FrontBurner

I explained the importance on Friday. Now get to it.

Click here to tell us where to get the best Italian, the best dessert, the best sandwich, and the best breakfast in town (along with a host of other queries.) Voting in our food and drink poll continues through March 13.  You can vote once an hour until then.

And if you visit our website on your smartphone (go ahead: type dmagazine.com into your phone’s browser) you’ll see that we have a fantastic new mobile version of our website that will allow you to vote while you’re on the go.

Having a drink at the bar while waiting for a table at Neighborhood Services? Vote for them for best French fries, best dessert, or best chef. Just had the most fantastic meal of your life at Nonna? Say thank you by supporting them as best Italian restaurant before you even walk out the door.

Then, while you’re voting on your phone, check out how easy it is to find nearby restaurants, bars, shops, and events through our newly mobile-friendly guides. They’ll help you better explore all that Dallas has to offer, and make you a more informed voter in the process.

And you better get educated. We’ll have voting on the best shops, nightlife, and services in town as well during the coming weeks. We need you at your best.

There you go. We’ll go point for point after the jump.

True story:  Not half an hour ago I was walking down Akard Street in downtown Dallas when I approached a couple of thirty-something gentlemen having a passionate discussion. In the 20 seconds or so during which I was within earshot of their conversation (as I passed them walking the opposite way), this is what I heard:

Fella No. 1: I’m telling you, it doesn’t compete.

Fella No. 2: I’m just saying the margarita I had at Primo’s is the best thing I’ve ever tasted.

Fella No. 2: But if you’ve been to Maximo, there’s just nothing better.

Fella No. 1: <something garbled by the sound of a passing truck>

End scene

This vignette isn’t notable solely because it gave me a brilliant idea for my latest one-act play, To The Max – the story of two best friends who fall in love with a set of fraternal twins (one a shy chef, the other a hot-tempered bartender), set against the colorful backdrop of a Mexican restaurant in North Dallas.

No, it’s notable because it gives me the perfect excuse to tell you that our 2011 Best of Big D Readers’ Choice poll kicks off at midnight on Monday, February 28.

When will the next skyline-defining building be built in Dallas. Hunt Tower, One Arts — okay, you guys are wonderful. Museum of Nature and Science? Love you. I’m talking 40 stories. Trammell Crow Center (1984), Comerica Bank Tower (1987), JP Morgan Chase Tower (1987). When will we get another one of those?

For as long as I can remember, Belo has refused advertising from strip clubs. You know, because they are so strippery. But a highly placed source tells me that Al Dia has now been given the green light by corporate brass to run those ads. English-language readers? They will still have to turn to the internet or the Phoenix-based Dallas Observer to find out which strip club has the best surf-and-turf lunch deal. But if you read Spanish, you’re good to go.

Teacher Learns New Lesson. I think after Saturday, Fort Worth teacher Brenda Jones Stafford has learned the answer to the following question: Is there ever a good time to get into fisticuffs with the elderly in a mall?

Search for Mexican Cartel Members Includes Dallas. Federal agents are looking for members of a cartel responsible for the ambush and killing of an ICE agent, and while the search is nationwide, 57 alone have been arrested by Dallas-based agents. My sources (yes, I have sources) tell me there were three homes in the area (one in North Dallas, one in Carrollton, and one in northwest Dallas) that were raided and shut down.

Caraway Officially Neutral – Sort Of. Dwaine Caraway says he won’t officially endorse anyone for mayor, but, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, he wouldn’t mind it one bit if you voted for Ron Natinsky.

DISD Meeting Draws Protesters. An overflow crowd showed up at the Dallas Independent School District school board meeting last night to protest budget cuts. Listen, it’s good that people care, that makes me happy. But aren’t the district’s hands kind of tied? Wouldn’t protesting say, in Austin or at least at your local state legislator’s office be more correct?

Hi. Did you overschedule your weekend, like I did? It’s a crying shame, considering how nice it’s supposed to be, too. If you haven’t, be extra lazy for me. In fact, don’t get out of your pajamas. Just sit in your backyard in your pajamas all weekend. Drink beers. Maybe barbecue something. Sleep late (you can go inside for that, if you want).

Katie Minchew went to today’s meeting at the Hunt building to hear about the latest fundraising news regarding The Park.

Today the Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation announced “significant progress in the capital campaign.” Since I have been following the construction of The Park on FrontBurner, I was invited to the press conference to meet some of the new donors.

After a little meet and greet, Mayor Tom Leppert spoke, thanking everyone who is involved with the project. Today we met donors Linda and Mitch Hart and two members of the Richard Fisher family. Along with the other new donors, nearly $9 million was donated. They are only $17 million away from completing this campaign, which strangely, doesn’t sound like much to me.

While the new donors were announced, a small group of kids from Laureate Preparatory School, which is five blocks away from The Park, waited impatiently for their turn to be in the spotlight. The kids stole the show as they presented the Mayor and new donors with framed Crayola-inspired artwork of The Park.

But I think Mayor Leppert’s statement defined the purpose of The Park best: “What once was the divider is now the magnet.” –Katie Minchew

What will become of Blockbuster chairman and CEO Jim Keyes once the Dallas-based video-rental company is sold? “I’m gonna take some time off,” Keyes said yesterday. “I might stay on through the transition–depending on the buyer.”

And after that? “I don’t know,” replied Keyes, who’s a competent painter and sculptor in his spare time, as explained in the new issue of D CEO. “I might become a starving artist.”

If civil strife in Algeria were to pinch off oil supplies there, the price of crude oil could hit $180 a barrel, T. Boone Pickens says. The Dallas energy billionaire, who earlier predicted $100 per barrel oil by the end of the first quarter, said $180 oil would put us “back to where we were in 2008,” when high oil prices had gasoline costing more than $4 a gallon, sending shock waves throughout the U.S. economy.

“We’re in a terrible spot right now,” Pickens said in Dallas last night. “You can see how fast it’s spread,” he added, referring to civil unrest in the Middle East. Violence in Libya had oil reaching nearly $100 a barrel yesterday for the first time since October 2008, and average U.S. gas prices crept up to the $3.20 range. If Saudi Arabian oil supplies were to be disrupted, Pickens said, $300 per barrel oil wouldn’t be out of the question.

You can read David’s piece about the former Tammi True right here, and you should, if only for the part about — you know what? You will see for yourself. It makes me laugh and cringe every single time I read it.

As David writes on his blog, he could have written an entirely different story. That one sounds pretty interesting, too. Check that out here.

Seriously? This is the deal today for Dallas? A Sarah Palin bobblehead doll? Really? I mean, REALLY really?