OLD Eats DO NOT USE

...at the Stoneleigh Hotel on Monday, March 3. The online reservation system OpenTable.com is already taking reservations for Tuesday, March 4, and later.

Do check out OpenTable if you haven't already. Lots of other Dallas restaurants, both new and established, are on their list. You can also reserve tables at restaurants in other cities, which is very handy if you travel a lot or if you're planning a vacation.

PS: And be sure to read about Bolla chef David Bull in Sunday's GuideLive section.

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Oh. My. Gosh.
On March 8, seven Hill Country wineries will serve wine samples paired with beef short ribs from area restaurants. It's to promote the new Texas Wine Road 290 wine trail. And Texas beef, of course.
Even better --- it's free, although some of the wineries might have a charge for wine tasting.
The seven wineries are scatered along a 45-mile stretch, so there's not much driving to do once you get started.
The wineries and the restaurants: Becker Vineyard (Texas Food & Wine Gourmet); Bell Mountain Wine Tasting Room (Bonterra); Chisholm Trail Winery (Cotton Gin); Fredericksburg Winery (Hannah’s Restaurant); Texas Hills Vineyard (Silver K); Torre di Pietra (Navajo Grill); and Woodrose Winery (Woodrose Winery Kitchen).
If you're coming from Dallas, organizers suggest starting at Texas Hills Vineyard (1 mile east of Hwy 281/290 on RR 2766). For details, call the winery: 830-868-2321.
Each winery will have ribs for 150, so don't dawdle.

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With a little smart shopping at Jimmy's Food Store, you can be cranking out cannoli in minutes. Perfect for your next Godfather viewing.

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Chef Blythe Beck reports that she and Hector Garcia, owner of Hector's on Henderson, are in partnership with Warner Bros. on her Naughty Kitchen TV show. A crew will be in town shooting the whole month of April. Lucky Blythe: They'll follow her everywhere -- home, work, play. (Shameless plug: They actually arrive in time to shoot the Taste wine panel on March 31.) Warner Bros. will then pitch the show to networks.
In other news, Hector will will be handed the Dallas Film Commission Advocacy Award from Women in Film.Dallas this weekend.

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In case you missed it -- it was in the Business section, after all -- check out Chris Wienandt's story about Motopia Cafe, a combination coffee shop-motorcycle shop on Central south of Fitzhugh.
To borrow a line from the story: Where else can you drop in for a caramel hazelnut latte and get your motorbike serviced? Hardly anywhere, I'm thinking.

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Sunday was apparently a very good night for brothers to be teamed up creatively.

While filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen were busy winning three of the four Oscars they were nominated for, brother chefs Kent and Kevin Rathbun faced Iron Chef Bobby Flay, on the Food Network's Iron Chef America. The secret ingredient was elk, and the Rathbuns were obviously game for it, winning the judges' favor with 50 points to chef Flay's 46.

Kent held watching parties at Jasper's and Abacus, but it was at Abacus that he tossed a six-course dinner party consisting of the five dishes that won Battle Elk, plus an apple frangipane tart with caramel and vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Kevin (left) and Kent Rathbun triumphed on Iron Chef America.
PHOTO: Food Network

Continue reading "Rathbun brothers victorious on 'Iron Chef America'" »

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Among his Yountville, Calif., troika, Ad Hoc is Thomas Keller's third-tier restaurant, one step down from Bouchon, which is one step down from The French Laundry. But any way you dice it, a Thomas Keller restaurant is several rungs up the culinary ladder.

I made it there recently during my Napa Valley ramblings, and our dinner server recommended none other than Shiner Bock, the only Texas beer or wine on the list, for the third course, Bellwether Farms Carmody cheese with red onion marmalade on buttered toast. Fab together, they were.

That wasn't the only Texas beverage he suggested, coaxing us to order the Big Red Cherry Cream Soda with the chocolate bread pudding. More meh than wow, it didn't two-step the dessert like the Cornet & Cie "Rimage" Banyuls. (Note to beverage director: Think about Dr Pepper from Dublin, Texas.)

Killer course of the meal: oxtail mushroom ragout with house pappardelle, an umami trip-out with oyster, king trumpet and hen of the woods mushrooms. The perfect al dente ribbons made the dish. Napa trendspotting: Oxtail is the new short ribs.

FYI: If you make your way to Napa, family-style Ad Hoc always has one fixed-price menu; ours was $48 a person. It can be easier to get into on short notice than Keller's other spots and, yeah, it's temporary relief from hunger.

Photo courtesy of the Ad Hoc Web site.

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The latest issue of Saveur is all about butter. Pages and pages of yummy butter. I even thought the cover image was a big ol' bowl of butter -- but really it's ice cream with butterscotch sauce. Oh well.
My favorite story is "30 Great Butters." Because I don't think I have sampled 30 different butters, much less the "hundred or so" the editors sampled to come up with this list. Are we living in a butter wasteland here? At least a handful of their picks are available in Dallas if you know where to look. (Hint: not always in the butter area.)

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Chef Anthony Bourdain and food writer Michael Ruhlman have put their wicked little minds together and come up with the super-snarky Golden Clog Awards, intended to praise or defame the most deserving habitues of the foodie world.

The official "honors" will be done this weekend in Miami Beach, at the 2008 South Beach Wine & Food Festival. Check out the Golden Clog nominees here and here. (Parental Advisory Warning: Foodie Blogs May Contain Sex, Language, Violence.)

As one reader commented on Mr. Ruhlman's blog:

So this is what happens when Ruhlman and Bourdain are left alone with a bottle of Jack Daniels and too many cupcakes.

I picture the two of them making up categories, rolling on the floor and laughing so hard they're in tears.

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On Slate.com, former New York Times food critic Mimi Sheraton plays detective with Hillary Rodham Clinton's palate, using the presidential candidate's food habits and preferences to analyze her personality.

Ms. Sheraton is mostly complimentary about Ms. Clinton's culinary tastes. Except for when she discovers, to her horror, that former White House chef Walter Scheib used to keep Boca Burgers -- soy protein patties -- in the freezer for Ms. Clinton when she was first lady:

When I obtained some Boca Burgers and pan-grilled them, as directed, they turned out to be miserably limp, grassy-tasting little disks that might have been produced by Rubbermaid.

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Get the secret to the legendary CFS as served at Gennie's Bishop Grill. We even got Rosemarie Hudson to come out of retirement long enough to show us how she does it.

Tell us: Where do you go for chicken fried steak? We've already heard from a contingent of readers who make the trek to Strawn, west of Fort Worth, for the CFS at Mary's Cafe. We're hoping for something a little closer to home.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (30) | TrackBacks (0)

The St. Petersburg Times published a detailed story this weekend about Robert Irvine, chef of the Food Network's Dinner: Impossible series. Apparently some aspects of his bio don't stand up to close scrutiny.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Or something like that. I'm just going to paste highlights from the release and let you figure it out yourself.

"NEW YORK, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE: MSO) today announced it has reached an agreement with Chef Emeril Lagasse to acquire the assets related to the business of Emeril Lagasse, other than the restaurant and foundation-related assets, in a transaction that pairs one of the biggest brands in food-related content with the established leader in "how to" lifestyle information and content.

Under the terms of the transaction, MSLO is acquiring the rights to the Emeril Lagasse franchise, including:

-- Television Programming: The Essence of Emeril and syndication episodes of Emeril Live on The Food Network, and food correspondent segments on ABC's Good Morning America;

-- Cookbooks: library of twelve cookbooks, including Emeril's Delmonico and Emeril's There's a Chef in My World;

-- Internet: emerils.com Web site;

-- Licensed Kitchen Products: Emeril-branded cookware by All-Clad, cutlery by Wusthof, and tableware by Wedgwood; and electrical appliances by T-fal;

-- Food Products: includes Bam! B-Q sauce, spices, marinades, coffee and more.

Lagasse's eleven restaurants and corporate office, which is called Emeril's Homebase, will be unaffected by this transaction and will continue to operate in New Orleans with full staff. The company will continue to expand into new locations."

(More stuff here about Emeril, and then:)

"The purchase price is $50 million, $45 million in cash and $5 million in stock, at closing, and could reach up to $70 million if certain performance targets are realized in 2011 and 2012. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter."

Photo of Emeril Lagasse and Martha Stewart courtesy of The Martha Stewart Show.

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I was a dinner guest recently at the home of the Significant Other's cousin, and before us on the plates were stuffed artichokes, their leaves splayed open like flowers by an ambrosial mixture of bread crumbs, garlic, I think Grana Padano, parsley, white wine, etc.

As we sat down to dinner, his cousin asked him how he ate artichokes. Did he, she wanted to know, eat them like a Sicilian (since he's half one)?

"No," he said, "I eat them like a Californian." That means biting down on the leaf about halfway up and scraping the tender part off into his mouth with his teeth, then discarding the leaf. To be followed by removing the flower and cutting up the heart.

She, on the other hand, did eat the Sicilian way she was taught, chewing each whole leaf and spitting out the fibrous remains.

I'm curious how many others have heard of this seemingly esoteric approach artichokes. Is this an Old World way that was lost in translation, like so many other aspects of Italian dining?

Posted by Kim Pierce at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Judges for this year’s culinary James Beard Awards have gotten what's known as "the long list" of nominees in the categories of Restaurateur, Best Regional Chef (separate categories for each region), Pastry Chef, Rising Star Chef, Chef, Restaurant, Service, Wine Service, Wine & Spirits Professional, and Best New Restaurant.

From the nominees, each category will be narrowed down to five finalists. This year, five well-known Dallas names are on the long lists:

Best Chef/Southwest: Anthony Bombaci of Nana and Sharon Hage of York Street.

Outstanding Pastry Chef: Dunia Borga of La Duni.

Outstanding Chef: Stephan Pyles of Stephan Pyles.

Best New Restaurant: Fearing's.

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 5:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

There are good wines, great wines, and then there are legendary wines -- the ones even a devoted oenophile may never get to taste. Over on Slate.com, Mike Steinberger writes about one such "iconic Bordeaux," the 1947 Cheval Blanc:

In the animated hit Ratatouille, feared critic Anton Ego visits Gusteau's, the restaurant in which the movie is set, and orders a bottle of 1947 Château Cheval Blanc to go with his meal. In a film full of delicious insider moments for foodies, this is a wink to the wine lovers. That's because the '47 Cheval is probably the most celebrated wine of the 20th century. It is the wine every grape nut wants to experience before he dies, a wine that even the most jaded aficionados will travel thousands of miles to taste. Curious to know more about this iconic Bordeaux, I spent some time last year exploring how and why it acquired its exalted reputation.

For more winning wines, check out our Dallas Morning News Wine Competition wine database.

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I've long been an advocate of staying home on Valentine's night: Most good restaurants are overwhelmed with reservations and customer expectations, and the experience may not be typical of the food or service one would usually recieve there. I'm all for waiting out the crowds and plotting an outing the day-after or weekend-after the Designated Day For Romance.

But I'm genuinely curious: Did any of you eat out last night and have a great meal? Or a terrible one? Might be helpful for others already thinking ahead to next year ...

Posted by Bill Addison at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

Quick's Lesley Téllez stopped into Victory Park's latest eatery La Condesa this week, and she wrote about her experience on Quick's Nightlife blog.

Food is pricier than what you’d get at a regular Tex-Mex joint, but it's reasonable for VP. I had the carnitas tacos (about $10 for two, with rice and beans), which were a bit overcooked. I told the management about it, nicely, and they took it off the bill. (Go service!) Outside of the meat, the tacos were really good — nestled with fresh onion and cilantro, and covered in lime juice. Mmm. My friend had the avocado enchiladas, which were creamy and spicy and fabulous.

Read the rest of Lesley's blog about La Condesa.

Posted by Shannon Sutlief at 3:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Love this New York Times story about how dietary incompatibility gets in the way of many modern romances:

Sharing meals has always been an important courtship ritual and a metaphor for love. But in an age when many people define themselves by what they will eat and what they won’t, dietary differences can put a strain on a romantic relationship. The culinary camps have become so balkanized that some factions consider interdietary dating taboo.

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As we join Chinese-Americans in celebrating the Year of the Rat today, Fred Ferretti, who writes about Asian cuisine for Food Arts magazine, offers an insightful op-ed in The New York Times about the deplorable state of Chinese food in America.

Not health issues, mind you, but why we have come to love a Chinese cuisine that is at best a crude approximation of the real thing, how that came to be and how the myth is perpetuated by so-called food professionals.

You'll never look at a Chinese menu in quite the same way again. Gong xi fa cai (Happy New Year).

Posted by Kim Pierce at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

You won't be able to get this deal on Valentine's Day, but if you somehow blow it then, you can make up for it with this great package. Morton's The Steakhouse (501 Elm) has a two-fer $99 surf 'n' turf deal - I mean, steak and seafood - going on through June, according to its Web site. 'Doesn't include tax or gratuity. Slickdeals.net reveals the menu:

2 single-cut fillets

Choice of two:
Colossal shrimp Alexander
Jumbo lump crab cake
Broiled sea scallops

Choice of two:
Ceasar salad
Morton's salad

One signature potato to share

One fresh vegetable to share

Choice of two:
Morton's hot chocolate cake
Key lime pie

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Metro blog wrangler Steve Harris, to whom I am related by marriage, went to the Mavs game last night -- and came home wishing he'd had time to grab dinner somewhere other than inside the arena:

Have you ever tasted worse concession food than at American Airlines Center? Cold, rubbery hotdogs; cold tasteless burgers; cold, limp fries. Did I mention that the food is cold? I really don't have much to compare it with since I attend a Rangers game about once every other year.

Hey, the Mavericks were cold, too, last night, but at least they warmed up.

Columnist Jacquielynn Floyd then notes that the swells in the swanky seats tend to get better grub than the plebes:

There's an OK bowl-of-chili available on Level 3. Costs eight bucks and its has beans in it, but you can have all the onions you want for free.

Generally speaking, though the quality eats are reserved for the swells with tickets on the Platinum Level, which is off-limits to riffraff like us.

They have lots of swanky stuff there -- a fancy buffet with dessert cart, elaborate salads, peanuts you don't have to remove from the shell yourself. The fans there dress better and smell nicer, too.

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I got an interesting request from Italian winemaker Stefano Illuminati a minute ago. He wants to go out for a steak, and he asks: Where can he get a steak that's Texas beef?

It stumped me. All the hoity-toity steakhouses I know buy their steaks from Allen Brothers in Chicago. Anyone know where they put good ol' Texas beef on the grill?

Posted by Kim Pierce at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

So, in honor of both Mardi Gras and the moving, beautifully written book I’m reading about New Orleans (look for a review in the paper in a couple weeks) called Gumbo Tales by Sara Roahen, I’m wondering where a guy can get a sound taste of Louisiana around here.

Cajun and/or Creole restaurants I’ve tried in other parts of the country have leaned toward hokum, and I haven’t heard of any standout spots here yet, but I’m willing to explore. I’m craving gumbo (particularly the chunky, seafood laden examples Roahen calls “Big Mama gumbo”) and an oyster po-boy, though I could really go for poisson meunière amadine … or even a rockin’ Sazerac. Any leads, y’all?

Posted by Bill Addison at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (16) | TrackBacks (0)

Last week in Quick, staff writer Suzanne Marta offered a roundup of places to get Cuban sandwiches, including Grand Met at the airport's Grand Hyatt DFW, Jimmy's Food Store in Old East Dallas and the recently opened La Cubanita (whose dish is pictured at left).

Of La Cubanita, she wrote: "But Cuban sandwich lovers tell you the real secret is in the bread. The folks at La Cubanita tried three dozen types before finding one from a Cuban bakery in North Dallas." The thing is the folks at La Cubanita aren't talking about which bakery they use, and some curious Eatsians are dying to know. Can you help us? Leave a comment below, or email me if you wish to protect your identity (I promise not to snitch -- cross my heart, hope to die, etc).

Posted by Shannon Sutlief at 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Love this New York Times story about a beefsteak, a community feast involving men and meat, maybe a few napkins. But no women and no knives and forks. Seems like something Texans would do.

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Blythe Beck, flame-haired chef at Hector's on Henderson, will teach three cooking classes this year. As owner Hector Garcia notes: "You know when WE do a cooking class, it’s not going to be just informative, it’s also going to be lots of fun."
I can only imagine. The classes will be Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and include lunch and wine. Dates are April 5, June 21 and Sept. 13. Cost is $225.
Call the restaurant at 214-821-0432 for reservations.

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Three of us Eatsians got a preview peek at the new Stoneleigh Hotel and its Bolla Modern Italian restaurant today. The occasion was a media luncheon for the 2008 Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival, which will happen the second weekend of April.

Bolla is supposed to open in about a month, we heard, though the hotel itself won't be welcoming guests until at least March. There's still a lot of work to be done, inside and out, but we can report that the Stoneleigh is coming along nicely. The sleek, elegant interiors and eye-catching lighting all complement the hotel's well-preserved historic architecture. Later, there will be a new luxury spa opening on the lower level, too.

Bolla is situated in what used to be the old Lion's Den, which is now light-filled, contemporary and pretty much unrecognizable after its makeover. The luncheon crowd was treated to a four-course meal, with wines provided by Fall Creek Vineyards; Winn Meat Co. and Central Market also were sponsors.

Architectural rendering of the Bolla dining room, courtesy of the Stoneleigh Hotel

Continue reading "Previewing Bolla and the new Stoneleigh" »

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The annual Mobil Travel Guide ratings came out this week and there were few surprises.

Dallas' slate of four-star restaurants stayed pretty much the same: Abacus, the French Room (at the Adolphus Hotel), Nana (at the HIlton Anatole) and Stephan Pyles.

One notable absence is the Mansion Restaurant, which was demoted from five stars to four in 2002 and had remained there for the last six years.

The restaurant will go unrated this year because the restaurant and Chef’s Room were under renovation during the rating period, said Erika Gonzalez, a Mansion spokeswoman.

She said the restaurant expected to be rated for 2009.

The big surprise was that Mobil granted five stars to the three-year-old Inn at Dos Brisas in Brenham, 40 miles from College Station.

It was the restaurant’s debut on the Mobil list and one of only 17 in the U.S. and Canada to earn that five-star rating.

The only other Lone Star State restaurants to return on the 4-star list were Quattro in Houston and La Reve in San Antonio.

The Cafe at the Four Seasons in Austin, which earned four stars last year, was not included in the 2008 list.

Posted by Suzanne Marta at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm posting this link to an item about cheeseburger in a can for two excellent reasons:
1. It came from the boss's husband.
2. It gives me a chance to post a link to this OTHER site, which has nothing to do with food beyond having "cheezburger" in its name. But it amuses me. (Warning: kitten alert.)

Posted by Cathy Barber at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

For years, Parigi on Oak Lawn Avenue has been a chic spot for French- and Italian-inspired New American fare. Now you can add Spain to the restaurant’s culinary influences. Chef Mariano Fernandez, a native of Valencia, Spain, has left Café Madrid to join Parigi’s kitchen.
Chef-owner Janice Provost sees the addition as a natural complement to the restaurant leanings. “Spanish, French and Italian have a common Mediterranean thread, and Mariano will bring his Valencian flair to the restaurant."
Besides Spanish-influenced additions to the menu, look for a giant paella party on the restaurant’s chi-chi patio this March.
Tina Danze

Photo of chef Mariano Fernandez by Randy Eli Grothe

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I spent most of last week kicking back in Santa Fe. The fact that it was 24 degrees one morning was not enough to keep me from ordering an espresso milkshake at foodie haunt Cafe Pasqual's.
It was amazing -- dense and almost gritty with ground coffee beans. Even with my husband's help, I had to admit defeat, just before the manager stopped by to boast that it was made with housemade ice cream -- five scoops of housemade ice cream. Surely these were tiny scoops?
We were meeting friends for lunch in three hours, so I launched into an aerobic shopping spree.
Lunch was at The Shed, another Santa Fe institution. I followed the herd and ordered the No. 5 -- two blue-corn enchiladas with red chile, pinto beans and posole. Alas, I probably needed a couple more hours of power shopping to fully appreciate the meal.
The cool thing here, of course, is that both spots have been dubbed "America's Classics" by the James Beard Foundation -- and they're about 5 minutes apart, making the Santa Fe plaza a target-rich environment for award-loving foodies.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Over on the Metro blog, DMN colleague Katie Menzer has news from the Pillsbury Bake-Off, which will be held April 14 at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas:

Pillsbury has released the recipes of its 2008 Bake-Off finalists, and the company is asking people to go to its Web site to vote for their favorite recipe. The winning contestant gets $5,000.

Katie adds: "I wrote an article last year about the four North Texans who are finalists in the contest, and I’ve already voted for my favorite among them. You’ve got to root for the hometown team, after all."

Check 'em out, then go here to vote.

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Love the eats at Asian Mint? Chef-owner Nikky Phinyawatana shared the recipe for the restaurant's Thai Red Curry Shrimp in a recent cooking class at Milestone Culinary Arts Center.

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I’m hankering for a lavish banquet to celebrate the Lunar (or Chinese) New Year, which is on February 7. It’s the Year o’ the Rat. Any folks know of Chinese restaurants in the Metroplex that serve particularly interesting, well-prepared banquets? Searching around, I saw that some folks on eGullet are organizing a shindig at Kirin Court on the 9th. Sounds like a smart choice. Any of you gastros had good CNY experiences at Kirin or other spots in years past?

Posted by Bill Addison at 5:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The 2008 State Fair of Texas doesn't open until September 26. But if you need to get your freaky fried food fix early, I found that the Studio Bar and Grill in the Palladium/ Loft/ Gilley's complex has fried guacamole bites – a Big Tex Choice Awards finalist – as well as fried queso bites. The former were a fan and critic favorite. Listen to Restaurant Critic Bill Addison's post-guac bite musings in our State Fair food review audio slideshow (click on page 14 and page 15).

Posted by Shannon Sutlief at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's probably safe to say that nobody else has enjoyed a career arc exactly like the one Deborah Rogers (left) has had.

In her 20s, she was a world-traveling fashion model with the famed Eileen Ford agency. Then she went into corporate finance in London for four years. When she returned to Fort Worth and married, she became a stockbroker.

When she and her husband, attorney Pollard Rogers, bought her grandfather's little farm on the edge of Fort Worth, her life changed again. In 2003, Deborah became a full-time goat farmer and the producer of Deborah's Farmstead, an award-winning line of artisanal goat cheeses. (We wrote a Taste cover about her in mid-2005.)

Now, Deborah's been appointed to the Small Business and Agricultural Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank's Eleventh District. She is one of eight small-business owners and agricultural operators who are serving three-year terms on the advisory council. Their job: To provide the Fed with ear-to-the-ground information on regional economic activity and business conditions. The central bank then uses the council's reports to help construct its economic projections.

"This is a huge honor," Deborah says. "I really am excited. I think my financial background helped." After all, she notes, "This is right up my alley: farming and finance."

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Wine drinkers love BYOB. It gives them a chance to match personally selected or favorite wines to a meal - or just bring a bottle purchased at retail, which is usually less than half what wine lists charge (and why the Wine Therapist has a dog in this hunt).

In its most recent newsletter, the Wine Therapist monthly wine group members (head cases in need of serious and ongoing (wine) therapy) came up with what they think are the best.

This is one of the best lists I've seen, to which I would add S&D Oyster Co., which charges a $2.50 set-up fee. My favorites from their picks are Food From Galilee (Lebanese) in Snider Plaza and Amici Signature Italian (upscale, chef-owned) in old downtown Carrollton and Kebab-N-Kurry on North Central.

Read on for the Wine Therapist faves, and you tell me who we've missed - or if you have a fave and why.

Continue reading "The best BYOBs, say Wine Therapist clients" »

Posted by Kim Pierce at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)

Whenever we ask Eats readers (Eats-ers? Eats-ians?) what you think of our reviews, plenty of you chime in with our opinions. So I know you're hitting the new hotspots as soon as the doors open. I want to know: Where have you tried lately? Any new faves? BLT Steak, Cafe R+D, Charlie Palmer, La Cubanita, Grimaldi's, Loft 610, Medina, Nonna, Rise Number One (a.k.a. the souffle place) Scene? Where should I go now in order to beat the post-review rush?

Also, what are you looking forward to in the coming months? All those One Arts Plaza places are supposed to open next month. Then there's Bolla and Villa-O.

Posted by Shannon Sutlief at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (22) | TrackBacks (0)

Kim Pierce's item about Sigel's super-sale on Burgundy (below) was the 1,000th post on the Eats blog -- and we have been publishing only since late last May.

Plus, we've had twice as many comments as posts -- 2,050 as of this morning.

Our thanks to everyone who reads and contributes to Eats. Keep it going, folks!

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You'll remember that the other week, Taste had a story on the pastry whiz known as the Ace of Cakes (left).

Now it develops that Duff Goldman, ace Baltimore cakemaker, is taking his "Charm City" moniker very seriously: He made a cake in the magical likeness of Harry Potter's Hogwarts castle and its mysterious lake. This was a special commission for the VIP after-party, when Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix premiered in Los Angeles last July. It's supposed to be the Ace's "biggest cake to date."

The Hogwarts-cake show will air tonight on the Food Network at 9:30, and will repeat several times over the next few weeks.

Photo: Vincent Lupo

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I’m having a gastronomic lost weekend in the Nevada desert, eating at one outlandishly amazing restaurant after another. It’s common knowledge that Las Vegas has become one of the country’s most serious restaurant epicenters. But, man, as someone who hasn’t spent any time here since 2000, the next-level concentration of culinary talent and excellence is overwhelming … and scary on the credit card. Now I understand why, when asked on a panel which town she would live in if she were still reviewing restaurants, Gourmet editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl cited Vegas.

Best meal? The sixteen-course tasting menu at Joël Robuchon at the MGM Grand. It was, without hesitation, the most sublime French food I’ve had in this country. Getting into the hotel took some time after the cultural zeitgeist combo of the Democratic primary candidates and the Hannah Montana concert. And as I walked out of the restaurant Saturday night, well after midnight, I felt like crawling into a meditation cave to fast and contemplate for a week on what I’d just eaten.

The night before at Guy Savoy at Caesar’s Palace was a not-distant second.

Soon I’m off to eat lunch at Lotus of Siam, an off-the-Strip cult favorite for Thai food. We’ll see if it lives up to the hype. Look for a full report on my Vegas binge in the paper’s Travel section in early March.

Photo of Joël Robuchon courtesy of The Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Bill Addison at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The Sunday DMN's "True Romance" features someone familiar to Taste readers: Dallas chef Jamie Samford and his wife, Carol, who met while they were both working for Central Market. (He's now with Winn Meat Co., while she's at the North Texas Food Bank)

Food, of course, is an important part of their lives. And of their romance, as well. When Carol first fixed a meal for him, "Her chicken and dumplings were what won me over," Jamie says. "They were as good as my mother's."

Jamie and Carol Samford (DMN photo by Randy Eli Grothe)

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Over on the Texas Pages books blog, a reader is looking for a good place to hold a book club meeting -- "somewhere relatively quiet where we can get a bite to eat, and maybe a drink or two." Any suggestions?

Posted by Cathy Barber at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

If you are a fan of black and white truffles (and it's that time of year when the hauntingly delicious and expensive little uglies arrive from Italy), you'll want to check out the special truffle menus with wine pairings Jan. 24-26 at Cafe on the Green at the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Irving.

Chef de cuisine Katie Natale will prepare some of her favorite truffle dishes for a three- or five-course dinner with matching Italian wines selected by sommelier James Tidwell, representing regions from Tuscany to Sardinia. Cost is $100 for the three-course dinner, $180 with the wines, and $150 for the five-course, $250 with the wines. Plus tax and gratuity.

Since the menus aren't on any Web site, I've posted them here. Make reservations at 972-717-2420.

Continue reading "Truffle nights at the Four Seasons" »

Posted by Kim Pierce at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Those Rathbun twins are at it again. And that means Iron Chef America viewers will be seeing double in Kitchen Stadium.

Dallas chef and restaurateur Kent Rathbun and his brother, chef-restaurateur Kevin Rathbun of Atlanta, went to New York four months ago to compete on the Food Network's Iron Chef America. The Rathbuns, who were assisted by Top Chef star Tre Wilcox (who just left his post as chef de cuisine at Kent's Abacus), battled against two "Secret Chefs."

[UPDATE: The Food Network folks tell us that the Rathbuns "went against Bobby Flay and his two sous chefs."]

Now it's been announced that the Rathbun show will air Sunday, Feb. 24, at 8 p.m. Kent will be hosting a watch party in the bar at Abacus on McKinney Avenue, and reservations are recommended (though not required; call 1-866-953-3111). There will be another watching party in the bar at Jasper's, in the Shops at Legacy in Plano, for the Collin County crowd.

Kent Rathbun with the Bourbon Cream Corn served at Jasper's.
(DMN file photo: John Rhodes)

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

John Tesar and Joanne Bondy are among the chefs lined up to teach at the Dallas Farmers Market in the next few weeks. Get the whole schedule.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Yes, says Kim Pierce. Read about it here.

You'll either love it or hate it.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Michael Cox, who opened the Plano Central Market as general manager and eventually moved to the Dallas store, is leaving the trend-setting H.E.B. specialty supermarket to return to his first love: restaurants.

"I have yearned to get back in the business," he says. Before coming to Central Market in 2002, he managed Routh Street Cafe, Stephan Pyles' groundbreaking Southwest concept, and went on to become a co-owner of Star Canyon.

In 2002, Michael Cox opened the Central Market store in Plano. (DMN file photo)

Continue reading "Michael Cox: Goodbye, Central Market" »

Posted by Kim Pierce at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In Friday's On the Town – our weekly guide to things to do around Dallas – writer Nancy Moore lists five of her favorite places to sip a margarita. She says, "Listing all the margarita watering holes in the Dallas area could be as tricky as counting the stars in the North Texas sky. So we've rounded up a short list of a few old faithful places and profiled their house margaritas." Her picks: Enchilada's, Monica's, Mi Cocina (whose cocktail she dubs her "fav-o-rita"), Matt's Rancho Martinez and – the home of the frozen margarita machine – Mariano's Hacienda.

What's your favorite spot and why?

Posted by Shannon Sutlief at 6:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (48) | TrackBacks (0)

'Did another round at the Park Cities Bistro, aka Cafe R&D, today for lunch, with the same complete collapse of willpower when it came to the shoestring fries. Must...have...fries.

Service impressed the first time here, but I thought it might be new-restaurant good behavior. Now I'm beginning to believe it may be corporate culture. The servers were engaged and attentive, and didn't act like they were doing us a big favor to bring menus, clear dishes, bring water, etc. To wit:

When the server took our beverage order and my friend said she wanted something that wasn't cold, the server named the hot options.

When asked, the server offered a reasoned opinion about menu options.

Each time we were done with a dish, another server, trolling the room for same, whisked it off our table.

When my friend asked the food runner who brought our food for water, she apologized, saying, "I know you're not our server...." And runner said, "Oh no, let me get that for you." And did.

When we were done and had food left over, another server offer cartons.

None of this was done with chirpy, Barbie-Ken affectation, but rather with smiles, eye contact and what seemed like a genuine desire to make service a good experience for the diners. I hope I wasn't hallucinating.

• Get contact info, maps, hours and more about Cafe R + D

Posted by Kim Pierce at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

We've been hearing lots of good things about the changes at the Mansion Restaurant at Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek. So last night my editor, Cathy Barber, and I went to check out the new tasting menus from executive chef John Tesar.

It did not disappoint. The Chef's Room was a pretty awesome experience, with service that never faltered and a lovely, intimate setting in front of the former library's elegant fireplace. Dinner technically consisted of three courses, but there was an amuse-bouche, a cheese course, and so many pre-dinner and mid-dinner bites and extras that we literally lost track.

I didn't get quite so adventurous in my ordering as my boss did. (You can read in the post below all about Cathy's experience with a dish involving cock's comb -- a chicken part that I don't think any of us at the table had ever eaten before.)

(Photo of the Chef's Room courtesy of Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek)

Continue reading "More on Chef's Room at the Mansion..." »

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

A tiny part of me wanted to think that "cock's comb" on the dinner menu at the Mansion Restaurant was maybe some sort of boutique green.

Not.

It is what it is -- that spiky thing on a rooster's head. This. Chef John Tesar serves it in a broth with spinach and sweetbreads that have been lightly battered and fried.

Loved the sweetbreads. Glad to say I have tried the cock's comb. It tasted a bit like thick pasta with a hint of chickeniness. Not at all chewy. And not red, rather more of a pale fleshy color.

Our waiter kindly sliced a couple into strips and passed them around the table, and the plate did NOT come back empty.

Still, been there, done that. Don't have to do it again.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 3:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Jennifer LaFleur snagged an interview with Duff Goldman, madcap baker on the Food Network's Ace of Cakes.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 7:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Courtesy of Bloomberg:
A “breastaurant,” to quote the Urban Dictionary -- there is such a reference work -- is a venue “that serves both food and breasts.” Like Hooters.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 5:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Visiting The Grape in November and December for an update review got me thinking about restaurants that sustain themselves long enough to earn the designation of “institution.” The Grape certainly qualifies: You can feel the progression of years as you sit in that dim, cozily squished dining room.

Before I recount a meal I had two weeks ago at a Baltimore institution I’ve loved dearly since childhood (and that manages to holds its own brilliantly), let me throw out: What Dallas institutions do you love? Which spots don’t merely serve nostalgia but also still offer food that maintains its dignity against the maelstrom of restaurant openings and closings? I’d also be curious to hear about places that are long gone that you particularly miss. I have one of those from childhood, too.

Continue reading "Classic Dallas restaurants you love?" »

Posted by Bill Addison at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

Bill Kennedy, who comments regularly on this blog and is an avowed foodie, points out in the Lake Highlands Advocate that ordering the crust extra-thin at Alfonso's Italian restaurant on Buckner between Northwest Highway and Garland Road gets you a nearly perfect pie, "soooooooooo close to Fireside's that you'd swear Nick Badovinus was tossing in Alfonso's kitchen. It's chewy, just the right amount of char on the bottom, and a crust-edge you could eat as a meal unto itself." Plus, he says, they make their own sausage which is "pretty darn close" to Jimmy's Food Store. Sounds good to me.

Posted by Kim Pierce at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Columnist James Ragland has the swell story of Katrina evacuee Catherine Henley, who has opened a Cajun restaurant in Oak Cliff.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 5:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I try not to gush too much in public over items from the Martha Stewart empire. But Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes is a flat-out stunner.
Not in the market for a wedding cake? Doesn't matter. Even a guy in our office who thinks this would be a swell wedding was hooked within 5 minutes.
The book is packed with incredible feats of fondant and precious piping. Some cakes, like the seven-layer coconut, are elegant in their simplicity. But others are show-stoppers, like an eyelet cake, each layer a different eyelet design in fondant; a damask cake, with intricate piped scrollwork; and a truffle cake covered with 300 homemade truffles, each cut in half.
Brides will be giddy and bakers scared. Check it out.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A couple of weeks ago, I went back to Yao Fuzi with friends visiting from San Francisco. Happy to report several positives: The food is as accomplished as it was during on my review meals (that shrimp dish with tea leaves … sigh) and, encouragingly, there were seven tables occupied on a Monday night, many more than on the October Saturday night when I first ate here.

But, personally, the most gratifying development was dessert.

Like other aspects of dining at Yao Fuzi, I had to ask for it specifically. (The restaurant now translates some of its Chinese menu for non-speakers/readers, but you still have to ask for non-regular menu specifics like the cold Shanghainese appetizers).

Continue reading "Top banana at Yao Fuzi" »

Posted by Bill Addison at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

On the advice of a friend who's a strict raw-terian (eats raw foods only), I dropped in at Sweet Tomatoes in Addison across from the reclaimed Prestonwood space, and it's a quantum leap from the typical all-you-can-eat salad-soup-pasta-baked-potato-bread-and-dessert bar. Everything was fresh, without so much as a single wilted leaf, from the salad bar to the mac-and-cheese at the pasta bar. Greeters tell you up-front that you can assemble your own salad, or choose from one of four already made up (and changed every 20 minutes) at the end of the bar.

The soups, though, are what caught my palate on a chilly winter day - housemade, and they tasted like it. Cream of rosemary potato (which they kindly tell you is not vegetarian) and U.S. Senate bean with smoked ham were worth the price of admission (a little under $8).

But be warned: Temptation is ever present to turn an outing here into a high-calorie splurge.

Continue reading "Sweet Tomatoes: a sweet salad bar and more" »

Posted by Kim Pierce at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Massimo Ramundi, whom many diners will recognize as the distinguished, silver-haired waiter at Adelmo's and Daniele Osteria, has just opened his own catering business. Antica Tavola is set to bring Old World Italian, which anyone who's been to Italy is doomed to crave, to your home or event.

He's got standards on his menu, like Caprese, the fresh mozzarella, basil and tomato salad. But also his own version of gnocchi with cream sauce and cheeses, lobster ravioli, and seafood soup made with San Marzano tomatoes, red snapper, swordfish and clams. You will search in vain for a steak - yes.

Ramundi grew up in a village in the Abruzzo region, which hugs the Adriatic coast and stretches inland to include central Italy. His Web site is written in Italian and English. Check it out.

Posted by Kim Pierce at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We're seeing so many excellent new restaurants in the area that it's hard not to have our heads spinning a la Linda Blair in The Exorcist. I had the occasion to check out Firefly last night, which has escaped our reviewers' radar so far.

It's a true Asian fusion, drawing on cuisines from Thailand to Korea, not in individual "greatest hits" style, but pulling elements of each cuisine and combining them anew. Everything is served family style, and our server was blessfully knowledgable both about the food and the sake.

The hands-down winner on our table was - what a surprise - lemongrass tofu. Even the anti-toad-food crowd might be persuaded by this dish. The tofu was sliced and crisped, then mixed with soy-etc.-sauteed onions, minced shiitakes and whole red peppers (don't eat them) that mingled hot, sweet and savory. Fried pot stickers with soy-ginger dipping sauce also ranked high, as did the Peking-style duck rice-paper wraps, or rolls as they're called here.

Firefly is just south of Belt Line on Midway, and its decor conjures up the brooding side of tiki modern, but it's pleasant and cozy.

• Get more info on Firefly from GuideLive.com

Posted by Kim Pierce at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Chopped liver. Tomato aspic. Roasted duck. GooGoo Clusters. Turmeric. What do they have in common? They all made the Saveur 100, the annual list of things that caught the fancy of the magazine's staff. Read the whole Saveur 100 here, or grab the January issue.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You don't even have to cross Preston to walk from Houston's to its new sibling, R&D Cafe. Just stroll across the parking lot to the new restaurant, which has been open a month. You could call it the Houston's overflow restaurant, but already it's got a wait of its own. The Hillstone Restaurant Group mothership in Los Angeles has actually patterned it off the Newport Beach R&D Cafe. When we dropped by recently, it was wall-to-wall Parkies.

Continue reading "Baby Houston's (R&D Cafe) could be called PC Bistro" »

Posted by Kim Pierce at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

At least one reader took exception to Anne Greer McCann's simplified King Ranch Casserole recipe. Not the real deal, the reader says.
But with so many versions of this Texas classic floating around, who's to say?
Tell us: Do you make your own King Ranch Casserole from scratch? If you buy it, where's your favorite source?

Posted by Cathy Barber at 7:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Although it's been open barely three days - the plexiglass enclosure around the top of the swanky bar isn't even finished - Loft 610 is slowly, gently getting up to speed. The S.O. and I dropped by for drinks because we'd gotten word about what cool space it was.

Continue reading "Loft 610 preview" »

Posted by Kim Pierce at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Check the calendar: Christmas is next Tuesday. So if you haven't placed your order for holiday tamales yet, you'd better get a move on.

In case you missed it: Last week, Taste ran a list of reader recommendations on favorite tamalerias around the Dallas area. People swear by all of these, and we can vouch for a few of them ourselves. So give them a shot, and see which tamaleria becomes your personal standby.

(DMN file photo: Evans Caglage)

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Why wait until New Year's? Check out the Taste wine panel's picks for sparkling wines under $20.
Remember: Shop for others.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This just in from chef Richard Chamberlain:
"Just a heads up to those of you who have not heard. My 12-year-old son Stephen and I will be doing 2 segments on the Today Show in New York next Thursday morning, Dec. 27. No specific times yet. Wishing everyone a safe and joyous holiday season."

Posted by Cathy Barber at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you've ever lived in Austin -- or visited there very often -- you probably have stopped by Las Manitas at 211 Congress Ave., just north of the river. Maybe you've even made it a regular stop, as my husband and I always do. It's been at the same address since opening in 1981, and is sometimes called Las Manitas Avenue Cafe because the sign from the site's previous restaurant is still up on the front of the building.

The little Tex-Mex eatery is one of the city's most beloved gathering spots for breakfast migas, cafe con leche or an enchilada lunch plate. Its loyal patrons have included everyone from first lady Laura Bush, Texas Monthly editor Evan Smith and the late Gov. Ann Richards to musicians such as Los Lobos and Freddy Fender. Singer Alejandro Escobedo gives a concert there every year, during the South By Southwest music festival.

But its fans know the restaurant's days are numbered.

Continue reading "Austin prepares to say 'Adios' to Las Manitas" »

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 3:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

That sucking sound you hear downtown is the sound of a power vortex locking onto its new home. Charlie Palmer at The Joule and sommelier Drew Hendricks' Next Vintage Wine Shop opened softly, quietly on Monday.

The S.O. and I dropped by for drinks, and the next thing we know there were bite-size lobster corn dogs with mustard creme fraiche -the signature appetizer - before us. Barbecued pork sliders with coleslaw on sesame brioche buns. Ricotta agnolotti with corn puree and crisped shiitakes. Diver scallops nested on artichoke pesto. This was a preview of what chef Palmer, sitting at the other end of the bar, and his Dallas crew, headed by Scott Romano, plan to offer in the weeks to come.

But the food is almost secondary to the "see and be seen" vibe that's already gathering force here.

Continue reading "Charlie Palmer sneak peek" »

Posted by Kim Pierce at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

With a nod to her Lebanese roots, chef Hage had an item on her menu recently that would be a great addition to any holiday table: tabbouleh studded with pomegranate seeds. The colors were merry and bright, and the seeds sent out a little tart-sweet burst with the traditional flavors of the Middle Eastern dish.

Posted by Kim Pierce at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I warned my pal John that the fiery Texas snowball was kind of hot. It's a slow heat, a habanero burn. Just when you think you've finished the nugget unscathed, it grabs the back of your throat, and by then it's too late. Which is why he had to run for water. Good times.
The fiery snowball is the zesty relative of Mary of Puddin Hill's snowballs, which are descended from its amazing praline pecan pie. Think pecan pie but thicker, wrapped in dark chocolate.
The heat level of the fiery snowballs varies, but they're hot enough that it would not be in the holiday spirit to offer them to guests without a heads-up.
Any of these would make excellent gifts. The company, which is based in Greenville, Texas, also makes a wickedly addictive habanero brittle and a jalapeno brittle.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Like Ben, an Eats blogger who commented on the previous post, we went to try out Grimaldi's in West Village last night. I can't compare it to the mother ship, never having made it to Patsy Grimaldi's in B'klyn, but the overall first impression was a good one.

This is definitely New York-style pizza -- very different from the Italian-style pies down the street at Campania. We ordered a large (18-inch) pizza with Grimaldi's basic fresh-tomato sauce for $15, and added Italian sausage, mushrooms and extra homemade mozz for $2 each.

The crust was nice, thin and crisp; the mozzarella was generously distributed, and the Italian sausage tasted the way it should. Lots of intense, distinct flavors in this pizza. Besides the red-sauce pie, you can also get a white or a pesto pizza, all in personal (12-inch) or small (16-inch) sizes, as well as the 18" large. Those are also the three sizes of calzones available.

(Grimaldi's Dallas interior, minus a few decorative finishing touches
that are now in place. Photo courtesy of Patsy Grimaldi's.)

Continue reading "Checking out Grimaldi's Pizzeria in West Village" »

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

The December issue of Olive magazine can't get enough of goose-fat roasties -- potatoes roasted in a veil of goose fat. It's a British thing, y'all. There's a recipe, and ads for frozen roasties, and writers rhapsodizing about their holiday roasties.

The whole goose thing is not such a deal here. But if you're set on trying it, check out the offering at Eat The World in Lake Highlands: goose with your choice of two stuffings, $75. (They also carry excellent tamales and lots of other temptations.)

And if it's the magazine you're craving, you can buy a subscription to Olive on Amazon for $168.08. Or do what I do -- grab it every month at Barnes & Noble for about $9. It's still not cheap, but $168 for a mag subscription is a bit painful.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's a shout-out to chef Richard Chamberlain, who helped make the "How to make the best steak you can" package our most-clicked food story of 2007.
The rest of the top 10 is pretty evenly divided between desserts and more meat, plus down-home faves like Frito pie and tortilla soup.
And clearly there is no stopping the Neiman Marcus cookie hoax; it's only gained new life on the Internet. (We've got the real thing.)
See the top recipes of 2007 here.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

...and getting beaucoup bucks for it, too.Yes, RR has found a way to make R&R pay. The Food Network just signed Rach to a two-year contract for a new prime-time series called Rachael's Vacation, to launch next month.

Following the model of her "eating on $40-a-day" travel show, Rachael will spend this program chowing down, rather than actually cooking.

What does this mean for Life As We Know It? As one of the commenters on USA Today's blog noted: "The fact that this woman keeps getting shows and offered contracts is surely one of the signs of the Apocalypse."

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Sorry to talk hard booze before lunchtime, gang, but I have a pressing question: Where's the best place in Dallas to buy top-shelf bourbon at a good price?

In the last couple weeks, both The New York Times and LA Times have written stories about bourbon's ascendance in popular culture, and included tasting panels offering suggestions in the articles. So, a few of us from the paper are getting together tonight to conduct our own tasting. I've yet to pick up my contribution. I'm looking for a place that has breadth of selection but isn't the highest-ticket alcohol boutique in town. Any thoughts?

Posted by Bill Addison at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Umami bombs, which front-load umami-laden ingredients in a given dish, are the latest craze among chefs like Jean-Georges Vongerichten (Jean Georges), according to a Wall Street Journal article that you can access through Saturday. Jean-Georges' chic little umami bomb includes Parmesan custard and white truffles (at a cost of roughly a bazillion dollars for two bites).

For those of you not up on your food tech, umami is considered the fifth taste, after sweet, salty, sour and bitter. It describes the meaty, savory sensation of chicken broth, mushrooms and meat. But foods like Parmesan cheese and tomatoes are also umami-intense. To my palate, umami also has a lingering quality. Think of eating a steak, and it seems like it's still clinging to your taste buds hours later. Not to be confused with garlic.

The article goes on to say that food companies are paying more attention to umami as they try to decrease the salt, fat, sugar and artificial ingredients in some processed foods. This makes it sound like umami and the pleasure one takes in umami are somehow new.

Continue reading "What the Italians can teach us about umami bombs" »

Posted by Kim Pierce at 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Paradise Bakery (annoying music alert) recently opened in the former Storehouse Furniture space on Alpha Road, just north of the Galleria Dallas.
The California Turkey Sandwich is a pretty hearty lunch. Order it to go and eat half later. I could barely eat both halves of it.
Just try ordering something and not getting something sweet with it. Everything looks good — I liked the big, soft sugar cookies.
And the Alpha Road/Tollway store has a small sitting area in the back, with a TV. Perfect for those awaiting more-hardy Galleria hikers.
John Lose

Posted by Cathy Barber at 5:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

But does that mean he won? I’ve learned better than to reveal that at the top of the post. You Tivo-ing readers are vocal and legion.

So here’s a recap of the Top Chef holiday special featuring Tre Wilcox of Abacus, who by most opinions got voted off of the show’s recent third season too dang early.

Continue reading "Tre Wilcox finds “redemption” on Top Chef special" »

Posted by Bill Addison at 2:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

A reader wrote in this morning asking for some help:

I have a very important client coming into Dallas next week and have been asked if we could find the best steak Diane in the Dallas area. Please help. I have visited most of the upscale steakhouses in the Dallas area and do not remember ever seeing that on the menu. Can you recommend one?

I'm in the dark. Even though I think old-school tabletop cooking might be ripe for a retro comeback, I've seen no steak Diane in these parts, let alone "the best." Anyone have any leads?

Posted by Bill Addison at 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

Yup, our guy Tre is back in competition action on tonight's Top Chef holiday special, which airs at 8 p.m. on Bravo TV. Tre is one of eight contestants from TC's three seasons duking it out for $20,000.

Sadly (and this isn't a spoiler, only a hunch), I don't think Tre wins. Why? Television psychology: He's been featured prominently in the special's ads, proclaiming that he's gonna win. That never bodes well for a favorable outcome.

The other returning contestants from season three are Tall CJ and Sandee of the double e's and the female faux-hawk (Dale, of course, had the male version).

Posted by Bill Addison at 4:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Readers have been sounding off all afternoon. We've combined the new comments with those from our last Tex-Mex episode a few weeks back. Get the scoop on Dallas Tex-Mex here.

Shown: Pepito's Special (front) and Brisket Tacos at Avila's, by Rex C. Curry

Posted by Cathy Barber at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

From the Associated Press: The Knork is the sort of product whose name may prompt eye rolling. That is, until you realize just how helpful it can be.
Consider the Knork the spawn of the spork, that handy fast-food utensil that blends a fork and a spoon. The Knork goes the other way, blending a fork and a knife. Since most people often use the side of their fork to cut soft foods, it makes sense.
Here’s how it works: The outer tines of the Knork, which is produced by Phantom Enterprises Inc. and is available in metal and plastic versions in a variety of finishes, are tapered to create a fine, but not sharp, cutting edge.
This is perfect for parties or any other event at which people eat standing up or holding their plate. More seriously, the Knork could also assist someone with use of only one hand.
GET YOURS: The Knork is available starting at $2 (four-pack of plastic Knorks).

Posted by Cathy Barber at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Had enough of pecan and pumpkin? Check out the behemoth apple pie made in the Hill Country. Find out more about the Tootie Pie from Boerne, Texas. You can get them by mail order or at Central Market.

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What's going on in the wide world of crime?

Last week it was thieves in Dublin, making off with 450 kegs of Guinness beer from a brewery. Now it's thieves in Sydney, Australia, making off with 16 tons of Christmas ham and bacon from a warehouse.

Somewhere, some brazen gang of lawbreakers must be planning one heck of a party...

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 9:27 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

If you love to read about food (and really, if you don't, why are you here?), there are some new books out there that are excellent reads and would also make great holiday gifts for the literate foodie.

First on the list, because I kinda promised it would be, is Best Food Writing 2007 (Marlowe & Co., $15.95). This contains 52 entertaining pieces from a lineup of the best U.S. food writers, including the DMN's very own dining critic, Bill Addison. He was actually the San Francisco Chronicle's very own Bill Addison when he published "In Search of the Transcendent Taqueria," which told of his 10-week odyssey through 85 of the Bay Area's myriad taco and burrito joints. If you are not hungry for tacos after reading Bill's opus, you should have your salivary glands checked, because there must be something seriously wrong with them. Best Food Writing 2007 includes only a baker's dozen of recipes, but then it is not a cookbook, so any recipes were an integral part of the articles they accompany.

Next up: The Elements of Cooking by Michael Ruhlman (Scribner, $24). Anthony Bourdain, in his introduction, calls the book "an opinionated food glossary from a writer and cook who knows better than most what the hell he's talking about." That pretty well sums it up. Mr. Ruhlman, who co-wrote The French Laundry Cookbook with chef Thomas Keller, subtitles this book "Translating the Chef's Craft for Every Kitchen." He starts with essentials -- stocks, sauces, salt, eggs, heat, tools -- and then proceeds to enumerate and explain, in alphabetical order from Acid to Zesting, virtually every cooking term you are likely to run across. No pictures here; no recipes. Just solid information.

Last: The Taste of Conquest, by Michael Krondl (Ballantine, $25.95). Mr. Krondl, who is also a chef, weaves a rich historical tale of "The Rise and Fall of the Three Great Cities of Spice," which were Venice, Lisbon and Amsterdam. It's hard to imagine now, but at one time the trade in peppers, cloves, cinnamon and other spices was a major impetus for Western European nations' exploration (and colonization) of Asia, Africa and the Americas. In his epilogue, Mr. Krondl also visits the contemporary cities of Baltimore (where McCormick & Co. is headquartered) and Calicut (aka Kozhikode), the center of India's spice industry.

More new books to come soon -- and I'll talk cookbooks for those who love recipes.

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Remember Chow? The foodie-forward magazine that's now a web site? Check out their holiday gift guide.

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If those Green Bay Packers cheeseheads can just hang around till the weekend, they'll get a taste of home at Abacus. Chef-owner Kent Rathbun, as a newly minted Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board ambassador, is putting Uplands Cheese Company's Pleasant Ridge Reserve on the cheese-tasting plate for the month of December.

The other kind of cheeseheads - people who love good cheese - will recognize that this is the artisanal entry that beat out all the other cheeses in the 2005 American Cheese Society competition for Best of Show. It's made from nonpasteurized milk from a single herd of Wisconsin cows at their peak grazing season and has wonderful, deep, nutty flavor. You can sometimes find it at Central Market.

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...and now he's gone. Dr. Robert Cade, whose research team created Gatorade at the University of Florida in 1965, died today of kidney failure at age 80.

Dr. Cade was born in San Antonio in 1927. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and from UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, and he was hired by UF in 1961.

Gatorade inventor Dr. Robert Cade, in a photo taken Nov. 16. (AP file photo)

Continue reading "Gatorade's inventor was a Texan..." »

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Emeril Live, which has been on TV for a decade, will cease production in two weeks, according to Food Network publicist Carrie Welch.

However, New Orleans superchef Emeril Lagasse's other show, Essence of Emeril, will continue production. The network also will air reruns of Emeril Live.

(AP file photo)

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The Cultured Cup hit on some perfect tea pairings during the store’s Sunday afternoon tasting session. Owners Kyle Stewart and Phil Krampetz teamed up with local cheese maker Paula Lambert of The Mozzarella Company, offering samples of eight fine teas, each paired with two artisan cheeses.
Some in attendance were skeptical at first; but the daring pairings turned out to be winners all.
All but one of the teas were from the acclaimed Mariage Frères line that the store imports from Paris.
With its subtle lemon balm notes, a Temple de L’Aube green tea brought out the best in the Crescenza, a tart, yeasty but mild fresh cheese. A delicate Oolong Fleurs d’Oranger tea held a hint of orange blossom that matched beautifully with an herbed goat log. And the Noel tea’s vanilla notes and complex spices proved an excellent match for a smoked Scamorza.
If you want to learn more about tea and cheese pairings, drop by The Cultured Cup. Mr. Stewart, a former college professor, can explain just why the pairing works and set you on the path to tea enlightenment. Be forewarned: You might get hooked.
Tina Danze

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Last night was only Nonna's second, but already the new spot on Lomo Alto across from Whole Foods Market was packed. Things weren't perfectly smooth, but you could see the promise.

The commitment here is to local and/or sustainably harvested produce, meat and seafood, whenever possible, and the menu changes nightly. This made for luscious, thin-crusted and lightly topped margherita pizza, the first of many dishes displaying authentic Italian sensibility. Another topping option was housemade Berkshire pork sausage and roasted onions. Lobster raviolini was made with the thinnest, al dente pasta. And it was good to see Windy Meadows Farm chicken from Greenville braised in San Marzano tomatoes with creamy polenta.

Lots to like here: We also had frisee salad with wafer-thin pear slices and gorgonzola, baby romaine in lemon-anchovy vinaigrette with shaved parmesan and garlic crouton (sounds like an Italian Caesar), housemade lamb sausage with cannelli beans, also a salumi plate with vivid flavors, from silky prosciutto de Parma to spicy sopressatta salami. Good wines, too, with all coming from Italy except a couple of Champagnes.

A tiny space, holding only about 40 seats plus a nice bar area, Nonna is chic and modern with art provided by Barry Whistler gallery. I loved the light fixtures hanging down from the ceiling, which look like white gumdrops. And the banquette along one wall has very cool recessed lights illuminating the wall behind it.

One more thing to like: a tiny note at the bottom of the menu that says, "Please no cell phones."

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What do you need to know today? We've assembled our collective wisdom, from recipes to the video on how to fry a turkey without causing yourself or your stuff any harm.

Click here for Thanksgiving advice.

In a nutshell: Wash your hands a lot. If the gravy is lumpy, strain it and get on with things. And don't let the food sit out more than two hours.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 7:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last week's "scent dinner" at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek was an unusual collaboration between the Mansion's executive chef, John Tesar, and the New York Times' perfume critic, Chandler Burr.

Chandler's been doing these multi-sensory dinners with a number of Rosewood's luxury properties, including the Carlyle in New York and the Inn of the Anasazi in Santa Fe. At the Mansion, the event proved to be both educational and delicious. Read about it in today's Taste section.

An array of scents accompanied a "scent dinner" at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, created by perfume critic Chandler Burr and executive chef John Tesar.
(DMN photo by Courtney Perry)

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

A reader sent me a question worth some discussion:

I am just curious about what you would do or expect in the following scenario.

I accepted the apology (it wasn’t his fault), and was most gracious. However, after thinking about it, I wondered if he did the right thing. It’s just that it would have impressed me if he did comp the drink and I would have left with a good feeling.

Particularly considering the venue, yes, I think you should have been comped and am surprised you weren't. It wasn't like it was a $50 buffalo tenderloin entree -- it was a drink made with heavily marked-up alcohol. You could have cut your lip on the chipped glass. A free round would have generated the kind of good will one expects a fine dining establishment (even its bar) to beget.

But if there are restaurant owners or staffers (or readers, of course) out there who think the bartender made the right decision, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on the subject.

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I found cinnamon chips! On the bottom shelf on the baking aisle at the Brookshire's in Forney.
This will only be news if you survived the great Cinnamon Chip Drama of 2001, when a winning recipe in our cookie contest had bakers scrambling for the elusive ingredient, which is made by Hershey's.
Cinnamon chips are similar to butterscotch or peanut butter chips, but they're cinnamon flavored. Here's the recipe for Cinnamon Praline Drops.
I haven't had time to search other local chains. Let us know if (and where) you've found them.

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There was so much to smell, taste, sense and enjoy at the Rosewood Mansion Restaurant's Scent Dinner last night, wherein New York Times perfume critic Chandler Burr (right) and Mansion chef John Tesar collaborated for an evening that was really two meals: one of scents and one of matching foods.

My colleague, Joyce Saenz Harris, will be writing about it in the newspaper, but I wanted to share Burr's comments about tastes, of which he says there are six.

We all know sweet, salty, bitter and sour, the four basics. Then, if you're really up on your food chem, you can add umami, essentially the characteristic taste of protein or meat.

To these Burr adds a sixth, "and the trigeminal nerve senses it. It registers capsaicin," the active ingredient in chile peppers. "That is the 'smell' of heat. The burn is not a taste, not a smell, but a chemo-reaction."

And if you stop to think about it, he's right. It's definitely a sensation that adds heightened interest to foods that you can't describe as something you taste. It transfers to the world of scents, Burr explained, where a perfume called Piment Brulant, or burning pimiento, among others, utilizes its visceral quality. How hot is that?

Photo by Italian Wine Guy

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These bite-size beauties from Petit Fours Cakes Gourmet will make you forget all about pumpkin pie. From left: pumpkin meringue tarts, pumpkin cheesecake petit four, and white chocolate pumpkin spice truffles. Check their web site for more adorable holiday treats.

Of course, it's all about pumpkin now. Find other pumpkin desserts from bakeries around town, and don't forget to order well ahead of time.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Neiman Marcus chef Kevin Garvin shares his turkey and gravy recipe -- plus a video on how to carve the turkey. I'm not a huge turkey fan but I've watched this one three times. The meat is simply gorgeous, and you can hear the skin crackle when he slices it. E-mail it to someone you love -- you know, the person who always wants to carve the turkey.

Kevin Garvin's Thanksgiving turkey (DMN Photo by Evans Caglage)

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Metro blog wrangler Steve Harris, who is related to me by marriage, sends word that he has checked out the new incarnation of Vern's soul-food palace:

A group of us went to Vern's new digs in Deep Ellum (2807 Elm St.) for lunch, and I'm glad to report that the heavenly smothered ribs are still heavenly. But, man, do you have to pay for your fix: $14.15 for the ribs, two vegetables and iced tea. Really, though, I'm not complaining. It was worth every penny, and pound. One of my colleagues always gets nervous when we go to Vern's. He's afraid they'll run out of the smothered ribs. He actually breaks into a sweat while waiting in line.

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Thanks to Seinfeld, we've all been sensitized to the yuckiness of double-dipping chips and crudites in party dips. 'Turns out it may not be so bad after all. Parade's "What America Eats" edition on Sunday had an item about an American University prof in Washington, D.C., who decided to test the hypothesis.

Professor Nancy Zeller and her students "dipped, double-dipped, then triple-dipped into salsa, guacamole, soft cheese and a spinach-cream spread. Surprisingly, after one hour, the salsa and guacamole had virtually no bacteria. The two other dips, which contained dairy, had some bacteria - but not as much as Professor Zeller, a microbiologist, expected. 'Commercial dips have a fair number of preservatives,' she notes. 'In this case, that may have been a good thing.'"

Still, if it's all the same to you, I'd rather you not double-dip at my parties. For once, I'm with George Costanza.

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Check out this video of Robert Ramm of Barbeques Galore. He makes frying a turkey look simple. He's got a lot of good safety tips, too.

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The Business section surveyed four local supermarket chains to rate them in four areas: price, service, selection and how long it takes to check out. Kroger racked up the most points, but each chain had a different strength. Read more about Dallas supermarkets here.

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Tell us: Where do you get holiday tamales?

We're rounding up the masters of masa for a guide to the best tamales in town. Let us know who makes you crazy for steamed corn husks by Monday, November 12.

Send your suggestions to: food@dallasnews.com ... just tell us who makes the tamales, where to get them, and what makes them special.

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Deralyn Hammans of Garland was a finalist in the nationwide Ultimate Krispy Kreme Recipe Contest. Her recipe, Dee's Sweet Puff Pastry Delight -- made with Krispy Kreme Glazed Crullers -- was selected as one of the top 10 recipes out of more than 1,700 entries.

Stephanie Matthews, of Tempe, Ariz., was named the grand prize winner with her recipe for Extreme Pumpkin Cheesecake, a pumpkin-flavored cheesecake made with Krispy Kreme Cinnamon Twists and Krispy Kreme Pumpkin Spice Cake Doughnuts. Krispy Kreme partnered with Taste of the South magazine for the contest, which received more than 1,700 submissions.

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Just got back from a long, highly enjoyable weekend in the Boston area. Besides everything else -- a hilarious evening with David Sedaris at Symphony Hall, a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts, and a salaam toward Boston's temple of secular religion, Fenway Park -- I also had some happy culinary experiences in "The Hub." My hosts were John and Harriet Blake, who have relocated from Irving to Boston's North Shore because John (who was with the Texas Rangers ball club for 20 years) now is a VP for media with the Boston Red Sox. Who, of course, had just won another World Series just before I arrived. Go, Red Sox Nation!

First came a bright, breezy day in Rockport, and a lunch stop with Harriet at the Portside Chowder House on Bearskin Neck. From its online reviews, the Portside is evidently one of those places that people either love or hate -- but our experience was quite positive.

The clam chowder was fine, and the lobster roll was fabulous, packed high with big chunks of sweet lobster meat held together with a whisper of mayo. It wasn't on the classic New England top-split bun, and it came with only a bag of chips. But at under $20, it's still less than you'd pay for the same thing in New York.

Plus, the Portside had iced tea on the menu, which not every place in the Boston area does. We also got plenty of ambiance with our table's expansive window view of Rockport's jetty and the cobalt-blue harbor. New England trips, for me, should always include at least one lobster roll -- and this one hit the spot.

Continue reading "Lobster rolls, and other bites of Boston" »

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Bravo to Karen Robinson-Jacobs for her story on the slow but accelerating shift in restaurants to using eggs and meat from humanely raised animals. It is a spot-on accurate account of where things stand, from what "humanely raised" means to the small percentage of consumers who are actually beginning to care.

We are a nation of animal lovers. Hurricane Katrina changed forever the evacuation criteria for people and their pets. Personally, I think it is a small step from that to caring how our feed animals are raised.

Continue reading "More restaurants look for humanely raised animals" »

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I'm just passing this along. Entertainment Tonight reports that Meryl Streep's next role will be the late, great Julia Child. ET is not normally my source of choice, but details are confirmed here. It turns out the movie is really about Julie Powell, whose 15 minutes-plus of fame stem from her efforts to cook all the recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Bon appetit, Meryl.

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Last night, I attended the Billy Reid show at Fashion at the Park. Billy Reid would be one of my favorite designers even he weren’t such a generous soul, but the event also happened to be a fundraiser for the Southern Foodways Alliance. After drooling over the country-boy-meets-city-boy parade of clothes, the NorthPark Billy Reid store hosted a little soiree where they served Jack Daniels single barrel bourbon and Allan Benton’s country ham.

If you have any affinity for real Southern ham, you need to know about Allan Benton’s products. He’s better known for his stellar bacon, but his hams have an antique flavor, unapologetically salty and complex – the kind best sliced and eaten with your fingers or slathered with mustard and munched between two biscuit halves. Southern food rituals make so much sense: A sip of good bourbon clears your palate and readies it for more saline food. Sip, chomp, sip, chomp.

(I'd heard rumors that Billy Reid's model were going to walk down the runway with Benton's smoked hams slung over their shoulders or tucked under their arms. Sadly, the runway show was ham-less. Maybe next year ... )

On an unhappy note: Allan Benton’s products have received so much attention of late that you can’t order his products online again until after the new year. If you find a local store carrying his bacon or ham (or know of a good black market source), email me.

Posted by Bill Addison at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

What's with these Texan wannabes writing in the New York Times about Our Fair State?

Now it's Jim Atkinson (who actually does live in Dallas) doing a Hill Country sojourn and writing about all the great food down there, from peanut butter pie at Marble Falls' Blue Bonnet Cafe to the Alsatian in Castroville, where he finds the "best German food in the Hill Country."

Then he launches into a culinary minefield, rightly noting that "the best barbecue in Texas is a matter of debate of Biblical proportions" and goes on to say that, if not the best, Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in Llano "is a life-changing experience."

If I'm not mistaken - may God strike me dead with a fist-size rib if I am - Taste editor Cathy Barber is also partial to Cooper's.

But this always begs the question: What IS great Texas barbecue? What does it look like, and how do you know it when you're eating it? I've had good barbecue, but I'm not sure I've ever had great.

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In honor of the trick-or-treaters about to take to the streets, I suddenly find myself pondering the Halloween candy I loved as a kid. I was weird and didn't like chocolate -- no candy bars for me. I traded all my mini-Snickers and Milky Ways and Whatchamacallits for things like Sweet Tarts and Starbursts and the occasional ribbon of candy buttons. Candy corn was OK but more of a project: I liked to systematically nibble off each colored segment, one at a time.

I suppose fireballs were my favorite Halloween candy. There was always that one fleeting moment where they actually got thrillingly hot and I wondered if it would burn too badly (and if you took it out during that moment it was really hot, would it still be in the hot stage when you put it back in your mouth?), and then the red exterior turned white and it quickly became blandly sweet. Soon, then, I would just crunch it in two and start over again.

Talk to me: What was your favorite candy?

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I got squired around the renovated Mansion digs by PR manager Erika Gonzalez on Monday as the staff prepares for next week's official opening to the public.

Guests already are eating in the name-tweaked Mansion Restaurant (thank goodness it's not the Rosewood Mansion Restaurant), even if the Mansion Bar and some of the side rooms are still in finish-up.

Who ever thought the phrase "light and airy" would be applied to this onetime residence?

Continue reading "Sneak peek at new Mansion restaurant" »

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I’m just back from a long weekend in Oxford, Miss., where I attended the tenth annual symposium of the Southern Foodways Alliance, one of my favorite organizations on the planet.

To celebrate the symposium’s entry into the double digits, the expansive topic this year was The State of Southern Food. I wound up pinch-hitting on a short talk about fried chicken for a fellow food journalist who had a family emergency.

Below the jump I’ll throw out some thoughts on the state of fried chicken, but let me ask right here: What’s the best fried chicken in the DFW area? I’ve been so focused on trying Texas-specific dishes that I haven’t consumed much gospel bird here. Now I’m starving for it. Is it Brother’s? Babe’s or Bubba’s? Any great fried chicken at a restaurant whose name doesn’t begin with a B?

Continue reading "Favorite fried chicken in Dallas?" »

Posted by Bill Addison at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (56) | TrackBacks (0)

I'll never love the corporate-ized Cafe Express like I loved it when it was Robert Del Grande's faster-food brainchild (he of Houston's Cafe Annie fame). But I've made my peace with the Wendy's buyout, resigned that it will never be the same, but also comforted by the fact that when you're in a hurry and want something quite a bit better than fast food, it's still a good call.

But Sunday night, when I stopped by for a turkey burger, I had to wonder: Whose relative twisted whose arm to lock down the mustard concession? Of all the great mustards in the world, the Lovers Lane Cafe Express (and presumably the others) had out a dozen jars of Madison Street Whole Grain Dijon, a no-name mustard made by an Ohio outfit.

We tried three bottles and, to a jar, the mustard refused to come out, all balled up it was in the middle of the bottle. We finally had to pry the top off and scoop some out with a knife. We watched other customers struggle with jars, too. And after all that, the flavor was so flat we had to fall back on a squeeze of standard French's yellow.

Has anyone else been annoyed by this stupid restaurant trick? Other aspects of the changeover at Cafe Express? Or did you just give up?

Posted by Kim Pierce at 7:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Part of the New York experience is pizza and, continuing Bill Addison's thread on great NY pizza houses, I had the chance to eat at Luzzo's, another contenda for best. Luzzo's meets the hole-in-the-wall criteria, with a downstairs bar that smells as musty as an ancient wine cellar. About as dark, too. Cool, though.

They use a coal-fired oven to achieve great pies like the one at left. The crust is cracker-thin but still has its yeasty-dough-crust thing going on, nicely scorched on the bottom and sides. This is my favorite combination: just a brush of tomato sauce, some blobs of fresh mozzarella, then after it's fired, some velvet-textured prosciutto, fresh arugula and a grating of Parmesan. The beauty, though, is its understatement: If a little (of the toppings) is good, then a little is good. Period.

In Dallas, the closest I've gotten to this is at Arcodoro & Pomodoro. With all the buzz about pizza lately, got anything to add?

Posted by Kim Pierce at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Some interesting culinary innovations are, as usual, cooking in chef Anthony C. Bombaci's kitchen at Nana, the 27th-floor restaurant atop the Hilton Anatole tower.

Wednesday night, we got a taste of the new seasonal menu while seated at a table (Table 42, if you want to ask for it) that had a spectacular view of downtown Dallas' skyline. Visual bonus: a silvery full moon floating over the city.

And for the lucky diners to take home? A candy box containing six chocolate truffles -- and a 3-ounce slab of chocolate adorned with the portrait of "Nana," the restaurant's namesake. She's the lovely, voluptuous and mostly nude lady in a famous 1881 oil painting by D. Marcel Suchorowsky. Since its purchase by Trammell and Margaret Crow in 1981, the painting has graced the wall above the bar at Nana.

PHOTO: Portrait of Nana, reproduced on a 3-ounce slab of chocolate

Continue reading "Nifty night at Nana" »

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Joe Drape of the New York Times gets all serious about Tex-Mex in today's issue.
I'm totally on board with Robb Walsh, the Houston writer quoted extensively, including this pronoucement: "The embodiment of Tex-Mex is a cheese enchilada with gravy."
Mr. Drape is a staunch supporter of Herrera's on Maple Avenue in Dallas, where he gets an enchilada plate with a taco on the side.
Tell us: Where's your favorite Tex-Mex in Dallas? What do you order?

Posted by Cathy Barber at 9:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (202) | TrackBacks (0)

Hugh and Pam Hamilton, who own Hugh Hamilton Wines down under, were in town yesterday to show their new vintages, and we met up at The Fish, the swank sushi-and-more spot in West Village next to Cork. Theirs was no ordinary wine producer visit - it will end with a flogging - which I'll explain in a minute.

In the ongoing quest for wines that go with sushi or sashimi, add Hugh Hamilton Verdelho (pronounced ver-day-ho or ver-dello), an Australian take on a Portuguese varietal. In Hugh's hands, this unwooded white has a fresh citrus-tropical entry that turns almost lime on the palate with palate-cleansing crispness and a soft, almond finish.

But here's the catch - or the one that almost got away: The extremely small-production wine is available only at The Fish. They're both worth checking out (miso black cod: drooler city).

Continue reading "A sushi wine at The Fish" »

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This comes from our colleagues on the Metro blog:

A reader sent Neighborsgo editor Kandace Dodson a story suggestion, with pictures. There's an interesting woman in Rowlett, the reader says, who owns her own bakery called Absolutely Edible Cakes. Words won't describe one of Nikita Jackson's latest cake creations. So here's the photo (at right). The cake is designed to look like the bride.

From the additional pictures that were sent, we can tell you that this bride's cake is virtually life-size. The design is an extravagant replica of the real bridal gown, the bodice of which features a heart-shaped, jeweled panel with paisley and flower shapes embroidered into it.

Though this is one of her more spectacular specialty efforts, Nikki Jackson also does more conventional wedding and special-occasion cakes, as her bakery's website makes clear. She says she has "had cakes featured on Good Morning Texas, Walker Texas Ranger and on the billboards throughout the state of Texas, when I created cakes for the Texas Lottery Commission."

For more information, contact Ms. Jackson at 972-463-9199.

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I encountered a bit of a traffic jam in Kroger Sunday afternoon as the staff tried to determine how to display the ginormous containers of oil that were already arriving for frying the Thanksgiving turkey.

I say this is an undertaking best left to the pros. But we do have fried turkey instructions from a few seasons back if you're determined.

But what I want to know is, where do you buy your fried turkey? We get lots of questions about this every year and there's no way to keep up with all the places. Send us your favorite source and we'll keep a list.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

McKinney mom and cookie maker Mary Beth Schad (left) will be one of 11 women honored as part of the first "Dreamers Into Doers" awards on Tuesday's Martha Stewart Show (12 noon on KXAS-TV, Ch. 5).

Mary Beth Schad started a home-based business after a friend told her, through a mouthful of cookies: "I'd buy these from you." She named her company Ellie & Ollie after her kids, Eloise and Oliver, who are her taste testers.

Mary Beth and the other "Dreamers Into Doers" finalists will be featured in the November issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine, and they'll also be recognized at a ceremony Tuesday evening at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall. In addition, Martha will present a "Living Legend Award" to singer-songwriter Carole King, who also will be on tomorrow's TV show.

Ellie & Ollie cookies come in five varieties: Poppydoodles (caramel, chocolate and peanuts), Key Lime Crackles, Cinnamon Toast, Crunchy Peanut Butter, and Mary Beth's signature Chocodoodles, made with dark semi-sweet chocolate and M&Ms.

Mary Beth's Ellie & Ollie cookies are packaged for gift giving at $20 per box of 15, and are available online or by calling 214-733-1056.

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As a cooking show addict, I've been watching Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares -- both the U.S. version Wednesday nights on Fox, and the Brit version on BBC America.

Both have their charms. And the common denominator seems to be an incredible ability for restaurant owners to delude themselves (that they're still right though losing lots of money) and be defensive when an accomplished owner and chef shows them the way. Didn't they agree to his coming in for a makeover?

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Alan Peppard managed a sneak at the remodeled dining rooms and bar at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek. As is usually the case in restaurant remodels, the exact opening date is a moving target.

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Finally, we're seeing the kind of weather that's perfect for a bowl of red, as Frank X. Tolbert christened the dish in his 1953 classic, A Bowl of Red. There's no better place in North Texas to experience this Texas meat-and-chile stew than Tolbert's in Grapevine, owned by Frank's daughter, Kathleen Tolbert Ryan. Furthermore, if you go to the GuideLive entry on the restaurant, you can also see a video of Kathleen and chef Rodolfo Ojeda explaining what makes a good bowl of chili.

Tolbert's will even serve it with beans for sissies and health nuts who want to add a little fiber to the mix. (Psst: It doesn't affect the goodness of the chili at all, even if Frank may strike me dead for saying so.) And if you missed the Frito pie at the State Fair of Texas, Tolbert's has that, too. Try them with the jalapeno margarita, a kind of a fire-and-ice combination that cools you down and makes you sweat, all at once.

Frank was a fixture in the newsroom during my toddler days in journalism, and I can still remember that when something riled him, he would barrel at you head down, hat still on, snorting steam, eyes aflame, like a mad bull. Luckily, I didn't rile him. Much.

(DMN file photo: Special Contributor Elena Noel Grothe)

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In the midst of my New York sojourn a week or so ago, I took a train up to New Haven to see some dear college friends. Certainly, my main objective was to hang with the gang, but I did have a secondary agenda: To stage a taste-off between New Haven’s two most legendary pizzerias, Sally’s and Pepe’s.

Pepe's clam pizza photo courtesy of Joe Schumacher, jschumacher.typepad.com.

Continue reading "East Coast Pizza, Part II: New Haven" »

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One of the best things about Brothers Chicken was the discovery of Ain't No Mo Buttercakes, a sort of bakery in transition whose baby Bundt cakes are on the menu there.

I had the chocolate and buttercream, which were pure pleasure: moist, flavorful, with a beautiful delicate texture - and no off mix-y notes. With a call to the bakery, I found out they also supply eight area Williams Chickens (you could call for the one nearest you), Hall's Chicken Shack (the downtown and Buckner locations) and Michelle's Homestyle Cooking at Skillman and Audelia.

While they're concentrating on supplying restaurants and looking for a new location they will also work with individuals. In a city that loves food finds, these cakes are da bomb.

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Starting today, members of Les Dames d'Escoffier International will hit Dallas for their annual conference.
Les Dames is a group for women in the food and wine biz. If you're a Dallas foodie, you probably know a Dame. Cheesemaker Paula Lambert is a member, as is Blue Mesa Grill owner Liz Baron and York Street chef-owner Sharon Hage. I'm a member too, so I'll be making the rounds with the rest of the group.
So what do a bunch of food types do in Dallas? Turns out, the same things the rest of us do. Today, early arrivals will hit the State Fair of Texas; on Friday, it's the museums in Fort Worth, with a demonstration by chuck wagon cook Tom Perini thrown in. Then, of course, shopping and popovers at Neiman Marcus.
Saturday is reserved for more serious subjects, like a comparison of grass-fed and grain-fed beef. The conference wraps Saturday night with the eight-course Grande Dame dinner at the Hotel Crescent Court, prepared by Dames and members of the World Master Chef Society.
Sample course: Lamb Loin Wrapped with Mushroom Farce and Beet Demi Glace with Truffle Whipped Potatoes, by chefs Patrick Mitchell and Lori Short Finkelman.
OK, maybe it's not your average weekend in Dallas.

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The Washington Post's Jane Black did a Q&A with L.A. uber-chef Wolfgang Puck in connection with his new D.C.-area restaurant, the Source. Among other things, he had some tart opinions about the Food Network...but about whom could he possibly be talking? We cannot imagine...

You're one of America's top celebrity chefs and yet you don't have your own current cooking show anymore. Why?

Well, I'm working on an animated show for children. I will be animated; the whole kitchen will be animated. We are working with Disney on it for next fall, hopefully. It's going to be a little how to cook, but it will teach what is good, what is not good, a little about the geography [of food] and where it comes from. ...I'm more into that than just going on the Food Network. They want me to do this "Iron Chef" thing. But I don't gain that much from it. I'd rather do something more important in the long run.

So what do you think of food TV?

It's going in a way now where it's more like housewife cooking than professional cooking. When I did it four or five years ago, they said, "We don't want celebrities; we just want to teach people to be in the kitchen and show them how to cook." ...[These days, the hosts] get a push-up bra and show a little cleavage and wear a tight sweater, and they think it's sexy housewife cooking.

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It has become an annual ritual for me to visit New York at the beginning of October: The temperatures are typically still in the 60s and 70s (and early last week, it was in the low 80s) but autumn’s crackling vigor has permeated the city. I’m ravenous from the moment I step off the plane.

So after a surprisingly traffic-free cab ride from LaGuardia to Brooklyn, my friend Christy and I headed to Grimaldi’s pizza on Fulton St. under the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s one of my favorite pizza spots in all of New York’s boroughs, but I also went for some perspective, since a branch of Grimaldi’s will be opening in the West Village (Dallas’, not New York’s) in about a month.

Continue reading "East Coast Pizza, Part I: Grimaldi’s in Brooklyn" »

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Kim Pierce has compiled an excellent list of local food producers and shopping sources. It includes everything from artisan cheeses to produce grown at a Dallas elementary school. These folks need your support, so check it out and shop local whenever you can.

If you know of a local producer that we missed, let us know.

Shown: pastured beef from Rehoboth Ranch, by Natalie Caudill.

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Whoooo-eee! Catfight in foodie land!

Vinegary chef and writer Anthony Bourdain (Kitchen Confidential; No Reservations) is lambasting the Food Network's ubiquitous Rachael Ray for endorsing Dunkin' Donuts.

The New York Post reports that Bourdain went all ballistic about "Rach" in next month's Outside magazine:

"She's got a magazine, a TV empire, all these best-selling books -- I'm guessing she's not hurting for money," Bourdain told Outside, according to the Post. "She's hugely influential, particularly with children. And she's endorsing Dunkin' Donuts. It's like endorsing crack for kids."

Bourdain modestly calls himself "not a very ethical guy. I don't have a lot of principles. But somehow that seems to me over the line."

He was just getting warmed up.

"Juvenile diabetes has exploded. Half of Americans don't have necks. And she's up there saying, 'Eat some [bleeping] Dunkin' Donuts. You look great in that swimsuit -- eat another doughnut!' That's evil."

OMG. We love this stuff, don't you?

Rachael's flackies, meanwhile, kept their claws sheathed and had this to say:

"Anyone who knows Rachael and watches her on TV is aware she promotes balance and moderation, instead of living life in extremes. Her work addressing kids' and families' nutritional needs speaks for itself, so we respectfully disagree with Anthony's opinion."

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Karen Jacobsen, a consultant to Highland Park schools' food service department, published an article in a dietitian's magazine. Topic: using fennel in food service. As colleague Kathy Goolsby notes, that's something most of us hardly ever got in our school lunches. Yet another bubble benefit.

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Kent Rathbun, megachef of Abacus and Jasper's, will be "Tackling Hunger in America" at the 17th Annual Taste of the NFL event on Feb. 2 in Phoenix.

Taste of the NFL, which takes place the night before the Super Bowl, brings together top chefs from each NFL city to raise money for programs to help the hungry and homeless in the United States. Kent hosted a related local event, the "Ultimate Dallas Cowboys Tailgate Party," in Abacus' parking lot last April, and welcomed 15 other top Dallas chefs there.

In addition, Martha Stewart Living Radio and Taste of the NFL have teamed for a special twice-weekly interview series, airing exclusively on Sirius Satellite Radio over the coming months. Chefs participating in Taste of the NFL will share their recipes and take calls from listeners.

Kent's turn at the stove comes Friday (Oct. 12). His segment will air on Martha's Morning Living show, 6 to 10 a.m., and on Living Today, 12 noon to 4 p.m. Tune in to Sirius channel 112 to find Martha Stewart Living Radio.

He will prepare his signature Taste of the NFL dish: Coriander Cured Duck Breast with Red Eye Gravy and Shafts Blue Cheese with Charred Corn Grits.

If you plan to be in Phoenix for the Super Bowl and would like to attend Taste of the NFL, you can purchase tickets here. With tickets at $500 -- and VIP tix at $600 -- it's not a cheap evening. But if you can afford a trip to the Super Bowl, why not splurge a little more for a good cause?

(DMN file photo: Evans Caglage)

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If you read the newspaper today (yes, I know, you didn't), you've already seen the full-page ad for SMU's free two-day conference, "Does Dallas Care About Darfur?", which starts tonight.

On Thursday, several area restaurants will donate 5 percent of their evening sales to help Darfur refugees living in Sudan and Chad.

There on the list is the little Sudanese Restaurant (yep, that's the name) I wrote about yesterday. Five percent won't be a lot, but that's a nice show of heart.

Other participating restaurants include Kathleen's Art Cafe, Sangria, Taverna, Penne Pomodoro, Cafe Toulouse, Terilli's, Felissa's, Dream Cafe, Greenz, Ziziki's, Plucker's, Urban Taco, Celebration, Social, the Purple Cow and Thai-riffic.

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Mike Maza delivers more about Fearing's being named Esquire's restaurant of the yearaurant.

Bloggers aren't necessarily in agreement with Mr. Mariani's assessment. Tell us what you think.

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On a really tough day, you can always get a smile from the optimistic message in a fortune cookie.

Or can you? Apparently some fairly downbeat fortune cookies are turning up in Chinese restaurants, and the New York Times has a story about it. Excerpt:

Was one writer having a bad day? (“Perhaps you’ve been focusing too much on yourself.”) Were the cookies giving voice to worries about the economy or terrorism? (“There may be a crisis looming, be ready for it.”)

Right: "Plan for the best. Prepare for the worst." Uh-oh.
(NYT photo by Tony Cenicola)

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We present the following infobits as a completely candid act of shameless borrowing from our foodie pal Teresa Gubbins over at Pegasusnews.com. Thanks, TG!

Grimaldi's, a traditional New York pizzeria with family roots going back to 1933 Harlem, is opening a Dallas branch in the new section of West Village as of mid-November. It'll feature three sizes of pizza baked in a coal-fired brick oven, calzone, salads, antipasto, desserts, and a full bar.

Vern's Place, the longtime soul-food capital of Deep Ellum, has found a new location at 2807 Elm St. (at Crowdus) and plans to move on Nov. 3.

Heartland Bread has moved its bakery from West Plano to northeast Dallas. Heartland sells bread to Costco, Kroger and Whole Foods Market, as well as to the Heartland Bread Cafe & Sandwich Shop, a family-owned eatery in Arlington.

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Next week promises to be a full-scale centennial gala celebration for Neiman Marcus, especially at the flagship store in downtown Dallas. And NM devotees and fans of the famed Zodiac restaurant won't want to miss their chance to have The Store's centennial cookbook, Neiman Marcus Taste (Clarkson Potter, $45), signed by NM executive chef Kevin Garvin.

As VP of corporate food services, Kevin has done a complete update of the 2003 Neiman Marcus Cookbook -- which, like the new one, was co-written by John Harrisson. There are mainstays such as the beloved NM popover, classics from foodie icon Helen Corbitt, new entries from NM corporate chef Anita Hirsch, and plenty of new or adapted dishes from Kevin himself, including some of his family's favorite recipes.

Kevin will be signing Neiman Marcus Taste next weekend, on Saturday, Oct. 13, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 14, noon to 3 p.m. Both signings will take place on the Main Floor of the downtown store, and the Zodiac also will be open on Sunday from noon to 3 p.m.

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If you're headed to the Texas-OU game on Saturday, swing by the Mrs. Baird's Ultimate Grill for a free hot dog. This behemoth, said to be the largest grill in the world, is 55 feet long and can cook 500 hamburgers or 1,000 hot dogs at a time. It will be fired up from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. by the Cotton Bowl and the Administration Building at the State Fair of Texas.

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Love this story about chile peppers leading to an evacuation in London.

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Looking for a snarky spot for coffee, b'fast or lunch? Try Murray Street Coffee Shop, a place where the tip bowl exhorts you to tip in most colorful terms. Dropped by the other day for lunch, undercover with my son, who's a regular. The turkey-and-cheese on ciabatta with chipotle mayo was terrifically satisfying. You can get chips or a banana with it. Ditto good: the hummus plate with tomatoes and red bell peppers. There was also something suspiciously familiar about the arugula on the sandwich. Turns out it's from my favorite Spiceman (FM 1410 at 1410 Bryan). Then there's the "crack bread" -- whoa, not my name -- a dense, homemade, vanilla-scented loaf that invites toasting and butter. "It's so named because it's addictive," sez my son. With a morning mocha -- the chocolate is custom-blended -- it's a significant wake-up call.

Posted by Kim Pierce at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Six teams from Texas will compete at the Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue, to be held Oct. 27 in Lynchburg, Tenn. "The most represented state at the event," so The Jack's PR people tell us. Is anyone in Texas really surprised by that?

Here’s the complete list of competing Texas teams:

Smok’n Joes Too, Wills Point; Holy Cow Cookers, Pearland (automatic invite for winning the Houston Live Stock Show & Rodeo barbecue); Blazen BBQ, Hillsboro (automatic invite for winning seven major competitions in the last barbecue season); Smokin’ Triggers, Alvarado (only team to have won “The Jack” twice); Pappy’s, Lubbock; and Guzzlin’ Gourmets, Rosenberg.

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Stopped in last evening as chef Avner Samuel and his wife, Celeste, celebrated five years in business at Aurora.

There were champagne toasts and, for hors d'oeuvres, an assortment of tiny crostini topped with some of Avner's favorite ingredients: foie gras and fig, beef tartare, and lobster, avocado and caviar.

Guests got to take home an elegant little book filled with recipes for some of Avner's signature dishes. While we doubt we would ever get ambitious enough to try making Aurora's amuse-bouche, a brown eggshell filled with egg custard (this recipe is for the wild-mushroom ragout and maple-syrup cream version), the carmel avocado parfait is something we would actually attempt. Just as soon as we can afford some Royal Iranian Osetra Caviar.

Avner told us he is getting this year's very first shipment of white truffles to reach the U.S. He's planning to use a special new see-through humidor that'll allow guests to view the truffles before opening the box for a sniff. He will be serving the truffles (which are from Alba, Italy) next week, Wednesday through Saturday. To reserve for the special truffle menu, call 214-528-9400.

(Shay Forson photo of Celeste and Avner Samuel, courtesy of Aurora)

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

If you are a normal American of any age, you probably love cupcakes -- something that every bakery in America has discovered in the past few years.

But as the New York Times' Sarah Kershaw wrote on Sunday:

The cupcake is at something of a crossroads. Edible icon of Americana, frosted symbol of comfort and innocence, it may not have faced such an identity crisis since first appearing in cookbooks sometime in the 18th century.As we know, cupcakes have had a whopping resurgence: they are retro-food chic, the thing to eat for people in the know. But cupcakes have also recently been marched to the front lines of the fat wars, banned from a growing number of classroom birthday parties because of their sugar, fat and “empty calories,” a poster food of the child obesity crisis. This was clear when children returned to school this month to a tightening of regulations, federal and state, on what can be served up between the bells. And it has led some to wonder whether emotional value, on occasion, might legitimately outweigh nutritional value.

On this cupcake dilemma, I come down firmly on the pro-cupcake-as-school-birthday-treat side. Of course, my kid was in elementary school 20 years ago, before cupcakes were chic, and also before childhood obesity was such a problem. But I doubt my daughter would have many fond memories of her schoolroom birthdays, if I'd turned up in her classroom with a plate of crudites and a bowl of yogurt dip.

(DMN file photo: Cupcakes from Tart Bakery)

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

We finally had dinner this weekend at Doug Brown's long awaited Cliff Cafe at the Belmont Hotel. (Locals have already dubbed it "the Cliff".)

It was the food equivalent of being nestled in mother's arms. A skillet of hot mac and cheese was a stringy delight with homemade cheese sauce, fresh basil and tomatoes. The chicken fried steak (top left) was piled high with grilled vegetables and a hearty homemade gravy. Other must-haves include the steaming Bourbon pecan pie topped with melting vanilla ice cream and the Belmontini cocktail.

Embrace the carbs. I did.

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Hot gossip overheard: Stephan Pyles has apparently signed a letter of intent for a restaurant space not too far from his current eponymous spot. It will supposedly be a more casual concept, along the caliber of Houston’s, which will serve lunch and dinner seven days a week. Early projections estimate the place opening around March or April 2008. More details forthcoming as they emerge.

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I was ecstatic to hear that my favorite barbecue joint, Hard Eight, had finally made a foray into the Metroplex, opening a restaurant in Coppell. Before I could make a visit, reviewer Kim Harwell awarded them a single star -- "generally disappointing" in the lingo of the star system.

This was not good news. For my money ($8.99 a pound, to be exact), the original location in Stephenville consistently turns out the best ribs in the state. Last weekend I needed a rib fix, and we decided not to take any chances: We would head for Stephenville. Before we left, my sister the bullriding fan called to remind me to be on the lookout for Ty Murray, whose ranch is near Stephenville.

We didn't see Ty, but the ribs were worth every one of the 253 miles we drove that day. I ordered five -- hey, the guy was slicing from the short end of the rack -- but wisely stashed one in a to-go container. The ribs, coated in coarse black pepper, were textbook: smoky, meaty and moist, not fatty. The bones slid right out as I picked each one up.

I've been to the Brady location a few times and it's never quite up to the Stephenville spot.

Tell us: Have you been to any of the Hard Eight locations, and how was the food? Where else do you go for ribs?

Posted by Cathy Barber at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Languid lunches have become a lost art. It’s the nature of our culture right now: We’re all too antsy and over-scheduled to sit at a table in the middle of the day for any length, and most restaurants have reacted by scaling back their offerings to light, simple (often overly simple) fare that doesn’t inspire lingering.

But my friend Ralphie and I had a lunch at Toulouse over the weekend that reminded me how pleasurable a slow afternoon meal can be.

Continue reading "Lazy afternoon at Toulouse" »

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My colleague Scott Cantrell fired off this missive to me today. Anyone else ever had this kind of experience at the Crescent?

A friend and I went to Palomino for dinner last night. As we (separately) entered the self-park garage, the gate flipped up automatically; the ticket dispenser wouldn't give out a ticket. We assumed parking must be free.

Afterward, at the cashier booth, a decidedly unfriendly attendant said he could give us a slip that would have to be validated by the restaurant. He didn't say, "I'm sorry," or anything of the sort, but said there were signs about this posted at all the entrances to the garage. (Neither my friend nor I had seen any such sign.)

I asked if I could just pay and leave, and was told it would be $6. So we both had to back out, park our cars, go back upstairs, get the slip validated, and go back to the cashier booth. We told the hostesses at Palomino about our experience, and they said other customers had had the same experience. As I left I told the parking attendant that was the rudest experience I had ever had in a parking garage. He slammed the window in my face. My response couldn't be printed in a family newspaper.

Before we left, my friend and I walked to two of the three entrances, and we saw no signs about this.

Amazing. And infuriating.

Posted by Bill Addison at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

And if you’ve watched previous seasons of this show, the context clues throughout this episode pretty much told you who was going home before the final pronouncement.

But this stressful challenge, the one where the final person gets cut before the Final Four head off to Aspen, starts with the merry band of five strolling the streets of Manhattan whilst the editors speed up the atmospheric film to emphasize the cliché that everything in New York moves faster, faster, faster.

Continue reading "Top Chef: Casey heads to the finale!" »

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The second Saturday-afternoon session I attended for the Bon Appétit-Ritz Carlton festivities was "Dean's Margaritas and Guacamole," presented in the Dean's Kitchen dining room at Fearing's restaurant.

Executive chef Dean Fearing played host, of course, but he was already a bit hoarse from running events all day. And he was scheduled to sing with buddy Robert Del Grande and their band, the Barbwires, that evening at the gala -- so he needed to conserve his voice.

So Dean welcomed us: "This is the advanced guacamole and margarita class. I know you've all been studying this for years," he joked.

Then he let sous chef Eric Dreyer and mixologist Justin Beam do most of the talking, while the crowd enjoyed sampling the food and drinks. Besides the basic guacamole and chips, we also got tastes of Fearing's smoked-chicken nachos and chicken quesadillas with roasted poblano, as well as charred-tomato salsa. The restaurant's quesadillas, Eric told us, are made from 14-inch flour tortillas. Luna's delivers fresh corn and flour tortillas to Fearing's every day.

Ballpark nachos? Forget 'em, folks. "There's nothing better than a handmade nacho," Dean said. "It cannot be beat."

The classic Dean's Margarita was just the first of three marg variations served. Want to try concocting it yourself?

It's made with 1 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice, 1 cup Cointreau, and 1 cup Corzo Silver Tequila. Pour over a shaker of ice, shake till the tin frosts up with beads of moisture, then strain and serve over rocks with lime and salt.

Verdict: That is one mighty fine margarita. Every rocks glass we could see was drained to the last drop.

And, we might add, it's mighty potent, too. Dean took one lingering sip and proclaimed: "It's gonna be a great afternoon!"

DMN Staff Photos by Cheryl Diaz Meyer

Continue reading "M-m-m-margaritas: more from Bon Appétit-Ritz Carlton weekend" »

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

DMN reader/blogger Chuck Bloom of Plano has a question for Eatsians: Where do you go for a lively dining-and-nightlife crowd scene in Dallas?

Give him some insight into where the natives go for fun. (For one, the West Village is always hoppin'.)

Chuck's letter follows:

Continue reading "A reader asks: Where's the action in Dallas?" »

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

We made it to a couple of the afternoon sessions at the Bon Appétit-Ritz Carlton weekend. First was "Healthy Kids: Fabulous Foods for the Fussy Palate," in which celebrity chef Cat Cora demonstrated family-friendly fare.

"There's no reason why these can't be healthy snacks for all of us," Cat said.

Among her dishes: fruit kebabs with honey-yogurt dip, chicken-veggie pancakes with maple syrup, granola peanut-butter balls, and veggie-loaded whole wheat mini-pizzas (built on whole wheat English-muffin halves).

Cat also whipped up an inventive update on that old favorite, Ants on a Log. Instead of filling her celery sticks with peanut butter, she used a soy-nut butter -- and instead of using raisins, she topped the filled sticks with diced banana, dried cranberries and walnut pieces.

DMN Staff Photo by Cheryl Diaz Meyer

Continue reading "Catching up with Cat Cora" »

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Although the Ritz-Carlton Dallas and the adjoining Fearing's restaurant both began receiving guests a month ago, they saved their grand-opening splash for this weekend's culinary events, co-sponsored by Bon Appétit magazine.

It all started Friday night with a two-hour "progressive cocktails and small bites" reception at the Ritz, followed by a sold-out slate of Saturday activities. At 9 a.m. there was breakfast with Bon Appétit editor-in-chief Barbara Fairchild, chef Dean Fearing and Bon Appétit executive chef Cat Cora (the first woman to gain Iron Chef status on the hit Food Network show).

That was followed by a cooking class and luncheon with Dean, a "Decadent Desserts" class that was all about chocolate, a "Healthy Kids" class with Cat, and a "Tea and Sympathy" afternoon of spa pampering and makeup classes.

Dean was already a bit hoarse by mid-afternoon Saturday, so he had sous chef Eric Dreyer and mixologist Justin Beam do most of the talking for his session on making margaritas and guacamole (and smoked-chicken nachos and quesadillas, too). Dean was saving his voice for this evening's gala dinner. He and his friend and fellow chef Robert Del Grande will be performing with their band, the Barbwires, whose first CD, Bliss & Blisters, has just been released.

Dean also will be inducted into the Chef's Council of Chefs for Humanity, a coalition of celebrity chefs and culinary professionals working to battle hunger, provide community nutritional education and assistance, and supply humanitarian and emergency feeding relief.

Sunday brings two seatings for a champagne brunch, at 9:30 a.m. and 12 noon. Proceeds from all weekend events will benefit Chefs for Humanity.

Watch for further details on Monday, when we'll bring you photos and additional details on this weekend's events at the Ritz.

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

If you've only seen Gordon Ramsay in action on Fox's Hell's Kitchen, you might dismiss him as a high-decibel, foul-mouthed tyrant. He had a few nice moments this last season, showing generosity to Julia and regard for Jen, but the bleeps and bluster can be off-putting.

There's a softer side of the Brit chef in view on the addictive Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, the BBC show that airs on BBC America (digital cable and satellite). An American version debuts Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Fox. (Channel 4)

Continue reading "Gordon Ramsay: The softer side" »

Posted by Leslie Snyder at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

That's the question that ubiquitous Food Network personality Rachael Ray will be asking this fall, as she and her talk-show producers search for America's five best amateur cooks.

The show's website says that all videotaped submissions and entry forms must be postmarked no later than Sept. 22 and received by Oct. 3. Applicants must be 18 or older and available to attend the taping sessions Oct. 5-19. (No professional chefs need apply, please.)

So You Think You Can Cook? will take the five finalists through two weeks of taping the four challenges, then announce the winner in late November's finale.

And no, the winner doesn't get his/her own show on the Food Network -- but will co-host The Rachael Ray Show for a day. The winner also will receive five days of training at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and an original recipe will be published in Rach's magazine, Every Day With Rachael Ray.

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

This Sunday, chef Darren McGrady of Dallas will prepare a "Buckingham Palace Tea" at the James Beard House in New York -- the same sort of elegant afternoon tea he used to make when he cheffed for Princess Diana and other members of the British royal family. Darren's story and his recipes are all in his new book, Eating Royally (Thomas Nelson, $24.99).

And who will be Darren's sous chef? None other than David Tiller, the Dallasite whose homemade buttermilk biscuits (made from his late mother Sally's recipe) were a video hit on Dallasnews.com last November.

David is, needless to say, "pretty excited" about this; a Beard House gig is an honor for any professional chef, and it's an extremely rare opportunity for a talented amateur cook to participate in an event there.

He has been putting in plenty of practice, making Darren's scones and shortbreads. Last month David got some extra experience by understudying Darren in the kitchen at the sold-out "Royal Teas," presented last month at the Warwick Melrose Hotel.

(DMN file photo)

Continue reading "Amateur biscuit maker goes upscale to Beard House" »

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

If you're the sort of person who loves to skim through YouTube looking for food-related videos, you're going to love Imcooked.com

This "web community for video recipe sharing" features a wealth of cooking vids, some featuring celebrities such as Sir Paul McCartney (left, making mashed potatoes) and actor/hoofer Christopher Walken (making roast chicken with pears, using his handy-dandy Spanek Vertical Chicken Roaster).

Besides the recipe demos, there also are vids showing cooking techniques for things such as pizza, Italian stuffed breads, and ribeye roast. Enjoy, enjoy.

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Fun elimination challenge tonight: Make a delicious meal for first-class airline passengers.

But first, Padma tromped into the sleeping chefs’ rooms and awakened them in full-on giddy mode. The Quick Fire? Make her breakfast.

Continue reading "Top Chef: Adios Miami, Hello (Almost) NYC" »

Posted by Bill Addison at 9:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Well-read food fiends have already heard from various media about the take-out taqueria housed in the Fuel City gas station downtown on Industrial Boulevard, but I’ll nonetheless throw out my opinions.

I went yesterday for the first time with colleague Brooks Egerton, who grabs his lunch there at least once a week (it’s five minutes from the News' offices). The taqueria’s two take-out windows – one indoor, one out – draw a great, diverse noontime crowd. They offer five meat choices: picadillo, al pastor, barbacoa, beef fajita and chicken fajita. You get the option of flour or corn tortillas and what sort of hot sauces and garnishes you want. There's no where to sit and eat but your car.

Continue reading "Tacos and elotes at Fuel City" »

Posted by Bill Addison at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Tre Wilcox of Abacus, back from his turn on Top Chef, will create and share a dish based on the freshest seasonal ingredients available the night of class, stressing the importance of layering flavors, textures and colors. 6:30 to 9 p.m. Monday; $75. Central Market, Lovers Lane at Greenville Avenue; 214-361-5754.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

An August entry from Bluelines (the lively blog of Martha Stewart's Blueprint magazine) is only the second time I've read much about mangosteens, a Southeast Asian fruit only recently brought to the U.S., where it's still quite scarce.

(The first such story I'd seen on mangosteens was in the New York Times a year ago, and it is cited and linked in the Bluelines blog post.)

These new mangosteens are coming to the American mainland from Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, thus eliminating the threat of foreign agricultural pests. Some mangosteens may also come to the mainland from Hawaii, if they're treated first. Mangosteens also are available in Canada, but it's illegal to import them into the U.S. from there.

Anyway, the rarity of mangosteens made me wonder: Have any of our well-traveled Eats bloggers actually tasted this elusive fruit?

If so, please share your experience with your fellow Eatsians -- just tell us where you found the mangosteen and what it tasted like.

(Photos of whole and cut mangosteens from Bluelines and mangosteen.com)

Posted by Joyce Saenz Harris at 2:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's a report from our movie maven Chris Vogner about a meal he had in Toronto (he's there for the film festival) at a place called Lone Star Texas Grill.

Surprise, the restaurant didn't hit close to home. Lesson learned, Christopher: No more Tex-Mex in Canada. Anyone have some better Toronto resto recommendations for Mr. Vognar?

Posted by Bill Addison at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Today is the Dallas Cowboys' first regular season home game, and we're betting most of you aren't watching it at Texas Stadium. So where do you go? A loud and crazy sports bar or the perfect neighborhood joint to spend a lazy Sunday? More important: How's the game-time grub? Leave your suggestions below. Or read what other readers have said.

Posted by Shannon Sutlief at 4:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I’ve been heartened by the diversity of Middle Eastern food available in the Metroplex – from the Turkish iskender (beef gyro) at Istanbul Grill and the saucy pasta dishes at the newly opened Afghan Grill to the complexly savory Lebanese pastries at Afrah in Richardson.

So where’s the good Persian food? I’d rank Persian food among my personally favorite cuisines (Southern and Japanese are the others ... today anyway). I’ll never forget the first Persian meal I ever had, at Lala Rokh in Boston in 1995: The funky dried limes that haunted the aromatic stews; the aggressive, refreshing use of raw herbs in salads; the lovely but totally foreign kookoo sabzi, a flourless cake of walnuts, barberries and herbs bound with egg.

Continue reading "In search of stand-out Persian cuisine" »

Posted by Bill Addison at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Vern's Place, the Deep Ellum soul food haven known for its short ribs and other down-home fare, may close, or at least have to find a new location. Scott Goldstein tells more about Vern's Place here.

Posted by Cathy Barber at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Not an overly riveting episode this week, IMO. After three seasons, the arch of the show is getting predictable: Tom Colicchio starts beating the drum about how the group in generally under-achieving; Padma’s facial expressions grow evermore grave at each judge’s table gathering; and the editing increasingly intensifies the quirk’s of each contestant’s personality.

Continue reading "Top Chef, Episode Ten: Howie finally gets the boot" »

Posted by Bill Addison at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

If you haven’t yet gotten your mitts on this month’s Gourmet magazine, grab one off the newsstand. The issue is dedicated to the coming of age of Latino cuisine at every level in this country. Two Texans contributed meaty, beautifully researched and written stories. Robb Walsh, intrepid critic for the Houston Press, wandered the country sampling fare from taco trucks. And Pat Sharpe, senior editor/restaurant critic for Texas Monthly, wrote an illuminating piece on the founding and funding of San Antonio’s Center for Foods of the Americas.

Of course, all of this made me think about Dallas. I’ve been here for seven months now and, admittedly, have not yet spent copious amounts of time exploring the taqueria scene. But do we even have any taco trucks here? I know we’ve got taquerias along stretches like Maple Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard. And why not more real, regional Mexican cuisine here? I get that this is Tex-Mex land, but shouldn’t more mid-scale places serving specialties from all those culinarily rich parts of Mexico also be springing up? I’d kill for a Oaxacan tlayuda right about now. Ditto a bowl of Dominican sancocho on rainy mornings like we had today.

And how about Peruvian restaurants? I saw on the web that a second Peruvian consulate is supposed to open sometime in the Dallas area. Hopefully, that’ll bring more Peruvian restaurants to the Metroplex. In the meantime, Alo is happily raising the profile on Peru’s quirky, multifaceted cuisine.

Anyway, the Gourmet issue might make you hungry enough to travel for some of these foods that are unavailable (or inaccessibly hidden) here.

Posted by Bill Addison at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

The Friday wine tastings at the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Irving have quite a following. This week, gain insights from sommelier James Tidwell and certified wine educator and chef de cuisine Katie Natale while you taste biodynamic wines from around the world, with an appetizer walk-around. (Biodynamics is a holistic approach to grape-growing.) It's from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Friday; $40 (plus tax and gratuity). Four Seasons Resort and Club, 4150 N. MacArthur Blvd., Irving; 972-717-2420.