Hello Big D

Lone Star doughnuts is one of those places that has somehow resisted the idea that new is better. Part of the reason is its location. On Beckley in north Oak Cliff, it sits between a “soon-to-be” upscale neighborhood and an industrial district just south of the Trinity River bottom. You’ll see a good mix of people there in the mornings before work—truckers, mom’s and children, local high schoolers—getting their sugary fix to start the day off right.

The menu is pretty standard; chocolate twists, cinnamon cake, apple fritters (which are really good), and of course your standard glazed. The variety is not far-reaching, but this adds to the feeling that this place was born out of a simpler time, when people weren’t conditioned to get tired of something so quickly. And the prices seem to be a nod to the past as well: this morning I got a large coffee, an apple fritter and a dozen (or so) doughnut holes for under 3 dollars.

I’ll leave you with a quote (that I don’t understand) from the menu: “As you ramble on through Life, brother, what e’re may be your God, keep your eye upon the doughnut, and not upon the hole!”

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Did you know that there are no fat people in San Francisco? Actually that’s probably not true, but  during my short jaunt there last summer I was struck by the hordes of skinny people on every street corner. I’m pretty sure that this demographic trend can be explained by one of two things:

-The lack of decent pizza restaurants, or
-The fact that everyone (and I mean everyone) rides a bicycle.

When I got back to Dallas the contrast was staggering. Dallas is a car-loving city for sure, and as a result has been consistently ranked at the bottom of government records that track bike ridership and  has the distinction of being known as the “worst city for cyclists” in the United States. Definitely a sad revelation for a new Dallas-ite who loves to get around on his two-wheeler.

However, all is not lost. A couple of months ago I was taking a walk around my neighborhood when I  noticed something that had escaped my attention up to this point; a blue sign with a pegasus and the welcome words “bike route” emblazened on it. After some brief research I discovered that Dallas had indeed established a rather thorough web (somewhere in my research I encountered the figure “400 miles”) of bike routes throughout the city some time in the early ‘90s and marked the more prominent ones with these handy blue signs. Over the past few weeks I’ve started exploring some of the routes with great success, though I’ve learned a few things:

• The route maps, which can be downloaded here, are terrible. Pretty much useless unless you just want a general idea of where in the U.S. “Dallas” is. I think the bike routes are shown in actual highlighter and were drawn by someone who knocked back a few too many before getting down to business.

• Maps aside, the routes are extremely well marked and difficult to stray from. I was a bit worried at first that signs would be missing since at this point they have been up for a couple of decades and have no indication of being well used, but so far this fear has been unfounded.

• The routes, though well marked, are OLD. Some of the streets that were nice and quiet 20 years ago are now pretty high-traffic areas.

• Riding the bike routes is a great way to familiarize yourself with Dallas, especially if you’re new to the city. I still regularly get lost within two blocks of my apartment or office, but I’m making progress slowly  but surely.

Words of caution: Dallas is full of really bad roads, construction, and drivers who have no idea how to share the road with cyclists. Riding in Dallas requires constant alertness, a helmet (please?), an absence of earbuds from one’s ears while riding, and no shortage of assertiveness. Due to the city’s lack of bike lanes (a whole story within itself) claiming the lane is a must for leg-powered drivers.

So, get out and enjoy those bike routes. Once you start looking you’ll see them everywhere.

Resources:
Bike Friendly Oak Cliff - A great community resource for Dallas cyclists whether or not you live in Oak Cliff proper. Lots of interesting info on the bike lane debate as well as well as other relevant stuff. Also, I got many of my links for this article from BFOC, so thanks to them for that.

Cycle Dallas - The blog of PM Summers, the former official Dallas Bike Coordinator. It has a bit of inside information and is an interesting insight into a vehemently anti-bike-lane viewpoint.

Dallas Bike Plan - Here are those infamous maps. Be prepared to do a lot of squinting, but they’re worth a look.

Katy Trail - I mention this trail only because it is within spitting distance of my apartment (actually not, that’s kind of gross) and I’ve heard great things about it. Have I tried it myself? No. Have I heard glowing reviews about it from leisure cyclists who prefer to avoid Dallas roads altogether if possible? Yes.

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OK…admittedly Uncle G can’t seem to shake off his kick for Mexican fare lately. So, with that being said, let’s discuss another great find—The Taco Joint. Located at the intersection of Gaston Avenue and Peak Street, and open breakfast and lunch only, this place simply has it figured out. Serve creative Tex-Mex style tacos, and understate the burrito enchilada and tostada options. Everything I have tried has been great. For breakfast I’ve devoured a migas taco and the sausage, egg and cheese taco. Both were excellent. For lunch I enjoyed the steak fajita taco one visit and some funky special fajita beef burrito with spicy queso sauce and grilled onions another time. Fajita taco was strong, but the burrito special was phenomenal. So, high marks on the cuisine for certain.

Now let’s kick around some other notable reasons the Taco Joint is worth the journey east of downtown:

1. Management—great people. The owner / proprietor is super friendly, and somehow remembers my name each time I go in there (3 total)
2. Jalapeño Ranch—A solid option to round out your standard salsa offerings is a yummy ranch that is a great compliment to their tacos and burritos.
3. Pellet Ice—It’s just the best isn’t it? It makes every fountain drink better. Why is that?
4. Clean, fun, family friendly place—Walk up ordering, with spacious and simple dining room seem to be an unexpectedly great family consideration when I visited last Saturday AM.
5. Really just a fun and well branded experience—Sorry, I can’t shake the marketer in me sometimes.
6. Philanthropic—Offered a proceed of sales to the Rise School of Dallas for a couple of weeks last month. Very cool.

Check it out:

The Taco Joint
911 N Peak St
Dallas, TX 75204

(214) 826-8226
www.thetacojoint.com

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Do you remember that scene in Armageddon when Bruce Willis pushes Ben Affleck into the future space capsule, thereby ensuring that he’d be the one to lay down his life in order to press the button that destroys the asteroid? Do you happen to remember Bruce stumbling into a super cool record store to waste time until there were only like two seconds left on the doomsday fun clock? Well, Good Records is just like that record store. Ok, that didn’t happen, but I think it’s always wise to relearn the lessons taught by Bruce’s rugged team of reluctant heroes.

And if there were an outlet for all of your record buying needs situated on a death meteor hurtling toward our eastern seaboard, I’d imagine that it might be Good Records-esque…mostly because retired drillers occupy the front counter. Ok, that’s not true, either. In fact, none of this is relevant, but you should give Good Records a shot. Considering the dearth of quality record shops in our fair burgh, it has to be high on your Dallas to-do list.

All the hippest and nowest (not a word) cd’s are super organized and ready for perusal in Christmas light enhanced rows. It’s easy to find whatever super cool Japanese Neil Diamond bootleg you “need,” but I wouldn’t recommend it…you don’t want to face the oil-covered staff with such a disreputable purchase. If you want high fives about the new Animal Collective, though, this be yer place (pirate talk?). The cherry on top of their rad selection of new stuff (that you say you’ve heard despite only having read about it on Pitchfork and Insound) is their growing selection of new and used vinyl lp’s. If you think it’d be cooler to have the Brighten the Corners reissue on vinyl (you’re right), then consider such a need fulfilled.

I like records, and I Iike cd’s…but I triple like excellent bands playing free shows. Guess what, people of earth, they have an amazing roster of bands playing in store every week, too. It’s actually a pretty nice venue, what with their Astroturf stage and opium den (ssshhh). I shuffled off to the Brightblack Morning Light concert, at which pixies were floating freely and sprinkling pink dust into everyone’s ears…and offering freshly cured meats. Sweet tunes and amazing sandwich fixins? Count me in. But really (this is how a fifth grader starts a sentence), the space is quite conducive to live performances and offers an intimate venue for free. You would be well-advised to catch your favorite band there…and buy some records…and visit the pixie deli counter. Yum-yums on all counts.

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maximodallas.com

We recently got invited to a mock lunch service at a new restaurant in North Dallas. It’s called Maximo : Cocina Mexicana & Margarita Lounge. We were served a three-course meal and everything was really awesome. The menu is a mix of gourmet Tex-Mex and more traditional Mexican dishes, with influences from four regions of Mexico: Puebla, Yucatan, Veracruz and Oaxaca. My favorite part was the Guacamolero, who whipped up a fresh batch of the best guacamole, right at our table. Good chips. Good salsa. The entrées were amazing. I had a shrimp skewer, the Alambre de Camarón con Salsa de Tepache—which, unfortunately for everyone else, I couldn’t stop saying over and over again. We’re definitely going back to try some of their 30 some-odd tequilas. Hopefully we’ll live to write about that.

Contact info:
5301 Alpha Road
Suite 80
Dallas, TX 75240
Phone : 972.233.5656

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