Eating Around TOWN

Ah, the restless days of summer dining. Menus in a constant state of flux, chefs changing addresses at the drop of a toque. Despite all the commotion, a few trends have surfaced that look like they may stay awhile. In our cover story, Betty Cook announces the arrival of the coffeehouse, a mainstay for decades on both coasts but a trend slow to make its way to Dallas. Now here, these havens for conspicuous caffeine consumption are joining bustling bistros as locations for a rather refreshing activity: conversation. People are going out again, not just to be seen, but to talk, too. It’s the newest form of entertainment; and hearing is believing. Cook dubs it The New Cafe Society. In A Tex-Mex Lover’s Guide to Dallas, Mary Brown Malouf discovers that it’s finally possible to get good Tex-Mex all over town-if you know where to look. She does, and shares some of her favorite neighborhood hangouts. Finally, W.L. Taitte deconstructs the New American menu, finding that, as he suspected, an Italian restaurant by any other name still serves polenta. His story on The Italian Revolution begins on page 46. Bon appetit!