Steve Shatsky - Dallas Real Estate & Short Sale Specialist (469)449-9840

If it's September in Dallas, the State Fair is just around the corner! For many Texans, one of the highlights of the fair is the annual Fried Foods competition called the Big Tex Choice Award. Each year, finalists for the best new fried food are announced and a cook-off is held to decide on that year's winner. The finalist entries are all available for purchase at food stands during The State Fair of Texas, which runs at Dallas' Fair Park from September 25 to October 18, 2009.

This year's finalists for best new fried food are:

Deep Fried Butter: Sweetened, flavored, whipped butter wrapped in dough and deep-fried.

Green Goblins: Cherry peppers packed with spicy shredded chicken and guacamole, battered and deep fried. Topped with queso.

Twisted Yam On A Stick: Spiral-cut yam fried crispy, rolled in butter, dusted with cinnamon and sugar.

Fernie's Deep Fried Peaches & Cream: Peaches coated with batter and deep fried, sprinkled with streusel and cream. Served with raspberry sauce.

Texas Fried Pecan Pie: Pecan pie battered and deep fried, drizzled with caramel sauce and topped with cream and chopped pecans.

Country Fried Pork Chips: Thin pork loin seasoned, dipped in corn meal and deep fried. Served with ketchup or gravy.

Sweet Jalapeno Corn Dog Shrimp: Shrimp coated with sweet and spicy batter, deep fried and served with spicy glaze.

Fried Peanut Butter Cup Macaroon: Peanut butter cup wrapped in coconut macaroon, fried and dusted with powdered sugar. Ice cream scoop optional.

In previous years, the winners of this competition have included such favorites as Chicken Fried Bacon, the Fried Banana Split and Deep-Fried Twinkies.

I was joking in the title of this post, but with choices like Deep Fried Butter, perhaps a defibrillator really is in order!

On September 2 and 3, 2009 The Moody Blues will be performing live at Dallas’ Meyerson Symphony Center with the full Dallas Symphony Orchestra!  This promises to be an exciting and fun concert.

The Moody Blues are one of the bands that had a profound influence on the Rock and Roll scene, ever since they came into the public spotlight during the 1960’s.  Their concerts with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will include such classics as Nights in White Satin and Tuesday Afternoon.  And if you have never been to the Meyerson Symphony Center, it is an incredible facility that boast wonderful acoustics.  This would be a great opportunity to experience the Meyerson for the first time, or once again.

The concerts, both nights, begin at 8:00 P.M. and the Meyerson is located at 2301 Flora Street in Dallas’ Art’s District downtown.

Beginning September 12, 2009 and running through November 1, 2009, the Old Red Museum of Dallas County History & Culture will present the third installment of its “Your Dallas” series of exhibits. The series is intended to highlight the history of the cities of Dallas County that have shaped who we are today.

According to the museum, Your Dallas: Lancaster features artifacts, photographs, hands-on Discovery Carts, films, and more that tell the important story of Lancaster's place in Dallas County history.

Located at 100 S. Houston Street in downtown Dallas, the Old Red Museum is open daily from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. with general admission costing $8.00. Discounted pricing is available for children, students seniors and groups.

Dallas has never been known as a Deli town. Tex Mex? Yes. BBQ? Yes. But not Deli. Well perhaps the tide is shifting.

Last month Zinsky’s Delicatessen & Catering Co. opened at 6025 Royal Lane, in the Preston Royal Shopping Center at the Northeast corner of Preston Road and Royal Lane. Having grown up in New Jersey and Lived in New York City, my cravings caught up to me and yesterday I went and checked out the new deli in town.

Zinsky’s is the creation of Jim Baron and Mark Brezinski, both established and well respected restaurateurs. Jim has built the local chain of Blue Mesa restaurants and Mark, after a career with Brinker Restaurants now owns the Bengal Coast Restaurant in the Centrum at the corner of Cedar Springs and Wellborn. With a creative backing team as strong as this, there is a high level of expectations set.

Zinsky’s occupies a space formerly occupied by Jason’s Deli. The space has been beautifully remodeled. The décor is handsome, clean, contemporary and simple. And on top of an inviting atmosphere, one sniff when you walk in the door will tell you that good deli has arrived! The tip off should have been when I heard the Fiddler on the Roof music playing as I walked in!

I had my deli test usual… A corned beef sandwich on rye and potato salad. The food quality was very good… the Sandwich had a hearty serving of corned beef and the potato salad was creamy and tasty. I have to admit, I was a bit worried when my food came out. Being an old school New York Deli guy, I am used to that Deli experience… Loud delis, wait staff with attitudes and food that is all about the food, not really about the presentation. My lunch at Zinsky’s was Dallas-style deli. Clean and new restaurant, with friendly service and a sandwich that was almost too perfect looking to be good deli. The corned beef was uniform in nature, sliced a bit thicker than typical in a deli and each piece on the sandwich appeared uniform in nature. The potato salad looked painstakingly portioned in the ramekin and the pickles looked cut with precision. I was thinking, this precise yet somewhat untraditional presentation and appearance may also mean that the food would taste similarly untraditional. Fortunately, Dallas-style Deli tasted an awful lot like its New York counterpart!

For dessert I tried a few pieces of Zinsky’s rugelach (a traditional pastry) and it was outstanding! Literally, my favorite part of the meal (and I am not typically a “sweets” lover, so that is saying something).

The bottom line? Give Zinsky’s a try for yourself… with food and service this good, Dallas-style deli might just catch on! Let’s hope so, because it would be a shame to lose a good deli!

I was reading a post by Stewart Penn earlier today about Los Angeles's ranking in a recent Forbes.com article about America's Most Stressful Cities. Los Angeles ranked number 2 in this report, but what I am always interested to see is where my city, Dallas, ranks.

I was excited to see that regardless of how stressful my life may be, as business continues to pick up at a rapid pace, Dallas ranked number 36 (tied with Kansas City, Missouri). This is incredible! As Forbes points out in their report, Dallas is the fourth largest metropolitan statistical area in the country, and despite our size, we have a relatively low stress level as a city.

One of the factors mentioned is our "relatively low median home-price drop of 5%". What was not mentioned, but certainly has made life less stressful for many home buyers and sellers is how vibrant our local real estate market is. I have been saying for weeks that our market is as hot as the Texas summer sun... so with our relatively low drop in property values and low stress environment, could there be a better time to buy a new home in Dallas?