By Rachel Breitman NEW YORK (Reuters) - When Pizza Patrón announced plans to accept Mexican pesos in its 59 Southwestern stores, the Dallas-based fast food chain was besieged by anti-illegal immigrant hate mail and even death threats. But...

A new fast food is making its debut at U.S. fairs this fall -- fried Coke.Abel Gonzales, 36, a computer analyst from Dallas, tried about 15 different varieties before coming up with his perfect recipe -- a batter mix made with Coca-Cola syrup, a drizzle of strawberry syrup, and some strawberries.

A new fast food is making its debut at U.S. fairs this fall -- fried Coke. Abel Gonzales, 36, a computer analyst from Dallas, tried about 15 different varieties before coming up with his perfect recipe -- a batter mix made with Coca-Cola syrup, a drizzle of strawberry syrup, and some strawberries.

Dallas (pronounced /ˈdæləs/) is the third-largest (as estimated by the United States Census Bureau on 1 July 2006) city in the state of Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. Residents of Dallas are called Dallasites. The city covers 385 square miles (997 km²) and is the county seat of Dallas County. As of July 1, 2006, U.S. Census estimates put central Dallas at a population of over 1.2 million.The city is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area—at 6 million people, it is the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Dallas is listed as a gamma world city by the Loughborough University Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network.Dallas was founded in 1841 and formally incorporated as a city on 2 February 1856. The city's economy is primarily based on the petroleum industry, telecommunications, computer technology, banking, and transportation. It is the core of the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States and lacks any navigable link to the sea—Dallas's prominence despite this comes from its historical importance as a center for the oil and cotton industries, its position along numerous railroad lines, and a strong industrial and financial sector.