Staying Power

The Bronx

Behind Melrose Hotel
3835 Cedar Springs Road
Dallas, TX 75219
Phone: 214-521-5821

When I first moved to Dallas, a native told me the best reason to live in the Oaklawn area is staple eatery, The Bronx. After 13 years, I have to agree. Its been around forever, and unlike every other come-n-go place near the strip, its it has persisted and is consistently great.

I met friends Eloise and Laurel at The Bronx yesterday for lunch. Both Laurel and Eloise are native to the Dallas area, a rarity these days, and they both, like most native Texan women I've met, have a persistence and amazing inner strength. No matter what is happening in their lives, these native Texan women carry themselves with grace and dignity. Divorce, layoffs, financial ruin, natural disaster? Ha, they will show comforting concern but they will never flinch, they've lived worse things. I think these women will collectively be one of the strongest memories I will carry with me when (or if) I leave this area.

Persistence, strength, consistency. An interesting intersection in friends and venues.

Its almost pointless to go on about the plate since at The Bronx you could pick anything blindfolded and it will be well-prepared, well-presented and satisfying. Their tomato-dill meatloaf is legendary and fish specials (rotating) are always fresh, inventive and usually nodding slightly toward some ethnicity of the week.

What makes The Bronx unique in my mind is its people; both staff and patrons. The staff has developed an amazing skill of reading unspoken signals: 'we're in a hurry', 'don't get chatty', 'we like sarcasm'. The patrons are an ecclectic mix; you can find anything from Melrose Hotel guests to white cap SMU boys to pre-op trannys. Sunday mid-morning is by far my favorite time to go. Packed and comfortably chaotic, Sundays you find mostly neighborhood locals nursing hangovers and swapping stories of their too-short, too-fun weekends. Its always a hysterical earful over the one of the best breakfasts in town. Go ahead and toss out the low carb diet and eat every last one of the rosemary skillet-fried potatoes that come with breakfast, you can work it off later.

Pic: Bronx side door, which I just noticed today is pink and turquoise. Has it always been this way? lol

The Bronx Dallas