Dallas Dining Is Having a Moment — But For How Long? | Sarah Blaskovich

I can test that mic for you. Hello, hello, hello.
Mic check one, too. Mic check one, too.
Yes, I can talk to you one more time. I can talk to you all day if you want me to.
I know. Yeah, I mean, I've been to a lot of journalism conferences, but I've never been to one
specifically for food writers. It used to not be like a cool job. I feel like it used to be,
you know, like certainly a job for women, but also just like a job in this corner, whatever, and then
food became a sport. Yeah, you know, yeah. And I got a little lucky with the timing when I came in,
because it was like right on the rise, and it was like a day to actually start watching the food
network. Yeah, yeah. No, it sports. Yeah, well, and most of the food network now is actually not
people cooking. It's competition cooking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, like I used to watch the food
network for like jada in her kitchen. Yes, you know, which was like, who doesn't everybody likes that?
Yeah. It's like, and guy has just, he produces so much, he does so much. Yeah. And I can, you know, I think that he,
I think that I heard a read something recently about something he did,
while she was being treated. Yeah, she, one of the chefs that's on turn of a
champion that he put together, and it runs. It's a bracket just like, yeah, March madness. Yeah,
in March. And I'm like, that's really totally standing by.
Oh, Tobias, I can't think this last name. He's like, oh, he was an NFL player running back.
What's it going? He and his girlfriend were tapped and shot one night. And while he was in hospital,
the first call he made was after after after his family.
Do we figure out this is 197? Yes, people seem to really enjoy him. And a lot of people like
around here have met a lot of them, like some of cooked with Bobby Flay. And there's a nice thing
inside about him. But people do have nice things to say about guy.
Yeah.
Hello to you and yours.
And whatever you may have that falls under the heading of viewers, whoever you may have that
falls under the heading of viewers, be that man, woman, animal, whatever. We're saying hello to you.
Because it's another episode of your dark companion coming your way. This is episode 197,
right here on the 18th of Zathe 18th. All right, man, I'm off to a great start.
This might be the best one ever. We know it's going to be. We know the guest is. That's
right. Because today we have one of our favorites. We have her in here from time to time.
Because unlike a lot of people who do what she does and plies her craft at a news daily,
such as the Dallas Morning News, which happens to be where she plies hers,
she is on a beat that changes very, very rapidly as opposed to many of them that they change. But
they're a little bit more a laze fair about it all on her beat. You must be prepared to move
very quickly to either the right or the left just to keep up with it. You can't be any geek off the
streets. Can't be any geek off the streets. She is with us for the I believe the seventh time.
Did we determine that? Yes. Look at that, you guys. Right. Yes, she's kind of our only really
recurring guest. Especially her and Jesse Hewila, but she still doubles his output.
Okay. And the reason for that is because number one, everybody is interested in what she does at
the Dallas Morning News. And number two, as I said, it changes very rapidly. So in the natural
course of events so that we may keep up with it, make sure that you keep up with it.
We have to have her in here from time to time to tell us just what's going on. She is the great
Sarah Blaskovich. Her beat is the food slash restaurant beat. Yep.
Did I get all that right? Yeah, I eat for a living. Then I write words about it.
And you know what? You're damn good at it. Well, thank you. Probably both, but
definitely. Yes, surely good. Thank you. I do think it's the best job in the building.
Have we ever talked about how you wound up on that beat?
You know, yeah, it's an interesting story. I did not ever plan to be a food writer. I wanted to
be a breaking news reporter. And I wanted to cover City Hall and School Board. And I did that
for a couple of years. And then I stumbled into an arts and entertainment job for a company that
some of your listeners may remember. It was called Pegasus News. And it was an online only sort of
indie arts and entertainment website. And we covered food and music and movies and festivals.
And I was 23 years old and I was hired to be an editor there. And I kind of thought it was just
to stop along the path because I was veering away from being like a government reporter,
which is what I really thought I wanted to do. And I'd worked for the Associated Press in College.
So I was just a breaking news reporter. And I found you could apply all those same techniques
of covering something fast and first and best to restaurant reporting because restaurants are
such a sport here in Dallas, Fort Worth. And so I edited some food stories and I edited some
other kinds of stories. And then the Dallas Morning News bought Pegasus News and the Dallas Morning
News is always the newspaper I wanted to work for. I'm born and raised in Dallas. My parents read it
at the dining room table for my entire life. And so like before I could read, I was looking at
the comics section, you know, it's one of those like quite romantic stories about the Dallas Morning
News was in my family orbit my entire life. Now food was not. My parents were not particularly
great cooks and we weren't excited about dinner most days. We didn't eat in restaurants that much
growing up in Plano. They were just expensive. And I don't know. It was just kind of restaurants
were special occasion things. And so it's it's odd and interesting perhaps that, you know,
throughout that whole journey, right, always wanted to work for the Dallas Morning News but covering
something like school board or city hall that I ended up coming in through the backdoor because
the Dallas Morning News bought the entire company that I worked for. And then once they put me
somewhere, they were like, well, what do we do with you? I said, well, for the past couple of
years, you know, I've done arts and entertainment, but I can do anything, right? I can I can do
breaking news. And they said, well, you know, we have people doing that. And I was like, well, okay,
you know, so I started writing food stories, some food stories that kind of nobody else wanted
to pick up. And then it turned into more food stories and bigger food stories and, you know,
talking not only to small business owners, but to the biggest chefs in town. And it really,
I think I still employ a breaking news technique to the food beat. So, you know, anybody who thinks
that covering food is just like a whole bunch of fun lunches has it quite wrong. You know, it's
it's extremely fast-paced. It's, you know, some days three different news stories a day
covering something that's opened or closed or trending. Yeah. And how long did you do it before
you realized that this is kind of this kind of my jam here, this kind of what I'd like to do?
Yeah, great question. So I've been at the Dallas Morning News going on. It'll be 14 years this
summer. So it totally turned from this stop along the path into a much bigger thing. And
never during those 14 years did I transition out of the food and features area of the newspaper.
So that's also kind of interesting, right? I think after a couple of years, I realized that I
loved it. And it is, as I've said on this podcast before, it's very easy to love food people.
So the chefs and the maiter dees and the restaurant owners, in general, these are people who love
to serve. They love to cook. They love to host. And those are people that are easy to be around.
And so as I had the pleasure of telling their stories, their successes and their failures
for 14 years, I also really learned to love this industry that I really didn't know anything about.
I've never been to culinary school. I'm not a chef myself. I didn't grow up going to restaurants.
So these people sort of trusted me a relative newcomer in their world, you know, to do the journalism
part of the food journalism. And so I would say that three years in, I really learned that I was
loving it. And then I also was an editor over food and some other things at the Dallas Morning
News for a couple of years. And in 2019, I became a full-time reporter without an editor job. So I
made the unpopular shift as a woman then in my 30s out of management for the Dallas Morning
News and into a singular role as a full-time reporter with no direct reports. And that was my
decision. I just, I had a two-year-old at home and I loved restaurant reporting so much. And I
didn't have time to be a great editor and a great reporter all at once. And I am a competitive
person who's pays a lot of attention to the numbers. And I could prove with spreadsheets and I have
many that my food stories were, they were useful to the Dallas Morning News' bottom line, that people
by the millions every year were reading newspapers. Did you directly start going to a meeting and do
that? I did do that. Yes. Yes. I said out loud a couple of times, I think I want to be a full-time
reporter and leave behind these editing roles at least for now. And a bunch of people said,
you shouldn't do that. And then a couple times more, I said, I do think, you know, that as a woman
in this field, this highly unpopular opinion, I hear you and I, it's right for me, you know, with
little kids at home to focus my attention on this job. And so what I had to do was turn to those
numbers to prove it. So yeah, I printed out all this stuff and I, in front of several people
who have very important jobs above mine, I said, I said, I can prove to you that if you let me do
this full-time, that these numbers you see in front of me will at least double, right? Because I
won't go from managing 12 other people and writing restaurant stories when I can. But I will go into
doing this full-time. And I've been doing it since 2019 like that and I just, I just love it. I love
the idea that I get to write and create all day long and that I, and I eat the eating. I can't,
shy away from the idea that that's just really wonderful too. But, you know, who knows if I'll ever
want to do something bigger at the Dallas Morning News? I've said, I think it is a wonderful place
that I always wanted to be. But for now, being a full-time reporter is enough for me.
Well, you're great at it. Thank you. And I'm sure that everybody involved, everybody in your orbit,
all the people that you cover and all the people that you work for just adore you. Well, thank you.
You know, thank you. The numbers keep growing up. So we can prove that it's still good. Thanks.
I appreciate that. Well, what we'd like to do is get you in here from time to time.
And pick your brain a little bit about what's going on out there in the world of food units.
Of course. And where one may procure them and what they may procure and what they may find
when this procuring process is done. What? You want me to open this gift? Yeah, you got a gift there.
Do you want me to open this gift before you ask me questions? I've not been included in this
conversation. I don't know what's going on here. What's going on, Shupi? Well, Sarah's
seven-time guest now. And we decided to commemorate
that occasion with a special wearable gift. A wearable gift? Yeah, we're going to give you a
Mickey Mouse baseball jersey with number seven. Can you imagine? I'm like, oh my god,
you guys, I don't know anything about baseball. Sitting in front of me for anybody not looking at
our lovely faces on the internet is a Christmas package. It says Mary Christmas and it is
wrapped in two different gorgeous bows. Yeah, Mike, Mike, did you wrap this?
If you were going to hazard a guess as to whether or not I wrap that, what would you guess?
It feels like no. Yeah, it feels like, whoa, I need to learn how to do this.
Oh, you got to know how it feels like no. Yeah, I know you're going to get a lot of things.
It feels like a hard no Mike, but I don't I don't think you wrapped this gift. It's pretty safe to say
it's a Becca production. Becca, thank you. I would come without gifts. In fact, to journalists
in general are not supposed to accept gifts, but you guys are now my friends. Yeah, we are.
Okay, the suspense is building. Wait, is it a jacket? Damn right. Oh my god. All right, I have been
saying for approximately the last six times that perhaps I need a jacket like they do at SNL
because I just keep showing up here and it says Sarah Blaskovich V O Y D C your dark companion. Oh,
gosh, guys, thank you. So yeah, we wanted to get you something that's actually wearable that's
not like, you know, those crazy looking like letter jackets with all the stuff on them. Yes,
something that I would actually put on as opposed to where I go out for a jog. I love it. Thank you.
It is my very own zipped jacket with my name on it and your company name. How can I get one of
those? You need to do more shows. Apparently, you got a guest show up seven times. What number
episode did you say was one? 197. Well, you've been doing it a whole lot more than seven times,
Mike. I think he deserves a jacket too. Yeah, we don't have any ahead of you. Thank you guys.
We only have 190 episodes without Sarah. Well, it's my pleasure to come on this much and anybody
listening, if you happen to be a good guest and come six more times, perhaps they'll give you a
jacket too. I'm just kidding. Maybe if we like you, that's great. This does feel like a SNL
Hall of Fame. It is. Yeah, it is. It kind of is. Let's get on to what you've been doing and where
you've been going, what you've been finding once you got there and the way things are these days.
Now, one thing I really like about you is you apply me with stuff that you want to talk about.
I always do it. You're really, really good about that. Yeah. And that's a good thing because otherwise,
I would be talking about going to grips or somewhere like that. We can talk about that too.
But you tell us that Mediterranean food is kind of a trend out there. So hot right now, Mike.
So yeah, so here's the situation. Anybody listening who owns a Mediterranean restaurant or who has
eaten Mediterranean food over the past, I don't know, 50 years. This is not a new cuisine. And there are
so many countries near the Mediterranean. And so it's also a wildly large genre. But in 2026,
we are seeing an influx of new restaurants marketing themselves as Mediterranean. And many,
and this is notable, many are like these kind of flashy fancy places. So you take any cuisine and
you can slap higher price tags on it. And we've seen this happen with almost every cuisine. But in
Dallas, the one that's happening, the one of the moment is Mediterranean food. And on the whole,
what we're talking about here is quite a bit of seafood and healthy dishes. Sometimes whole roasted
fish or whole grilled fish. Lots of hummus with pita bread and Greek salads and vegetable
starters. And then a fair amount of vegetable sides too. So restaurants that feel quite a bit
different than the very typical Dallas steakhouse that we have been famous for for better or for worse
for a very long time here in Dallas. And so last year, last fall, a restaurant called Avra opened
in the Crescent in uptown Dallas. And you've been? Oh, Mike, you've been to Avra, a Greek
restaurant. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, the maps did have a thing there that I went to.
There were a bunch of trees inside this 14,000 square foot restaurant. If that's ringing any bells,
really like you've gone to the Mediterranean almost, right? Yes, yes.
And it seemed very, the only thing that seemed more out of place than it where it is is me being there.
I mean, this place was pretty fancy. Do you remember, did you have fish?
Yeah, I think I did. It's like, you know, you order a whole roasted fish and sometimes share it
with the table or you get a couple, you know, salads to start or sides. It's, um, so Avra is the
biggest and flashiest example of Mediterranean food coming into Dallas. And the coming into Dallas
part is important because Avra specifically has restaurants in other cities. It's extremely famous
location is in Midtown Manhattan, but they have many across the country. And so Dallas is a magnet
for these out of town restaurants that think they can get big dollars for dining here. And,
and when Avra came in, I mean, it was the hottest thing of the moment and it still continues to be
very popular. The thing at Avra that it's most known for out of this state is it's power lunch.
So business people dressed nice, they pop in, they for 48 and a half minutes, they sit down,
two or three courses of pretty healthy food, which I think is all of us are a day older every
single day. You know, trying to eat healthy feels more important than it did yesterday. And so
fashionable healthy food is really on time and Dallas and people are really liking that.
So once Avra opened last year and was quite a big deal, we are going to see more that look,
feel and sound like Avra. So we have Avra, Abba and Alara. Three very different, but very similar
Mediterranean restaurants with fairly high prices and beautiful dining rooms that come, you know,
into Dallas to sort of capture this moment of Mediterranean food.
I do Bobby. Oh, that's a funny one.
That's good. The hell, you do it over there. You're trying to suggest a new restaurant name, right?
So do you like this kind of food, Mike? I don't know if I've had enough of it to really know. I'm
in on the fish part. Yeah, you're a seafood guy. Yeah, I'm definitely in on the fish part,
but I'm frightened by hummus. To be frightened by hummus, that's so darling.
I love that. That's good. You know, it's yeah, your fear of cheese or aren't you an anti-mayo guy?
Yeah. Oh, it's anti-eggs. Oh, that's right. Yeah, I'm anti-eggs. It's the other dairy.
Pro Miracle Whip. Oh, sure. That's this is a complicated relationship. How do you feel?
I'm a complicated guy. I know. So do you like Miracle Whip over like Helmins Mayo?
Yeah, definitely, definitely. Oh, I want people on the internet to tell us what they think about that.
That's a hot take. I strongly like mayonnaise over Miracle Whip, but I think Miracle Whip has
jobs on certain sandwiches, but like we could never be a house that had only that. You have to have
both. God. Miracle Whip does contain eggs. I always, for whatever reason, thought maybe it didn't
somehow. Yeah, they do. Oh, yeah. They're well disguised, though. Yeah, they're whipped right in
there and they try not to make themselves seen. Yeah. I should mention that I don't believe Miracle Whip
or Helmins are sponsors. These are simply these are simply the brands I usually go with.
That's funny. Of course, all that's understood with you. You're not promoting any kind of brand
or anything like that. I'm not and it's just fun to explain because it's people think it's wacky.
I don't eat for free ever. So that is that is the job is that I pay my own way at every single meal
and the Dallas Morning News pays me back for some of that, but I mean all the time I'll go out to
dinner with my husband or with my kids. And if I know the chefs and I don't know him or her that
well, they might say, well, you know, can I send you out something free or don't worry, the whole
tab is comped. And I'm like, oh, no, no, I can't do that. You know, this is this is just a big rule.
And it is more surprising than ever these days because, you know, the Dallas Morning News in my
opinion has the best ethics policy of anybody in town. And it stayed the same for decades. If not
longer, the Dallas Morning News is 140 years old. But, you know, a lot of people you see on Instagram
eat for free and then get on there and say, this was the best burger I've ever had. And we just
don't believe in that. So it is, it feels like it's a dying breed of people like me who insist
that we have to pay for food. There's no this for that. And so you always know that whatever I talk
about, yeah, whatever we talk about and write about is, is quite simply what we think is newsworthy
and important. And there was never some sort of other thing going on, you know, like we owed
somebody a favor or we, you know, we just don't do that. And that's nice in a world where that
stuff can get confused very easily. Now, let's just say that I decide that I won't want to
put aside my fear of this and try a little Mediterranean thing. In addition to, yeah,
that I'm going to bite down, swallow hard and come to terms with the hummus. Great, good.
In addition to this place, where would I go? So I have a great idea for you if you can be patient
because it's not open yet. But just this week I wrote about one of these other A words,
Abba, which is a Mediterranean restaurant that opens later this year. But if you're going to try
hummus, this, this seems like the perfect place for you because they have five on the menu. So,
and don't you love a place that instead of being like, we have good hummus. They're like, we got
five hummuses. Like who's doing that? Except a place who's quite proud of their hummus.
And hummus is almost always made with chickpeas that are all whipped up. But you could make hummus with
other stuff, including edamame or other like bean legume type things. So as far as I know,
Abba's hummus is all the same hummus base. But then you get spicy garlic in one or you get
brisket in another with some barbecue sauce. I mean, would you try brisket hummus?
If I were going to, that would be maybe. Yeah, maybe. That could happen. He's still fearful.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, we think we need to go to the grocery store and there are like
flavors of hummus. I mean, this is sort of restaurants do a little bit fancier job of that. But
this place is trying to give you that experience where like if you're the pesto hummus person,
or if you're the roasted red pepper hummus person, you know, you got options at Abba.
And I've not been to this restaurant. All right. Can I just say something really stupid so I can
get it out of my head and get it out there? Yes. I'm wondering if in Abba they have the water
loose sandwich. Boy, that just died. I feel like we go to break now. I feel like he was looking
for a gift or a sound bite, but wasn't sure which one. No, he was going for a joke and then he
got laid out on. Boy, did I ever. It was a great joke. No, it wasn't that good. Yeah, you know,
the song, the big Abba hit Waterloo. Yeah. All right. Okay. For me. For anybody at home word
nerding in their head, Abba is a one B on the restaurant. ABA. Oh, it is. Okay. Okay. I feel like
there would be a joke doesn't work. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, you don't know that, but I'm just saying.
If I don't know that, you'd have saved me. Thanks, Sarah. No, but well, I'm just pointing it out of
anybody's googling it. Also, I feel as though there would be brand confusion. They both had the same
name, which I think was at the core of your joke. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, well. All right. Let's try to
recover. Tell us about Delilah. I would love to tell you about Delilah. Delilah is one of the most
expensive new restaurants in town. And maybe later we'll talk about it expensive restaurants,
because I want everybody listening to know that I don't eat at places like Delilah often,
because I like you. I'm not a millionaire, but yeah, speak for myself. The other millionaires
in the room are feeling embarrassed right now. I'm so sorry. All the rest of us. Yeah. But Delilah is
a 1920s style supper club in the Dallas design district. It took several years to open and has been
hotly anticipated. The first Delilah was in LA is in LA. And then came Las Vegas and Miami.
And this is a place where you think you might see a celebrity in any of those cities.
It's hard to get a reservation and you wear your finest. And in Dallas, this restaurant opened
almost in the thick of the ice storm. Like near the end of that week, like when school was cancelled
all week, it was that week that that Delilah had its grand opening VIP party. And if you could see
the diamonds and the fur that were worn by the Dallas women to this party, I mean, it's that kind
of place. It was and I looked through every single party pick with Glee because I just wanted to
see who was there and what they were doing and what they were wearing. And so Delilah has been
this place that people are wondering about because it's only been opened now, something like two
weeks. But it is a place that people are I think wanting to go for birthdays and anniversaries.
Now, something interesting about Delilah is that it has four stages. So I wouldn't say Dallas is
a town that does live music and dinner together all that well. There are a couple places where you
can hear like live piano during dinner. But there's not a lot of these other, you know, we have music
venues. We have we have the Grenada and we have sundown at Grenada next door. But there's not a lot
of like, like imagine if the Grenada was also an active, fully operating restaurant during all of
those shows. Well, you clearly haven't seen Petty Thaft at Tolberts. Actually, that's a pretty good
example of a place that's doing, you know, some, both. Some people have told me that the chili at
Tolberts are people, is people's favorite chili? Oh, it's famous for it. Yes. The original owner started
Yes, Frank X. Oh, that's cool. I didn't know that. Okay, so Delilah, three of the stages are for
what they're calling burlesque dancers. I think in my mind that burlesque dancers end up taking
their clothes off. That's what I think of when I think of burlesque or at least some of them. I might
be defining that wrong. But these ladies in my one night there did not. So they would wear full gowns
with headdresses. Like, I mean, so fantastic costumes. And then as the night were on, they would change
their outfits to become shorter. Or at one point when we left, there was like a little bit of a
see-through lace situation, but with like purls and still like a lot going on. It was a very
showgirl in what I found to be a very tasteful way. So while you're in this beautiful dining room
with maybe celebrities eating pricey food and drinking martinis, there are dancers around you,
just sort of like swaying. And then up on the main stage, there's the night I was there,
there was an upright bass and a piano. And then like a singer who sang covers of pop songs
in like sultry ways. So there was, I remember, well, and a little bit not pop too. She's saying
rocket band by Elton John in like the coolest way ever. And then went on to Pink Pony Club by
Chapel Rowne. And then like onto a Beyonce song. And so there is a total vibe in there. You
are either feeling sexy or trying to feel sexy and watching a lot of these really fabulous people
also be sexy. And that is the allure to Delilah. And unsurprisingly, that's making a lot of Dallas
people want to go. Is this a place that draws the famous in nearly so? Yes. Yes. It is the type of
place where if anyone goes, you want to get up and go to the bathroom slowly so that you can look
left and right a lot. Because who knows who's going to be there? You know, and they say, so they
they have an interesting policy. When you arrive and on the way to the bathrooms, there's just
tasteful signs that say no photos, please. And because I'm a person who asks annoying questions,
I I was like, what does this mean? Because does it mean like, you know, you're going to take my
phone or does it just mean like, hey, be cool about it or is it somewhere in the middle? And no
server ever gave us the spiel because I also wondered, you know, when you sit down, do they say like,
this is how this place works? Because we all know, maybe you're thinking of it, like you're not
allowed to use a phone in a strip club for instance, but this is not a strip club at all. You know,
this is tasteful. Yeah. This is a restaurant with with with music and a show. And so
I found people not using their phones almost at all, which is a revelation at a restaurant. I saw
people watching the dancers and the singers. I saw people talking to one another and dining and
cheering and and not documenting what they were doing in part because I think there could be some
famous people there and you're probably not supposed to, but also because there was a climate
of just being there. Like you felt a little lucky and a little less, you felt a little like you
were going to leave without some money. You know, you're going to leave a little lighter, but like,
it felt like you should really just soak it in because this isn't a place you come that much.
And so when you do, shouldn't you just see it? And nobody does that. Nobody does that anymore.
No, they don't. And it was really dark and I did take a couple of photos of my plates of food
because I eat for a living and my photos were horrible because it's not set up for Instagram.
And so I also like, I didn't post any of them because I was like, these weren't any good anyway.
And why did I do that? You know, I didn't need to take that picture. It didn't, it wasn't useful anyway.
Did you write, write the rest of your review? I did. Yes, I did. And we, something everyone should
know is that I do not take the professional photos for my food stories. This is not a talent of mine.
I might be the best at taking the worst food photos in town. It's just not a strength of mine.
And so I could use a class. If anybody out there knows how to teach me, that would be cool.
But the Dallas Morning News, thankfully, has some really fabulous photographers who come, you know,
and take pictures. So I went on a Thursday night and experienced it like a regular person,
but took a couple of notes here and there on my phone and did some interviews before and after.
But then a photographer came in afterwards and I asked for a couple of specific dishes to be
photographed. And so this photographer came in and took those photos on a different day when
service was not happening because also it is not the vibe there to have a Dallas Morning News
photographer and his or her flash in a corner, you know, during dinner. That's just not. So we
went at like one o'clock on a Thursday and got those pictures taken. This sounds like the kind of
place you would go to when you want to go somewhere, but you don't want to be seen. Yes, I think all
of the many famous people listening really need to key into this place because you can I just I know
for sure that there is a is a expectation that people aren't bothered inside Delilah. If you are
somebody, you are expected not to have fans come up and ask for pictures. It's just not that kind
of place. Yeah. And if you're not famous, you can pretend you are. Yeah, that's right.
All right, now you have a list of exciting new restaurants of 2026, you tell us. I do.
Several of which are already open. That means there are more to come. Yes.
Might we find on this list, Sarah? Yes. So I write this every year at the end of the year and
it's just kind of this forecast of if you needed one sheet on where to go, this is your list.
And people have told me that they like save the print copy, you know, and kind of like use it as a
checklist and as a checklist person, I love that energy. So it's still early in the year, but there's
some really cool things coming soon or already open. And this morning, I went to a diner called AMFM.
And it is also in the Dallas Design District. And it has a huge backyard that is a live music
venue already. And it used to be a barbecue place inside called Ferris Wheelers. And if we remember
the name, yep. And in fact, in the backyard still today, there is a Ferris Wheel that lights up
during these concerts. Super cool backdrop. And it importantly does not operate. I think that
lots of people drinking and listening to music does not lend itself to a vintage Ferris Wheel.
And so they, it's just there to look cool. But in the front, they have a diner that's going to serve
breakfast all day and lunch all day. And the chef, the consulting chef, her name is chef AQ. And
many Dallas people know her. She was at Jose for a long time, a restaurant on Lover's Lane. And
she is known for her contemporary Mexican cuisine, but she is, she's worked all over the United
States and is really a skilled chef. And a lot of the food she does is super fancy. And the food
of this diner is not. And she said today, like, this is such a fun project because this is like
the food I like to eat at home. And so there's, you know, there's avocado toast and there's
wavos rancheros and there's chilaquilas. And there's a meatloaf. But the meatloaf is stuffed with
jalapeno poppers. Which sounds cool to me. That just sounds delicious. But the reason why AMFM
came together in the way that it did is because the owners are concert promoters. And they have,
they produce, oh, I don't want to get the number wrong. Over a thousand shows a year or something,
a lot of indie artists, indie FW. And they've been doing this for 15 years. It's a, it's a couple.
And they, he and her are music fanatics. They've never opened a restaurant. And so they got this chef
to do the food part of the restaurant, which is very smart. But they wanted it, and the venue is
already a music venue, as I mentioned. But they wanted the diner to be a place where musicians
wanted to eat. And so some musicians, they explained, start their day at 3pm and want breakfast.
So there's breakfast all day, right? And then there's, there's some people in the neighborhood. There's
3,000 people who live in new apartments across the street from this place. Those people want breakfast
at 8am. And so they have that too. You know, and so they just want it to be, it has like this
real 70s, 80s retro feel to it, very comfortable, very affordable. And in a world where nothing
feels affordable, when it comes to food, I love the idea that we're opening a diner in 2026.
Because I just told you about Delilah, the most, you know, I've, I spent many hundreds of dollars
at that place. My husband and I, not, you know, very recently. And so, you know, you, you then could,
we all like to have a balanced diet. Most of us are eating at a place like a diner a lot more than
we're eating at the other place. And so I'm, I'm real excited. The food is inspired yet, you know,
somehow not fancy. That's a delicate balance. So that's one of the new places. But I'm also really
looking forward to Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett is opening an Italian restaurant. What? Uh-huh.
Yes. Uh, so if you're, if you're at, if you're at Knox and Travis at like Mr. Charles or at what
used to be a big hole in the ground, but is now an obersh very high end hotel in construction now,
right by the Katie Trail. Um, if you're there, you go, let's see south on Travis, like a block. And
there is a retail shop called Grange Hall. And it used to have a restaurant in it that was kind of a
schmancy ladies lunch spot. And Jason Garrett and an Italian restaurator in town named Julian
Barzotti have partnered together to open a place called Cafe Luca. And it is a Sicilian restaurant
that sells food that both of them love and that feel they both feel connected to. And I asked
the restaurator what Jason Garrett's role is in opening a restaurant like this. And I mean, like
he didn't just give a, he didn't skip a beat. He said, well, he's the coach. And I was like, let's
go. So that's kind of poetic, you know, that's nice. Um, and, uh, and I've met Jason Garrett now
a couple of times because of this restaurant opening. And he's super jazzed about opening a restaurant.
And, you know, if I had a short list of famous people in this town that I thought we're going to open
restaurants, he wasn't necessarily on it. But I can't imagine it. Right. I know. But it's going to be,
um, pretty nice. So it's, it's going to be open lunch dinner and they want to offer
some casual Italian specialties like having, you know, great espresso and stuff like that. But
I would consider this a sit-down lunch or dinner spot. And I thought it was going to open last month.
I was in there the last week, let's see, of December. And it was looking pretty ready. But they were
waiting on some stuff that was to be shipped to the restaurant like, um, some tiles and some furniture
and stuff. And I believe Cafe Luca is coming either late this month or in March. So those of you who
like a story about, you know, somebody famous getting into a new industry.
Cafe Luca is just real interesting to me. Um, and then one other spot for some geographic
diversity, Tiffany Derry, who is a very well-known chef in town who's all over TV. She is a judge on
master chef. And she is, she just sort of locally be levied. Um, she's a, she has two restaurants in
Farmer's Branch. She's opening a new restaurant in Grand Prairie, which if you look at the map of
DFW is, you know, kind of in the center of, you know, Dallas and headed somewhere west. And, um, and it's
a sports bar with Tiffany Derry's food. So we love a sports bar. I love a sports bar for some
foremost. But yeah. And um, I like sports bars. Yeah. You look, you would like this place. I mean,
she just wants to have like good food that's not complicated. And this is where it's in Grand Prairie.
And if those who know Grand Prairie, there's a, there's a development called the epic. And the city
owns this development, which is kind of rare, I think. And there's, there's all sorts of stuff down.
It's like blink and you missed, um, there's like an indoor rock climbing place. There's a
senior center. There's a whole bunch of restaurants. There's some shopping. It's just like, it's a
mega development in Grand Prairie. And so her restaurant is just kind of embedded right in the
middle of it. And her celebrity will certainly bring people to this bar. And rightly so.
She does a food festival. Yes. Becca, she does a festival called chef spelled S-H-E-F.
She's the female chef. And, um, and I went last year. It was the second year. It was a blast.
It is a blast. I, I went for like a grand tasting, you know, so kind of the, the big flashy
fun night. And in addition to fantastic food, you guys, there was so much dancing.
I, I've been every food fest that has existed in this town. I feel like it's my job. And there's
a lot of fun, usually a lot of eating a fair amount of drinking, not that kind of dancing. There was
so much, just like, there were so many happy people who, who went, like, got some samples and then
like paused to dance. And then go back to the eating. And this is my vibe. I like that so much.
I think whenever we take Shupi to a Mediterranean restaurant, maybe we'll get him to dance after
some hummus. Yes, please. That will be the day. Damn right, it will. You got to get some video
if that happens. Oh yeah. Ashley will make sure she's filming. We'll go on TikTok.
All right, this is the great Sarah Blaskovich of the Dallas Morning News with us today on YDC.
We will have more with her in just a second, but right now we must stop down because it is time.
It is government mandated that we stop down for the dreaded and feared mid show.
Don't be scared Sarah. What makes it feared?
You're not feeling afraid. You'll see. Okay. Maybe I should be. All right.
Let me start by advising all these good people what could happen to them.
Oh, now I'm feeling scared. Not saying it will. Just saying it could. I'll say, what are we supposed
to do here? Oh yeah, CBD. That's right. If you are hurting or if you've got problems,
you're talking about. I just did it. Done it for 35 years.
No, I always had copy and front of me before. Now I just wing it. And it's even better.
Yes, it is. But yes, CBD is what you need. If you are roaming through this world in a degree of
pain, if you got something that hurts and you've been trying to get rid of it, but you don't know
what to do and nobody's ever been able to tell you anything. You tried this. You tried that.
You've gone to this guy. You gone to that guy. None of it seems to work. Have you tried CBD?
Let me taste something. Not too long ago, I fell under that heading myself.
And I went to the CBD House of Healing because I kind of just run out of stuff. I didn't know
what else to do. And I'd heard about it. So what the hell? Why not? What else can go wrong here?
So I go in there and I talked to the owner who is also a registered nurse, by the way.
This is not some wacky head shop we're sending you into.
What are they going to try and sell you zig-zags and incense and stuff like that?
No, this is medicinal. And I talked to her and she gave me some stuff to put on it.
And I tried that and you know what? Helped. And not by just a little bit. It helped a lot.
Now, if they can do that for me, they can do it for you. And if you're one of these guys who
needs a little help with this stuff, you don't know where else to go. Go to the CBD House of Healing.
Talk to them because they know what they're doing. They approach this from a purely medicinal
standpoint. They're not trying to sell you anything. They're not trying to load you up.
The stuff you don't want, what they want to do is help you get over whatever it is that's wrong with you.
The CBD House of Healing is located at Northwest Highway and Plano Road. They are in the
Northeast Quadrant of Bad Burgeoning intersection. Go by there. Tell me you heard about it from us.
Us here on YDC and start your process to healing and getting well and feeling better for crying
out loud. Maybe even sleeping better. Who knows? Start it at the CBD House of Healing.
Is that it? That's all we got. That's all we need. That is all we need. You did not need a script.
That was phenomenal. Oh, thank you. You're welcome. I appreciate that. I mean, I'm not as good as you,
but I try. That's not true. All right. Another thing. I like it when you come in here because you
always give me stuff that to talk about. Good. I want to make people more interesting with their
friends, right? You can drop a little bit of knowledge and pretend you found it yourself.
Well, I won't do that because Sarah Blaskovich is telling us that 2026 this year that we are in
could be a tough one for restaurants. Now we hear all the time about this place and that place
that has gone out of business. Yeah. And why is this? Why do you think this could be a bad year?
Yeah. So we are forecasting bigger challenges in 2026 than in 2025 for restaurants in Texas at
large. And there's so many factors that go into whether a restaurant is healthy or not. But
there are a couple of big ones. Rent prices are at an all time high. So even to get into the
restaurant industry is wildly expensive. And picking where to put a restaurant means everything.
So paying extra for those really sought after neighborhoods comes with an extremely high dollar
value. And then you need to know on the opposite end that you can make enough money to pay all those
notes. So I'm hearing a good amount of really smart local chefs who want to open a new restaurant
who are pausing because they say I had three or four neighborhoods in mind. And I can't afford them.
Or I want to be somewhere for 10 or 20 years. And I can't guarantee to myself or my investors
that that high dollar value for that, you know, that lease that I can afford it. And so
you know, and one of the ways that a restaurant tour can afford to pay a high dollar value for
a lease is expensive food. And you know, nobody likes that. The chefs don't love that.
For the most part, the consumers certainly don't love that. So then we layer in some other problems.
We've talked about inflation a lot. And I don't know the current inflation rates right now,
but what I can say is that over a couple of years, you know, everything had kind of been on the
up. And you take certain ingredients to a restaurant, important ingredients like beef or like
chicken or eggs or maybe certain sauces that are imported from other countries. Maybe you only
get your olive oil from Italy or from Greece, something like that. Even single ingredients like
that, if they're essential to your cuisine, when those prices go up, it make it messes everything
else up. And so some restaurants, you know, they increase their prices because this is the only
way to stay in business. But I've heard from many restaurateurs over the years who are just like
a sandwich shouldn't cost 18 bucks. You know, I don't want to live in a world where I have to do
that. And so starting in COVID and continuing through today, we've seen restaurateurs make difficult
decisions sometimes on principle, you know, that food just shouldn't, a burger just shouldn't
cost $20 or more. Now, we've all eaten a burger that's $20 or more and some of them are super
incredible. But, you know, we don't live in a world of cheap food. And I think I speak for most
small business owners when I say that they don't like that either. But the margins are already really
thin at restaurants. So, you know, if they sell a burger for 15 bucks, that burger might cost them
10 or more dollars to make. And business people, I've talked to a lot of business people, every
other industry works on bigger margins. And every other industry, this even small business owners
tend to carry more cash. So, like, when a crisis comes, when there's an ice storm and nobody eats
at your restaurant for three days, you know, there's cushion. They're like, it's okay. We planned
for three days. Right. A lot of restaurant owners do not plan for three down days in January.
They just were not ready for that. So, whatever money was going to come in those three days, you know,
now they've started a brand new year and they're behind three weeks into it from where they
thought they were going to be. So, and labor costs are really high. It is expensive to get great
chefs and great line cooks. It's expensive to hire dishwashers. And I can't remember if we've
talked about dishwashers on this podcast, Mike, but they are some of the most important people in
restaurants. And I don't think that consumers know that you absolutely cannot run a restaurant
without a dishwasher. That guy or girl does not show up. Somebody else has to do that job or else
we cannot have food today because there won't be enough pots and pans. There won't be enough plates.
There won't be enough silverware. There won't be enough cups. And it's, it's not a glamorous job,
but it is essential. And during COVID, we talked about dishwashers as being on the front lines.
They were people who touched your fork and you might have had COVID. You know, that's scary,
right? Like, you don't come close to strangers and what they put in their mouths,
except if you were at a restaurant. And so, since COVID, the hourly wage of dishwashers has gone up
as it probably needed to. But that's just one example of all the jobs in the room that have gone
up. So, restaurants, they're paying a lot in rent. They're paying more for their key ingredients.
They're paying more for good people. And then they face, you know, the sort of consumer fatigue
where they do all those things right. Let's say, and we go to our favorite restaurant that we've
been to for the past five years. And our first thing is, why is everything cost a couple bucks more?
You know, or you get out of there and you go like, that didn't used to be $100 for two of us
to go to dinner there. And now that's easy to spend $100 sitting down with two people, especially
if you get a drink or two. So, the restaurant industry is always a difficult one. And it is, like,
I had somebody say yesterday, you know, this is the hardest job I have ever done. And it's all
I know how to do, right? So, they keep doing it. And I'm grateful for it. There are people in this
town and every town that make incredible food and we're thankful for restaurateurs. But this is not
fun stuff all the time. And 2026 has the potential to see some pretty major restaurant closures.
Some we know about and some we don't. One great example, Sevis, near Preston Center has been
there for 20 some odd years. And the owners lease is up. He could not negotiate a number he thought
was fair with the landlord. And so he said, at the end of 2025, he said, we're closing in June,
when our lease is up. Now, what that does is this is smart. So, he didn't just say tomorrow or
next week, we're closing. He didn't surprise his employees with, you know, longer have a job. He
didn't surprise his customers who may or may not be able to get there. He said, you got six months.
Yeah, he built a little wiggle room. Yeah, if you haven't been to Sevis, you know, come on back. And
I think he saw a really nice holiday season. I think he saw people, you know, we should all
reflect like, what's that restaurant you love that you haven't been to in a long time. If you
are looking to go to dinner someplace, if you're going to spend your money anyway, think about the
places you really love, this is a good thing to do with your money because your dinner makes a
difference to that small business at bottom line every single day. And so people are going back
to Sevis for lunch or dinner thinking like, well, I went to this flashy new place that Sarah told
me to go to, but I need to get back to Sevis because I like that place, you know, and so him giving
himself a six month runaway in my opinion is extremely smart for the consumer, for his employees
and for his business. I bet he sees a pretty strong business until he gets to June. And the
Sevis guy has an interesting story too. He beat cancer a long time ago. And he said, I've been on
18 years of borrowed time is what he says based on his cancer diagnosis that he overcame. And so
he's like, I'm just happy as a clam, you know, he said, I'm going to close this restaurant and I
would love to open another Sevis, but also I think he wakes up every day just glad to be there. And so
that's that's a cool way to do life. That's a great outlook. You know, yeah. And so will we
find a Sevis 2.0 someplace else? I don't know, you know, he's older. He may open one if he can find
the right lease. Based on my research, that quote unquote right lease is almost impossible to find.
There are a bunch of other smart people in town also looking for that same low priced,
great neighborhood lease. So, you know, we might see fewer restaurants open or at least a
flattening of the openings. Dallas is known for its flashy new restaurants. We always open
something new, even in COVID. And so we might see a flattening or a depression of that. And then I
think, unfortunately, in 2026, your favorite places could be in jeopardy depending on their
individual financial situation. So it's never been a better time to go eat at that place you like.
Why you still can. That's right. You never want to think. I should have gone there last week.
But I read the news story this morning that said they closed yesterday.
Now, you went to a new diner this morning that you kind of like. I know and I that was on my
most exciting list. I jumped ahead a little bit. This, this is AM FM, that designer that we
were talking about with the backyard thing. Oh, okay. I added it in my most exciting new restaurants,
which it was also on that list. But you can look in the Dallas morning news. Let's see, early next
week, I think is when I'm going to have a story in photos of AM FM. I've been, but I haven't
written about it yet. Any other new places you got for us? Let's see. I would love to talk about
Night Rooster. This is a modern Chinese restaurant in. Is there a theme here? The Dallas Design District.
It's, I mean, it is a hot new place. And as a proud East Dallas resident, I almost always talk
too much about Greenville Avenue. But here we are talking. It's almost only about the design
district, which I realize is an Uber drive away for almost everybody. But this is called what? My
Night Rooster. Oh, Night Rooster. Okay. You can call it whatever you want. I think that's
something else. Oh, yeah. Night Rooster is the name. It is in the bottom floor of a two story
restaurant that this, this property used to be a convenience store in the Dallas Design District,
which for so many years was like a warehouse district where artists and designers and like
tile shop owners had warehouses. So there was a convenience store kind of in the middle of the mix.
And some Las Vegas restaurateurs bought the piece of property, knocked down that building and
built a pretty sizable two story restaurant. In the bottom is My Rooster. Night Rooster. Some
call it. And in the top is called, is a restaurant called the Saint owned by the same people.
Both worth going to sort of a Italian steakhouse and the top in the saint. And like I mentioned,
modern Chinese down in the bottom. But the reason why I think Night Rooster is is where special
attention is because its chef is quite famous. Her name is Shirley Chung and she has been on top
chef and House of Knives and Tournament of Champions. If you are somebody who likes a food network
or a bravo show like I do, she's all over them. And she is known to be a fierce, sometimes mean
competitor. She's just really serious about how she performs in the kitchen. And on top chef,
she was on two seasons and she was a finalist on both but not a winner. So she recently was on
House of Knives and won it. So, you know, our really great chef who's wildly competitive,
finally won, you know, kind of a big show. But another reason why people might know her or
should know her is because she had a very public battle with tongue cancer. And the story is
it's really heart-wrenching. She went to the dentist and said something in my mouth hurts.
And then he wasn't sure what it was. And she went back again and said, you know, my mouth is just
really bothering me. And it sort of escalated into a, you need to go take a look with a different
kind of doctor. And it was found that she had stage 4 cancer. And why a chef can ever get tongue
cancer? I will never understand. It just seems so unfair because her whole life is her taste buds.
And she made, she had to make a life-changing and swift move. She sold her dumpling shop in
LA. She moved to Chicago where another quite famous chef had also battled tongue cancer with
this same hospital and doctor. So she was referred to a specific doctor who agreed not to remove her
tongue. Because that's the other thing is that people with this stage of tongue cancer, I think
it is common that that's that's the move. And she said, I really do not want to lose my tongue for
so many obvious reasons. And so instead she endured six months of extreme cancer treatment. She had
she went through, oh, I don't know how many rounds of radiation. And it was weeks and weeks of
chemo. And she said her, her whole mouth was black on the inside and the outside. I mean, that's
what radiation will do. And she had a feeding tube that kept her alive for two months. And she was
mostly homebound. She said, it's part of it. She doesn't even remember. You know, there's a whole
month where she was just sort of there. And through it all, she survived. And she got her taste back.
Which is the best part of that. I, you know, you wonder if you come out of that and you can
ever eat again or cook or even care about food. Yeah. Because I think she said for a long time,
I, you know, I don't know the specifics of the treatment, but she said her mouth was so sore
that even after the feeding tube was gone, you know, it was soft foods or it was foods that weren't
too hot or too cold because she was, she was really a healing. And once she healed, she said
all of her taste came back. But some of her preferences changed a little bit. She doesn't like spicy
food as much. And she used to like really acidic food. And to me, some of the best chefs dial
up the acid a little bit, a little bit more lemon juice, a little bit more vinegar. It just,
it just makes a lot of cuisines of any kind like pop. And she said too much acidity in food is,
is jarring now to the mouth she now has, which is just for food people like super fascinating.
But what she did when she recovered, which is, you know, she's from LA. She has lived in Las Vegas
for years. And then she had her cancer treatment in Chicago. Of all places, she moved to Dallas
where she had no ties except that a colleague from Vegas was opening the Saint and Night Rooster.
He wanted a modern Chinese restaurant. He'd known her for over a decade. He wanted her to be the chef,
but she was sick. And so when she recovered, he asked if she would come down and open this restaurant
in Dallas of all places. And she said yes. So she is now temporarily in Dallas opening this, this
place that has really great dumplings. And there's also a whole or a half duck dish, which she's
kind of known for. Duck is really hard to make. Hers takes 48 hours. It's smoked and brined and
dried. And then her duck comes with bow buns. So little sandwiches that you then fill yourself with
pieces of duck scallions. There's like a couple of sauces. You have the option to make it spicy.
And so I love food where people can interact and reach across the table and all this. So you get
duck in the middle of the table and little sandwich buns and everybody shares and passes and all that.
And she wants to really be known for that duck dish. I want her to be known as a warrior,
you know, as somebody who overcame something impossible. And I'd watched her on TV. I loved
Top Chef. And you know, meeting her was a real honor. I thought I thought she was so grounded and
interesting, still very feisty, you know, still a competitor. And it was like she looked at the
cancer battle like she looked at trying to win Top Chef or any of these other shows. You know, she
said, I knew I was going to beat this. I just knew it was going to hurt a lot. And so she did, she
did get through it. And she is her dining room is full of symbols, including the wallpaper has the
phoenix on it all over. And the phoenix is a symbol of, you know, rising from the ashes. And she has
this wonderful quote in my story that I can't say I can't recall verbatim. But something like, you
know, she said, I was burned literally in order to live. And she said, and from the ashes, I rise.
Wow. And I just got goosebumps. That's insane. That's the story of Shirley Chung and Nightrooster. And
I hope I've, I've convinced at least one person to go eat her food. She is an inspiration. That's an
amazing story. Thank you. Yeah. Did you have something choopy? Yeah. I think before we wrap things up,
we got a viewer question that actually kind of ties into working out pretty well because we have
a couple visitors in the studio in town from California. Eddie Garza asks, where would you take someone
to eat if they're visiting DFW for the first time? Bonus points if the meal is under $15 per person.
Oh, that is so hard. Okay. I don't know if I'm going to get bonus points, but I'm really going to
try. We'll work inflation into it. Okay. So there has to be text-mex and there has to be barbecue
in my opinion. And then because I am a lover of burgers and we are a city full of them, I would take
you for a burger. So here's my bonus points. We're going to go to Kellers for a drive-in burger,
which is going to cost you about five or six bucks a person, which is a scream-in deal. I feel
if you want fries and extra two or something like that. But Kellers is a fave we've talked about
Kellers before. It has been around well over 50 years and is an East Dallas staple and we were
sitting right here in East Dallas. So I'm proud of Kellers. Barbecue, man, there are so many good
options. It's not going to be under $15. That's how barbecue is going these days. A quarter pound.
I just, yeah, I mean, I love the story of brisket, right? Which is the worst cut. And one of the
reasons why we cook brisket so long is because you have to make it taste good and it's hard to make
it taste good. Well, now it's still hard to make it taste good, but it's the best thing in every barbecue
restaurant. You know, and Texas is certainly known for its brisket. If you got time, I would go over
to Fort Worth and stand in line at Goldies, a very out of the way Fort Worth restaurant
staffed by a bunch of like kids from Arlington who are now young adults and make the some of the
best barbecue in the state. If you're staying in Dallas, I would go to Deep Elimin, go to Terry Blacks.
I have been a fan of Terry Blacks for so long and here is the reason many, many great barbecue
restaurants, including Cadillac barbecue, one of my favorites, which is near the Galleria. They serve
lunch and when they run out, they run out and you get to come back tomorrow. And I have been that
person who is like, what do you mean you don't have brisket? You know, it's not, it's my fault for
showing up late, but still it's like that's what you came for. Like I've been the gal that walks out
with like only mac and cheese, like some corn bread. I'm like, I'll take something, you know. But
but you you barbecue is a lunchtime sport and you stand in line and when it's gone, it's gone. Well,
Terry Blacks has managed a 24 hour operation with their cooks where they serve lunch and dinner
and it is very high level at both every day. And I I cannot name very many other great craft
barbecue restaurants that do it all day. So the idea that you could go have dinner barbecue in Deep
Elimin is wonderful and then anybody who's like rolling their eyes about Deep Elimin because you can't
park, they have a parking lot. So I've just solved all your problems with barbecue. I think and
okay, Tex Max. I love so many places. I'm going to go Mariano's right now. Mariano's because
so Mariano's is a family owned restaurant and he's been in the Tex Max game for a really long time.
The food's great. He this man created the frozen margarita machine and it is in the Smithsonian
and so since we're talking travelers, groups, I thought that we could send somebody to a
historically relevant food place because of the frozen margarita machine. To that end, love a margarita
from Mariano's and they have many varieties. But I haven't met that many margaritas I don't like so.
That's why we like you. Thank you. Do you think I answered his question? I believe you did.
Okay, Eddie, nice to hear from you. Thank you. Anybody else? Got anything for Sarah here?
Thanks guys. Once again, you have just come in here and killed it. Thank you.
In that way that you do. Love having you on. Great at what you do.
Thank you. Next time, I'm wearing my jacket. I'm going to show it off if you're looking at the
screen. It's on me right now, but I'm going to wear this. If you invite me back for an eighth time,
it's been going well so far. But if you decide you don't want to have me be fine, there will be a
heck yeah. That's right. We will talk about the state fair when it gets here. The state fair
concessioners right now are preparing their dishes. Like they're thinking about it in February,
which is bananas. We got a whole summer to get through before we get to the state fair though.
Great. And we must have you back before then. We'll find other items to discuss.
Yes. Well, I would love that. Thank you guys. I love to talk about food and I love your
listeners. I know they care a lot about this stuff and that just means the world to me.
It is a really wonderful place to eat food. Well, they like you because they know you care about it.
Thank you. They know you give it to them. Thank you. The give it to them level is very,
very high with a great service. All right. That is it for a little YDC action for today. We thank
you very much for watching and being by the channel. If you like what we're doing, what we need
for you to do is get us out there. Share us on your social media and make us known to your friends.
I mean, we like you, but we like your friends too. So you see how all that works. Just get us
out there. Help us get out there. We'll keep doing this. Thank you very much for watching today.
Thank you, Shupi. Thank you, Becca. Thank you, Yvonne. Over there at the helm today,
just killing it in that way that only he can. And thanks to the great Sarah Blaskovich. I'm Mike. Bye.