17 December 19 - 25, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Tacos a la Robot A new company, Avride, has partnered with Uber Eats to deliver food via robot in downtown Dallas. BY LAUREN DREWES DANIELS D owntown at around noon on a Wednesday, a server from Salsa Limon carefully placed food inside an Igloo cooler- sized robot just outside the restaurant. She smiled after the lid closed, proud of her new coworker and perhaps a bit amused. One of the many gawkers on hand said to no one in particular, “This is the most dystopian shit ever. Uber Eats said ‘Fuck paying people.’” The robot ignored the comment and made a long swoop to the left, scooting off down the sidewalk and swerving to avoid people. The robot, full of tacos, came to a stop at a busy intersection as passersby pulled out their phones to take videos. A guy hung out his truck window and yelled, “What is that?” Austin-based Avride — as in autonomous vehicle ride — launched delivery service from two downtown Dallas restaurants, Salsa Li- mon and Bread Zepplin, this week. The com- pany has been working in other countries and cities around the world and has more than 200,000 successful deliveries. “So, this isn’t a pilot,” says Yulia Shveyko with Avride. “It’s an actual launch. We started testing in 2019 and are operating in various countries.” Uber Eats Simplicity Avride works through the Uber Eats app. It’s pretty simple: if you’re within the delivery area of a robot, when you place an order, you’ll get a notification on the app that au- tonomous vehicles are available. In Dallas right now, they’re only at Salsa Limon and Bread Zepplin. If you’re not inclined to have a robot deliver your food, you can opt out. Otherwise, place your order as you normally would. One lesson we learned using the Uber app is that you should add a tip to your order like you normally would. No, you’re not expected to tip the robots – it’s just that the robots may or may not deliver your or- der. If the robot shows, your tip is credited back to your account. If the robots are busy on other deliveries (or busy rioting about wages and health insurance), as they were the first time we ordered, a driver will bring your food, in which case you’d want to tip your driver. We also learned that you can’t explicitly request a robot; if the ‘bots are busy, again, you get a regular ol’ human driver. And it’s also really hard to cancel an order — drivers hate that (we learned that also, and paid him regardless). This day was full of learning. The thing is, we really wanted a robot de- livery because these things are cute, a cross between Wall-E’s ruggedness and EVE’s sleek white design. And if you haven’t watched Wall-E, stop reading and do that ... now. We’ll wait. Shveyko says that a mom’s group in Aus- tin has created a system to track orders so their kids can watch the robots. Adults love them too. We watched our robot traverse the scaffolding in a construction area and deal with orange cones, in which case a member of Dallas’ Green Team moved the cone blocking its path. The robot would have scooted around it, but we appreciate that chivalry is not dead. We anxiously tracked our order from Salsa Limon across a DART track like parents watching Life 360. Our new pal made it through many busy in- tersections (all by itself!), down Pacific Ave- nue and past Thanks-Giving Square. In all, it took about 15 minutes. After the robot arrived, blinking at us with its light eyes, the Uber app pinged and we simply slid a button across the screen of our phone to open the locked cooler and re- trieve our food. Then we told the app we got all our food so the robot could go back home. Before spinning around, it winked at us. Robots Range and Theft Shveyko says the question she gets most of- ten about their robots is theft. “We haven’t seen anyone try to steal one,” she says with a laugh, adding that the ma- chine’s weight makes them difficult to lift. “And people are smart, they see a device with cameras and security devices and they know they should probably keep a distance.” Shveyko says that with more than 200,000 deliveries around the world, she and her colleagues have seen everything. People have sat on robots and many try to block them. “But, robots have endless pa- tience,” she adds with a smile. She also pointed out that the robots are very easy to track (so don’t get any ideas for a new patio table). Another common question is how far the robots can travel. She says Avride prefers to keep them within 2–3 miles — which seems a crazy long distance. There was some mom anxiety hailing it from just half a mile away downtown (“Go straight back home, now.”) Delivery is still expensive. Our order for Nachos de Quesos from Salsa Limon cost $8.62, plus a $4.49 delivery fee and a $3.49 service fee. With a 68-cent tax, our less than nine-buck nachos cost just about $17 to be delivered to our door via an app. But that wink made it all worthwhile. ▼ OPENING FAR OUT THIS NEW RESTAURANT NEAR FAIR PARK IS FROM MARC CASSEL AND CHRIS JEFFERS WITH STEPHANIE HOUSTON RUNNING A BEER PROGRAM. BY LAUREN DREWES DANIELS W hen Wriggly Tin closed last sum- mer, a simple note on Instagram said the funky brewpub near Fair Park would only be shuttered temporarily. The message even ended with, “This isn’t goodbye—just see you soon.” Turns out it was more of a goodbye. We reached out to the team multiple times but never heard anything about the closure or plans for what’s next. This was all odd because the space seemed like an instant hit since opening in early 2024. It was a shoo-in for our Top 100 bars. Brewmaster Aaron Garcia managed the Small Beer Works team, serving up uber- fresh suds and fun cocktails in a refurbished semicircle hut (a Quonset) that was previ- ously a garage. The kitchen pushed out arti- san pizzas. It was a quirky drinking hideaway with Marfa vibes. So, as it sat empty for the past few months, we’d often check Instagram for up- dates. Crickets. Until last night, when finally a big an- nouncement landed on the page. A home run derby lineup has been called up for Far-Out & La Her- | CITY OF ATE | ▼ Dish Lauren Drewes Daniels Avride robots await orders outside Salsa Limon in Dallas. >> p18
