I haven't posted in a while because I've been revisiting places this month that I've already blogged about, I have been on the road a lot, and I've just felt lazy. But rejoice, devoted readers, for I have an update for you today.
Most of the time I blog about restaurants that I've booked on
Open Table because of 1) the lazy factor cited above and 2) for the most part, restaurants that go to the expense of being part of the Open Table network are going to rank somewhat higher on the food chain than your neighborhood greasy spoon. Occasionally I do find myself in smaller, indie concerns, and I've just been to two in a row that live at opposite ends of that spectrum.
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| Hola Jose |
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| Curb Appeal |
Last night, before viewing the scintillating, jiggly watersports of the Broadway musical Flashdance at the
Dallas Music Hall, we joined our friends at the
pizzaLOUNGE across the street from Fair Park. (nORMALLY i would make FUN OF weird and random CAPITALization SHENANIGANS but I am feeling CHARitablE. Sort OF.) This
dive offbeat dining den was decorated by a couple of friends who had apparently downed a six pack one morning and then went to a few garage sales on a sunny Saturday afternoon with about $65 in their pockets. It so worked. Walking into the place gives you both instant street cred and a holla big dose of chill, and made me think of hookahs and hookers even though there were neither anywhere in sight -- or at least not at 6:30. The DNA of pizzaLOUNGE is hipster-beatnik and it never wavers from that pose.
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| Sofa King Slices |
The bartendress/server was not our usual gal but a tatted up and pierced little thing sporting a sideways baseball cap and clothing that looked like she'd swiped it from the costume shop for
Rent when it was in town. I ordered a Ketel 1 martini up with a twist and she asked me what "up" meant. I told her shaken over ice and strained into a glass and she narrowed her eyes at me as if I had insulted her people. I offered to make it myself to show her how (wouldn't be the first time for Dining Dave to do some quick OTJ training) but she kindly told me to shut up and sit down. Drinks came quickly and we ordered our usual, one large Sofa King pizza. There is an inherent joke about that name because of how great it is and that's all I am going to write about that. They have awesome, secret-sauced pies with very high quality ingredients like imported sausage from
Jimmy's and their hand-crafted crust is delicious and baked with puppy love devotion. It's a super cheap date and fun and the polar opposite of pretentious.
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| Up, Up, and Away |
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| This Was More Than $65 |
Then today I met an impossibly smart and sassy business contact (Hi Iris!) for lunch at a place she suggested called
Ascension Coffee House. If pizzaLOUNGE is hipster-beatnik then Ascension is hipster-coolest-kid-in-the-cafeteria. Its interior is light and airy and decorated by a professional armed with a lot more cash and a fine eye for detail. The inside smells of freshly roasted coffee beans harvested from crazy tall plants by rare, albino chimpanzees raised in the farthest reaches of Middle Earth. Their passions and obsessions focus on nuanced coffee-procuring and local produce-sourcing and artisinal cheese-mongering and saving the Sudan, mostly in that order.
I had an iced coffee and was asked if I wanted whole, 2%, non-fat or soy milk in it. I said all four and our server feigned wry amusement, which was very polite of him. They've got free WiFi but you aren't allowed to use it after 6 PM because WORK STOPS AT SIX. (Word is this is a rule they really do enforce and not some outrageous lie I just made up to make you laugh.) Lunch is either panini or salads but everything sounds quite good. I ordered the Spanish Albacore Salad which promised Spanish tuna, arugula, egg and cornichons with olive caper relish and sherry vinaigrette.
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| Where's the Tuna? |
It was really very tasty but I had to resort to my bionic zoom lens to find the teeny little flecks of tuna that were parsimoniously assigned to my plate by a garde-manger who is probably borderline sadistic. We are talking way less than one ounce of protein. It reminded me of my impoverished childhood when at the end of a week, our large family might be out of groceries so my mom would take the One Remaining Navy Bean we had in the larder and tie a string around it. Then all of us kids would line up in chronological order and the eldest would get to swallow the bean. Then my mom would yank it back out and feed it to the next kid, and then the next. Being youngest, sometimes all I got was Essence of the ORNB.
So tuna essence or not, the salad was super tasty because all of the other ingredients were so fresh and of such high quality. The ambience of Ascension is welcoming and comfortable. The dinner menu looks interesting and I definitely plan to return. I might bring along some tater tots in my pocket for later, just in case.
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