And this just in--as a continuation of the very enlightened and brilliant "fragrance free" policy so successful at Nostrani, French Laundry in Napa Valley has just upped the ante. As of 02/01/13 there is a rule of NO DEODORANT! Sure, the odor of Degree or Secret is subtle but who can take a chance. Thomas Keller (who certainly has nothing on the folks at Vivre!) promises that if this is as successful as he thinks it will be he is going "Brush Free'! You got it--no teeth brushing within three days of a visit. This will not only protect the palate of the diner but will also insure that the closest table doesn't have a meal destroyed by a breathing guest. Yuck! Word is that baking soda is still up in the air.

Was making my reservations for my upcoming trip to Santa Fe and was going to add Vivre until I saw it has the same goofy "fragrance free" policy as Nostrani. I realize that overwhelming perfume/cologne can be a problem but...give me a break. Surely, if the likes of French Laundry, Galatoire's, Inn at Little Washington and even the late el Bulli can handle the problem this place can as well. Just dumb.

Let me clarify--I am looking for a market, butcher shop or grocery store store in the greater Dallas area that sells smoked beef or pork tenderloin. Thanks.

Uh, 125 miles is a bit out of the way. I need DALLAS recommendations.

Looking for excellent smoked tenderloin (beef or pork) for Christmas party. Any ideas?
Need suggestions ASAP. Thanks in advance.

Thanks a bunch for the information. We are first on a waiting list there but are hopeful.

I have decided on Iris--it looks really, really good. Can you advise me on dress for Iris? Thanks!

I am convinced I am not going to get a decent meal in Tunica so...Memphis it is. I have BBQ and fried chicken set so looking for one more upscale spot. Sweet Grass and Acre are on my radar but suggestions/comments/advice appreciated.

Think I will pass on that one. I am getting about as much good news about Tunica as I expected!

Will be staying in Tunica next week for a few nights and going to game in Oxford Saturday night. Need recommendations for Tunica area especially. Also for lunch in Oxford on Friday. Any price or genre--just the best! Thanks in advance.

I love a dish we here in Texas call "Chili beans". It is chili with beans added and is great, especially with jalapeno cornbread. I am usually not a purist about most things but in Texas "chili" simply doesn't contain beans. I am also partial to New Mexico "chili" and know what they mean when I see it on a menu.

Agree you may eat anything anyway you want. But, once you add beans what you are eating isn't chili.

Agree with most of what LH says with one BIG exception--Bolsa is very uninteresting at lunch in my opinion. If you are doing Bolsa it has to be dinner.

Gotta be Bolsa in Oak Cliff.

Not to take up for the 6 top of drunks but there are, after all, certain maxims when it comes to dining out, to wit: don't expect the best service/fish on a Monday night; NEVER dine out on Valentine's Day or New Years Eve; things are gonna get loud/rude in New Orleans during Jazz Fest. (You even allowed for a volume increase). But, no matter, you can be rude right back during Jazz Fest! I, too, lament the general decline in manners but it is what it is. Would I have grinned and borne it? Depends on my mood and if I had been drinking at Jazz Fest all day. Either option is fine in the circumstance you found yourself in.

Recently I have been hearing some really good things about this Thai restaurant. I do not believe there have been any reports on Chowhound. Anyone been?

+1 on G W Fins.

If not too far out of your way give Bolsa and perhaps some other places in Oak Cliff a try.

http://bolsadallas.com/

Should be no problem getting a quiet table at Fearing's on a Sunday night.

Mike: Lunch is indeed much different. The plate lunches are still very good, especially the chicken pot pie on Wednesday and catfish on Friday. The soul food place near the square you refer to has closed.

Lot's of DFW hounds get to Tyler fairly often I am sure. Check out the link below on the Texas Board.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/849416

I am finally getting around to reporting on a great new development at Rick's. The restaurant now has a great sous chef (Tyler is his name, do not know last name) who is cooking some pretty unbelievable food in the evenings. He has previously plied his trade at some of the finer Texas seafood restaurants and he has a deftness with seafood found nowhere else in Tyler. Last night I had a potato encrusted halibut served over sauteed garlic spinach with shitake mushrooms with a very fine gruyere sauce. The fish was cooked perfectly and the dish was amazing. Last week it was pan broiled salmon (perfectly cooked and crispy on the outside) served over julienned vegetables with a balsamic reduction sauce. Recently he has also prepared roasted halibut or sea bass in a buerre blanc sauce with poached fingerling potatoes, cherry tomato confit and sweet pea puree and a sliced rare filet with in-house made gnocchi, sauteed spinach and portabella mushrooms. Several patrons are starting to take notice and if we support Tyler's efforts I see more excellent cooking in the future. Thursday nights have become a sort of "Chef's Choice/Feed Me " night for several of us--we just come in and ask the chef to prepare what he feels like with the freshest ingredients he has available.

Tyler is not known for fine dining although there are places where you can get a decent meal. Bernard Mediterranean Restaurant comes to mind, of course. I hope that the locals and those traveling to Tyler get the word and give this fine chef a chance. I am going to cross post this on the DFW Board as well since lots of visitors to Tyler come from there. (I assume the moderator will move this post but, whatever).

Happy Dining!

Probably Excelsior House Hotel in Jefferson

I agree with Hunt about Brigtsen's. Ate there a few weeks ago and it was wonderful in every way.

Thanks for the report Mike. I haven't been since the change but definitely will soon. I am wondering if anyone has tried lunch there yet.

LabLady I guarantee you that you cannot find anything in Emily Post or any other etiquette guide that makes this anywhere near as clear cut as you try to make this. This was a "corporate cocktail party" given by an entity with which the invited guests had a business relationship. Couples are definitely not always invited to "social functions". If you can site to something that shows that I am wrong I would like to read it.

Oh come on! There are many, many functions when it is not rude to exclude guests. For example, I am a member of a professional group that has three or four functions a year. At least one is "members only" and that is never an issue. Let's settle this once and for all--to know if partner/spouse/guest is invited READ THE INVITATION. If you are the invitee and you do not want to go without your partner/spouse/guest DON'T GO. It really is just that simple.

No, I think that virtually all responses that actually address the original question are in agreement--guests were not invited. The OP even begins "My husband was invited...". The question was simple--was it "rude" to assume that guests were invited. I believe all agree it wasn't rude to assume such--just a mistake. And I agree with the others who have posted that this is an issue better suited to a site other than Chowhound, even the "Not About Food" board.

KM: Your post addresses a completely different issue than what was raised by the OP. The original question was not whether spouses/partners/significant others/guests SHOULD have been invited. The question was whether they WERE invited. They obviously weren't.

Thanks for the positive feedback--definitely going to try to get lunch there next time I am in Dallas.