My first introduction to a cucumber sandwich was sometime back in the mid-1990s, when I was a young teenager on some kind of church or tennis trip to the Deep South. Somewhere between Georgia and Louisiana, which might be Alabama, I remember stopping in a tiny town where the air…
There’s a timeworn bit of wisdom regarding too many cooks in the kitchen. They get in each other’s way, argue over the proper interpretation of recipes, bark countermanding orders to staff and generally muck things up royally—or so the story goes. Lately, however, accomplished chefs have been joining forces with…
I’ve driven past several Chicken & Rice restaurants in Dallas and always kinda wondered what goes on in there (besides the obvious chicken-and-rice-ing). The windows of MJ’s Chicken & Rice always particularly confused me because of their neon signs that read “Chinese” and “Catfish.” It’s like they picked all of…
This week, Veggie Girl braved the crowds of plastically enhanced Women Who Lunch to try out Houston’s. Rumored to have one of the best house-made veggie burgers in Dallas, Houston’s is part of the Hillstone Restaurant quasi-chain that includes R + D, across the street in Preston Center, and a…
Sure, I love the high life. But I’m kind of a sucker for the hole-in-the-wall, too. In fact, it’s really just the middling places–the Golden Corral’s of the world–that bug me. It’s the Groucho Marx effect.You know: “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.”…
Word that Sambuca decided to shutter their Addison location stirred little reaction. It had been relegated to the ranks of karaoke bar, after all. Then Omega’s locked up and Fedora appeared to follow suit. Suddenly it looked as if Dallas had hit the skids.Oh, the recession cut into profit margins…
Just why would anyone drive all the way to Rockwall? I mean, unless they happen to be stuck to a mortgage there. Yeah, there’s the big reservoir, but if you venture out on the water some weekend, you’re probably not decked out in your Dallas clubbing best, right? So you’d…
Hunky’s is your typical ’50s throwback diner, with the added bonus that they have STD testing information on the bathroom walls. It’s the diner equivalent of Sesame Street: fun and informative (“Today’s episode was brought to you by the letters V and D and the number Shit!”) When it was…
The question is not how Olivella’s does the simple Italian thing so well, but why more restaurants don’t. Is it so difficult, really, to buy fresh, healthy ingredients, and then to keep the food simple enough to let their flavors come through? Apparently so, or more places would do it…
Two days after the Morning News gave Lazare a scathing one-star review, I went to see for myself. I had actually meant to go somewhere else, but Lazare was closer. Having read the review, I wasn’t expecting much. And the menu didn’t bode well for a vegan meal. Most things…
I didn’t intend to research vegan dining at Avila’s. I planned to enjoy some chips and salsa, maybe some water, and the scintillating conversation of my coworkers. But I’m learning that in the great adventure that is veganism in Dallas, nothing’s ever as it seems. Avila’s is an old-time outpost…
So, after my Texaco station taco experience went so well, I decided I’d see what the competition at the Chevron at Park Lane and Greenville Avenue had to offer. Turns out, I’ve been really wasting my life away by buying Funyuns at these places when I could’ve been ordering tortas…
Some months ago, Abraham Salum faced a couple of moderately serious problems. Business slipped, first of all, as the recession began to squeeze diners—an issue that he might deal with to some extent if he addressed the second concern. “Some people said they would love to come in on Mondays…
The front end of a cow carcass was dangling from the ceiling. With a butcher’s hook and a boning knife in my hands, I regarded the bright-red expanse of raw meat. The day before, on the first day of Beef 101 class, I had patted this steer on the forehead…
Veggie Girl finds vegan and vegetarian options at Dallas establishments of all kinds. The column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. I love a good storm. So when I woke up last Thursday to howling winds and sheets of furious rain, I resisted the urge to crawl back into bed and instead…
The first thing that drew me to Villa O was the exterior, where a line of nautically themed blue and white couches and rocking chairs wait invitingly for the odd passerby to recline and stay awhile. (This, of course, was before today’s storm-of-biblical-proportions rolled in.) Assuming I couldn’t eat the…
Chef Blythe Beck likes things naughty—in the kitchen, on the plate, even at home, the tawdry cook can never say no when there’s some oil and a fine piece of meat. She’s even made naughtiness the heart of a new cooking series currently being videotaped at her restaurant. Now, let’s…
Before I walked into the Cindi’s on Central, I had no idea why they’d open a location that’s literally next door to The Casket Store. (Same question to you, Boxes to Go. You offering speedier service? I guess it’s pretty much impossible to open up any store next to The…
After a weekend spent swimming hazily through a NyQuil-induced fog and eating the only thing that didn’t come back up (Ak-Mak crackers), I was primed and ready for a good vegan lunch buffet–someplace where I wouldn’t have to ask any questions about ingredients or wonder whether they had really removed…
In honor of our president’s ambitious trip to the Middle East this week , I’ve decided to undertake my own (and decidedly less ambitious) Middle-East-themed balancing act: ferreting out some good food from the region here in Dallas. Herewith, two of Dallas’ better Middle Eastern restaurants go head-to-head, with ratings…
Some decades ago, there was this little chippy up on Hampstead High Street, a short walk from our London flat. It was here I first encountered Britain’s symbolic pub dish, fish and chips: a choice of cod—if memory serves—or plaice, battered and dripping grease, rolled with soggy fries in an…
I am a Chicano in Connecticut. I moved from Arizona to the East Coast for my dream job. I have to admit that I’m still homesick. Connecticut is a completely different world. To sum it up in one phrase, vale madre. It took awhile for me to find a Mexican…
