Best of Dallas 2024: We Learn Something New Every Year

It's a new, interesting city every year.

September 19, 2024

Yuki Uebo

Audio By Carbonatix

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Our annual Best of Dallas issue is on the streets and online now, chock-full of ours and our readers' recommendations for the top places to eat, drink, shop, play and just generally live a good life in the city. Our theme this year is "The Lone Star Metropolis."

Why is that? Well, to be honest, partly because this is the 28th one of these issues I've edited. It gets a little harder every year to invent a new theme, and the folks in our advertising department wouldn't go for "you know the drill" or a simple "etc."

And then there's this: The word "metropolis," say the writers of dictionaries, derives from the old Greek words for mother and city.* A metropolis is, according to Merriam-Webster, "a city regarded as a center of a specified activity." That pretty much captures Dallas: a mother of a city that's the heart and soul of a specified activity in North Texas, namely living. And living involves growth and change and development, and Lord knows Dallas has plenty of that.

One of the interesting things about editing so many Best of Dallas issues is the city's capacity to offer up surprises every year. Big D is proud of its traditions — the nightlife and artists in Deep Ellum and Oak Cliff, the historical neighborhoods in East Dallas, the diverse and developing neighborhoods south of the Trinity River. But every year as we put Best of Dallas together, we find something new and surprising or old and unheralded.

Dallas is a big, ever-changing metropolis, and if you care to look hard enough, you always find something unexpected. Don't take my word for it: Just check out Best of Dallas 2024. You're sure to find something new to love.

*As opposed to the word Metroplex, which is not in Merriam-Webster and we suspect derives from some semiliterate PR person who deserves a swift kick in the pants each time it's used.

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Patrick Williams is editor-in-chief of the Dallas Observer. Before joining the staff in July 1997, Patrick worked for the Southern Illinoisan, Amarillo Globe News and San Antonio Express-News. As editor-in-chief, he oversees the newsroom and guides the coverage of both the Dallas Observer’s printed publication and online website.

Contact: Patrick Williams