It’s that time of year again, y’all. The school doors are fresh with WD-40 and the cars are accidentally turning north onto Elm St. again. School is back in session and with it, a new crop of Dentonites have flooded our city limits. Will these fresh, young faces become lifelong Dentonites or only commute here, never even taking a step onto our town square? Only time will tell, but we’ve decided to do our part to get them to become a part of the former group, by providing them with some insider knowledge on some cool stuff Denton has to offer that would normally take awhile to figure out. Yes, that’s right. It’s time for Secrets of Denton County 3: Return of the Secrets.
We bring our own bottle to Bagheri's to go alongside our lobster ravioli and our jokes from Sid. Speaking of Sid - don't worry about calling one of the brothers the wrong name, they're both named Sid.
First, let’s start with our lists from previous years. The vast majority of the tips found within these links are still good even to this day.
First, there was Secrets of Denton County.
Then, the following year came Even More Secrets of Denton County.
Now, let's get on to a fresh new batch of secrets. Afterall, that's what you're here for, right? If we neglect to highlight a secret you feel is worth sharing, please feel free to let us know in the comments!
- While the Golden Triangle Mall is an area we mostly try to avoid, the Silver Cinema Theatre is good for a couple things. For one, if you need to see a movie, but only have a two bucks, this is the place to go. Better than that, though, are the movie descriptions written by the employees of the theatre. They’re worth an entire trip to the mall, construction withstanding.
- Weinberger’s sells meats and cheeses by the pound, y’all. For some reason, this blew our minds when we found out. Go get some for yourself if you haven't already.
- While Denton is full of artists, musicians and tons of other creative folk, sadly, we don’t have too many high paying jobs that can support these people at a livable wage. This forces many of said creatives to work low-paying day jobs to try and make ends meet. Many of them are still without health care and when bad things happen to them, their lack of insurance often exacerbates the problem. The Denton Community Health Clinic offers services that may help quite a few of them. Payment is decided by a sliding scale based on income level. In addition, they also offer discounts on products such as blood tests and x-rays.
- If you’re driving something environmentally cautious, there are a couple areas in Denton that can help you out. Car charging stations for electronic vehicles are located at the North Branch Library and fourteen more are scheduled to be rolled out throughout other parts of Denton. In addition, we’ve heard that Mr. Chopsticks will help you out with grease for your biodiesel fuel.
- There’s a secret to getting local printers, Pan Ector, to return your calls in a timely manner. Just call twice and immediately hang up both times, call again and let it ring for seven times and then call one more time and press *77, and one of ‘em should call you back within a week.
- Love eating local produce? Buy yours right at the source through Cardo’s Farm Project’s Farm Share program. Every week contributors are guaranteed at least $20 worth of fresh, organic produce from Denton’s own fields. Middle-man, shmiddle-man! Watch our ages-old interview with Cardo’s if you want a first-hand view of what life on the farm used to be like.
- Go to house shows. Also, if you decide to host your own house show, talk to your neighbors beforehand and make sure to find the best spot, soundwise, in your humble abode. While we’re on the subject, please try not to make people older than 22 feel “old” at your house show. We’re tired of that.
- Natural Grocers is nice for normal, organic grocery shopping and has wonderful customer service. However, there’s still reason to trek back to The Cupboard for their quaint, vegan-friendly cafe and prepared foods section.
- There are plenty of great trails in and around Denton for you to hike with your Merrell’s, if you’re into that.
- We’ve mourned the loss of the late, great baked potato delivery service, Wyld Taters, for what seems like years now. In the meantime, we’ve come to find that our primary source of getting non-pizza items delivered in town has become entreesdenton.com. They deliver the likes of Andaman Thai, RG’s Burgers, and even Mazatlan straight to your door. Of course, The Bowllery and Cowboy Chicken deliver, as well, if you’re hungry and that's what you're looking for.
- You can drink on the courthouse lawn so long as what you’re drinking from is not made of glass. Just don't over indulge and get yourself a PI!
- Speaking of drinking, some of our favorite places in town are BYOB. Pick up a bottle from Wine Squared (they have a discount for bottles you take with you) and take it to Bagheri’s or Siam House for a wonderful evening of cheap hooch.
- If you’re into cheap, weird stuff that may or may not be stolen, there’s a great flea market on 380 right past 288 that’s open every weekend. Our fave breakfast taco dealers, La Estrella, have their truck out there pretty often, too.
- r/Denton
- There’s always a free Saturday morning bluegrass/folk jam session on the Courthouse Square lawn. It makes for some awesome “morning after” fare. Pick up some croissants from Ravelin beforehand for a makeshift brunch.
- That elotes cart on the EMTC is actually open sometimes, but a watched pot never boils, so walk up to it blindfolded and be prepared for an awesome corn dish. In addition, the "secret" is already out on this one, but for some of the best legit Mexican food in town, get your grub on at the EMTC.
- Eagle Drive QT, Discount Tire and Denton Tire all offer free air for a low tire. Also, you can nab free “Check Engine Light” service at the Pep Boys near the Golden Triangle Mall.
- Querencia Community Bike Shop, off of the Square on Cedar St. (look for their new mural) offers cheap fixes, repair seminars, and tons of friendly help for your fixie.
- With some savvy Google-mapping, we’ve found that taking 1830 Country Club Rd. south from Ft. Worth Dr. down through Flower Mound in order to get to DFW airport is only an extra eight minutes. Not only that, but it also provides a far more relaxing, pristine drive than the I-35 cemented insanity we’re all used to. Also, the A-train/DART stops at Love Field (student discount FTW).
- In our many year’s of living here, we still haven’t been able to raise the ghost at Goatman’s Bridge.
- If you haven’t camped or enjoyed some of the cheap outdoor programs at Ray Roberts Park, you’re doing weekends wrong. There is even a small lake front beach that you can lounge, read, grill and play volleyball on.
- There's an actual museum in the courthouse. Yes, the Courthouse Square Museum is awesome for free wandering-about fun. They have rotating exhibits, too, so if you haven’t been in a while, it’s time to check it out again. Also, check out the free Bayless-Selby House Museum or Firefighters Museum on Hickory/Bell during Saturday Community Market shopping.
- Speaking of the Bayless-Selby House Museum, those other houses next to it that are “in progress,” are actually an artistic statement by the city on the length of time a community will put up with an old house on ugly, rusted piece of iron next to a community market without complaining about it.
- The Little Chapel in the Woods is a beautiful, architectural achievement dedicated by Eleanor Roosevelt and it lives right, smack-dab in the middle of the TWU campus. You can get married there or even hold your band practice inside the building in order to get them sweet, sweet stained glass acoustics, if you time it right.
- Tuesday nights at Sweetwater, you can grab the best meatloaf in town, hands down. In fact, it’s possibly the best meal you’ll have that entire month.
- Denton is great for frolfers. North Lakes Park has a wonderful frisbee golf course and UNT has a disc golf field, too. Oh, and UNT has batting cages.
- Got a shattered smartphone screen? The bookstore by UNT at the corner of Eagle and Ave C can fix it for $70. Also, Naranja Cafe, the boba tea shop on Ave. C, doubles as a fixer of plenty of phone problems.
- If you’re looking for a quick way to bolster your record collection, Mad World Records has a great 99￠section full of stuff that they don’t have the good sense to sell for more money. Aside from that, we’d argue that Books and More on University may have the best record selection in town despite it’s less than ideal exteriors.
- Buy a good lock if you can’t take your bike inside with you. Denton often has a problem with bike theft. If it’s already too late for you and your two-wheeler, make sure and check Craigslist before resorting to purchasing a new bike.
- DFW is known for its GREAT artists, many of which graduate from Denton’s universities before making it big as professionals in the Metroplex. UNT and TWU galleries, both of which are scattered across their respective campuses, host year-round professional and student exhibitions which showcase some of the best local and national contemporary art. Lots of students who display their work are also looking to sell, and at great prices. All the better to beautify your digs with!