WHAT WE DID: MARCH 10H

Sunday evenings we take a gander at all of the lovely photos y'all took over the past week. You know,  the ones you took when you went about town, doing what ya did. We select our faves, throw 'em all together and write some silly captions to accompany them. Check out the following photos from We Denton Do It readers and staff to see what Denton has been up to for the past few days. Thanks for sharing your weekend with us and, as always, make sure to tag your fun photos with #WDDI from week to week for inclusion in this column. 

Oak St. Drafthose celebrated their 2nd anniversary with some special tappings and lots of good times. Photo by Todd Spiginer. 

Collage DNTN put on a show at the Fine Arts Theatre featuring The Sun and the Soil, Chambers and more. Photo by Fey Sandoval.

Zach Ashcraft got a new-to-him Polaroid SX-70 from Denton Camera Exchange. Did you know they also sell Impossible Project film? Might be time to dust off that old Polaroid you've got sitting somewhere in your garage. 

This weekend closed out MTD's run of Spamalot. Did you check it out? 

Taco and tequila season is basically here right now. Photo by Lauren Christner. 

Seven Mile is going all out with their latte art lately. Photo by Sharon Jared. 

People are jonesing for Hypnotic Donuts so bad we're all basically just waiting outside pointing at it and looking at our watches. Photo by @cvincent27. 

Nathan Williams and his bike waiting to see Chambers. 

Recycled jazz and coffee round 2. 

Photo by @Mkernan. 

Petty Theft at Dan's Silverleaf. Photo by  @crazyquatro.

We went we Calhoun Middle School's 7th grade science class on their field trip to the Perot last Wednesday. You can check out the video of our trip from last year here. 

Wood photo transfer experiments by @phototerminus. 

Photo by @DentonDallasB.

Mulberry St. Cantina had another arts and crafts fair this past Saturday, complete with The Waffle Wagon, activities and lots of local art for sale. Only one more month until their next one! Photo by @MKernan. 

My Flatlanders has quickly ingratiated themselves into the Denton food truck scene and we couldn't be happier about it. Here they are outside Mulberry St Cantina. Photo by @MyFlatlanders. 

El Taco Rico taco and El Taco Rico lime. Photo by Shaina Sheaff. 

FRIDAY VIDEO THREESOME

Pop pop! Ron English gets up with Chris Brown about what it takes to follow in the Pop Artist's footsteps! After a long day of being a Star, signing like mad men at their new toy collaboration release with Garage Works, the two rushed over to Cory Helford gallery to paint live for their friends, and fans, an oversized version of the toy they released earlier that day at Toy Art Gallery...

Ron English's closing Reception is tonight at 5PM at UNT On The Square. Get ready for it by watching this strange interview with him and Chris Brown.

2nd term City Councilman Kevin Roden has announced a 24 hour crowd-sourced exploratory committee to see if he should run to be the next Mayor of Denton, TX. If he did, a campaign video might look something like this...

Last week we saw a 24 hour poll we're calling "Kevin's Will He, Won't He?". Even though he decided against the Mayor's race this go-round, we're left with his thought provoking video blurb that framed the race in a way it hasn't been yet.

Since we've been gorging ourselves on local roaster's coffee we figured we'd offer up this throw back WDDI video we did on Clay Rozell and his Bookish roasting process.

FRESH MEAT

WE DENTON DO IT WANTS NEW WRITERS

We Denton Do It is looking for writers and contributors. We love providing fresh cultural content that is Denton-centric. Take a look at our brief requirements below and see if anything resonates. If you think you have a voice that can contribute to what we've got going, shoot us an email with a few writing samples and a couple of pitches to will@wedentondoit.com. 

Requirements include: 

• Must adore tacos 
• Have a love of all things wordy and written 
• Must love puns and bad dad jokes (we have a ton of those flying around) 
• Knows the ins and outs of the Denton scene and nightlife. (Or day-life, family life and great hangs) 

THE DEN10: MARCH 6TH

That’s right folks, we just had an ice storm that closed the city down in March. Welcome to Texas. Spring is right around the corner and the evenings are warming up to the point where you might aught (EDITOR'S NOTE: Seriously, Glen?) to walk to the square for dinner rather than drive. The evenings are about to get long and right when you thought you couldn’t get any busier, you lose an hour this Saturday night. The hash-tagged photos have been great to look through for our What We Did post on Monday mornings, so keep it up. Spring Break is right around the corner. 

Question, comments or answers? Email glen@wedentondoit.com

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Ron English (photo courtesy of Ron English)

Thursday, March 6th
Oak Street Draft House 2 Year Anniversary | OSDH | 5PM
Come out and celebrate one of our favorite places to get a tasty pint with a tasty pint. Bring the kids. 

Friday, March 7th
Reception for Brandit-Popmart | UNT On The Square | 5PM
This is the reception for the "POPaganda" art installation that UNT Visual Art and Design students have made by using installations created by Ron English, UNT's visiting artist. The work will be on display at UNT on the Square through March 8th. 

Baptist Generals / Tony Ferraro + The Satans of Soft Rock / Cornhole / Bad Design / Brent Best | Rubbergloves | 7PM | $10
Mad World celebrates it’s three year anniversary with two fantastic nights of music. 

Denton Spoken Word Collective Spring Show | J&J’s | 8:30PM

Friday Night Live 2.0 | Hailey’s | 9PM | NO COVER BEFORE 11PM
AV the Great and co. rock Hailey's. 

The Spring Standards / Kaela Sinclair | Dan’s Silverleaf | 9PM | $10

Saturday, March 8th
The Reds / John Wesley Coleman / Old Warhorse / Radioactivity / Dim Locator | Rubbergloves | 7PM | $10

Spiderweb Salon Creative Showcase | J&J’s | 11:30 | $5

Sunday, March 9th
Daniel Folmer & The Designated Drivers / Cale Tyson / Cozyhawks | Rubbergloves | 7PM | $5

Tuesday, March 11th
Band-Aid Drive | Mulberry St. Cantina | 4PM
Bring your band-aids and a thirst for some tequila. Mulberry St. Cantina is asking people to bring in fun band-aids that they're gathering for ill children at John Hopkins. 

MOMMY IS IT 5PM YET?

YOUR GUIDE TO BRINGING KIDS TO BARS

by Naomi Wood and Will Milne

A kid dancing at the Mardi Gras Festival on Walnut St. last Friday. Photo by Paige Gibson. 

Denton is currently in something of a bar renaissance. Some of our all-time favorite Denton bars have opened just within the past five years. This, plus the fact that seemingly everyone in Denton is now toting a wee-one (read: child), puts us at a moral quandary. When is it appropriate, if ever, to take your kid with you to some place with booze?

If you’ve walked into an early-evening show or bar with a kiddo in tote, and felt the peering eyes of strangers, we feel for ya. A few weeks ago, there was a Denton Creatives Mixer at Rubber Gloves, an often “all ages” venue. We went and lo and behold a few kiddos were there. Was it maybe a little strange to see a couple of kids at a space in which Peelander Z has played over a dozen times? Maybe. But also kind of awesome. There was absolutely nothing overly “adult” happening and the kids seemed to be having a good time. Last weekend at the Mardi Gras festival on Walnut St., there were plenty of adults drinking lots of beer and wearing lots of beads, but in addition to that, there were tons of children of all ages running around, dancing to music, and getting their faces painted. This was even deemed family-friendly. And why not? Sports games serve alcohol, and is it even possible to make it through the state fair without some sort of depressant or stimulant?

We have a few tips that may make any social family more at ease. We like to think that bars aren’t just places of drink and relaxation, but are a key way to connect to the community around us. While none of them approach the level of kid-friendliness that you’ll find at places such as The LOT or The Truck Yard in Dallas, we’re getting there. Here are a few places that we think are hot-spots for families to unwind - and by god - happen to serve alcohol.

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Oak Street Draft House and East Side Social Club - OSDH is the big daddy of bringing your kid to The open-air beer garden attracts all kinds of folk, from the 2-legged to the 4-legged. For some reason it seems more kid friendly to us than ESSC, but we're not gonna write that out - especially with their forthcoming food truck park neighbor (which we hope has some kid-friendly components, too. It’s no secret that this is one of our favorite craft beer spots, and what kid doesn’t like a game of ping pong with Dad after a long day in the office? At this point, you may be wondering, "But what does management think of this habit? Surely, people don't want little kids running around their bars."

We reached out to the owner of Oak St. Draft House and East Side Social Club for comment. Williams said, "Oak St. Drafthouse and East Side Social Club are very kid-friendly environments. We have Saint Arnold's Root Beer on tap and sodas available for the kiddos. As long as you keep an eye on them and they are out by 8pm or sundown, feel free to enjoy our non smoking inside and wide-open patio." We think he's a pretty swell dude. 
 

Dan’s Silverleaf - There are  plenty of family-friendly shows where anyone from infancy to white hairs are welcomed. Most of the time, they start at 5pm and oftentimes the bands are of good quality - such as Mrs. Polly. The outdoor patio allows for a little more wiggle room for that squirmy toddler, but be careful - while the inside of Dan’s is smoke-free, the patio can get smoky pretty quickly. Plus, sometimes there's popcorn. 
 

Denton Festivals - For a town that really knows how to throw a festival, we're surprised this trend hasn't really cropped up before. Denton has tons of festivals in which adults can lean back and enjoy a cold one while their kid dances around or plays. Jazz Fest seems like the obvious choice, but festivals such as the Blues Festival, or even the weekly Twilight Tunes jams on the courthouse lawn during the summers are great for both the young at heart and the young at everything. 
 

Mulberry St. Cantina - Is doing a great job of creating a family-friendly environment. Once again, we have a non-smoking atmosphere complete with games nearby. You may have to wait your turn for cornhole, but there's plenty of cards and games such as Connect Four at the complimentary chip station. When the garage window goes up, the fresh air hits you while you're sipping a delicious margarita -  all that's missing is some sort of kid-play area (maybe a splash park. Right, Mrs. Briggle?) nearby. Oh, and Lean Machine or The Waffle Wagon are normally outside, too, so you can grab some kid-friendly food, too (ours like Lean Machine's smoothies). 

Misc.  - There are plenty of other places you can catch some live music and a glass of wine without looking like a bad parent. The Whitehouse often has shows outside, Banter has a pretty consistent live music lineup and Last Drop Tavern has pizza so you can't really beat that. 

Howsabout you? Have you ever felt weird taking your kid somewhere in town, or do you have a suggestion on a place you think is unassumingly kid-friendly? Let us know in the comments!

WHAT WE DID: MARCH 3RD

It's the Monday before Spring Break, Denton. Time for mid-terms, crazy weather and remembering James Franco looking like Riff Raff. Last week was kind of a blast if we try to forget the part about Sunday trying to make us reach for our tauntaun innards again. Read on to find out what you apparently have to flash to get beads in a Mardi Gras festival in Denton!

Last year, there was much hullabaloo about closing Walnut St. off to cars and turning it into some sort of park/alley hybrid. While that's still up in the air, this past Friday, we got a preview of what it could be like for events. People in costumes, live music, food (including beignets and etoufee), family friendly activities, and dogs riding atop miniature donkeys filled Walnut St. for a Mardi Gras festival. We checked it out and had a blast. 

Mardi Gras on Walnut St. 

Photo by Sharon Jared

Photo by @HollyinTexas

Beth Marie's had king cake flavored ice cream. 

Photo by @HollyinTexas

There were lots of Venetian masks and costumes. Oh, and plenty of beads. 

@HollyinTexas

Scrap Denton

Scrap had everything you need to make your own Mardi Gras mask. 

Photo by Paige Gibson

Photo by @Sarancrap

The live music went on from 7pm until 11pm. The family friendly crowd was out in full force in the earlier hours. 

Collage 2.0 happened on Sunday at the Fine Arts building. Photo by Bryce Olcon. 

You can still purchase tickets for MTD's production of Spamalot for this upcoming weekend right here. Photo by Stefania K. 

Sitting on the porch with some take home Royal's Bagels on a beautiful morning - sounds like our kind of Saturday. Photo by Sarah Lanette.  

Photo by Lauren Christner. 

Recycled now carries all four of the major Denton coffee roasters. That, plus jazz records like always. 

Saturday was nice. Like 80 degrees, sunny, sit in your hammock kind of nice. Photo by @ryfuhr. 

After Saturday's super nice weather, winter reared its ugly head again on Sunday as temps dipped into the teens and we all learned to love the term ThunderSleet. Many schools were delayed or canceled on Monday morning. Which we're sure means we'll see plenty of day off pics tagged with #wddi. 

ICE...AGAIN

PHOTO BY SHAINA SHEAFF

PHOTO BY @DRCRUZ32

Photo by Austin St. Apothecary

Photo by Jade Winter Chessman

PHOTO BY RACHEL AUGHTRY

We estimate that about half of the population of Denton ate chili on Sunday evening. 

PHOTO BY...TACOS

PHOTO BY IAN HARBER

Scrap really has everything you didn't even know that you needed. 

...and if Scrap doesn't have it, the mini mall probably does. Photo by Raechel Jean Haley. 

DCTA FTW! Photo by Matt Kernan. 

The herbed parmesan fries at LSA get some major photo love. Photo by @Kokiri330. 

A proposal from atop LSA. Photo by @DrCruz32. 

One of our favorite mini-murals in town is this beef head on the side of Dan's Meat and Produce. 

"Not Actual Picture" What? Photo by Daniel Markham. 

...and we end with an excellent taco photo from Tiffany Youngblood. We recognize that table top... Until next week, have a great Monday!

MONTH IN REVIEW: FEBRUARY

Our Month in Review post takes a look back at the previous... 28 days and all of the events and happenings including business openings/closings and all sorts of other art happenings. So, in case you missed something, this is your opportunity to get caught up before the ides of March. 

February contains lots of love, black history and apparently a few business closings. That’s right, as you already know by this point, Denton Square Donuts closed down on Valentine’s Day. The store had seen three different sets of owners (that we know of), and had recently even started selling real donuts (but they had also gotten rid of Bookish Coffee), so it wasn’t really much of a surprise to find out they were finally shutting their doors. We remember waiting in line for thirty minutes on their opening day a few years ago to sample their wares only to be disappointed by the airy pastries that didn’t resemble donuts to us. Painting with a Twist, a local franchise, will be taking over the spot. They’re a painting studio with a push on wine and being social. Some of the other Painting with a Twist locations even have date nights.

In other closing news, Sweetwater has been sold to Rick and Trey from RT's (they’re the namesake of the R and the T, respectively). They'll be shutting down for a couple of months to renovate and then reopen as Sweetwater under new ownership. We’re hoping that the meatloaf, burger, and jazz nights don't change at all. But somehow, we doubt that will happen.

In happy news, Hoochie's announced that they will be moving a tetris block closer to the square and taking over the old Burguesa/Gio’s/Hot Box spot on the currently-being-rennovated East Hickory Street. We think this will be a great move for them and hope they can still have some sort of great outdoor dining like they had at their current location which we did like. Don't get us wrong, the beer/train thing was cute and all - but geez it was loud.

Thin Line happened again and was better than ever before. We interviewed some canucks with a documentary about dog dancing, but the big story this year was the fact that ThinLine had music, too, and everything seemed to go off without a hitch - nary even a weather mishap.

Mini A-kon 7 (and Geekon) happened at the Civic Center and was full of kids in glorious cosplay and some fun folks from Funimation. We loved it and can’t wait until next year.

The Denton Creatives Mixer at Rubber Gloves happened and had a bunch of ideas that are hopefully circulating. We talked about it a bit in one of our What We Did posts.

Food trucks had another banner month. @DentonTrucks tells us that there were plenty of new-to-Denton trucks (including Cupcake Garden and BellaTrino) that we saw in February and hope to see come back soon.

In coffee news, West Oak Coffee Bar is starting to shape up. We peer in and every and then when we walk by and are getting more and more excited. Shift, sadly closed their doors for a few months while Jack Bell (the property owner) redoes that space to make it better than ever before. We’re excited for their reopening - whenever that may be - and really wanna try a phoenix cappucino. Which we don’t know exactly what that is because we just made it up, but we’re sure they’ll serve it. Speaking of coffee, Recycled Books recently started carrying whole beans from each of the four major Denton coffee roasters: Bookish, Coffeewright, Macaronia Island and Seven Mile. So, if you need your coffee fix, but want options, you know where to head.

The race for mayor had some interesting goings-on in February. Days before the deadline for filing, councilman Kevin Roden asked if the city wanted him to run for mayor. He received lots of feedback, but decided against running this year. He did bring a lot of attention to the race between mayoral candidates Jean Schaake, Chris Watts, and Donna Woodfork.

Also, The Dallas Observer had a lot to say about Denton this month. They discussed the people of Denton music festivals, our mayor getting sued, why local printers Pan Ector are so cool, and gave 20 reasons why Denton is a "a music fan's paradise."  

Herrera's were going to open up early in the month. And then they were going to open up later in the month and now it’s the end of the month and it still hasn't opened. Coming soon...still. Will the regional Mexican favorite be able to sustain as much business as LSA across the way? Time will tell. It’s off and on warm enough now for us to be craving margaritas and chips constantly so...maybe.

All of that plus we talked with Katie Kelly of Archer + Hare, spent some time thinking about Black History Month, picked out our favorite soups, ate a lot of breakfast tacos, started a collaboration with People of Denton and a whole slew of other things. It was a good month. 

THE DEN10: FEBRUARY 27

Once again, we find ourselves staring down another list of awesome things to do this week. There are tons of shows and Walnut St. is getting shutdown Friday evening for a Mardi Gras hosted by the good people at Sweetwater. Let’s cross our fingers for sunny weather and make sure to tag your photos to be considered for our Monday What We Did post.

Questions, comments, rants or raves? Email glen@wedentondoit.com

Wednesday, February 26
Raised Right Men (Formerly Country Nightmares) | Dan’s | 10PM | FREE

Thursday, February 27
Holt & Stockslager Do Simon & Garfunkle | Dan’s | 9PM | $10

Daniel Markham / Ryan Thomas Becker / Tony Ferraro | Rubbergloves | 9PM | $7
Possibly the best set of musicians money can buy for $7 on a Thursday night in Denton. Hands down.

Friday, February 28
Mardi Gras on Walnut | Sweetwater | 5PM
Sweetwater is throwing a party big enough that it calls for shutting down Walnut St. and everyone is invited. Dixieland and Zydeco plus Community Market booths to line the street and a wagon mini-float parade. Proceeds go to Music Theatre of Denton.

Friday Night Live 2.0 | Hailey’s | 9PM | FREE before 11PM
Chris AV continues his weekly at Hailey’s and tags it with a two point oh.

Brave Combo | Dan’s | 9PM | $10

For The Love Of Bruce or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying About ASCAP & Love The Boss | Rubbergloves | 8PM | FREE

Saturday, March 1
Heartless Bastards / Hundred Visions | Dan’s | 10PM | $15

2014 UNT Comic Studies Conference | UNT | 9AM - 9PM
Check out the link for a schedule of events and make sure you grab tickets to this interesting and academic conference on comics.

Monday, March 3
Brandit - Popmart By Ron English | UNT On The Square | All Day
This is a pretty big deal, y’all. There will be a week long installation starting Monday and you don’t want to miss it.

JIVE FIVE: BREAKFAST TACOS

Breakfast tacos at La Estrella. 

As most of you already know, we're pretty taco crazy. We especially love the fact that tacos can be served three times a day, even more if you count a taco as a snack. We've talked before about a few of our favorite tacos around Denton - namely, our guide to the East McKinney Taco Corridor and how to hunt down a good taco in town - but we have a special place in our hearts for the breakfast taco. A thousand times better than a stale bagel from Kroger, and way more satisfying than that bowl of Lucky Charms you had this morning, a good breakfast taco can improve your morning tenfold. 

That said, "breakfast" tacos aren't just for the AM. Flour tortillas, eggs and greasy meat are pretty much the best hangover cure at noon on a Saturday, and they're equally excellent after a long night of playing bags at Oak Street Draft House. So take a look at our recommendations below. Keep in mind, this is by no means encyclopedic knowledge of all things breakfast taco. This is a primer; something to help you step away from Taco Cabana. We know this will be a highly contestable post so get your angry comments ready now. 

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TACO-RIFFIC

Show up at La Estrella at the right time, and you’ll have some of the best breakfast tacos this side of the Rio Grande. Be careful, though, you might be met with Denton’s version of the “soup nazi” whom we will dub the “taco fascist.” We love her pan with the inverted handle she uses to prepare meat for your breakfast tacos. She’s actually pretty darned awesome. Just don’t be overly gringo and things will work out okay. 

Casa Galaviz has the softest scrambled eggs. They're so soft, they’re almost delicate. They serve them on hot handmade flour tortillas alongside some incredibly tasty salsa. Plus if you bring your own jar you can get a bunch of their salsa for only a few bucks to take home and put on everything you make for the next three days. 

Most of the taco facilities we're recommending aren't the same places we'd recommend you grab a coffee. If you're going to grab a beverage, grab some horchata. Horchata, Mexican rice milk, is delicious, slightly sweet and normally has a faint cinnamon flavor. We can't recommend Taqueria Guanajuato's horchata enough. To go along with that tasty beverage make sure you grab some of their barbacoa breakfast tacos and cover them with salsa. 

Be adventurous. Beef tongue (lengua) sounds kinda gross, but it's an awesome cut of meat and is great on a breakfast taco. 

Taco Tuesday, y'all. Mi Casita has a good basic potato egg and cheese breakfast taco. While it might not be as good as some of the others, they’re still fresh and fast and not greasy and cheap as heck. Also, we love eating chips and salsa in the morning, and the spice on the chips at Mi Casita is great. Plus, they have a few different locations so you're sure to be able to get to one even if you're off of the EMTC. 

TACONO

Fuzzy’s may be cheap and there all the time, but they are so incredibly greasy and the egg is more of a rubbery mound than a soft scramble. Plus, their hot sauce can’t even begin to compare to fresh salsa. It mostly just takes like vinegar with a little kick. 

Anything at Sonic that is labeled a 'breakfast taco' inside of a chewy, thick, and tough tortilla with tater tots and an 'egg mix' should not be consumed nor should it be called a breakfast taco. 

While we normally love us some corn tortillas, when it comes to breakfast tacos, we're gonna have to always go with flour. 

We have mixed opinions on Rusty Taco’s breakfast tacos - some of us love ‘em, some…don’t. Sorry Rusty's. We all dig your cheap tequila margaritas and your Baja shrimp tacos with that habanero sauce, though. But some of us can't give a thumbs up to your breakfast tacos. They're good sometimes, but inconsistency isn't good for our mornings. We are happy that you open up before 11am now. And we'll keep visiting for lunch with a margarita on your great patio.