Outside the Bubble

I think of myself as a sophisticated, urban guy, who is passionately into the Dallas dining scene.  (Your first clue might have been the title of this blog.) I'm the guy people go to for info when they want to take a date/client/friend/fatal attraction to a hip little spot that's newish and trendy.  They know that chances are, I've just been there.

I say this with some degree of self-mockery because in a restaurant crazy city like Dallas it is practically impossible to stay truly plugged in. (We have more restaurants per capita than any other city in America including New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.  We also have the most shopping.  I believe this is due to our complete lack of any topographical points of interest like mountains and beaches and rivers and forests,  so therefore we have nothing to do but eat and shop. And go to Friday night high school football games.  But I digress.)

Living two miles from downtown, the sheer density of chic dining options available to me within fifteen minutes by car (that's another thing we lack--walking) is astounding. There's been an explosion of small, chef-driven restaurants around here in recent years fashioned from reclaimed tile factories and vintage store fronts.  They're all excitingly creative and share the current fashion of the One Word Name.  (I believe when the economy returns we might become a tad less parsimonious and allow two or even three words when naming restaurants--but for now frugality rules.)

Since all of my comestible and hip factor requirements can be met in and around the city's core, I rarely venture beyond the loop unless I am driving to the airport or speeding up the tollway for large quantities of household cleaning products from Costco.  So imagine my surprise when I found myself sitting in a huge, suburban, chain restaurant last Saturday night and actually liking it.

This gigantic place was called BJ's Brewhouse and it was absolutely jammed at 8:30. The perky blonde hostess at the door smiled charmingly and said "Welcome to BJ's". I think she actually meant it. Our even perkier server (also blonde) was named Albany or Cheyenne or some other city and she was informed, efficient, and funny.  The menu had at least 248 pages with whole sections devoted to pizzas, burgers, sandwiches, salads, soups, pasta, giant stuffed potatoes, entrees, desserts, crafted beers, and funky food for kids. There was one part of the menu that was "Enlightened" (meaning more healthful and under 500 calories.) I chose from those offerings and ordered Thai Chicken Mango Salad with jicama, red bell peppers, red onions, mixed baby field greens, arugula, and bibb lettuce tossed in citrus-chili dressing and topped with a slice of avocado, mint, green onions, and sesame won ton strips.  It was astonishingly good and stupidly cheap.

My mother always said typical site-seeing tourist traps were swarming with people because they were the most interesting places to begin with.  I am going to apply my mom's logic to dining establishments and travel outside the bubble on occasion to where the masses like to gather.  I will no longer be a downtown dining snob.  I shall cease dismissing all chain restaurants as vast bastions of mediocrity. I will open my mind and my mouth and my wallet to the possibilities that cost efficient deliciousness might lie beyond the pale.

And next time someone asks me where they should go to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary I'm going to tell them Chili's.