Tag Archives: bishop arts

Large Selection of Wines

Posted on by Bill Chance

“I drank for some time, three or four days. I couldn’t get myself to read the want ads. The thought of sitting in front of a man behind a desk and telling him that I wanted a job, that I was qualified for a job, was too much for me. Frankly, I was horrified by life, at what a man had to do simply in order to eat, sleep, and keep himself clothed. So I stayed in bed and drank. When you drank the world was still out there, but for the moment it didn’t have you by the throat. ”
― Charles Bukowski, Factotum

Ever since I went on the Dallas Contemporary bike tour of murals I have been paying attention to where more of these are. There are a lot more than you would think.

Today, I walked past another work by the local street artists, Sour Grapes. This one was on the side of a liquor store in Oak Cliff, near Bishop Arts – at 501 W. Davis.

Street Mural by Sour Grapes, Oak Cliff, Texas (click to enlarge)

Street Mural by Sour Grapes, Oak Cliff, Texas
(click to enlarge)

“Baby,” I said, “I’m a genius but nobody knows it but me.”

She looked down at me. “Get up off the floor you damn fool and get me a drink.”
― Charles Bukowski, Factotum

Dance With Death

Posted on by Bill Chance

Mardi Gras, Bishop Arts District, Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas

death

death1

death2

Camera and Film

Posted on by Bill Chance

I noticed, while milling around the Bishop Arts District before the Mardi Gras Parade, a little piece of cardboard box down an alley, with two disposable cameras sitting on it.

Camera in the wild.

Camera in the wild.

The box said:

I may not have mega-pixels
But I’m still pretty awesome
Facebooke.com/camera.bishop.arts

I thought about grabbing a camera and taking a shot, but hesitated and some other folks grabbed it first. You snooze, you lose. The idea of leaving a cheap film camera sitting around for people to use is pretty cool….

And now the pictures from the Mardi Gras Parade are up on the facebook page.

As far as the note goes… I have no idea about the misspelled URL.

I’ll keep checking back though, see what develops.

Catch Some Beads

Posted on by Bill Chance

Mardi Gras Parade, Bishop Arts, Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas

Fight for the beads.

Fight for the beads.

I have this thing about Mardi Gras beads. I love to catch parade throws – yelling “Beads! Beads!” or “Big Beads!” – making eye contact with the Krewe member on the float – the cheap bilious plastic string floating through the air – the jump – the catch – and finally, adding the string to the growing collection around my neck. It’s stupid, but I love it.

Two years ago, in New Orleans, we went out to a night of smaller parades on Thursday or something… sort of a warm-up for the big Super Krewes that were coming up on the weekend. I like these smaller Krewes – they have an irreverent sense of humor that the big, expensive parades can’t match.

At any rate, after a day and night of catching, my neck was festooned with a thick collar of plastic beads – especially the smaller ones thrown by the less-well-financed Krewes of that afternoon and evening. We were hungry so at two in the morning or so we ducked into an Italian Restaurant out on St. Charles past Tulane.

As we sat there I became a little self-conscious about the beads and decided to take them off. That’s when I realized that they were terribly tangled around my neck and that I was trapped, slowly choking in a noose of bright plastic spheres strung on string. I sat there trying to work on the beads while fighting back panic.

“Just cut them off, here I have scissors in my purse,” said Candy.

“No, I can’t,” I said.

“Why not?”

“They’re Mardi Gras Beads! I can’t cut them.”

“They’re just cheap plastic. Cut ’em off.”

But I couldn’t. I have no idea why, but the fact they were thrown through the air and caught made them special, somehow. It took me an hour of careful, patient untangling to get them off.

Now, I’ve accumulated a big plastic tote full over the last few years. It sits in the bottom of a closet and I should throw them away… but I can’t do it. What I need to do is find a parade and walk – throw them myself – return them from whence they came. Back into the wild – catch and release.

That I could do.

Well, for the last two years we are way too broke to go to New Orleans for Carnival. The best we could do, last year and this, is go to Oak Cliff for the Bishop Arts Mardi Gras parade.

It isn’t New Orleans… but it will do . It has to.

Extreme Makeup

Posted on by Bill Chance

Bishop Arts Mardi Gras Parade, Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas

Laissez les bons temps rouler

Laissez les bons temps rouler

The Girl With Many Eyes
One day in the park
I had quite a surprise.
I met a girl
who had many eyes.

She was really quite pretty
(and also quite shocking!)
and I noticed she had a mouth,
so we ended up talking.

We talked about flowers,
and her poetry classes,
and the problems she’d have
if she ever wore glasses.

It’s great to know a girl
who has so many eyes,
but you really get wet
when she breaks down and cries.
—- Tim Burton

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
—-Marcel Proust

I think the eyes flirt most. There are so many ways to use them.
—-Anna Held

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.
—-William Blake

When a woman is talking to you, listen to what she says with her eyes.
—-Victor Hugo

Men are born with two eyes, but with one tongue, in order that they should see twice as much as they say.
—-Charles Caleb Colton

When you are old and gray and full of sleep, and nodding by the fire, take down this book and slowly read, and dream of the soft look your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep.
—-William Butler Yeats

The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes.
—-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wicked thoughts and worthless efforts gradually set their mark on the face, especially the eyes.
—-Arthur Schopenhauer

So if you’re down on your luck, I know you all sympathize
Find a girl with far away eyes
And if you’re downright disgusted
And life ain’t worth a dime
Get a girl with far away eyes
—-Mick Jagger/Keith Richards

Outside Espumoso

Posted on by Bill Chance

Through the door of the Espumoso Caffe, Bishop Arts District, Dallas

I was hanging out in one of my favorite places – The Espumoso Caffe, in the Bishop Arts District, in Oak Cliff, Dallas. I love the music playing there – once I asked the barista what station they were playing and he said, “my Ipod.”

While I was sitting there, I shot this photo through the front door. There is a sign on the door, by the way, that says, “Watch your step.” I didn’t. I should have.

Cafe Veracruz

Posted on by Bill Chance

Dallas is well known for being inundated by that delicious abomination – the Tex Mex Restaurant. So, if you want to open a Mexican sit down eating place not dedicated to Velveeta Cheese Sauce or plates of tiny tacos you have to distinguish your cuisine in some way.

Candy and I have been eating our way through the restaurants in the Bishop Arts District (there are more than you would suspect). So we decided to cross one off of the list and stopped by the Veracruz Cafe.

They seperate their style of cooking from the regular pedestrian Tex-Mex by advertising themselves as: Mesoamerican, Mayan, Huasteco & Aztec Cuisine. I’m not sure about all that, but I can say that it is delicious.

The restaurant sits on a corner on an edge of the Bishop Arts district. A group was coming out the door carrying to-go boxes, Candy asked, “Is it any good?” They all said it was great and offered their leftovers – tempting, but we decided to go in and pay for our meal anyway.

Inside is attractive – dark with a unique purple color scheme. It’s cool and relaxing. The service was excellent – I was a bit dehydrated and they were able to keep my water glass going, which was no small feat. I had the special, Pescado Tajin, a Tilapia filet covered with shrimp and scallops, with a tomato sauce and vegetables. Tajin is a Mayan archeological site near Veracruz. Unique and very good.

Cafe Veracruz has a tough job competing with a number of very well known restaurants in the area. It more than holds it own, though, and seems to me to be a popular place with the locals that live in the area. I deserves a close look from visitors too.

Above the entrance to Cafe Veracruz

The Daily Special Board - I had the Pescado Tajin

The pleasant and colorful dining room.

100 Favorite Dishes: Lomo Norteño At Veracruz Cafe

Veracruz Cafe for Fine Mexican Dining

Laissez les bons temps rouler

Posted on by Bill Chance

Candy and I couldn’t afford to go visit Lee in New Orleans for Mardi Gras this year… but we had to go to a parade. Luckily, the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff had their Mardi Gras on. Saturday was a run and Sunday was a parade.

It was a blast. Though not up the the standards set in New Orleans by the big Krewes, it was still a fun time. Plus, it was a lot easier to get there, park, and find a place along the parade route (The logistics of going to Carnival in New Orleans is daunting).  The parade had a nice neighborhood feel to it with a lot of schoolkids, bicycles, and dogs walking along. Still, it had a lot of floats too – most with a strong sense of humor.

There were beads thrown, crawfish gobbled, and a beer or two tossed down. There was fun for young kids and grown kids too.

Photos: Oak Cliff Celebrates Mardi Gras with beads and beer

Mardi Gras 2012 – Oak Cliff TX

Bags of live crawfish iced down.

The crawfish go into the pot. One looks like he's going to make a run for it.

The crawfish are boiled with potatoes and corn

This guy is watching the parade from his own shop.

A kid on a float is taking his own photos.

These kids were across the street from us, having a great time.

Kermit on the back of a tandem.

Instead of beads, this woman wanted to throw live alligators.

Krewe of Elvis

Krewe of Elvis

Mardi Gras float

Mardi Gras Float

A very shy bead thrower in the parade.

Dancing in the parade

Nothing better than Jello Shots to get you through a long parade

Disco Float!

Yes, that's a hula hoop

Yes, Ron Paul had a float

It's Texas, so there has to be a dance team.

Sunset High School Cheerleaders

YMCA

Best Enchiladas Ever

Posted on by Bill Chance

Saturday and I still haven’t totally recovered from the nastiest cold that I have had in decades. There is a lot of stuff to do at home, plumbing problems mostly, but Candy and I headed across the river to a couple of Estate Sales in Kessler Park. Both were in beautiful, old brick homes that are so rare in Dallas. Kessler Park has to be the prettiest part of the city with its historic one-of-a-kind homes, steep hills and thick stands of ancient trees. We bought a bunch of crap we never knew we couldn’t live without at the second sale, which was literally across the street from the house I lived in when I first moved to Dallas, thirty years ago.

After our time spent digging through dead people’s stuff we drove down to the Bishop Arts District – my newest favorite spot in Dallas. There are a bunch of places we want to eat at down there, but the other day I had stumbled across a blog entry written about the best Enchiladas in the city and had read about a semi-fast-food place down in Bishop Arts called bee – which stood for Best Enchiladas Ever. It looked like a plan.

It looks like bee is the brainchild of Monica, of Monica’s Aca y Alla – one of the most loved eating spots around. Monica quality enchiladas with fast food speed and prices sounds really good. Now, Oak Cliff is lousy with Tacquerias and other home-style Mexican food – and I’d like to try them all – so I guess a gentrified gringo invader may be politically incorrect… but I don’t care, I just want something good to eat.

Sorry for the poor photographs - I forgot my camera and had to use my phone.

Bee is a bright and clean little place near the corner of Davis and Zang. You get a little card and fill it out before ordering from the counter, like a sandwich place. The guy at the counter recommended the two enchilada special.

Build your own – starting with tortillas.

Choices:

  • corn,
  • blue corn,
  • wheat,
  • flour,
  • or cabbage leaf wrap.

Then filling:

  • chicken tinga,
  • pork carnitas
  • beef picadillo,
  • beef brisket,
  • tilapia veracruz,
  • spinach and mushroom,
  • quinoa and tofu,
  • vegan special,
  • cheddar cheese.

Finally, you add a sauce:

  • sour cream,
  • con carne,
  • queso blanco,
  • poblano crema,
  • chipotle crema,
  • oaxaca mole,
  • ranchera,
  • tomatillo,
  • avacado verde (cold).

Folks deciding what to get and filling out their cards.

My order, two enchiladas, rice and black beans

So you mix and match. Pick your sides and then when the food is ready they have a selection of toppings and cheeses. The back side of the little menu card is full of other options… burritos, tacos, salads… but you could spend a year working through the options of the different enchilada combinations.

As promised, the food was fast, reasonable, and very good. I had forgotten my combinations by the time the order came up, but I don’t think you can go wrong with anything I did especially like the poblano crema and the vegan black beans. They have a cooler full of beer and soft drinks and a margarita machine, so I suppose you could pretty well just live there if you wanted.

We finished our lunch and walked on down to Bishop where I picked up a coffee at Espumoso, hung out, and wrote this while I sipped on a coffee. Better than crawling around on the bathroom floor fixing the pipes – though I’ll still have to do that sometime.

Link-o-rama:

Oak Cliff Bicycles

Posted on by Bill Chance

I found a nice little cafe in the Bishop Arts District. It’s a latin inspired coffeehouse called Espumoso Caffe. Inside, it’s a dark, relaxed place with an inviting couch and window seating – I’ll have to try that place as a writing location sometime. Today, though, I bought my coffee and settled in to a little table on the sidewalk to sip and do some people watching. They were playing some awesome latin jazz on a speaker over the door.

I sat there looking at the posters on the clothing store next door. Let’s see, what do we have going on in the big evil city… Salsa Lessons, Music at the Granada, Blood and Black Lace at the Texas Theater, and Roller Derby…. I’d like to see me some Roller Derby.

A couple doors down is the Oak Cliff Bicycle Company. It’s a little bike shop with an attitude. How can you not love a place that wins the Best Vigilante Justice award from the Dallas Observer.

Out in front was the usual display of bikes for sale. One, in particular, really caught my eye. Not an ultralight racing machine, this was an urban bomber sort of bike – a beautifully utilitarian ride. It had chrome mudguards, nice canister shaped pack containers in back, a useful double kickstand, and best of all, a luscious, gorgeous, classic Brooks leather saddle. There is nothing better than a Brooks saddle.

As I watched a couple guys came out of the shop, pumped up the tires, and went off for a ride. I tipped my coffee cup a little bit – some folks get it exactly right.

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!
For your holiday enjoyment – The Best Television Thanksgiving Episode Ever

If you want to see the whole episode – It’s online at Hulu.