Maybe I’m dim, but I recently found myself doing endless Central Expressway service-road laps–not to outrun the white Ford pickup I cut off exiting onto Campbell, but to find Rasoi, an Indian restaurant hugging Central Expressway. It’s not that the preparations weren’t in place. I had the address. I had…
The Varsity in Atlanta serves some of the greasiest fries this side of a school cafeteria. Their burgers taste like several pounds of burnt vegetable oil. The attraction of this landmark restaurant is the contrived rudeness of the restaurant’s staff, who shout “what’ll ya have, ain’t got all day” repeatedly…
If there’s one thing Caribbean Red does with exhausting ardor, it’s play with its name, at least the latter part of it. Stroll into the place, under the blazing scarlet neon sign, past the little vestibule strewn with litter, and you’ll enter an expansive bar-lounge-dining-room hybrid so saturated in hues…
Restless chef Marc Haines has a new spatula gig. He has vacated his post as executive chef of Cuba Libre and has assumed the task of giving Fish restaurant a face-hoisting. (The place has been without an executive chef since George Greiser departed for The Prison–that’s a restaurant, not a…
Every couple of weeks or so, Gary Smith dusts off a folding banquet table from the back room at Centennial on Valley View in Addison, covers it with a simple tablecloth, sets out paper cups and cocktail napkins alongside bottles of booze, and offers free “tastings” to the customers who…
Shaken, not stirred. The words reverberate through popular culture, requiring no explanation. But what do we like to have shaken, stirred, and ceremoniously sluiced into a martini glass, vodka or gin? “That’s an easy one,” assures Frank Buchalski, manager at Martini Ranch. “Vodka outsells gin by far.” Nationwide, vodka martinis…
Will it slump or bump? Will we be dining on caviar and burping through silk hankies, or chewing Velveeta sandwiches and picking our incisors with plastic straws? The pessimists are getting delirious. The heralds are all there. Alan Greenspan failed to cut interest rates. Gas costs more than a pound…
Rudyard Kipling maintained a sense of straightforward, unadorned realism about things. His strongest writings–“east is east and west is west”–eschew ambiguity in favor of a world simplified. Rudyard Kipling never once said that anything tasted like chicken. Nowadays, of course, everything indescribable and new tastes somewhat like mass-produced poultry product,…
What is it about steak that seems to turn this town into a one-note culinary tuba? It’s cliché to say that every time you turn around there’s another steakhouse. The mystery is where all these steak houses are getting their steaks. Steers are not bunnies, though some people consider themselves…
Sometimes you wonder which extreme, gullibility or generosity, drives American dining behavior. As a people, we tip quite well. We’re accustomed to it, leaving change behind on grimy diner tables and credit slips bearing at least one zero at fine establishments. Our willingness to toss away cash with scant consideration…
Taqueria Cañonita’s publicity propaganda makes a lot of the fact that this superstar taqueria was hatched by Dallas star chef Stephan Pyles and his younger sister Alena. The blurbs tell how the pair developed the restaurant over the course of 10 or so years during many trips to Mexico, where…
Gilbert Garza starts his day at Suze by clipping a wireless phone to his belt. He then slips on a lightweight headset–the kind that doesn’t disturb your hair–complete with mouthpiece. He looks vaguely like Tom Hanks in Apollo 13, if Hanks were a chef preparing for another 14-hour day. All…
If nothing else, Rear Window is a view or, rather, a collection of little views tucked away in portals wrought into the interior architecture. The effect is handsome, cozy, plush, and off-center. Rear Window is neatly divided into two sections–restaurant and bar–separated by a wood-paneled wall harboring a number of…
What does a daringly beautiful and sleek lounge do when it wants to evolve beyond watering-hole food? It sautés quail. We ordered Zúbar’s sautéed quail with new potatoes and asparagus, and we threw the kitchen off its footing. The chef made an emergency visit to our table and explained the…
Just like that, the steak and the sizzle have been plucked off McKinney Avenue. Angelo & Maxie’s Steakhouse, a Manhattan-based red-beef meat market roping 24- to 35-year-olds with the ploy that you’re “never 2 hip” to tuck into a 24-ounce T-bone, has canceled plans to go into Chateau Plaza in…
A busy night at the Flying Saucer in Addison often forces patrons to park across the street and risk their lives in a mad dash across Montfort. Laura’s Last Chance in North Dallas provides revelers with a stunning view from its outdoor patio of an apartment complex’s drab backside. Hooter’s…
Upon leaving the White House way back when, President Eisenhower cautioned against the power of the military-industrial complex. Perhaps the old guy should have warned us about the processed food industry as well. From Spam to hot dogs to pre-mixed peanut butter and jelly to Velveeta, we’ve managed to perfect…
It’s difficult to decide what to like best about Big Buck Brewery & Steakhouse. Is it the 360-degree jet-black audio speakers that look like charred beehives hanging from the ceiling? Or is it the Big Buck urinals? The latter, a steakhouse innovation soon to be copied in every segment of…
It appears Bosque Café, the restaurant composed in the arts district by longtime restaurateur Edgar Watson, has closed after its doors had been open for just a week. Watson, who launched a small string of restaurants in the Dallas area over the years including Adriano’s in the Quadrangle (where Dream…
Long before the advent of forks, spoons, ladles, and other eating utensils, humankind skewered meat on sharpened sticks. It remains one of our most basic instincts–to jab at food with a pointed object in a symbolic form of savagery. Yes, underneath the genteel façade of manners, etiquette, and sophistication rests…
Europeans often scoff at America’s apparent lack of unique tradition, especially around the holidays. Fruitcake, eggnog, and ham, for example, are all Christmas staples borrowed from the Old World. And turducken belongs to Louisiana alone. Historians tell us that America’s early settlers braved the treacherous Atlantic crossing to escape tyranny,…
Ten minutes since arrival. Chips. We are swimming in chips. Two large baskets. And it’s taken 10 minutes to get these. They are crisp, well salted, and without that pubescent facial sheen that makes you feel as though you’re about to eat scraps of Southwestern-style no-wax flooring. Each basket is…
