YOUR GUIDE TO DINING OUT

ASIAN MINT $$ODFBWB Our Highland Park location, The Mint, offers an array of Asian-fused cuisine, specializing in Bangkok style dishes. We feature farm fresh ingredients, beautifully presented, coupled with a chic atmosphere and friendly service. Happy Hour is 5pm6:30pm Mon.-Fri. – all beers and house wines are $3; $2 off appetizers, soups & salads. 4246 Oak Lawn Ave. 214.219.6469. The Asian Mint, along with its fused and sushi menus, also offers one of the best dessert bars in Dallas. 11617 N. Central Expwy. 214.363.6655. www.themintdallas.com

BACK COUNTRY BBQ $ WB Over 30 years of Texas-style BBQ. Family dining –8 different meats, variety of homemade vegetables. Complete catering & custom cooking. Beer, wine, margaritas. 6940 Greenville Ave. 214.696.6940.

Great Starters

Soups & Chili

Wings (19 flavors)

Grill Wraps

Classic Burgers

Signature

TEX MEX GRILL $WB

If you are looking for great Tex-Mex dining at reasonable prices try Tex Mex Grill and Cafe at the corner of Walnut Hill Lane and Plano Rd. Everything on the menu is quickly prepared using fresh ingredients. Offering a different lunch special each day, beginning at $4.99. Private Party room, seats 40 people. Adult beverages are limited to margaritas and beer. Catering beginning at $6.50 per person. New Hours: Mon- Sat 11 am - 10 pm, Sunday 10 am - 4 pm ALL DAY BRUNCH texmexlakehighalnds.com

BREAKFAST AND LUNCH

Divine Coffee Shop

Under new ownership! Come by and check out our new daily specials. Serving breakfast and lunch daily ‘til 2:00 pm. Catfish Lunch Buffet, Mon-Fri. Mention this ad and get the lunch buffet for $5.95!

Szechwan Pavilion

Since 1980, we have offered the finest Chinese food in Dallas. Choose from our gourmet menu or convenient buffet.

Becker

($15) TEXAS>

Texas wine has never been more popular or of better quality.

So what’s the Legislature about to do? Eliminate the state’s funding for wine research and marketing as it attempts to solve a $27 billion budget deficit.

The savings? About $3 a Texan a year for the next two years, which won’t make much of dent in the deficit.

It will, however, seriously damage the progress Texas wine has made over the past several decades. Texas wine is not some effete pastime enjoyed by a bunch of outsiders who don’t like to drink Lone Star and eat chicken fried. It’s Big Bidness.

Texas wine sales increased 6 percent in 2010, with consumers buying almost 240,000 cases of Texas wine from grocery and liquor stores, according to the Nielsen survey company. Texas wine outsoldArgentine and Chilean wine — combined in the state in 2010, reported Nielsen, and four Texas wineries were among the top 100 brands in the state.

So buy a bottle of Texas wine, toast the Legislature, and hope it does the right thing: ($15). This is the best-selling viognier in Texas, outselling viogniers from California and France. Which is exactly the point of the $3 a person tax, since it pays for the research necessary to find out if a grape like viognier will make quality wine here.

$10).

Yes, I always recommend this wine. And why not? It’s cheap and well-made, and, though pink, manly enough for any member of the Legislature.

($13). Texas chardonnay has always confused me. But if Texas is going to make chardonnay, this is a good start — unoaked, with lots of tropical fruit and balance.

—JEFF SIEGEL