Hattie's

There is one restaurant where we feel like celebrities when we walk in, whether we have reservations or not. It's one of my absolutely favorite restaurants of all time, and DC and I eat here a lot.

Hattie's has become an Oak Cliff institution. North Dallasites brave the 'hood to cross the Trinity River and come to Hattie's. We Cliffies celebrate here, whether it's anniversaries, birthdays or Fridays. I like to walk in without a reservation, because they always, always, always find me a seat and that makes me feel like a bigshot (which I most definitely am not). When DC and I forgot it was Valentine's Day and walked in expecting to be seated, we were gobsmacked to hear they were booked! As DC will not celebrate "greeting card holidays," which is any holiday that requires minimal effort from him, we had long ago stopped celebrating and it truly hadn't crossed our minds. We decided to relax and have a drink anyway. Within 10 minutes, we were informed that a table had, indeed, opened up (thank you, Mr. No-Show!).

There is a quality to good service that is unhurried. I hate going to a restaurant where food has to be guarded with knife and fork, otherwise it is whisked away. A good waiter is unobtrusive - he will not badger, he will not remove food. On the other hand, he is attentive - he shows up when wanted, the check comes in a timely manner. There is all too little good service in restaurants, but Hattie's has come up to scratch every time I can remember.

I'll address the food and drink at Hattie's later. Obviously, it's good or we wouldn't go!

Restaurants

Everyone eats. The food we eat feeds our bodies and our souls. We use it to feed various hungers, from actual physical hunger to boredom to loneliness. It's an exquisite pleasure if done properly, and is an important part of our lives whether we want it to be or not.

I want it to be important.

My Dining Companion (DC) and I eat out. A lot. We're busy professionals, middle-aged, no kids, and some days cooking dinner seems like it's just too much to handle at the end of the day, so we discuss in detail what kind of food we want and where we should get it.

Our experiences in restaurants have been as varied as the quality of the food. Sometimes we're treated like royalty, sometimes like stockyard cattle, sometimes like a bloody nuisance. Sometimes (often) the wait staff try to snatch our plates well before we're finished eating. Other times, we get through the meal and wait an eternity for the check.

After a particularly bad experience at a restaurant with pretentions and mediocre food, I decided to write a bit about food and the local restaurant scene. Service and attitude are as important as the food. So, here I go. This blog is about food, service, life and anything else I want to write about. But mostly food.

I can't wait to get started!