Forgive this hungry scribe. It’s all too often that prose fails a good dish, whether pedestrian or haute cuisine. And so, because food haiku is so 2013, I offer you these SideDish Sonnets in the hope that they amuse and inspire you to dine wherever the muse takes you.
Who dines at Central Market knows full well
Garland hath need of one, desolate waste
of Nor’eastern, windblown, sorrowful taste;
But Dallas, with budding delights that swell,
is crowded with taco joints that do yell
of roasted pork cheek meat, carne and paste,
roll’d up then in handmade tortillas, chas’d
with tequila and beer, so I’ve heard tell.
Tacos & Rice* on West Walnut, good haul;
Cheap eats you will find, if you’d only only look,
artfully hidden far miles from Westbrook
in old Korean and Viet shopping malls;
No recipes there, what come from a book,
Get tacos, not rice, ask for Paul, the cook.
*At Corner Market #2, at 4460 West Walnut, Garland, there’s a sign for “Tacos & Rice.” (Just a sign, no name.) It’s across from the Popeye’s on Walnut and Plano Road.
Steven Phelps is a Dallas-based writer and designer. You can find him on Twitter @stevenphelps.
