Open Letter to D Magazine

Dear D Magazine,

Seriously!!

I like you alot for the most part but I (we, the people) have one bone to pick with you.

Stop posting pictures of oompa loompas and calling it Nightlife photos!!! We cannot be tricked into looking at them every week! Orange people scare us and we are tired of being frightened by their tanorexic shots. Please and thank you!

Feeling Thirsty??

Honestly speaking I try to do it all.

BUT it gets a little 'spensive doing it all on my "I'm in my mid-twenties, get me out of here" budget. Some days my bank account says Hey Big Spenda! and winks at me and tells me to have a fun night...(little flirt). On other, more frequent, days it says who the F do you think you are? Serious love/hate relationship going on there, it bosses me around and I don't like it. Drinking is an expensive habit here in Dallas. With tons of bar options around town and most of them offering happy hour specials, the thirsty girl like me finds it hard to say no after a long day of work. But to accomadate my schizo bank account I've worked out over the last couple of years a list of places to drink and eat on a dime if need be. Yes, some of them are chains but hey, alcohol is alcohol and I'm no booze snob. These places are the best of the best in my book and can offer you a potentially great night on less than 10 dollars...but let's be honest, when have you only had two drinks at happy hour?

Jake's Hamburgers Uptown- Yep, it's a burger place. But it also has one awesome happy hour. Perhaps the combo of cheap grease and liquor is what makes it great. Jake's has $2 U Call-It Domestics, $3 U Call-It Cocktails!!, draft specials, the all day everyday $3 margarita, happy hour appetizers, and a mostly attentive waitstaff to make sure you don't see the bottom of that glass till someone hits time on the happy hour buzzer!!! And the food...can't go wrong...fried pickles, fried cheese, fried everything! Also, most places around town do this BS happy hour till 6pm thing which makes me want to knock a glass over and make someone pick it up...I don't leave work till 5:30 amigos!! Not enough time to hussle down and round up at least 3 drinks to make happy hour worth it in the first place. But Jake's happy hour runs till 7pm. And if you are lucky, you will get free entertainment, sometimes bands play in the cabana area. Park yourself under the mist fans, enjoy the urban jungle, and let that crap day melt away.
http://www.jakesburgers.net/index.php

Fedora Restaurant & Lounge- This Italian spot down in One Arts Plaza is, on the outside, a little too foo-foo for my liking. You can tell it wants to be taken seriously. But I'm willing to try anything and it turns out they have a great thing going. Going to avoid the horrible Godfather reference right now and tell you what you REALLY can't refuse....on Tuesdays this place has a long island iced tea that will knock your socks off and it's only 2 bones. Have one and you feel divine, have two and you may want to stand up and do a twirl forgetting that you just spilled pizza in your lap. $2 Long Islands, Domestics, Margs and seriously good pizza (um spinach dip pizza, yes please!) until 11pm every Tuesday!!! And they have specials every night of the workweek...$4 u call-its on Thursday, half-price pizza, half price bottles of vino, list goes on. The great thing is no one really thinks a place like that would have specials so it's never really packed. Sit on the patio, enjoy the breeze and the man strumming on the guitar, and wait for that bill...believe me it won't make you want to off someone.
http://www.fedoradallas.com/

Blue Goose Cantina Greenville- Too many specials to list but $3 Thursday makes me sing!!! "Queso, house margaritas, all beers and well drinks are just three bucks all day!" The patio is huge and when its not sweltering outside you can spend a lovely evening watching the leather daddies come and go. It draws the motorcycle crowd which I have no problem with until I feel like their bike exhaust is getting in my queso. This place is festive, make friends!!!
Check out the other specials here...http://www.bluegoosecantina.com/specials.htm

La Cubanita- Hola mi mojito! I should start calling people that...my little mojito. It's catchy! I heart La Cubanita (and it's sister restaurant Sangria) for a couple reasons. One, the ambiance is great. It is a little small so once you get a seat, plant your ass there for the evening but inside the decor is very old world Cuba with just the right touches of new world. Also, every waiter and bartender I've had has been really cool. They laugh, they joke, they recommend, they know how to please a crowd (aka know how to keep those drinks comin). More importantly, this place offers a cheap happy hour with a Cuban twist. $3 mojitos, margaritas, and rum punch from 4-7 pm....and THEN a reverse happy hour, same specials from 9-close. Weekends included! Alot of places have jumped on the marg/mojito bandwagon but this place gets them right, straight up basics that pack a wallop. The last time I went our group had one too many rum punches and it ended with several phone calls of the booty variety. Mkay. Lock your phones, ladies!
http://lacubanitadallas.com/

Runner Up: Sherlock's Addison

Groan....ok so I'm sorry but I really dislike Addison, I try to avoid it at all costs, BUT there is something to be said for ridiculously cheap booze. I'm talking $2 U-calls and not just the bottom shelf stuff that makes your liver feel like a punching bag. Check out their specials here....they don't disappoint.

More to come but in the meantime this website has an insane list of drinking holes and restaurants all over the DFdub with happy hour specials.

You stay thirst, Dallas friends!

Murray St. Coffee Shop, I love you a latte

Saturday afternoon... nothin really happening...perfect day to sit reading in a cafe reflecting on the important things in life...like why my bank account always looks like some greedy elf snuck in and took all my money ($40 at CVS? Really?). Don't know why I went down through Deep Ellum that day, maybe to get off the beaten path, but I got sort of turned around down there looking for a way back to Main St. and what do you know?! Murray Street Coffee! And conveniently a parking spot right outside! (Sidenote: It's all about the good parking spot down there...a good night becomes a great one if you can find a spot that doesnt involve a five block haul.)

First off, I'm a huge fan of the indie coffee shop. They tend to always the attract the type of people I like being surrounded by....creative types, people with stories. And typical of an indie coffee shop, the people watching here was great. I like to call my people watching staring because thats really what it is. [Inner dialogue: Oops, I caught your eye. Back to my book and...oops I caught it again. Don't be alarmed I just want to know what you're all about, I find you interesting...look I'm smiling...oh you're leaving. Fine. Godspeed!]
So anyways, I fell in love with this place right away. The vibe is great, couches for lounging, art books to browse through, work spaces, an upstairs loft area, definitely intimate enough for a private conversation but you aren't closed off to the world if it's just little ole you. Good mix of music playing.
Also, I love how welcoming this place is. You see neighborhood peeps in and out grabbing coffee and chitchatting with the owners, you know they know and love it there. At the same time someone like me, not a Deep Ellum resident, can pop in, spend an afternoon there, and leave feeling all warm and fuzzy like you just hung out in your living room with your new friends. You aren't really bothered by anyone unless you want to be. So I sat, had one latte, then went back for another since it was so delish. Due to my caffeinne buzz I didn't make it that far into my book BUT...I did end up conversating with a man who did a juggling act and rode away on a bike way too small for him. Amusing!

Perk: Ummm, pretty much everything. Didn't get a chance to chat with the owners but i've seen them around Dallas and they seem like cool peoples. I liked their cafe grub menu...the tomato/mozz/pesto sandwich was yum! I hear they have djs and local bands perform there occasionally but I havent been for that.

Whether you are stopping by to grab a great cup of jo for the road or planning to stay for the evening it's a great cafe with not a hint of Starbucks in the air.

Murray Street Coffee
103 Murray St @Main