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"When I have parties, I have little sandwiches. I always make sure I have two or three fresh habaneros and I only put them on one or two. There's always someone who comes running around the corner, 'Oh my god! I don't know what was in those, but my mouth is on fire! What do I do?!'

"It's fucking awesome. Somebody always gets one, but nobody knows who."

Outside the House of Blues. (Jonathan Finley)

As far as dining, the service was really outstanding, which is good since the food is mediocre. My burger was solid, but not impressive. The sweet potato fries were fine, but not great. My main squeeze tackled a buffalo chicken platter and it, too, was fine. His fries were seasoned well, but unfortunately sat steaming in a paper tray under the chicken. The grease was deftly caught, but in doing so the fries were sogged out.

During our meal, we noticed Shanghai 5’s Reid Robinson doing a fine job running sound for the restaurant’s stage. Aside from it being a bit loud with the crowd thinned, it was mixed well and even Sade covers were pampered by the board. Unfortunately, the incense wafting from below started its lung infiltration and our bread pudding enjoyment was crippled. (The entrees may be meh, but the bread pudding with Jack Daniels sauce is pretty damn 'licious. Get one to go when you head out from a show.)

It’s after noon on Sunday and I’m still in sugar shock from NovemberFest at Rubber Gloves in Denton last night. Not only were the bands and the sound guy in sweet form, but the NF bake sale was incredible. And I mean incredible. Nouns Group produced some of the best puzzle bread ever (biscuit bits bathed in butter, cinnamon and sugar and all smooshed together before being baked, turned out and rolled in more cinna-sugar for treats perfect at breakfast or 1 a.m.).

Tre Orsi’s Brian VanDivier succeeded in baking the item that had people piling their arms high with charity baked goods: beer bread. Haven’t dug into mine yet as I promised my ma I’d wait for her to come over for a little football snack, but it looks and smells deelish.

Katey Margolis (full disclosure: one of our Night & Day freelancers, and man am I excited about that after tasting her wares) rocked the “That’s What She Said” nut bars. They were sticky, sweet and yes, nutty. The chocolate wasn’t overpowering but the love was, dammit!

Shiny Around The Edges’ Jenny and Mike Seman put forth some of the most professional-looking and tasting pies I’ve seen in a bar. Lattice work? Seriously? Well done.

Random brownies were all bueno as approvals came from Stumptone’s Peter Salisbury (plain), the Paper Chase’s Sean Kirkpatrick (with nuts) and a guy with a beard who was so totally into the Reese’s cup brownie he just moaned.

As of my writing this, the estimate of the bake sale (care of Denton Rock City) was more than $300 for Denton Community Food Center. Now that’s the Thanksgiving spirit!

It’s a common issue. You want to go to a show but you gotta eat first. For some it’s an energy issue and for others it’s all about the drink base. Whatever the reason, you’re sure as hell not going to pack a sandwich (not that it’s uncool or anything, but let’s face it, nobody has that kind of forethought). So, we here at DC-9 figured we should offer you peeps a guide to venues with food—you know, places you can go score a good spot for the show and eat (this helps with parking as well, we assure you). We’ll be serving up (ha!) casual reviews of bar food ranging from stellar entrees to solid chip selections and the best in bar nuts. And suggestions are welcome. Send us your ideas for places you like to nosh before you rock and we’ll see just how the chomp goes down for future reviews.

For the first installment, we’ve chosen venerable Barley House (5612 Yale Blvd.). With shows like Keith and Chad (Killoren and Stockslager, respectively, of the Drams) on Wednesdays, and other acts like Pleasant Grove, Sweet Grubes of the Ticket’s Pepper Theft and, aw hell, every Dallas musician poppin’ up left and right, it’s good to find a table to chill at before the bar gets crazy crowded.