Deciding where to eat is as much about whom you’re with as what you’re hungry for. Of course, Dallas has a match for every occasion and every companion.
Where to take your lawyer for lunch:
DAKOTA’S, ABIO. These are downtown’s two most sophisticated restaurants with an American style-if your lawyer is a meat-and-potatoes man, he’ll be happy; if she’s a sophisticated epicurean lady, she’ll be happy.
Where to take your broker:
THE PALM-if he’s paying. The Palm is a fun, macho, business-oriented place, but who wants to pick up the tab for a 10-pound lobster at $12 a pound?
Where she takes her girl friend to lunch:
CHRISTOFFER’S-the latest chain of ladies lunch places-but much more sophisticated than a mere tearoom.
Where be takes bis girlfriend to lunch:
ENJOLIE. It’s elegant, it’s off the beaten track, it’s in a hotel.
Where to take your homesick cousin from San Francisco:
ATLANTIC CAFE. It made our California friend feel better, but it isn’t trying too obviously to be like California.
Where to take the big boss from New York:
For local color-HERRERA’S (in New York, any place this colorful would raise your life insurance rates 300 percent). For something he can’t get at home-CHI-QUITA. Mexican food may have gotten better in New York than it used to be, but it still has a long way to go to be this good. To impress him with how cool Dallas is- ROUTH STREET CAFE. Routh Street is the essence of cool-it doesn’t work nearly so hard at showing off as the other places in town with comparable food and service.
Where to take friends to make them think you know famous people:
For power breakfasts, CAFE CHABLIS at The Registry. If no one famous shows up, tell them about the time you saw Lee Ia-cocca, Pete Dawkins, Grant Tinker and Jack Nicklaus, all at separate tables.
Where to take the kids after Sunday School:
T.G.I.FRIDAY’S, because the bedlam is such that your screamers will neither add nor detract, and the menu offers something for everyone, including a decent Mimosa to help you through until nap time.
Where to take your punk cousin from Malibu:
To impress him with the fact that Dallas can be every bit as counter-cool as Los Angeles, JOE’S RESTAURANT offers a-trend-a-minute slickness plus food that is fresh enough for even a Californian.
Where to go for dinner when your a deux falls through:
BLOM’S if you’re feeling especially self-indulgent. The food is terrific and all the other diners are from out of town; HIGHLAND PARK CAFETERIA if the goal is to drown your depression in Mama’s home-style cooking and return to the TV; ON THE BORDER if the only way out is through bellying up to a bar in the hopes of meeting someone attractive.
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