No other image better captures the Dallas dining scene: Under a cloudy sky, hungry customers wait their turn for one of the nine tables inside a restaurant that looks like it survived a recent bombing campaign. Six-packs of bottled beer litter the street, and a red and white cooler hints…
The neon is shining at Spork now, as long as you show up after sunset. The casual burger restaurant opened earlier this month at the hands of Eric Justice (former chef at Mexican Sugar) and other Dallas-area power chefs. Tim Byres and Katherine Clapner were among the chefs tasked with…
It’s time for another Dallas Observer Iron Fork event, and while the participating restaurants are sure to provide another gustatory marathon of epic proportions, it’s hard to discuss the food until you’ve gotten past this year’s awesome competition chefs. Matt McCallister has been dominating the competition since he ousted Scott…
If you know anything about Dallas, you’ve heard Deep Ellum is coming out of its coma. After its bar and club scene peaked and plummeted, many wondered if and how it could be restored to its glory days of the late ’90s. Little by little, things changed; developers bought up…
Kathryn DeBruler searches far and wide for DFW’s most interesting breakfast food. Come along. In Texas, Kolaches are a thing. There are at least four festivals honoring the Czech pastry in our great state alone. The most famous kolaches hail from West, where legend has it that city revenue is…
Last year, I predicted 2015 would be the year the burger bubble burst in Dallas. Since that article was published, no fewer than 37 burger restaurants have opened. Maybe burgers are invincible — the culinary equivalent of Kevlar and titanium — but I still argue that Dallas has too many…
It’s like walking into a restaurant inside a kids’ book. Nestled in the Casa Linda Plaza shopping center, next to Great Clips, is the adorable Dugg Burger. Inside, there’s a menu that’s all pictures. It’s perfect for non-readers, lovers of simple food and extraterrestrials. E.T. would actually have no trouble…
Michelle learned to love ramen as a teenager, growing up in Singapore and traveling around Asia with her family. Brian is newer to the scene: He didn’t even try instant ramen in college. Together, they’re hunting for DFW’s best ramen. The Shop: Sushi Robata The Atmosphere: Everybody who knows their…
Everything about a properly made grilled cheese sandwich — perfectly toasted white bread, browned with a slathering of butter that steps up to the edge of excess; tiny, golden-brown crumbs that cling to greasy fingertips; American cheese so hot it pulls apart in small strings; a satisfying crispness in every…
Meri Dahlke and her partners don’t waste precious beer time. News that they’d taken over the lease at the Amsterdam Bar broke late last week, and Dahlke says she’s already shooting for a June opening. She hopes Eight Bells will replicate the success they’ve had with Ten Bells, which opened…
Let’s ignore the somewhat awkward pool table and the haze of cigarette smoke in the vestibule in front of ZaLat, the new pizzeria on Fitzhugh Avenue. Let’s ignore the cast of characters hanging out inside as pizzas are delicately formed and slipped in the oven. Let’s ignore the insane creations…
“He went to Jarams.” These are the words every woman dreams of hearing. For so many, they represent the culmination of a lifetime’s worth of hoping, planning and dreaming. What little girl hasn’t pined away for the day when she, too, would get the big, white donut of her dreams?…
One of the most challenging things you can do, as a person with free will and time to roam the Earth and eat things, is to sit and enjoy the taste of a veggie burger. Questions break the mind-dam and flood in: Why shape vegetables to look like a burger?…
Fish eyes staring me down: 4 “Fish taco can also mean vagina” jokes that ran through my head during lunch: 456 Fur Coat On A 70-Degree Day Lady arrives a little late to meet her friend, Strait-Lane Old-Money Awesome Huge Old-Lady Hair Lady, and side-hugs her. They talk shit about…
The first time I stepped into Stonedeck Pizza Pub, the dining room was a sight to be seen and then promptly forgotten. I’d walked in from the cold, looking for something to stuff my gut and warm my bones, but I couldn’t find a seat. The dining room was mobbed;…
Amsterdam Bar fans were allowed barely a week to mourn the loss of one of Expo Park’s more iconic bars. Developer Madison Partners LLC announced this week that it’s landed new tenants in Ten Bells owners Meri Dahlke and Michael Hickey, who will open Eight Bells. This is a huge…
No, not the molten-hot processed cheese-food-liquid queso. Quesa is the new restaurant that opened last month on Cedar Springs Road in the Oak Lawn neighborhood. It offers tacos served on freshly made corn tortillas — the flour tortillas are purchased pre-made — and lesser-known quesas. It’s the quesas that got…
Food trends seem to be about three (or 10, sometimes) years late in making their way to Dallas from the East and West coasts. Even as the scene here has accelerated in recent years, we’ve lagged behind other cities in terms of offering a wide range of cuisines and flavors…
If this corner on Henderson Avenue is known for anything, it’s raucous nightlife. Beauty Bar, Gin Mill, Barcadia and others slather young drinkers with alcohol while playing loud music, night after night. But while the young and drunk bump and grind, and giant Jenga towers tumble under the influence, two…
Chasin’ Tail’s new location, just across the Lewisville Lake bridge in Lake Dallas, is easy to find, marked as it is by a large pink pig-shaped smoker out front. I visited recently, and the sophomore in me was disappointed at the missed opportunity with the menu: no “Meat Three Way”…
Everyone has been sick lately, including me. Headache, scratchy throat, the works. I’d been medicating with chicken soup and tapioca pudding for days, but feeling on the mend I decided to venture out for sustenance. I needed something good, something comforting. But also — and this is not a typical…
A few weeks ago, we broke down Dallas’ 10 best burgers. The first few were easy to rattle off because, after last year, we’re actually made of burger meat now. Going forward, you will address us as “Burgers King.” Several of the burgers are iconic classics, others are new entries…
