The year was 1981.  Mary Beth (Babe) and Paul (Bubba) Vineyard brought traditional southern comfort food to the Park Cities area of Dallas, Texas.  Bubba bought an old 1929 Texaco service station across from SMU on Hillcrest Avenue and converted it into an Art Deco-style diner.  Babe perfected the recipes, and the customers came – AND they are […]

High on the “Want to Do” list was a visit to the new Smoke restaurant in Plano, Texas.  I have to admit that the fact that Plano, Texas has gotten so many “good” restaurants stings a little bit, but on the other hand, going to Plano is easier than traveling across the Margaret Hunt Hill […]

Maybe food trucks can be traced back to Charles Goodnight and the fully outfitted chuck-wagons that forged across the prairies while herding cattle to markets in the east. Years later there were the more modern versions lovingly referred to as “roach coaches” that served construction workers sandwiches for reasonable prices. Oh, my!  How times have changed.  The […]

There was an email announcing the opening of Speedy Grille.  Mentioned was the fact that Fred Carriker of our church was the owner, and Gerald Ware (our Senior Adult Minister) thought we would like to know.  Now Fred Carriker does not know me from Adam, but I know him.  He has blessed me many times […]

It was birthday time for Number Two Son, and to my delight he choose a burger joint that was on my “Want to Visit List”.  He did not know that Goodfriend Beer Garden and Burger House was on my list, but he was searching the web for a recommended hamburger restaurant, and he discovered Goodfriend. […]

Nestled in the Bishop Arts District is a popular restaurant called Hattie’s.  Several years ago I visited Hattie’s with friends, and it has been high on my “Want to Do List”.  Maybe I should say, “Want to Blog List.”  Several dear friends agreed to make the trek across the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge into Oak […]

Juanjui, Peru is a town of about 40,000 people.  Can you imagine a community that large without a school?  Well, that was the case in Juanjui, but in March of this year, the children of this community will enter a new school thanks to the efforts of Bridge Builders International and Alpha Delta Kappa. Bridge […]

I love recommendations – and it is something to get a recommendation from down south Houston way. Ever-Lovin’s sister Cathy is a regular reader of Lanabird. (Thank you very much!) She wrote to comment that she enjoyed the blog about Off-Site Kitchen, and… she had a recommendation for us.  Thank you! “We stumbled on a place […]

Off-Site Kitchen (OFK) is on several “lists” (Eater Dallas, D Magazine, Dallas Morning News, Yelp, Crave dfw….) of burger joints to visit in Dallas.  OSK had been on my “Want to Do List” for a long time.  In fact, we tried to go there once and could not find a parking space so we had […]

Friend BB is happy!  We are now the same age.  For two weeks she has been older than me. If I must be a year older, my friends know how to ease the pain.  Lunch at Neiman Marcus certainly can make a girl feel special.  (Even if I am now “officially” old, I still think […]