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DFWTexEx

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Posts posted by DFWTexEx

  1. 22 hours ago, VABuckeye said:

    Drools.

    I've had the two Brunello's but not that old.  How was the table wine?

    It was was also a 1985 (but a multi-vintage special blend) and very nice, with great fruit and very soft tannins.  Long and elegant to drink.  We started with it and just had some simple homemade focaccia with it before dinner.  

  2. Italian wine night last night.

    i1zjoo.jpg

    The '71 was amazing in that the nose was musky and dirty, but it tasted like candy, just fantastic.  The '85 Col D'Oricia, just well rounded and lush, my other favorite.  All were exceptional.

    • Like 2
  3. On 2/8/2019 at 3:02 PM, landman said:

    Going to be in Dallas in 2 weeks for the KISS concert with wife.  Staying by the arena and looking at food options.  Intrigued by Billy Can Can for dinner.  Anyone been?

    Billy Can Can is terrific, a great place for nice, upscale bar food before a show.  The venison tartare  and fried quail are winnners.  Skip the fancy deviled eggs and smoked fish dip.  The chairs and stools in the main room are very uncomfortable, though.  Try to be seated in the back room / salon.  Good choice.

  4. D and DMN are going after Griggs for some campaign contribution stuff.  Looks like over the years he took a few contributions from kids (possibly shady, but not illegal) and some that aggregate to over the limit for adults (possibly illegal).   He is correcting the reporting errors and returning money, but he clearly should have been better about that it.  Am I wrong in thinking it's a common mistake that campaigns make and if it's only a handful of items in many reports over the years (not indicative of a trend or intent to manipulate) it's not a big deal?  The reporting shows that other council members did the same thing, but they are not running for Mayor against the establishment.   I have already one set of friends that are withdrawing their support of him at least for now.

  5. The Charles is a glitzy big night out. She'll put on the Manolos for the seen and be seen crowd.  The good news is that the food lives up to it.

    Sprezza is for a more intimate, simpler night out.  She can meet you there after work in her Ann Taylor.   But the food is also excellent and creative.

    You can't lose either way.  It just depends on how you like to celebrate birthdays. 

    • Like 2
  6. 17 hours ago, F250 said:

    I think it's mainly people that were separated from their blood relatives that are into it. I'm sure they have a number of reasons to track down relatives they've never known. Personally, I don't get it but I know everyone in my family.

    This.  I have all the family I want and have no interest at all in finding a cousin in Iowa, much less getting in communication with him, much much less building a relationship with him.  But, I know many folks that came from broken families, were adopted, had adopted parents, etc. or just had a f'd up family.  They seem to be the ones that need more family.  I get it.

    • Like 1
  7. 14 hours ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

    You can stay in the outer area of town and uber to the center of the city for like 26 pesos. My wife kept tipping them like 15 pesos for the ride until she realized how much the whole ride was. Rooftop bar overlooking the cathedral was tits. Everything there is expensive for Mexico, but still cheap to gringos. Bernal is not far and has a lot of the same stuff plus a dike you can climb all over (extinct volcano with just the core left).

    Why would you want to do this?   Getting up in the historic city center, with the church bells and walking out to go get your coffee as the ladies sweep the streets and ending up on your rooftop terrace in town overlooking the churches is what this is all about (for me).  Could it be that much cheaper to be in a motel outside of town? Not being snarky; I don't know.  

     

    Quote

    You can also fly into Queretaro instead of Leon if the price is right.

    Yes, that is what I meant to say.  I was mistaken when I said Guanajuato.  American flies to both Leon and Queretaro.

    • Like 1
  8. It's beautiful and fun in a "day without agenda kinda way".  You wake up and start walking, find what will be your favorite coffee shop during your stay, keep walking, find galleries, stop for an awesome torta and beer, stop at the square and sit and watch the folks, find more art, go to rooftop deck of your place and pour yourself a drink on the honor system, get a massage on said deck, go to a nice dinner.  Another day, maybe a cooking class if you want to have a defined thing to do.  The gringo expat community has home tours to raise money for the local library.   Or go to see the historic sites around Guanajuato if you really need to have major activity.  It's been a few years since we were there, but when we went there was no real golf course, casino, or anything like that.   If you demand planned activities, it's probably not for you.

    You can fly into Leon or Guanajuato and have a much shorter car ride.  The weather is very nice.  The comparison to Santa Fe is sorta valid, but San Miguel is authentic (the good and bad of that).  The center city has a historical designation from the government (and it's a UNESCO world heritage site). There no stop lights or lit commercial signs at all.   It makes Santa Fe look like a suburban mall with a theme. Certainly there are rich artsy types around, but also students from the city and eccentric ex pats.

    • Like 2
  9. 14 hours ago, SubliminalHorn said:

    I’m not handy at all. Like, at all. I can’t fix anything. I’m also not proficient at changing tires. I mean, I’ve watched my buddy change mine before and I’m sure with google I could do it, but I’m not all confident I could if my tire were to blow out on the interstate

    I'm with you. I used to be able to change tires like a champ.  No problem at all.  But slowly, the jacks changed and suddenly I have no idea how to make it work.   And my current car, that i have had since 2011, has no spare anyway, so it's no longer an issue except that I can't help friends or people in distress like I used to.

  10. There will be lots of opinions on this topic.  We took a trip in 2016 and loved it.

    Athens:  3 days, 2 night, including arrival.  We loved it and thought it was way better than what we expected based on online comments (including on here and TOB).  Great city to talk around, city cool historic stuff and eat.  

    Santorini:  Bucket list. It was like being in a movie, so beautiful.  I recommend staying in one of the villages up from Fira. We stayed in Imerovigli and it was perfect.  And, yeah, stay in a cave hotel overlooking the Caldera. It's why you are there.  Oia is beautiful, but for us, it was really, really crowded and not as fun. Do a catamaran cruise at sunset.  Walk the villages.  It's really nice and I would go back in a hearbeat.  Santorini is not really a place for kids, which was a plus for us.

    Crete:  We liked Crete.  If Santorini is where you want to visit, Crete is where I would prefer to live.  Had a Mexico vibe to it, with the colors and friendliness of the people.  We stayed on the East side in Elounda, overlooking spooky Spinalonga island.  It was a resort that was much more family friendly, even if the beach was pebbles and rocks and the water was not nearly as nice as Santorini.  There are beautiful sandy beaches in Crete, but we did not get to them.  We did the  Palace of Knosses as well and enjoyed it. The Herkalion airport is the worst shitshow airport  (of any decent size city) that I have been to.  

  11. Schutze's Take on Dallas City Hall -  Another solid piece about old school Dallas.

    And here is Philip Kingston's take on it (from his FB page) and the race for Mayor (TLDR:  Only Griggs)

    This will be interesting.

    Quote

    Jim's got an important piece about our city's absolutely perverse spending priorities. His examples are excellent, but I usually illustrate the problem this way:

    Over the course of the last 20-30 years, Dallas has fallen behind more pragmatic and responsible cities in failing to purchase the new generation of traffic signals. One of the reasons for the extreme congestion on our highways is that you can't reasonably use the surface streets for a commute of any distance because of their slow throughput speeds. There's also some data to suggest that bad light timing makes people drive more dangerously between lights or even run red lights. Use of modern technology can improve throughput, reduce pollution, and build data for transportation planning. Dynamic light timing can get you where you're going faster AND safer. And you better believe your local firefighters and cops would like the ability to preempt signals on their way to a call. The deferred replacement needs have grown to about $300mm. City staff has known about this growing problem the entire time, but the first time they ever mentioned it to Council was September, 2013, and we've done little to correct it (I helped get some starter money in the '17 bond).

    During roughly the same period, we built two Calatrava bridges of questionable utility. As Jim points out, the I-30 one still isn't open, but even the Large Marge is not a successful project. Its pedestrian and bike features were value engineered out of the project (as cost overruns reached $140mm. really, $140mm). And the remaining structure is a dinosaur of highway design. It's marked for 35 mph, but the design speed is infinity with monstrously wide lanes. So drivers go ... IDK, I've definitely seen 80 mph.

    Total cost to you for both bridges: about $300mm. So there are many places in Dallas where you can be stopped at a failed traffic signal with an amazing view of boondoggle bridges. They're monuments to bad spending priorities.

    There are many other examples Jim could have mentioned. Why did you pay for a horse park that 99% will never see and a golf course that 99.9% of you aren't ALLOWED to use? Why did you come within a gnat's whisker of giving away Fair Park and $35mm/year to the mayor's buddy? Why did you almost get gas wells in your parks?

    All this boondoggle spending raises two points about the mayor's race:

    1. Scott Griggs for Dallas has, by a very great distance, the best record of fighting this sort of cronyism and waste. He has worked like an investigative reporter to expose these abuses and then fought them every step of the way. He has almost single-handedly stopped the abusive use of eminent domain by the city. Without Scott, you might this very day have a tollroad in the Trinity.

    In fact, he's the only person in this race with any record whatsoever of opposing all the bad stuff Jim and I are pointing out.

    2. But there's worse. Many of the people running to be your mayor actively, loudly cheered for these awful projects. Supposed urbanist Mike Ablon for Dallas Mayor was a stalwart advocate for the Trinity Tollroad. So was Albert Black for Dallas Mayor. Lynn McBee for Mayor raised money for the bridges (in her defense, no one was able to raise much, except the taxpayers). They're all going to distance from these projects now, but my advice would be to ask yourself what kind of thought processes they're likely to use at city hall if this is their history.

    Then there are the ones with no history. Watch carefully to see where their money comes from. More than one looks like a Manchurian for the very people who brought you the unusable bridge and the fake rapids. One has money from the people behind Rawlings' attempt to take over DISD. They're going to bleat about their progressiveism and fresh approaches. It's not what they're telling the Money.

    All the coverage of the race seems to want to comment on how many candidates there are. I only see two: Scott vs 10 Establishment mimeographs. Dallas needs a new kind of mayor, and there's only one in the race.

    #newkindofmayor

     

  12. So, much of this show is just about being smart.  Picking the dish that will work under the circumstances.  This episode highlighted that with a terribly conceived fake porchetta and a hot dumpling soup on a boat party.  But, also in the picking of the teams.  As soon as I heard what the challenge was and that Eddie could pick the teams, I sorta yelled at the TV:  "Pick Kelsey!".  Not only has she shown that she can cook, but she throws these sorts of parties for Southerners for a living.  It is literally her thing.  And she nailed it, party favors and all. 

  13. This may be helpful:

    Guide to DFW Ramen

    Seems like Ramin is the new poke.  Lucia sous chef Justin Holt has been doing ramen pop ups for the last couple of years.  He is going full time with a brick & mortar ramen and yakatori place in Bishop Arts:  Salaryman.  Should be open soon.

  14. Late surprise announcement by Erik Johnson stirs things up.  He's a legit candidate with solid support in the South and has been able to raise money.  Really raised his profile with the removal of the confederate plaque in the capitol.   Can he run and do his work in the legislature at the same time?

  15. Not sure exactly what you are looking for but Ten In Sylvan Thirty kicks ass.  It’s the chef of Tei An creating a Tokyo like ramen experience.  Stand up only; no frills but damn it’s good. 

  16. That sounds great.  We love Sprezza, but need to make it to Fachini.

    Do you want to know what is not hitting it's stride?

    Circo Misses The Mark

    CIrco Is An Expensive Disaster

    It sounds like the douchiest place ever, expensive and bad.  A pool?

    Quote

    “Let it go,” my dining partner mouthed, the night a server returned to murmur that they couldn’t make my macchiato, as they lacked the caramel syrup. I blinked, and then I did.

    Quote

    Here began the comparisons to wedding banquet fare.

     

  17. So, Casto is out and has endorsed Ablon.  And Jason Villalba is in.  Villalba was too moderate (LGBT support) to get out of the Republican primary in his bid to get re-elected to the state legislature.   Miguel Solis, 32 year old DISD board member, is also in.  WIth Griggs, they are the 3 candidates who have actually run and won a campaign.

    Those that announced last year had to file financial disclosures.  No suprise that McBee has the most money on hand, but it's way too early for these reports to matter.  But, Black did pretty well, raising $277K last year.   

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