Dallas, TX
Who wins the Houston vs. Dallas rivalry as the best city in Texas as Astros face the Rangers?
Now that the Astros are going up against the Rangers for a spot in this year’s World Series, what comes next is as predictable as gridlock on 610: the dreaded, city-on-city, it’s-not-just-about-baseball Houston versus Dallas rivalry that tends to spark as much outrage as ex-boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal popping out of a cake at a Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce house party.
Of course, the cross-state clash has been going on for generations with each side jostling for civic superiority. Dallas crows, “We’ve got Erykah Badu and Big Tex.” And then Houston is all like, “Whatever. We’ve got Beyoncé and Mattress Mack. And how many people has Big Tex helped out after a hurricane? Oh yeah, that’s right. None.” Then Dallas grouses under its breath, “Yeah, but we still have more Alamo Drafthouses and Central Markets.” And Houston claps back, “H-E-B. Within the city limits.”
Boom. Mic drop.
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And so it goes.
ASTROS VS. RANGERS PREVIEW: ‘It’s going to be a dogfight,’ says Astros general manager Dana Brown.
As a Californian who moved to Dallas in 2004 and then Houston in 2017, my allegiances are torn. I can still vividly remember, not long after moving to Dallas, a North Texas acquaintance saying these words with an almost scientific sense of authority: “Houston’s a hole.” And even then, my future Houstonian self bristled at the insult. That person eventually picked up and moved to Las Vegas, so go figure.
But the Houston-Dallas grudge match always struck me as odd, coming from Los Angeles where the rivalry with San Francisco seemed to be made of sterner stuff. I mean sun-worshipping Angelenos always took to heart the sentiment credited to Mark Twain that “the coldest summer I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco” while fog-bound San Franciscans no doubt reveled in Raymond Chandler’s description of L.A. as a place of “dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husband’s necks.”
Now, that’s a rivalry. Not to mention deserts vs. forests. Sprawl vs. density. Malibu vs. Marin. Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley. The Doors vs. The Dead. The Dodgers vs. The Giants. The differences are as stark and sobering as the one thing that unites both: the San Andreas Fault.
Sure, Houston and Dallas have their contrasts. Landlocked DFW has a split personality with more cowboy culture on the Fort Worth side. But, in general, the area generates more of those classic, “deepinthehearta” Texas prairie stereotypes that bind us all in the mind of the outside world, for better or worse. Bonnie & Clyde. J.R. Ewing. Lee Harvey Oswald. And, yes, Big Tex.
Then there are the picturesque county buildings and squares at the heart of Fort Worth, Denton and McKinney and the 1892 courthouse, dubbed Old Red like some lovable dog, smack in the middle of downtown Dallas. The Friday night lights shine big and bright over high-school football fields all across the Metroplex.
Houston, on the other hand, is greener, leafier, swampier, sporting more Gulf Coast, port town swagger and contemporary global cool. We’re just as likely to be scarfing down a bowl of Nigerian jollof rice, a plate of Viet-Cajun crawfish or an order of Puerto Rican-Chinese enchilado chicken as cheering high-school gridiron on a Friday night. At least some of us like to think so.
But both are hot, flat, traffic-choked and suburban in design outside the core. And DFW and metro Houston are of similar size. Dallas, with a heavy assist from Arlington and Fort Worth, checks in with a population of around 7.9 million while Houston is right on its heels with 7.3 million. And one report this year suggested that Dallas and Houston metro areas will supplant New York and Los Angeles as the country’s two largest by the year 2100, with 33 million and 31 million respectively, with Austin holding down third place with 22 million. May the gods of Texas transit be with us.
In other words, despite their differences, Houston and Dallas have a lot in common. So, as both metros cruise to having a population almost as big as at least one G7 country (Canada, we’re looking at you), it may be time to retire this rivalry and appreciate what each has to offer instead of playing this tired game of Lone Star State one-upsmanship.
But, hey, don’t get it twisted. This doesn’t apply to baseball, or sports in general, where the old rivalry rules are in still in force. Funnily enough, “We want Houston” has become a chant at stadiums among the Astros’ rivals, including Arlington’s Globe Life Field, where Rangers fans may have set themselves up for a self-own of Texas-size proportions.
Then you may be wondering how many people have been shouting “We want Dallas”? Yeah, somewhere between zero and none.
Boom. Mic drop.
And so it goes.
Dallas, TX
Sushi restaurant closed on Dallas’ Greenville Avenue after more than 25 years
The Blue Fish, a sushi restaurant that eventually grew to one of Dallas-Fort Worth’s biggest homegrown Japanese chains, has closed on Greenville Avenue in Dallas.
The restaurant opened at that spot in 1998, then as a sake bar modeled after the cool-kids spots from Los Angeles, The Dallas Morning News’ critic wrote a few months after its debut. Founders Julie Lee and her brother Alex Lee helped introduce Dallas audiences to sake — both the cloudy, unfiltered alcoholic drink as well as the hot, cheap stuff. (The Lees suggested drinking it cold, as experts still do, but a $1 deal on carafes of hot sake quickly made Blue Fish on Greenville Avenue a happy hour hot spot.)
The restaurant opened relatively early in Dallas’s relationship with raw-fish restaurants, and The Blue Fish served a mix of uncooked fish as well as hot dishes like edamame, teriyaki-sauced chicken breast and a shareable 2-pound fried catfish.
“The Blue Fish is quite a catch,” the late critic Dotty Griffith wrote in 1998.
The “hip Lower Greenville setting” earned The Blue Fish a spot on The News’ list of best new restaurants of 1998. A few others on that list remain open and are now stalwarts: Tei Tei Robata Bar, The Mercury and Al Biernat’s. Seems 1998 was quite a year in Dallas food.
The Blue Fish grew in North Texas, with restaurants on Greenville Avenue, on the Dallas North Tollway near Frankford Road, and in Irving, Carrollton and Allen. When I visited Breckenridge, Colorado, a few weeks ago, skiers wearing puffy coats and gloves made a steady entry into the Blue Fish there, a few blocks off of Main Street.
Today, two Blue Fish restaurants remain: in Allen and in Breckenridge. Those are owned by founder Julie Lee Osborn, who got married since she opened the original.
The other locations were sold in 2019, she confirmed.
For decades, Blue Fish had an iconic stainless steel interior and neon lights, a look called “techno-razzle” in a 2004 review. That was the era of tuna towers and raw yellowtail spiced with jalapeños.
By the 2020s, Japanese food in Dallas had changed dramatically. Omakase restaurants, or those with $165+ price tags and a fixed menu of a dozen courses or more, were starting to pop up. Case in point: By late 2024, just one restaurant in Dallas earned a Michelin star, and it was unaffiliated Japanese spot Tatsu.
The Blue Fish’s franchise owners opened a higher-end Japanese restaurant, Blue Maki in Carrollton, in 2023. The restaurant sells temaki, or handrolls, in addition to sashimi, crudo and rolls.
The Blue Fish, on the other hand, seemed emptier on Greenville Avenue in the past few years.
Representatives from the franchise company did not return an immediate request for comment on why the Greenville Avenue restaurant closed. The phone has been disconnected.
Founder Julie Lee Osborn said she has no relationship with the franchisees of the restaurant she started, but she has interest in taking over the lease from her original Blue Fish on Greenville Avenue. More to come on that.
The Blue Fish was at 3519 Greenville Ave., Dallas.
For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on X at @sblaskovich.
Dallas, TX
RECAP: Detroit drops 4-1 decision in Dallas | Detroit Red Wings
DALLAS — The Detroit Red Wings came up short on the road for the second time in as many nights, taking a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Sunday.
“That’s a good team over there,” J.T. Compher said. “I thought they had good intensity to start the game, and we made a few mistakes that gave them a little bit of life. Stuff that we talked about before the game that we knew we needed to take care of, and in the second and third periods we did take care of it. But against good teams like that, when they make you pay, they get some confidence. It’s kind of hard to build your way back into the game.”
Goalie Alex Lyon made 22 saves for Red Wings (21-21-4; 46 points), while netminder Jake Oettinger turned away 33 shots for the Stars (29-16-1; 59 points).
“From our perspective, we looked at it from the defensive side and what we gave up,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “Some real egregious errors by individuals again, and the whole group pays the price for them.”
Dallas lit the lamp first, going up 1-0 at 5:26 of the opening frame. Justin Hryckowian’s shot from in front was stopped by Lyon, but Matej Blumel crashed to the paint and finished the rebound from the low slot.
The Stars struck twice more within a 1:13 span a few minutes after the halfway point of the first period to jump ahead 3-0. Jason Robertson scooped up a rebound at the edge of the crease before sending it into the back of the net for a power-play goal at 13:05, then Mavrik Bourque backhanded Ilya Lyubushkin’s pass from the bottom of the left face-off circle at 14:18.
“The tough thing for me is the start [of Sunday’s game] wasn’t that bad except for some individual errors,” McLellan said. “First goal, we’ve got the puck on our tape and, not even really getting forechecked, we turn it over. The second one, we’re on the penalty kill and the puck is bouncing, but boy it’d be hard to do that over again. Third one, a poor backcheck sort of.”
Detroit doubled up Dallas in shots, 14-7, in the scoreless second period.
Scoring Detroit’s lone goal of the night, Marco Kasper deflected a shot in the slot from Simon Edvinsson to make it 3-1 at 12:01 of the third period. Captain Dylan Larkin also received an assist on Kasper’s sixth goal of the season.
In his last six games, Kasper has recorded seven points (four goals, three assists).
“We’re getting a lot of shots,” Compher said. “We do that more, and [our shots are] going to turn into better opportunities and better chances to score.”
Wyatt Johnston found one more goal for the Stars at 14:09 of the third period, lifting a backhand past Lyon to make it 4-1.
“It’s difficult when you spot them a few,” Lyon said. “Honestly, I think we have the right mindset though, where we come out in the second and we just try to wipe away the first and keep going. The third, just try to get better as well. We just got to keep that moment-by-moment mentality and continue to try to improve.”
NEXT UP: The Red Wings will drop the puck against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night.
Dallas, TX
One of these former Cowboys coordinators will be coaching in Super Bowl LIX in three weeks
Sometimes you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. That’s the feeling many fans of the Dallas Cowboys are feeling after seeing a couple of their former coaches advance to the NFC Championship game. On Saturday, the Washington Commanders shocked everyone with a 45-31 win over the top-seeded Detroit Lions. And then on Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Los Angeles Rams 28-22. Just like that, two former Cowboys coordinators will be playing for the right to go to New Orleans and play in Super Bowl LIX.
Dan Quinn spent three years in Dallas. The Cowboys went from a franchise-worst 473 points allowed in 2020 to finishing top seven in points allowed in all three seasons he was here. His defense finished best in the league in takeaways in his first two seasons and they were one of the best pass-rushing teams in the league. From the moment he stepped foot in Texas, it felt like the clock was ticking and it was only a matter of time before he’d be a head coach somewhere else once again.
That time came this season when he went to Washington. His presence was immediately felt. With the help of a talented rookie quarterback in Jayden Daniels and a new offensive coordinator in Kliff Kingsbury, the Commanders had their best season in over 30 years. They finished 12-5, which is the first time they’ve had over 10 wins in a season since their Super Bowl-winning season in 1991. Now, in just Quinn’s first year with the team, the Commanders are playing in the NFC Championship game.
Kellen Moore spent eight years in Dallas, three as a player and five as a coach. He was a QB coach in 2018 before taking over as offensive coordinator the following year where he held that title for four seasons. Moore’s offenses performed well, finishing first in total yards in two of his four seasons. Despite his success, the Cowboys opted to give Mike McCarthy more control over the offense in 2023, so Moore headed west to take over the play-calling with the Los Angeles Chargers.
This season, he joined the Philadelphia Eagles staff as their new offensive coordinator and helped Philly have one of the better offenses in the league. Led by a strong rushing attack, the Eagles continue to move down the field and are back in the conference championship game for the second time in three years.
It wasn’t long ago when both Quinn and Moore were on the Cowboys staff. At times we felt fortunate to have these two, but when the team fell short of postseason success, some fans got antsy. These two coached together for two seasons and both units finished in the top seven in points scored/allowed in each of those seasons. It was the first time the Cowboys accomplished such a feat in back-to-back seasons since the year they last won a Super Bowl.
Now, these two are helping two other NFC East teams advance to the Super Bowl and one of them is guaranteed to do it. Will it be Quinn as he keeps the Commanders’ Cinderella story going? Or, will it be the dreaded Eagles that make three Super Bowl appearances over the last eight seasons? Whichever it is, we know it won’t be Dallas and these coaches we once took for granted will be celebrating in some other team’s locker room.
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