Hanna Raskin, who's been the Dallas Observer's restaurant critic only since June, wrote a mighty 4,700 word story about how her new hometown is "Dining Nowhereville" with a "broken" dining scene. She even quotes Houston chef Bryan Caswell who says Dallas is "almost playing fourth fiddle" to Houston, San Antonio, and Austin!
Whether you agree with her or not is almost besides the point (but do go read). For Raskin, having lived and worked there for just six months, to make such a morbid statement about the state of affairs is pretty harsh, no? Is this sour grapes? Is she regretting having left North Carolina for the strip mall and corporate chain-infested land that is Dallas, Texas? Or, as an industry insider suggested, the arrogance of assuming her words will somehow change the unchangeable?
It's true: Fine dining has always had a tough time in Dallas. But for her to call the dining scene there fundamentally broken, and so quickly — instead of celebrating what's there — has just further re-confirmed her outsider status.
· How Dallas Became a Dining Nowhereville. [Dallas Observer]
· All Dallas Coverage on Eater [-E-]