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Arts & Entertainment

Is Dallas 'the metrosexual middle brother that nobody really wants to spend time with'?

Houston is an excellent food city. You've heard people in Dallas excitedly say that, if they're bragging about how awesome it is to be a Texan. You've also heard people in Dallas reluctantly say that, if it's a comparison against Texas' other food cities.

GQ magazine takes sides: Houston "may be America's best food city," writer Brett Martin asserts in a city that heralds H-Town as "the new capitol of Southern cool."

The article is riddled with great restaurant recommendations, noted in bold for anyone skimming. But the story is worth a closer read, because it offers all kinds of cultural judgments, not only on what Houston is doing well but on what Austin and Dallas are not.

This is Regino Rojas of Revolver Taco Lounge in Deep Ellum. He's not the "metrosexual middle...
This is Regino Rojas of Revolver Taco Lounge in Deep Ellum. He's not the "metrosexual middle brother," and you are not, either.(Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)

For instance, the writer tells a story about a twentysomething black artist who decided to move from Austin to Houston. Isn't that backwards, the story suggests? Apparently not. This man had decided Austin "was a white monoculture of hipsters, yuppies, and techies."

But hold your sick burns for a sec, because Dallas gets its turn.

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Later in the story, Martin quotes an unnamed businessman who operates shops in Austin, Houston and Dallas. Here's how that man described each city: "Austin is like your young, hip millennial brother who always knows the latest cool thing. Dallas is the metrosexual middle brother that nobody really wants to spend time with. But Houston is the older, cooler sibling -- he's got some miles on him, he's been through some stuff, but he totally knows what's cool and what's not.

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"You love all your siblings, but you know which one you want to hang out with."

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Yeah, sure, Houston's been through some stuff. But waitaminute, back it up, metrosexuals. Dallasites may be a lot of things, but it's a shame we're still being accused of being a city full of fashion-obsessed young men who can't put down the hair gel. I mean, I don't even own hair gel.

If you can forgive that awfully unfair stereotype of Dallas, the GQ article takes its readers into lots of corners of Houston, with stops at a Nigerian grocery store, a longtime Vietnamese restaurant and, of course, to ultra-famous restaurants operated by a James Beard award-winning chef.

GQ is also the same magazine that named Dallas as its "next best new food city" recently.

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So, hey: The success of a great food city like Houston does not have to come at the expense of a tired Dallas stereotype.