My favorite breakfast bar is Valrhona Guanaja.

Scott

If you're looking for something very close, your best options will be Luna de Noche (Forest & Central) or Cuquita's (Coit & Spring Valley), both of which are less than a mile away. Luna de Noche is pretty good gringo-oriented Tex-Mex. Cuquita's is geared more towards Mexican-American customers.

Scott

Thanks for the tip, Greg. I'll be sure to go there, next time I'm in that area.

An unrelated story on frozen fries:
http://nymag.com/daily/food/2007/01/i...

Scott

I'm a little surprised that more isn't said about Dragonfly on Chowhound. I always felt like I was in the Chowhound minority in being less than admiring of Marc Cassel's work when he was at the Green Room in Deep Ellum. The meals I've had at Dragonfly since Cassel took over the kitchen have been, conceptually, pretty similar to what I had in the Green Room. Execution has been the same or better. While the hipster/groover vibe at Dragonfly isn't really my bag, I'll take it over the studied grunge of the old Green Room.

In the absence of recent reports on Dragonfly, I'd recommend that you look through old posts on the Green Room (for purposes of getting a sense of the food, not the decor):
http://tinyurl.com/35cvsp

Scott

I'd be happy to go take some pictures (interior, exterior) of both restaurants and e-mail them to you, if you'd like. (Or, if you want a test of service, call in to each of the restaurants and ask *them* to e-mail you some photos of the inside and outside.)

Scott

Here's the question before the question. Are there any delis in this metro area of 6 million that make their own corned beef or pastrami?

Scott

Thomas Keller gets a credit at the end of the movie for that sandwich.
http://members.cox.net/jjschnebel/Spa...

Scott

NYCE is one of my regular reads for Dallas. Teegee is a tremedous wit and the hardest working food writer in this town.

I also enjoy --

Charles Kemp's East Dallas Restaurants Page (hyper localized, with the best Vietnamese coverage in town):
http://chaskemp.googlepages.com/east_dallas_restaurants

And Tex's Barbecue Page (covering DFW and beyond):
http://www.texasbbqreview.com/

Though fairly new and including a mix of restaurants and recipes, I also like Chowhound donnaaries blog, Donna Cooks:
http://donnaaries.wordpress.com/

Scott

As for getting a sense of atmosphere, forget about pictures. Find a free evening and go to each of the restaurants you're considering and see what they're like first hand. If you can swing a meal at each, do it. If not, just call ahead and let the maitre d' know you'd like a quick tour of the dining room (and why).

Scott

Neither Lola nor Bijoux are open on Sundays.

Scott

The Mansion has the best service in town, excellent food quality, and elegant decor. It would be a contender on any night, but it's easily the best option on a Sunday (unless there's a place that has some personal significance to you or your fiancee).

Whether you intend to propose before or after the dinner (wherever you decide to go), secure your reservation early and let reservationist and maitre d' know the nature of your special occasion so they can ensure that you have the best possible experience.

Good luck!

Scott

Thanks for the detailed review.

While the service at Abacus might not be on par with some other fine dining restaurants in Dallas, it's usually quite competent. And I can say, having eaten there more times than I can remember, that I have never had anything there that I considered "awful."

Scott

Nam Hua, maybe?

http://tinyurl.com/yt4ccm

Yes, Austin now has its own board. This is being discussed in the following threads on the "Site Talk" board (which is probably where any such discussion should remain):
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/315822
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/357450

One of the specific concerns I mentioned in one of those threads (and which wasn't responded to by the mods, as far as I know) was the ambiguity about whether posts about non-Austin towns in Central Texas (e.g., Lockhart, Luling, Elgin, Taylor, Llano, Marble Falls, etc.) go on the Texas board or on the Austin board.

Anyway, as for Northender's specific question, I'd say you're still best served by going to Lockhart if you want the highest concentration of great barbecue. If you want to branch out for some other very well-respected legends in the area, you could consider heading up to Taylor (Mueller's and, room permitting, Vencil's), stopping in Elgin for hot guts at Southside Market along the way. If you don't mind a longer drive and have interest in a different style of barbecue (i.e., direct heat pits over mesquite coals), you could head west to Cooper's in Llano, with a stop at Inman's Ranch House in Marble Falls for turkey sausage.

Welcome back to Texas, Northender. Enjoy the barbecue.

Scott

PS For some photos of some of these places, see the following links:
http://www.dallasfood.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9
http://www.dallasfood.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=17
http://www.dallasfood.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8
http://www.dallasfood.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4
http://www.dallasfood.org/modules.php...

#1 -- Picadillo taco at Fuel City (Dallas)
#4 -- Lamb barbacoa taco at Sason (Dallas)
#6 -- Red snapper taco at Cafe San Miguel (Dallas)
#17 -- Barbacoa taco at Tijuana Bar & Grill (Dallas)
#21 -- Al pastor at Pepe & Mito's (Dallas)
#26 -- Cuadril steak taco at La Duni (Dallas)
#30 -- Lobster taco at The Mansion (Dallas)
#31 -- Lengua taco at Taqueria Pedrito's (Dallas)
#32 -- Garlic beef taco at Fuzzy's (Fort Worth)
#33 -- Brisket taco at Mia's (Dallas)
#41 -- Al pastor taco at Taco Diner (Dallas)
#47 -- Roasted pork taco at Tin Star (Dallas)
#50 -- Barbacoa taco at Tacos Don Miguel (Fort Worth)
#51 -- Steak fajita taco at Primo's (Dallas)
#55 -- Steak taco at Blue Mesa Grill (Fort Worth)
#57 -- Brisket taco at Rio Mambo (Fort Worth)
#59 -- Blackened catfish taco at J&J Oyster Bar (Fort Worth)
#60 -- Pork in salsa verde at Benito's (Fort Worth)

You can tell something about the quality of the results by the fact that almost none of the descriptions or profiles even mention the quality of the tortillas (and for good reason, if the Dallas picks are representative of the list). And you'd be hard pressed to come up with a more Anglo-centric list of tacos.

Scott

Thanks for the kind words.

Scott

Jacquilynne,

If that's the way it is and that's the way it's going to stay, I would suggest that you clarify the bounds of the Austin board, so members know where to post and where to look for information.

For instance, if I'm posting about Lockhart, Luling, Taylor, Elgin, Llano, San Marcos, Gonzales, Seguin, etc., would that go in the Austin forum, since some of those towns are near Austin (or at least nearer to Austin than any other major Texas city, with the exception of San Antonio for some)? Or does the board just cover Austin city limits?

I'm not sure what you have planned for SXSW. But I will say that making decisions on how to manage the Chowhound forums based on a desire to promote CHOW editorial content (if that's what's going on) may not be the healthiest move either for Chowhound (the living, breathing community I've been a part of for several years) or CHOW (the corporate parent that's offering me video tutorials on how to dice an onion).

Good luck with it.

Scott

MPH,

I don't begrudge Austin getting its own board. But the traffic issue kind of becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Austin gets spun off and immediately the board starts getting more traffic. A local board is less cumbersome and more useful than a regional board, so that's to be expected.

You mention that SA and Houston don't have as many regular posters right now. That's true, but it wasn't always true. Several years ago, IIRC, there were more regular posters in Houston than any other Texas city. It's hard to attract participation to a board that covers major cities that are hundreds of miles apart (not to mention the many smaller cities all over the state), when most people just want to know about good food in their neck of the woods. Once you have participation, it's hard to keep it. At times when traffic is high from Houston, Dallas, and sometimes Austin, there's a lot of filtering necessary (especially when most posts aren't clearly associated with a particular city) to find the ones you're interested in. It's chaos, so people throw up their hands and walk away, dropping it back down to a lower traffic level.

And if you're going to divide Texas into two boards, why make it "Austin" and "not Austin"? Why not at least divide the state roughly in two, perhaps with the Central and West Texas cities in one (e.g., Austin, SA, El Paso, LRGV) and North and East Texas cities in the other (e.g., Panhandle, DFW, Houston)? That wouldn't be any more "work" than spinning Austin into its own board. Or, better yet, divide the state in three: North Texas (anchored by DFW), Central and West (anchored by Austin, SA, El Paso, LRGV), and East and Upper Coast (anchored by Houston). I imagine within a year the cumulative traffic across three boards like that would dwarf what we've usually seen in the "Texas" board. And, if you want to make it even more versatile, allow users to combine "favorite" boards (allowing them to see posts from all of the Texas boards in one place, if they want).

Just ideas. I'm sure the Austin board will be successful. It just would have been nice had the "powers that be" thought through that move a little more and, perhaps, consulted the many people who've participated in the Texas board for years, so it could have been done better.

Scott

Babe's, in Sanger.

Check out Charles Kemp's excellent web page: http://tinyurl.com/yvk6e8 . Though he focuses more on old East Dallas, he's a Vietnamese fiend and does discuss some of those options in and around Garland (which is a real hot spot for Vietnamese).

And I'll enthusiastically second Donna's recommendation of Babe's.

Scott

Well, Austin apparently has earned its own board. (Never mind that 40% of posts with the word "Austin" are RFIs on barbecue that are met with near unanimous recommendations that the poster *leave* Austin to get better barbecue.)

Sorry, Dallas/Fort Worth (fifth largest metropolitan statistical area in the US), Houston (seventh largest metropolitan statistical area in the US), and San Antonio (thirtieth largest metropolitan statistical area in the US). You're just not big enough to compete with the likes of Austin (39th largest metropolitan statistical area in the US).

Scott

DoughMonkey.
http://www.doughmonkey.com/

Tasting Room: 10 course menu (with optional foie gras supplement) with or without wine pairings. Small room, usually quiet, with comfortable chairs. By way of the format and room arrangement, the focus of the restaurant experience is on the food and wine.

Main dining rooms: Prix fixe with options of 2, 3, or 4 courses selected by the customer. Portions are larger than in the Tasting Room. Food style and quality (with the same chef over both rooms at this point) are comparable. Nice neighborhood restaurant feel, with a somewhat higher noise level (though almost never objectionably so).

Scott

D-? I can see why some might prefer Adair's. But giving Twisted Root's burgers a D- is incomprehensible to me.

Scott

Cuquita's
Cuba Libre

Someone already said it, but the answer is cabrito. For some pictures, go here:
http://tinyurl.com/yumqgh

Scott

For better barbecue that wouldn't be too much farther away, I'd do either Mac's or Baby Back Shak. For some reports (with photos) on both of those, plus Sammy's, see the following links:

Baby Back Shak ( http://tinyurl.com/32a2cj ). (Though I usually don't comment on sides, I will say that Baby Back Shak's beans--so meaty that they're closer to a chili--are highly addictive.

Mac's & Sammy's ( http://tinyurl.com/2qf9j9 ).

Good luck.

Scott

I haven't. Is it good?

Scott

From what I've read, Tim Byres recently signed on as chef de cuisine at The Mansion.

Scott