New York Times comes to North Texas for something decent to eat

[Dallas Alice]

The NY Times' food critic, Sam Sifton, on North Texas eateries:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/spo...

[CocoaNut]

Thank God for this site (and others) which feature "every day" people reviews rather than that of a conjoined group with like minded, anticipated opinions!

[Carla Marie Weir]

I was just glad to see him mention Bolsa, Smoke and Fuel City tacos, three faves of mine!

-----
Bolsa
614 W Davis St, Dallas, TX

[DallasDude]

Fuel City is weak at best. Tortilla probably comes from Chicago or worse.. Say Tourist.

[CocoaNut]

FC is hardly in an area swamped with tourists, yet continues to thrive and survive with locals and review site/ blogs singing their praise. I dOnt know if they make their tortillas or not, but very, very few eateries do, so that's a minor infraction.

[DallasDude]

It's a bad product regardless.

[amokscience]

Yeah completely disagree. The picadillo taco (beef + potato) is great. The tortillas seem about par for most taquerias.

[DallasDude]

I did like the picadillo, but the torts are sub par, and i think I have been to 88% of the taquerias in Dallas, which is a feat since a new one pops up daily. If they improved the tortillas they would escalate on the food chain of tacos considerably.

[amokscience]

Hopefully it's more of a doorway to the Mexican taqueria experience.

[DallasDude]

That could very well be the case. I included the gas station on the Dallas Taco Tour a few months back, but did so more for comparison since they do get a lot of ebullient talk.

Air writes about this being a gateway drug (if you will) here --> http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2010/...

[iluvtennis]

Do people really generally dip the chicken fried steak in the gravy? Just curious, but everyone i eat with does actually pour the gravy on top. I would have thought that was more common than the cut and dip.

[James Cristinian]

I too take my gravy on the side as I like to preserve the crispy crust.

[pinotho]

you do both.....cover the steak with the gravy, then dip each bite...... to make certain that all ateries have an equal chance to clog .

[CocoaNut]

Gravy on the side is for dipping fries (when mashed isn't an option).

[luniz]

Either way really. I think there is an obvious benefit to dipping. But your CFS isn't gonna get all that soggy if it's poured on right before, it's only if it sits around marinating for 5 minutes before you get it that it's a problem. I thought it was a pretty reasonable article, written by an outsider, for outsiders. Obviously it's not written for Dallas-ites.

[twinwillow]

Hard to believe but, there are New Yawkers that have actually fallen off a turnip truck.

[CocoaNut]

Wow. certainly some liberties on truth were taken, then there were the out 'n out lies...... I'll never understand why critics feel the need to fabricate "color". Regardless of the city, good or bad, there's generally plenty of worthwhile fodder without resorting to illusion - one just has to be talented and skillful in presenting the truth so it's interesting.

[DallasDude]

I thought he did a fairly good job. There were a few mistakes but hardly workth mentioning. Why he still went to Sonny Bryans after getting better advice is beyond me.

[alliegator]

+1