Editor's note:Another week has come and gone, and there's a lot we all probably missed. But we're looking out for you, kid. Here are the most popular stories from this past week:
1. Where to eat in Dallas right now: 10 favorite neighborhood restaurants. Senior editor Teresa Gubbins has a real treat for readers this month with the launch of the Neighborhood Eats special series. Gubbins is highlighting different locales as only she can, with a healthy serving of wit and whimsy. The first 'hood on her plate? Bishop Arts, of course.
2. State Fair crowns fried food winners for 2013 Big Tex Choice Awards. In retrospect, it seems no surprise: Fried Thanksgiving Dinner won the prize for Most Creative at the 2013 Big Tex Choice Awards, the annual fried-food contest hosted by the State Fair of Texas. Less predictable, given the wide field of tempting-sounding candidates, was winner for Best Taste: Deep Fried Cuban Roll.
3. Katy Trail Ice House sets up barbecue trailer on Pecan Lodge doorstep. Celebrated as one of the top five barbecue joints in Texas, Pecan Lodge is the crown jewel of the Dallas Farmers Market. So why does the market's new management seem to treat it like scrap metal? On Saturday August 31, visitors to the market spotted a puzzling sight on the market concourse: A trailer from restaurant Katy Trail Ice House, serving hot dogs and brats, and bearing the phrase "Texas BBQ."
4. Dallas-Fort Worth declared happiest place in America. Look out, Disney World. A new poll has named Dallas-Fort Worth the happiest big city metro in America. According to marketing research firm Harris Interactive, 38 percent of Dallas-area residents are "very happy." That's five points higher than the national average.
5. Syrian civil war hits home for Arab American Texan. Contributor Hala Habal shares her complex emotions as a woman with a foot in two different continents. "I’m not blind or naïve: Syria was then and has been for decades a repressive, despotic regime. But the people learned to thrive, to satisfy themselves with the fact that there was reliable infrastructure, public transportation, highways, railways and commerce," Habal writes.
Lockhart Smokehouse in Bishop Arts offers quite the spread for meat lovers.
Le Bistrot Bar Sardine is now open in Snider Plaza.
Kayla Enright
