Dallas! It's a city of sparkling sophistication, raunchy roadhouses, flamboyant millionaires, desperate outlaws, and in the words of our friend, Molly Ivins, the "home of wretched excess," and it is all spread out for our enjoyment in April of '08. It's time for us to benefit from some of that excess.

The food, the chefs, the theme restaurants are superlative in Big D. Several years ago, I took a New York editor for a modest meal at La Madelaine - the original one on Mockingbird Lane - and she said, "If this place were in Manhattan, it would b so crowded, we'd never get in!" At that same conference, I heard another out-of-state visitor rhapsodize over the food she had feasted on in the West End. "Simply delicious, and an unbelievably low price! I'd have to pay twice as much for a comparable dinner in Chicago!"

And don't forget the music scene. It's as lively and juicy as L.A. or Nashville, but so much more accessible. The old song says, "When you go down to Deep Ellum/ keep youer money in youer/ for the women in Deep Ellum/ don't give a man a chance." But Elm Street is no longer the dark and dangerous district of this old folksong. It is now filled witrh cafes and music clubs and it's a wonderful place to savor the flavor of a bygone era without the danger of being shanghaied or raided.

And now, I'm dreaming of days of intellectual stimulation at TLA and then...... Dallas after dark! Yum!

Ruth Semrau