Best Bites: Dining out in Dallas-Fort Worth August 31

by Teresa Gubbins

The Cliff to which "Cliff Cafe" refers is not an actual cliff in the sense of a cliff overlooking an ocean, but rather to OAK Cliff.

The Belmont Hotel is finally about to hatch its new in-house restaurant, called The Cliff Cafe. This thing's been in planning mode and under construction for a year, with the opening date pushed back a couple of times already. (A hotel employee said the latest set of delays had to do with inspections.) Conceived by chef Doug Brown (Amuse and Beyond the Box), it's a classy American diner kind of place with everything from $9 burgers to $25 steaks. Since it's in a hotel, it'll serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The tentative opening date is September 14.

Jason lives and dies

Flower Mound is home to a new kind of Jason's Deli. The Beaumont-based chain is trying out a "neighborhood deli" concept that's smaller than the usual model -- only 3,200 square feet (as opposed to the usual 5,000). There's less seating, and also no delivery or catering.

On the subject of Jason's, its branch at Preston and Forest closed this week after many years. A spokesman for Jason's says there just wasn't enough parking. Another restaurant is already negotiating for the space with a lease reportedly to be signed within a week.

As I recall, the salad bar at Jason's Deli includes peas.

Beirut is the capital of Lebanon

Beirut Rock Cafe is a Lebanese spot in Arlington opened four months ago by Hassan Ali, 27, who ran a similar restaurant near Detroit before relocating here. (Michigan has a large Arab population; Detroit suburb Dearborn has been nicknamed "Little Beirut.") Arlington made sense because his place is situated near the University of Texas at Arlington, whose multi-ethnic population has embraced Beirut as a good, affordable place to eat. You pretty much can't go wrong with any of the Middle-Eastern dishes here, but if you're looking for the best seller, it's the beef ke-bobs.

Another tavern

Is anybody else taverned-out? Definitely not the DMN, who can't stop raving about a restaurant that hasn't even opened yet called Strong's Everyday Tavern, from the same restaurant-veteran people who were responsible for Chili's and now own Red's Patio Grill. Strong's has been mentioned on just about every single one of Belo's fascinating blogs, from food to shopping to automotive. With that many Belo touts, you know it must be good, ha ha. Strong's opens next week in the semi-doomed space previously occupied by Standard's, and then before that, Martini Ranch, and then before that Stolik, and then and then.

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Anonymous

adee_sixx, says:

You notice that the restaurant chains Larry Lavine has started that succeeded are all touted, but none on the would-be chains that failed? By my guesstimate, he's probably batting 50-50, pretty good in the restaurant biz.