This is one of those weekends where Dallas stacks everything on top of itself. Father’s Day, Juneteenth, the World Cup still running, a free block party in the Arts District, and a music calendar that goes from Randy Rogers to Killswitch Engage to the Dallas Symphony in a single Friday night. Pick your lane and go.
Continue readingFiled under Steven Doyle
Father’s Day falls on Sunday, June 21, and Dallas has no shortage of places to take the man who insists he doesn’t need anything. Whether Dad wants a three-course lunch at one of the most celebrated tables in the city, a brunch buffet with a smoked Old Fashioned in hand, or fried chicken and champagne at a neighborhood spot that gets it right, here’s where to make a reservation before the weekend gets away from you.
Continue readingFiled under Steven Doyle
Before Carlos Branger opened a restaurant, he threw dinner parties. He’d moved to Texas from the Andean region of Venezuela, near the Colombian border, and when friends came over he cooked the things he grew up eating — arepas stuffed with shredded beef, cachapas rolled off the griddle, queso blanco, the family recipes he’d carried north like a piece of luggage. The food disappeared before the evening did, and people kept asking where they could get more of it.
Dallas had Tex-Mex on every corner and excellent taquerias in every neighborhood, but the food of Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, and the Caribbean islands was essentially nowhere. On May 9, 2002, Branger opened Zaguán Latin Café and Bakery at 2604 Oak Lawn Avenue, and the dinner party never really stopped.
Continue readingFiled under Steven Doyle
In October 2019, a tornado tore through Preston Hollow and destroyed Pizza by Marco — the pizzeria that Joe Nuccio had started in 1949 on Carroll Avenue and eventually moved to Preston Royal Village in 1962, where it became a North Dallas institution over the next six decades. A few months before the tornado, Frankie Nuccio had lost his mother. His father had passed years earlier. Then the pandemic arrived. Nuccio walked away.
Continue readingFiled under Steven Doyle
The summer solstice is the longest day of the year, and Sixty Vines in Uptown is treating it accordingly. On Saturday, June 27, the restaurant at 500 Crescent Court is running an all-day Summer Solstice Brunch — starting when the doors open and running until the day runs out, which on the longest day of the year gives you a reasonable amount of runway.
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Dallas gets undersold as a tourist city, which works in your favor. The crowds at the major attractions are manageable, the parking situation is easier than it has any right to be for a city this size, and the things genuinely worth doing are spread across a city with enough distinct neighborhoods that two days here feel like two different trips. Here’s where to start.
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The name makes more sense once you meet them. Chef Hugo Galván runs the kitchen. Hugo Osorio runs the bar. Together they run Hugo’s Seafood Bar at 334 W. Davis Street in Bishop Arts, inside a room with an original stamped tin ceiling, exposed brick, and an octopus painted on the wall. The place seats fewer than 30 people. On a Friday night it feels like twice that, which is not a complaint — it’s the sign of a room that has figured out exactly what it wants to be.
Continue readingFiled under Steven Doyle
Most restaurants don’t make it to ten years. Norma’s Cafe opened in Oak Cliff in 1956 and has been at it ever since. That original location has never moved. The biscuits and gravy are still on the menu. The Mile-High Pies still require you to plan around them. On Wednesday, June 24, Norma’s turns 70 and all five traditional locations are marking it the way the restaurant always has — by feeding people and keeping the price where it belongs.
Continue readingFiled under Steven Doyle
