Surprising to see the eight restaurants in Dallas on the Diners Dives and Drive Ins show. Considering the apparent theme of the show, I can only clasify one of the eight as a diner, dive or drive in, and that is Pecan Lodge and beyond Pecan Lodge, Twisted Burger, Louie's and Pepe's & Mitos are the only other of the eight I would eat at. The menu selection of the other four are not appealing to me. They all seem to be popular restaurants before Diners Dives and Drive Ins showed them.
Focusing on my classification of a worthy mention diner, dive or drive in, a restaurant that not many have herd of because it is out in the tooleys or an off beat place in the city, has a nich of some type, that may be a full service restaurant but, is not formal and the food is expceptionally good. An establishment that has a large focus on entertainment can also be classified as a nich in my mind. I also believe that a diner, dive or drive in should be serving food from the cuisine of the area. A good example of a diner, dive or drive in is Sweet Water Grill in Royce City. My wife and I have dined their near 15 times, so obviously the food is good. They are out in the toolies, I would classify the place as a diner or a dive, their nich is their weekend entertainment and their menu is quite close to what I call the "East Texas Cuisine." All they need to do is put a steak or two on the menu and they fit the bill for the "East Texas Cuisine." They have a bit of Cajun with their blackened catish (that is really good) some Tex Mex, BBQ and Comfort Food on the menu. The ambiance is quite relaxing and they have a dance floor as I mentioned the weekend entertainement, which is live bands. If the family atmosphere you are seeking, then visit the Sweetwater Grill during the week and or Sunday (maybe not during football season) and if you are looking to have some fun, like live music and or Sunday football, then visit them on the weekend.
Each week I will try to post a new diner, dive or drive in from the East Texas area. I will also focus on restaurants that serve an "East Texas Cuisine" (see the About Us page to view my definition of the East Texas Cuisine) and just may have something off the wall worth mentioning. Considering the makeup of the East Texas Cuisine, knowing a resataurant serves such gives an upfront image of what type of food the restauarant serves, just as with an Italian restaurants, Mexican restaurant, etc. I believe that the East Texas Cuisine should become known as a ligitimate cuisine.
