Look out, Highland Park — there’s a new chef in town. After a stint at Bolsa in Oak Cliff, Andrew Bell has officially taken the helm at Highland Park Village’s Bistro 31. It may seem like a bit of a gamble, bringing in a chef from a restaurant with a…
One of the strangest bar menus in Dallas has to be at Cold Beer Company. Hot dogs are loaded up with brisket or mac ‘n’ cheese, and the tortilla and pita chips come with two salsas and a plastic cup of freshly mixed pimento cheese. They have a late-night peanut…
It had all the makings of an epic tale. Eric Brandt, a competent and capable chef, and Victor Hugo, a front-of-the-house guy with exceptional customer service skills, had grown restless and needed a change. They’d been working together at Bistro 31 in Highland Park, where Brandt plated up Americanized riffs…
I am by no means a great cook. I do not own a lot of the things I should for some of the recipes I undertake, and I tend to get panicked and just start throwing things together and praying it works. Double boiler? Nope. I’m gonna boil some water…
“I find the pastrami to be the most sensual of all the salted, cured meats.” George Costanza was right about one thing: charcuterie is damn sexy. Case in point: The Char Bar at Asador Restaurant inside the Renaissance Dallas Hotel…
DiDi’s Tamale Diner, a casual tamale and tequila joint, opened its doors in Trinity Groves last week. DiDi’s Tamale Diner was originally opened in Mesquite in 2011, earning rave reviews from local diners who have sorely missed the spot since it closed for the relocation to Dallas. From all accounts,…
Whiskey Cake, the Front Burner Restaurant Group’s ode to casual dining in Plano, has been open for almost four years now, and other than two new locations, not much has changed. When Hanna Raskin reviewed the restaurant for the Observer shortly after it opened, she described creative cocktails, mustardy deviled…
There’s no reason for Digg’s Tacos to have one of Dallas’ most addictive burgers, but they do. I’m there just as it opens for lunch, before the carnitas or queso has been fired, and the burger hits the cooktop with a blazing sizzle. A griddle press is placed on top…
The restaurant business isn’t known for stability. Flux and dysfunction are built in to the gig, in menu and operational tweaks and makeovers, staff changes, backroom drama and bloodshed in the budget. Restaurants are more likely to close than they are to stay open during the first year in business,…
For all we go on about brisket, the pork rib has a beauty all its own. Beloved in greater swathes of the country than brisket, it’s nevertheless shunned across the Lone Star state as an not so worthy of barbecue. Well, if Kevin Spacey on House of Cards is constantly…
With a nationally recognized reputation as the creator of “New Texas” cuisine, 30-plus years of experience honing his craft and numerous awards to his name, Chef Stephen Pyles isn’t hurting for credentials. Still, he continues to impress, particularly with the reimagined South American flavors showcased at his newest restaurant, San…
Somewhere over on the east side of the airport, on an unassuming street corner, lies the tiniest hole in the wall barbecue restaurant I’ve ever seen. The front of the house is just a waiting room with two chairs, a window for orders, and for some reason a guitar, fully…
Snuffer’s founder Pat Snuffer isn’t interested in talking about his past endeavors. Instead, he seems excited for his future in bar food and, now, pizza. His newest restaurant, Pat’s and Mike’s, is the start of a new chapter for the longtime, Dallas-area restaurateur — one that includes his son, Mike,…
The number of taquerias in Dallas that serve their taco fillings on handmade tortillas is limited. Most employ the standard working man’s tortilla, an honest round pressed from masa that’s reheated on a hot grill. These tortillas are dependable and get the job done, but their texture is lacking. They’re…
There are many steakhouses in Dallas — places where you can order a thick cut of beef with potatoes gratin and spinach as a side, and places that serve plenty of overpriced bottles of red wine. You can treat yourself to a cold shrimp cocktail or freshly shucked oysters to…
Imagine this: Saturday night, while you and your fuzzy-ass slippers shiffled to the thermostat to crank your heater to 11, four teams of fancy chefs were huddled around smokers in a muddy West Dallas parking lot, drinking beer and cooking meat overnight in freezing temperatures, all in the name of…
When the former owners of Knox Street Pub sold their business last summer to eventually open Glass Boot Biergarten, not much attention was paid to the business they left behind. The Boguses renovated a liquor store to open a restaurant and bar with a massive patio, only to have the…
I’m not sure if it’s a trend or a genuine movement, but something feels different about Dallas’ newest gastropubs. It feels like reinvention. It’s not just about gathering freshly-farmed Swiss chard, pigs that had names 10 hours before you ate them or local beer anymore. Now there are iconic foods…
When Jon Alexis took over TJ’s Seafood in 2009, the fish counter was still just a guppy of an enterprise. Sure, it had more than 20 years of fish peddling under its gills, but at that point it was still a small shop tucked into a North Dallas strip mall…
Could David Anthony Temple’s long awaited Twenty Seven finally be coming to fruition? The rogue chef says he’s aiming to open his first restaurant at the start of next year in Deep Ellum. Temple gained popularity years ago as one of the first chefs to shore up Dallas’ rather anemic…
About two weeks ago, a new storefront opened up on West Davis Street in Oak Cliff, near Spinster, Glass Optical and Davis Street Espresso. Joy Macarons, it’s called, and it offers macarons, obviously. But don’t expect to meet a baker named Joy when you visit. “It’s Liz, by the way,”…
The Blind Butcher probably isn’t the first place you think of when you’re craving something sweet. They’re a self-proclaimed “Beer + Meat” Mecca, and they’ve rightfully earned a spot on Scott Reitz’s list of “100 favorite dishes” with their pastrami egg rolls. Yet, this is where I found myself on…
