, 2019

In a traditional kitchen, it’s not uncommon to see an executive chef and pastry chef working together. At the very least, the kitchen lead is usually the one making ingredient orders, so they have to discuss that. But there’s another kind of collaboration going on in Bishop Arts, one among...

From left: Maren Alford, Liv Haynes and Gigi Haynes of the band Not UR Girlfrenz.

Not UR Girlfrenz Is Not UR Average High School Band

By Meredith Lawrence

Nov 21, 2019

The all-girl pop, punk band is popular, talented and not afraid to speak up.

Joshua Ray Walker warms up at sound check for a show at the Granada Theater

Willie, Waylon and Them: North Texas Songwriters Put the Story Back in Country

By Meredith Lawrence

Oct 9, 2019

Across the nation, country music with a more classic sound, often labeled “Americana,” is making a comeback. Americana has come to describe a rising class of country musicians with an unornamented western sound and a penchant for storytelling and character-driven lyrics. In Dallas, that resurgence has many young faces.

Teenage pop singer Nya Marquez has worked with Selena's brother, '80s icon Tiffany and is now opening for Chris Brown. "Period!"

Aspiring Pop Star Nya Marquez Grapples with Being Almost Famous

By Tyler Hicks

Oct 7, 2019

Nya Marquez is fond of saying “period,” as in “end of conversation.” She says it when she is giving dating advice to her friends (which she does often) and when she concludes a rehearsal (which she does almost as often). On a sunny Tuesday at a barren shopping center in...

Meredith Ellis and her father, G.C. Ellis, in the barn on their ranch.

Can Raising Cattle Be Environmentally Friendly? These Texas Ranchers Say Yes.

By Meredith Lawrence

Sep 17, 2019

Thigh-high grasses and plant stalks thwack the sides of the all-terrain buggy as Meredith Ellis maneuvers it down a faint double track through a dense pasture. Grasshoppers launch out of the way, whirring past bright purple, thistle-like Leavenworth's eryngo that poke up alongside creamy milkweed flowers. Yellow and purple wildflowers...

Steakhouses feel like a vintage throwback experience.

The Dallas Steakhouse Needs to Join the 21st Century. But Does It Want To?

By Brian Reinhart

Sep 10, 2019

Dallas has a growing bounty of diverse, interesting places to eat, but the iconic Dallas restaurant is an institution that hasn’t changed much in the last 30 years: the steakhouse. In almost every affluent neighborhood in town, steakhouses serve big grilled cuts of beef and big tannic bottles of cabernet...

Dallas Couple Teaches History, Fosters Community With South African Supper Clubs

By Paige Weaver

Sep 10, 2019

A Dallas couple is fostering community through baking, food and the history of South Africa. Stephanie Leichtle-Chalklen is the baker and cook behind Kuluntu Bakery, a cottage baking business in North Oak Cliff. With her husband, Warren Chalklen, they also host Ubuntu Supper Clubs — evenings focused on cultural awareness...

Feature Stories

UT-Arlington Student Brianna Baucum Fights a Web of Lies to Bring Her Daughter Home

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