100 Favorite Dishes, No. 6: Pulpo a la Plancha at Casa Rubia

For last week’s Best of Dallas® 2014 issue, we’ve been counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there’s a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me. Any fan of chef Omar Flores’ cooking at Driftwood would expect an…

A Guide to Eating Out in Allen

When people talk about Allen, they mostly talk about that stupid Allen Eagles football stadium. Which is understandable, given that they spent $60 million on it and the concrete wasn’t even poured right. But Allen is more than football, no matter what people say. More importantly, it is where the…

Meat Fight 2014 Tickets Go on Sale Tomorrow

Meat Fight, the barbecue competition, fundraiser and saucy brainchild of our Bearded columnist, Alice Laussade, returns to Trinity Groves on Sunday, November 16. You want to go. You need to go. But will you go? Depends on the accuracy of your clock and the quickness of your clicking fingers. Tickets…

100 Favorite Dishes, No. 7: The Sliders at Easy Slider

For last week’s Best of Dallas® 2014 issue, we’ve been counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there’s a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me. Let’s be honest. The term “slider” doesn’t exactly scream refined. The diminutive…

100 Favorite Dishes, No. 8: Moules Frittes at the Grape

For last week’s Best of Dallas® 2014 issue, we’ve been counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there’s a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me. Don’t order the bistro-style mussels at The Grape, ever. The order is…

100 Favorite Dishes, No. 9: Tacos at La Ventana

To prepare for this fall’s Best of Dallas® 2014 issue, we’re counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there’s a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me. If you’re used to getting your taco fix at a taqueria…

The Meat Fight Meat Scavenger Hunt Starts … Now

Last year, tickets to Meat Fight (my barbecue competition that benefits the National MS Society) sold out in a flash. So, this year, we decided to have a meat scavenger hunt so that one lucky bastard could have easy access to our meat tickets before any other bastard. This is…

The Cheap Bastard’s Guide to the 2014 State Fair of Texas

We sent Alice, our resident State Fair of Texas expert, to sample the eight finalists at this year’s Big Tex Choice Awards. Well, actually, that’s a lie. We didn’t send her. She was going no matter what. In fact, God help the poor soul who stands between Alice and a…

100 Favorite Dishes, No. 10: Fish Reuben at Rex’s

To prepare for this fall’s Best of Dallas® 2014 issue, we’re counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there’s a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me. I’ll get straight to the point: This ain’t no Reuben sandwich…

Cashing in on the Good LYFE’s

The burger trend may — may! — be slowing down, like a lipid clot in an old man’s artery. Sure, burger restaurants including Liberty Burger, Hopdoddy, Mooyah Burger, Five Guys, Smashburger, Twisted Root, Jake’s, Off-Site Kitchen and more are opening all over Dallas, and all over the country, but health-centric…

100 Favorite Dishes, No. 11: Bun Bo Hue at Don Que

To prepare for this fall’s Best of Dallas® 2014 issue, we’re counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there’s a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me. Bun bo hue is a brash and angry angry bowl of…

VH Oak Cliff Opens Tonight in Oak Cliff

This past weekend I was on my way home from a relaxed evening in the Bishop Arts District. It was late and I was tired, but not so tired I couldn’t have been talked into staying out a little longer. As I rounded the corner of Beckley Avenue and stepped…

First Look at Cake Bar at Trinity Groves

If you haven’t paid a visit to Trinity Groves in a while, and you’re into such things, you might want to head back. A number of restaurants have opened recently as the back side of the main building continues to fill with incubating restaurant concepts. The latest is Cake Bar,…

100 Favorite Dishes, No. 12: Emporium Pies’ Pies

To prepare for this fall’s Best of Dallas® 2014 issue, we’re counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there’s a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me. It’s the quintessential ending to just about anything: Something sweet that…

How Meat Church’s Matt Pittman Smokes His Brisket

In “Shigging,” we ask barbecue experts to give us some specifics about how they smoke their meats. In the spirit of barbecue secretiveness and competitiveness, they’re allowed to lie once. This week, for Shigging, I’m doing something a little different, and speaking with a competitive barbecue champion. I’ve heard that…

100 Favorite Dishes, No. 14: Chicken-Fried Steak at Babe’s

To prepare for this fall’s Best of Dallas® 2014 issue, we’re counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there’s a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me. The best thing about Babe’s, no matter what location you visit,…

So&So’s Can Be Better Than So-So, with a Little Restraint

A week or two ago I was sitting at the bar at So&So’s and the Rangers game was on the television, high above my head. The Rangers were losing, something they’ve become increasingly known for this season, and I wondered what it would be like to take pitches as a…

Six Stops to Make at the New and Improved Dallas Farmers Market

After the City of Dallas sold the Dallas Farmers Market off to a private entity, market goers were promised big changes. When the market reopened on September 1, it was a little difficult to tell what exactly had changed. Shed 2, the former home of Pecan Lodge, is completely closed…