Here we go, Dallas. I know you're excited to fire up your grill, don your Speedo and drink rosé, but we have a week to wrap up first. I promise to make it quick.

No review this week, but Lauren offers up a great interview with Danyele McPherson, the sous chef at The Grape. I spent my week hanging out with the folks at Jimmy's.

Elsewhere on CoA we ate sushi in a castle (sorta), fixed ketchup bottles forever and found some crazy pork belly at the Meddlesome Moth.

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I miss you, grill.

Helllloooo summer! While some of you might go out this weekend and celebrate the last handful of days to be outdoors comfortably until sometime in mid-October, I'm going to do my best to enjoy what is traditionally the best season for leisure. And while some people (the smart ones) view grilling as a year round activity, summer is definitely the height of coal-fired cookery.

I have cooked on a lot of grills: stainless steel slip-in models built into custom stone enclosures; flimsy Char-Broil brand gas numbers with hot spots like solar flares; Big Green Eggs that can achieve eight million degrees with a teaspoon of natural wood charcoal. But the best grill I have ever cooked on is a Weber kettle.

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Voice Places

There are a lot of things that irritate me about clubs (long lines in the girls' bathroom, aggressively flirty dudes in Tapout tees), but the thing I hate the most is shitty, expensive drinks. Fourteen dollars for a poorly mixed gin and tonic made with well liquor that's guaranteed to produce a hangover in the morning? Gee, thanks.

Enter The Dram, where the dudes behind Candleroom (Dallas' longest-running nightclub located just a stone's throw away) have married a craft cocktail bar with a see-and-be-seen late night hotspot.

The interior is dark and plush, with lots of hardwood, heavy velvet drapes, tufted sofas and nailhead-trimmed chairs in shades of maroon and navy blue -- a far cry from the typical Dallas "ultra-lounge" with its painfully modern sharp edges and slick white surfaces.

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Mama mia

Jimmy's is one of the first iconic brands I encountered when moving to Dallas. While I've seen their sausage on many menus, my favorite way to enjoy the DiCarlo's links is at home on a Sunday with a bottle of red wine and a mountain of spaghetti. If my story in this week's issue inspires your own trip to Jimmy's, grab a pound or two of spicy Italian to take home and enjoy like so:

Pick your favorite Italian tomato sauce recipe. Any will work and you likely already have a favorite, so I'm not going to try to force something new on you. Follow the directions and work in a heavy cast iron dutch oven. When you get to the boring part, the part where they tell you to stir and simmer for hours, throw the whole pot, covered with a lid, in an oven preheated to 350 degrees.

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Something just tells me he knows how to party.

Earlier this week Kinky Friedman was in town at Sigel's promoting his new Man in Black line of tequila. Jasper Russo (with Sigel's) sent me the picture above, and I sent him back a few questions for Kinky, since they were so chummy and all. Seven people and two days later, between flights and working on a book with Willie, he actually answered all my questions:

How does Kinky like to drink Man in Black Tequila?
I actually sip it straight up, but recommend the cowboy method whereby you take a shot, snort the salt and squeeze the lime in your eye! Really? NFL (no fucking lime or salt is needed).

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Brian Luscher

We tracked down a few Dallas chefs to get a little insight on how a Memorial Day cookout in their backyard might look, taste and smell. From grills and smokers to favorite cuts of meat, plus some tips for the novice, let their words serve as inspiration as grilling season officially begins this weekend.

Grills, Smokers and More
From a simple, small charcoal grill to a DDP Fat 40 good for serving 200 people, minimalist to extravagance, it's all a matter of personal style. Although sometimes a stroke of luck plays a part...

Brian Luscher, The Grape: A custom trailer-mounted smoker: a Diamond Plate Pit, Fat 40 squared. It's the apple of my eye. I could easily cook for 100 people on this thing. I finally figured out the perfect damper settings; she'll hold 225 degrees for hours.

At home I have a smaller smoker - -an Oklahoma Joe's Horizontal model. They don't make 'em like that any more. Also have a Captain Cook four-burner gas grill. It's nice when you just want to throw something on the grill. I also have a little Lodge cast iron hunter's hibachi. I wish I cooked more on this one; it always looks like it's ready to go on an adventure.

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Press sat waaay in the back at today's DDI luncheon.

Downtown Dallas Inc. hosted a very large luncheon yesterday for those with a vested interest in the improvement of Dallas' city center. I sat at table number 98, and there were ten place settings at each table. If everyone who signed up showed up, there were nearly 1000 attendees who came to hear John Crawford, the CEO of DDI, and Mayor Mike Rawlings talk about the state of Downtown Dallas.

This was my first Mayoral Luncheon. Actually this was the first event that I've ever attended that was referred to as a luncheon. I was not prepared. Here are some things I learned.

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Robert Bostick

Big Rib at Smoke. We have a big rib now.

No doubt this Memorial Day weekend you will skewer, scoop and toss foodstuffs on the bright flames of your awesome grill. We sure will. Maybe we'll throw some snappy Jimmy's sausage on there too. Maybe some rosemary studded lemons. Some garlic lamb. Some brussel sprouts. Some peaches. Some bison anus.

Whoa. That was weird. Got carried away. Anyway, the point is, we want you to send us your photos. Email me your food porn with what the food is, your first name and where you live, and we'll feature them on dallasobserver.com. Because food porn is a rite of Memorial Day passage.

To prepare for this fall's Best of Dallas® 2012 issue, we're counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there's a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me.

Brisket Tacos: perhaps one of the few foods Dallas can take credit for inventing, at least in its current form. I ate so, so many versions of these heavy little gut bombs on my quest to find Dallas' best and I'm certain. These are it.

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Patrick Michels

Speaking of Dallas being unfit to walk from here-to-there without grasping a building ...

According to a study on Bundle, which attempted to break down the stats on dining out in American cities, Dallasites are eating out more often than any major city. Yes, even New York City. Hard to imag --[finishes Chicken Crisper at Chili's]

The interesting bites from Bundle:

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