Saggin', Tex-Mex, and The Rosewood Mansion at Turtle Creek

And now, for something completely different. (This is almost enough to make me want to revive Hoosiers Ate My Brain.) Yesterday morning I awoke to NPR serenading me with the a new cultural anthem combatting saggin' in south Dallas, the rap hit "Pull Your Pants Up!" The deputy mayor of Dallas is leading a campaign to keep guys from wearin' 'em low. (Apparently, the trend was boxers, then dirty boxers (eww), then nothing at all (double eww!) A local guy in his barber shop saw the mayor on TV, then went out back to his recording studio and recorded a new rap anthem for the masses. It's pretty snappy, actually. So, in the spirit of "Hey! Pull your pants up!" -- my earworm of the week -- here's some food news from Dallas (aside from the billboard with the tagline from rapper Dooney da Priest: "It's not cool. It's rude. Walkin' around showin' your behind to other dudes.")

Robb Walsh Recommends Tex Mex: Think we're the only ones who crave good Tex Mex? Think again. New Yorkers, Europeans, even Texans are all looking for the best Tex Mex -- or at least their personal favorites. From Diner's Journal, Robb Walsh, author of The Tex Mex Cookbook, kind of a recipe and travel guide, gives us his two cents on the best in on the border, Paris, and even DC.

Some of the greatest institutions of Tex-Mex were built on the Mexican side of the border in the 1920s and 1930s during America’s experiment with Prohibition,” he told me. “ These Tex-Mex restaurants catered to Americans who crossed the border looking for cocktails, but miraculously, eighty years later, some of them are still in business. The list includes Ma Crosby’s in Acuña, The Drive-In in Matamoros, and The Kentucky Club in Juarez.There are good Tex-Mex restaurants in Paris. The Indiana Cafe is a favorite. Elsewhere around the planet, I found the enchiladas at Charley Brown’s in Bangkok decent, but the tacos awful.

Beyond the Texas borders, my suggestions are not nearly as exotic. I feel blasphemous saying this, but The Tee Pee in Phoenix (4144 E. Indian School Road) could be airlifted and set down in Texas and nobody would know the difference. La Tolteca in Wilmington, Delaware (2209 Concord Pike) is the best I’ve ever had along the New York-Washington D.C. corridor.

Dallas Eats Asks Where's the Best in Dallas? Noting that Walsh likes his tacos on the side (as do I, although the shells still get soggy if the meat is too greasy), Dallas Eats asks "where is the best Tex Mex in Dallas?" I can only imagine it will be as passionate a discussion as on this blog when we talk about Mexican food -- only with 100s more places to go.

The Mansion Gets a Facelift: (There's a Turtle Creek, Dallas matron, expensive plastic surgeon joke in there somewhere, but I'm just not finding it.) In other Dallas food news, not Tex Mex related, the Mansion at Turtle Creek, one of the most well-known restaurants in Texas, is relaunching as The Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek next month after extensive renovations. Once, one of the best restaurants in the state, chef changes and a well-worn interior had left the old battlehorse a little weary. (Think of it as The Oak Room of the southwest.) It sounds like the new look is perfect and I'll make a point to check it out if only for a cocktail next time in in Dallas.