DallasEats

It's not "Goodbye" - It's "See you soon!"

2009-06-24T05:02:00.000-06:00

Classy&Sassy and FoodiePrincess, c. 2005 (pre-blog)

With a heavy heart, we're sad to announce that we'll be retiring DallasEats, effective today. It's been an amazing two and a half years, and we've had more fun than we ever thought possible sharing our explorations, insights, cravings and observations with all of you on the blog.

This announcement comes on the heels of major developments in both of our lives. For starters, little Miller Brant is now the apple of FP (a.k.a. Robin Brant)'s eye - and the primary focus of her time and energy. Between family fun, her day-gig and finishing up with her MBA, her moments to herself are few and far between these days. You can stay current on the Brant
family's continuing adventures at http://robinbrant.blogspot.com.

And C&S (aka Lisa Petty) will now be blogging for the Dallas Observer's City of Ate. Tune in for news, trends, first looks, and events every day - your comments are welcome! Also, beginning July 15, you can find her at NBCDFW.com as well, reporting on style and shopping around town in a new daily feature entitled "Want This". Fun stuff!

So, as you can see, we're not saying "goodbye"...in fact, we might just see more of each other now than ever before. Thank you all so much for reading, and remember: Don't be a stranger!

With love,

Robin and Lisa

Brownie Points

2009-06-18T03:28:00.006-06:00

In the humble opinion of this chocolate-obsessed blogger, there is no better treat for morning, noon or evening snacking than a perfect little brownie. Or perfectly HUGE brownie, depending on the demands of my sweet tooth that day.

Over the years, I've tried just about every brownie recipe (and box mix) known to man. I've made them with baking chocolate, milk chocolate and chocolate syrup. I've stirred in nuts and chips and candy, topped them with glazes and icings and frostings. I've spread batters thin for a chewier result, and piled them high in the pan for a cake-like consistency. High heat, low heat and everything in between - I've done it all, but now I'm done. You see, I've finally achieved brownie Nirvana.

The following recipe is the result of meticulous testing and tasting and it incorporates elements from all my favorite brownie recipes. For instance, the addition of honey recalls a recipe for "Honey Bear" brownies that was a favorite of mine years ago. The sweet, sticky stuff keeps the brownies incredibly moist for days on end. My preference for cocoa powder as opposed to bar chocolate also goes back to my teenage years. I love the dark, earthy quality it lends to the end result, as well as a slightly more rustic texture in the crumb. Finally, the pan dimensions are key - you may even have to buy a pan especially for these brownies. Trust me, it's worth it. This formula makes for a thick, chewy, fudgy brownie that will also satisfy any cake-like brownie fans in the house.

Oh, and you'll also note there are no "stir-ins", as they're sometimes called, and that, my dears, is also by design. I like my brownies straight-up, but you can throw in some nuts or something if you must. They don't need 'em, though. In fact, all these little beauties need is a tall, cold glass of milk or a warm cup of coffee - morning, noon or night.

Lisa's Perfect Brownies

¾ cup best-quality cocoa powder
¼ cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, melted and cooled
1 2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt
1 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an 11 x 7" baking pan by lining with a double-thickness of aluminum foil (or single layer of heavy-duty foil) and then spray with neutral flavored non-stick spray.

Combine cocoa powder, vegetable oil and butter in a large bowl. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in sugar and honey. Add eggs, vanilla and salt and, again, whisk until smooth. Add flour all at once, and using a wooden spoon or large spatula, stir only until just combined. In fact, a few threads of flour running through the batter are fine - they'll find their way when you put the batter in the pan. I repeat: don't overbeat.

Bake 40 - 45 minutes, or until a pick or paring knife inserted in the center of the pan comes out with just a wee bit of fudgy crumbs. Cool at least 30 minutes before cutting. (Here's a tip: If you're serving these at a party or just want them to look perfect, cool the pan completely and then refrigerate for a few hours. You can then cut the brownies into neat squares with no mess. Allow them to return to room temperature before serving, or just eat them cold - that's how I like 'em.)

Enjoy!

Lion Coffee: Big Island Buzz

2009-06-16T10:15:00.001-06:00

"High above the Pacific, cradled between the world's largest mountain, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai, are our Kona coffee groves...If ever a place existed to produce the perfect coffee bean, then Kona is surely it."

This quote is from the Lion Coffee website, and after waking up with Kona's finest for the past few days, I'm inclined to agree.

At the recommendation of a friend, I ordered from Lion last week, seeing as I'd reached the end of my rope with the coffee selection at my usual stores. I always seemed to find myself in a Goldilocks situation with the brands available at Kroger and Whole Foods - either the coffee was too bitter or too mellow, too expensive or too hard to find in-stock. I've just never been able to settle on a favorite. Exasperated, I posted a Facebook update, which lead me to Lion Coffee.

Based in Hawaii, Lion Coffee offers a wide range of 100% Kona varieties, as well as flavored coffees, teas and cookies. For my first order, I chose the Original Lion blend, the Diamondhead Espresso and the Vanilla Macadamia decaf. As for the Original Lion, it is indeed flawlessly smooth and subtly sweet, as described. To tell you the truth, I don't believe I've ever tasted coffee quite so smooth as this. And at $7.95 for 10 oz., it's a bargain to boot!

The ordering process was also very easy, and delivery via UPS was inexpensive and prompt. I'm now a big fan of Lion - in fact, I may add a t-shirt to my next order, so I can be a walking billboard for my new favorite coffee.

C&S

Salsa Sunday at North Haven Gardens: The winners!

2009-06-15T04:55:00.011-06:00

Salsa Sunday at North Haven Gardens was a hit!

I had the pleasure of tasting and evaluating more than 20 delicious entries in the North Haven Gardens salsa contest yesterday, along with fellow judges Eddie G. of Dallas Vegan, Jeffrey Kowitz of Taco Joint and the lovely Miranda Martine z, actress and Bliss Raw Cafe representative. What a spicy day!

The vegetable garden

Before we got down to the serious business at hand, North Haven's own Nikki Crain gave us judges a tour of the gorgeous grounds. My favorite stop was a peek inside the veggie garden, just about to explode with fresh tomatoes, peppers, herbs and flowers.

Me and Nikki

Here's a shot of me and Nikki on a sweet foot bridge over a patch of colorful Swiss Chard. North Haven Gardens is overflowing with happy, thriving plants. Perhaps they can tell me when to expect my own little harvest?

The contenders

After the tour, it was time to taste. We set to sampling the salsas in question, taking turns around the table to dip and discuss our reactions. Entries ranged from familiar, Tex-Mex restaurant-style chip dips to Italian-style salsas to downright head-scratchers (Crab meat? In a salsa?). But as it turned out, some of the judges' faves were in this unexpected category. A Pina Colada Salsa, for instance, featuring pineapple, coconut chips and a surprising kick of spice, was quite popular with our selective crowd.

Eddie, judging away

My picks tended toward those salsas with a blended texture (as opposed to pico-style), concentrated tomato flavor (often found in canned tomatoes rather than fresh) and a good kick. Kowitz, known for his own kick-butt cooking, had more specific criteria, and his knowledge of peppers and cooking styles gave us all some interesting insight. As the contest progressed, however, it became more and more difficult to converse, what with all the running noses and water breaks!

The winners' circle

Finally, our points were tallied and Nikki announced the winners: John Romero took 1st Place honors with his Berta's Best Salsa, a traditional tomato salsa with a moderate heat level and lots of fresh cilantro. 2nd and 3rd Place both went to Carol Castillo, a salsa-whiz who entered five different recipes altogether. Her Pineapple-Mango and Jalepeno Salsas were both a little different and a lot delicious. All the winning recipes will be up on the North Haven Gardens website by the end of the week.

Whether to stock your own salsa garden or just wander and wonder at all the amazing growing things, I highly recommend North Haven Gardens for anyone with a thumb (green or otherwise). There's also a great gift shop and reading area and lots of events and education. Happy gardening!

C&S

Salsa Sunday: Be There or Be Square!

2009-06-11T05:02:00.002-06:00

This Sunday June 14th is Salsa Sunday at North Haven Gardens!

Join me, Eddie G., and the awesome folks from Bliss Raw Cafe and Taco Joint as we judge this spicy showdown. Enter your favorite recipe to win, or come on down to cheer on the contenders. Winners will be announced at 1:30 p.m., and samples will be available for taste-testing. Sweet! ...Um, I mean Hot!

North Haven Gardens

7700 Northhaven Rd, Dallas

214-363-5316

www.nhg.com

Comment Card

2009-06-10T05:01:00.003-06:00

What's the one food magazine you couldn't live without?

...Can you tell it's time to update my subscription list? I need suggestions!

Smackdown at Trader Joe's!

2009-06-09T02:20:00.013-06:00

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to the Chicagoland area for my sweet cousin Allison's wedding (Hi, Ally!). A wonderful time was had by all, and somewhere in the midst of all the nuptial events, I managed to squeeze in a trip to Trader Joe's, that popular paradise-themed specialty grocery that has yet to grace Dallas with its presence.

In case you've been living on another foodie planet, Trader Joe's is known for its unique selection of international products, colorful island decor and last but not least, bargain-basement prices. (You've heard of Two-Buck Chuck, right? They invented it.) Here's the blurb from the website:

"Just what is this thing we call Trader Joe’s? Well, we’re a grocery store, sure, but really so much more. Our shelves are stocked full of delicious foods and beverages from the basics like milk, bread and butter to more exotic fare like imported cheeses, organic produce and hand-tossed pizza from Italy. We taste every product before we decide to sell it, and we guarantee you’ll like it. You might expect indulgences like these to come with unbecoming prices. But at Trader Joe’s, we’re as much about value as we are about great food...So you can afford to be adventurous without breaking the bank."

Contraband Photo 1

Thing is, though, Trader Joe's only has locations on the West Coast, East Coast and a few states in between - no Texas. So when I noticed an outpost near our hotel in Northbrook, IL, I motored on over in the rented Subaru to take a look. And that's where things got dicey...

Excited as all get-out, I speed-walked into the store with camera in hand, ready to document every inch of the place for DallasEats. Snapping away, I'd only made it about three yards into the store before a hula-shirted fellow sporting a wide, toothy grin approached me and asked why I was taking pictures. "I'm a blogger from Dallas," I replied (thinking the eager tourist routine was the best tack to take). "We don't have Trader Joe's, and I'm so psyched to finally visit one!"

Contraband Photo 2

He took a deep breath (still smiling) and then informed me, "The thing is, we don't allow cameras." I listened, wondering if this was the sort of rule that was strictly enforced, selectively enforced, or just stated out loud and then pretty much ignored. At that point, however, I also noticed that he had positioned himself strategically between me and the rest of the store. And he was a good six inches taller than me; no way I could take him. He continued - kindly but firmly, "I'm going to have to ask you to put the camera away." (Did I imagine the tiny beads of sweat forming at his hairline? The quick clench of his jaw?) Then, only after watching me secure the offending device in the side pocket of my handbag, did he allow me to proceed with my (now seriously impeded) fact-finding mission. And I swear, I wasn't out of eyeshot of an employee for the rest of my visit. Coincidence? I think not.

That being said, however, everyone was very nice and even under many watchful eyes, I was able to enjoy the experience. Plus, how can you stay mad at a guy in a multi-colored floral print camp shirt? Here are my top Trader Joe's observations:

1. The place was overflowing with snacks, both traditional and unusual. Wasabi Tempura Seaweed crisps and Lightly Salted Crunchy Green Beans were just a couple of the more adventurous offerings. (Personally, I'm of the opinion that most snacks of this ilk are purchased for shock value - so people will ask "WHAT are you eating?" when they see you eating it. You know, like Wasabi Peas ten years ago.)

2. GREAT prices on meal/energy bars. Luna bars and CLIF bars were both 99-cents a pop. Lara Bars were $1.29. Also, good prices on protein shakes and powders.

3. The wine selection was as wide and low-priced as I'd heard it would be. I was especially impressed with the up-and-coming varieties:

Zarafa Pinotage from South Africa ($4.99)
Espiral Vinho Verde ($3.99)
Abrazo del Toro Cariñena from Spain ($5.99)

Also:

Layer Cake Shiraz (love this one!) for $14.99 – not bad.
Santa Rita Chardonnay for $6.49 – a stock up price!

...But great wine prices can also be found right here in the Metroplex at lots of different places (Albertson's is one of my fave bargain wine stops - always something great on sale!).

I'm totally going to show off my new Trader Joe's reusable shopping tote around town. Like the foodie equivalent of a really sweet concert t-shirt.

4. Overall impressions: The store was small, with less wow-factor than I expected. I can't say whether all Trader Joe's are as small as the one in Northbrook, though. In selection and ambiance, it was sort of like the food and wine sections of World Market combined with Newflower Market. I’d go if I lived near one, but I’m not quite as bummed about not having one in Dallas anymore.

Robin Recommends: The Ultimate Combination

2009-06-07T08:11:00.010-06:00

When I was pregnant, I became pretty much obsessed with ice cream. I had to have it every night before bed, and I am pretty sure I have now tasted every kind of ice cream commercially available at Super Target, Whole Foods and Fiesta.

Because I have become such an expert, I feel very confident in what I am about to tell you. I have found the greatest ice cream experience possible. And it's not just one great flavor - it's a flavor combination so powerful that my husband and I have taken to referring to it simply as, The Ultimate Combination.

The first ingredient in The Ultimate Combination is the most crucial element - Ben & Jerry's Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream. A friend had told me about this flavor awhile back, and I had kind of blown her off at the time. Generally, if an ice cream flavor doesn't contain chocolate of some kind, I'm not interested. However, when I finally got around to trying it, it pretty much blew that theory out of the water.

For those of you who haven't yet had the pleasure of trying it, Cinnamon Bun is caramel ice cream swirled with cinnamon streusel and filled with chunks of cinnamon roll dough. One bite, and you'll be transported to the Cinnabon at the Food Court of your local mall. Only it's even better, because it's freakin' ice cream.

But it gets even awesome-er. Just as a cup of coffee is the perfect accompaniment to a cinnamon roll, if you add a scoop of Coffee Health Bar Crunch (or really any coffee-flavored ice cream), it ramps it up your bowl of ice-cream to heavenly heights. The flavors compliment each other perfectly, making it truly The Ultimate Combination.

I highly recommend that you try it the next time you're wandering the ice cream aisle. I know I won't be able to resist.

Pepper Watch '09

2009-06-05T06:57:00.004-06:00

They're growing, they're growing!

Quite a change from last time, huh?

...and judging by Margie's tip about the whole humidity/capsaicin thing,

they're gonna be really damn hot!

Froggies Uptown: Fun Foodie Finds!

2009-06-03T05:45:00.011-06:00

Have you checked out the new West Village

location of Froggies 5 & 10 yet?

What fun!

Open since December, this Uptown outpost of everyone's favorite Dallas tchotchke shop is a little more sophisticated than its sibling up on Knox. I stopped in yesterday, and was delighted to find a wide selection of jewelry, tote bags and gift items (no wind up chatter teeth or rubber chickens at this Froggies). But what really got my pulse racing was the store's adorable displays of tableware, cocktail accoutrements and various other foodie finds!

pic 1: I heart these colorful plates. We all know a Hippie Chick, Little Princess or Happy Camper that would love these as a gift. There were also matching cups.

pic 2: Check out these shiny mini cocktail shakers. They come in packs of four - perfect for parites, and cute enough to serve the drinks right in 'em! The coasters, above, were also a find. Love the faux cross-stitch set with messages like "Go *&%$ yourself."

pic 3: There was also a display of colorful cooking and cocktail books - great for hostess gifts. And those packages up on the left are cheeky placemats. Sweet.

Check out Froggies Uptown for yourself - these shots barely scratch the surface. Happy Shopping!

Froggies Uptown
3699 McKinney Ave.
in the West Village
(214) 219-5867

Comment Card

2009-06-02T04:06:00.002-06:00

This recent Appetite for Instruction inspired us to ask:

What's your favorite boat drink?

The Blue Hawaii? The Sea Breeze? How 'bout a classic Pina Colada? Anything topped with fruit, flowers or a frilly umbrella is fair game!

Marty's Taxi Report: Hula Hotties Cafe and Bakery

2009-06-01T03:46:00.002-06:00

Nobody knows this city like Marty. He’s been driving a big yellow cab around the Metroplex for going on 30 years, and in addition to knowing all the best rush hour routes and hidden city landmarks, he’s always up on the latest and greatest in coffee shops, diners and cafés. In fact, one of the best parts of growing up with the guy (did I mention he’s my Dad?) was being introduced to out-of-the-way restaurants and new and exciting foods on a regular basis.

Today, we’re proud to announce Marty’s brand new restaurant beat for DallasEats: Marty’s Taxi Report. This regular feature will focus on interesting spots that may or may not have registered on your radar, and they’ll give you the lowdown from a very unique perspective. You see, Marty doesn’t fall for the usual dog-and-pony show when it comes to eating out; he knows good food and he knows what he likes.

For his inaugural review, we sent our adventurous new reporter to Hula Hotties Café and Bakery, a two-month-old Hawaiian-themed eatery in Oak Cliff’s Bishop Arts District. And what did Marty make of it? Did he enjoy this little tropical stay-cation, or did Hula Hotties leave him longing for the mainland? Read on and find out:

Marty’s Taxi Report
06.01.09

Hula Hotties Café and Bakery
244 West Davis St.
214-943-CAFÉ

First Impressions:

I made two visits to Hula Hotties: one trip alone for lunch and a return with my fiancée, Claudia, for Saturday brunch. I noted the small restaurant’s pretty plain décor right off the bat, which was quite a surprise judging from its colorful exterior. Frankly, I was a little afraid of winding up in a “ladies lunch” kind of joint, so this point is actually a “plus” in my book. Nothing rubs me the wrong way like having to fight for table space with vases of pink flowers or frilly placemats. They do have kitchy little salt and pepper shakers, but aside from that, the place isn’t all tiki’d up.

Also noted: very clean restroom. That’s right, restroom is singular. There is one unisex facility at Hula Hotties, which is fine by me. You should always check out the bathroom when you visit a new place. Clean bathroom = clean kitchen, kids.

The Food:

Lunch choices on the Asian-influenced menu included the Kona Brisket Sandwich, a Teriyaki Burger and a Thai Chicken Sandwich with Peanut Sauce. I had the Saigon Sub, a Banh Mi-style Vietnamese sandwich. (Menu description: Marinated Ground Pork, Thinly Sliced Ham, Spicy Mayonnaise, Mixed Greens, Assorted Pickled Veggies, Cilantro, Garnished with Peanuts, Mint, Basil. $7.95) It was unlike other Banh Mi I’d had, in that it was served warm and almost over-stuffed with fillings. The ground pork tasted fresh and was mildly spiced so as not to compete with the plentiful topping of herbs. The sliced ham was also a very high-quality deli ham with a nice smoky flavor. Though I had to ask for extra napkins (paper napkins – another “plus”), it was worth every drip. The Saigon Sub was sloppy-good!

The Saigon Sub with Asian Cole Slaw:

There's good meat under all that rabbit food.

Brunch at Hula Hotties was really cool. Claudia thoroughly enjoyed her Baked Monte Cristo Sandwich (Menu description: Crescent [sic] Filled with Slices of Ham, Roasted Turkey, Muenster Cheese & Raspberry-Orange Preserves. $10.95, with sides). I had the Loco Moco, billed as a “Hawaiian-Style Eggs Benedict”. It was made up of steamed rice topped with a hamburger patty and poached eggs, covered in brown gravy. To be honest, the patty was pretty dry; they might have better luck using meat with a higher fat content. The eggs were poached just right, however, and the basic brown gravy was rich and well-seasoned. I didn’t feel like the dish really had that much in common with Eggs Benedict, though, unless you count the “stacked” presentation. No matter – I’d order it again.

Side dishes on both visits were a mixed bag. Hula Hotties' Asian Cole Slaw is nothing particularly special, however, the brunch-time Rosemary Fried Potatoes were great. Believe it or not, it's easy to mess up a fried potato, but they didn't. They were crisp on the outside and warm and moist on the inside and the rosemary was fresh. Also, I could make a meal of that PotatoMac Salad. A light touch with the mayo and finely diced onion and celery are just the way to make me happy with a picnic-type salad like this one – it wasn’t heavy or gloppy or bland.

Finally, if you visit this place, you have to take something home from the bakery case on your way out. I was happy with my choice of a gingerbread cookie (of the soft, cakey variety), which was good to eat in the car. It didn’t crumble all over the place, and when you’ve got clients to keep in mind, that’s a good thing. There’s nothing worse than a crumby cab. You can also order whole cakes for birthdays and other occasions.

The Service:

Service at Hula Hotties was slow – really slow. That Saigon Sub took 20 minutes. I got the impression, though, that the delays were due to the kitchen and not the servers. Everyone who waited on me was very nice, and since the restaurant is still new, I have reason to believe that things will speed up in time.

Final Fare:

Hula Hotties is worth a trip if you’re gonna be in the neighborhood or if you’re looking for something new. It’s a little pricier than I would normally go for a weekday lunch (around $10, plus tip), but if you’ve had a productive day and feel like taking your time with the crossword, this would be a good choice.

Pepper Watch '09

2009-05-28T04:54:00.007-06:00

Alternate title: Slow Food Movement

Or... Alternate title: Watching Grass Grow

What? You can't see 'em? Here - come a little closer:

My pal Eddie G. surprised me not too long ago with a pouch of Pimientos Padron seeds that he picked up on his last trip to Spain (don't tell customs). They're a species of pepper that my Google device tells me are small and green and quite delicious - if unpredictable in the heat department. Eager little local farmer that I am, I planted them almost right away. And then checked back every 2-4 hours from there on out to stay on top of their progress. I'm not kidding.

I come from a long line of farmers, and I married a boy who grew up on a farm. That is not say, however, that I inherited or absorbed the patience and perseverance necessary to guide a sweet little seed from sowing to reaping with the stoic assurance that my ancestors must have possessed (I imagine them looking out over vast fields of rich, black soil, warmed to their cockles with the promise of a hearty harvest in just a few months' time. But they also watched their TV on the radio.). I am a kid of the 80's and 90's; Super Mario Brothers taught me to expect a prize every 36 seconds or so. I want my red mushrooms - er, peppers - right now!

...But I'll be patient and just let them grow. And in the meantime I'll take pictures every day like the proud little pepper parent I am!

C&S

Quotable Quote

2009-05-27T09:04:00.002-06:00

“The family meal is a social event, not a food ingestion event.”

- Dr. Cindy Post Senning, great-granddaughter of Emily Post, as quoted in a New York Times article on the subject of texting at the table.

Zymology: Lower Greenville's Latest Loss

2009-05-26T02:28:00.001-06:00

“Welcome to the changing face of Lower Greenville.”

- www.zymologydallas.com

For most Dallasites these days, the phrase ‘Lower Greenville Avenue’ conjures mixed memories. My own mind flashes to long afternoons on the patio at Grinder’s, longer nights at the Arcadia and a recent drive to take a last longing look at the space formerly known as my favorite Whole Foods. It wasn’t a pleasant trip. For some reason, I had misplaced my rose-colored glasses that day and could see just how those few blocks had changed for the worse in recent years. Empty storefronts and cracked, littered sidewalks made for a bleak comparison with the West Village, for instance, which I’d visited earlier that day. And still, something told me it wasn’t time to let go. Not yet. I still want to believe that the old spark might come back to what was once one of our favorite local playgrounds.

Zymology was supposed to be part of that comeback. The stylish “gastro pub” opened early this year at 2010 Greenville (between Prospect and Oram) and earned immediate and positive attention from patrons and the press alike. On April 23rd Dave Faries of the Dallas Observer gave it a near-glowing review. “There’s no denying the kitchen’s talent here…” he observed, noting co-owner and chef Sam Dickey’s knowing touch with the menu. There were a few misses on Dave’s visit, but he took away a clear impression of “brilliance” in several dishes, a sure sign that Zymology was on to something good. Less than a month later, however, it was closed. Where did the promising restaurant go wrong?

Zymology’s closing was announced via Facebook last week by Ben Verdooren, the other half of its ownership team. Surprised and confused by the abrupt announcement, I contacted Verdooren himself in an effort to get to the bottom of the situation. He was friendly and candid over the phone, and seemed saddened, more than anything, about the negative turn of events. “How do I feel that I closed? I don’t like it,” he explained, just moments into our conversation. “I only had three months…I was never really given a chance.”

Zymology was Verdooren’s first restaurant. The 31-year-old South Texan moved to Dallas three years ago, after working in various capacities at a resort in Key West. Co-owner, Sam Dickey, however, had opened four restaurants in Austin and is well-known in the hospitality business there. The two partners planned to open a neighborhood spot focusing on great beer and wine along with a sophisticated menu - Zymology refers to “the science of fermentation”. This idea piggybacked on a hot international trend (Google “gastro pub” and see what you get) that seemed tailor-made for Dallas’ hip Henderson Avenue. Thus, when it came time to scout locations, Verdooren contacted a developer that played a big part in the recent revitalization of that particular area. Smart move.

As it happened, though, that company had decided to refocus its attention on another down-and-out Dallas destination. When Verdooren was ready to go shopping, its representatives guided the new restaurateur to a vacancy on lower Greenville Avenue instead. That the effort rebuild the area was still in its infancy didn’t seem to affect the company’s confidence. “They said, ‘Hey, we’ve got guys lined up for all these empty spots, except for the one you’re looking at now’,” Verdooren recalls. “ ‘We want to re-do Greenville like we re-did Henderson.’ ” After giving it some thought, Verdooren took a leap of faith and signed a lease in late summer of 2008.

And we all remember what came shortly thereafter. When the economy took its much-publicized downturn last fall, all the company’s other tenants in the planned first wave of the Greenville rebirth backed out. With a couple of notable exceptions, Zymology was on its own in a sea of bars with a decidedly different demographic. Undeterred and still enthusiastic, Verdooren planned to drum up additional business through marketing. He proceeded with renovations on the space and Zymology opened on February 2nd of this year.

Ben Verdooren (far right) and a smiling crew at Zymology.

Almost immediately, the restaurant caught the attention of the local media. With pride, Verdooren boasts, “When you type in ‘Zymology Dallas’ online, you see nothing but positive reviews…the Observer, Quick, Dallas Morning News, GuideLive…go to Yelp.com, go to Chowhound, go to Beer Advocate. We had a lot of exposure early, and we had the ball rolling.” Zymology’s sophisticated yet comfortable atmosphere, wide array of beers and wine and above-average entrées seemed like a winning combination. A camera crew even set up camp one night to film a segment for a local television station.

In addition to the free press, Verdooren also worked hard on his own to “try to convince [people] that it’s worth coming down to the lowest part of Greenville.” He had a hard time, however, getting past the area’s stereotype as a magnet for binge-drinking party kids. No matter how much care was put into each plate of Zymology’s grilled sirloin with pistachio Stilton butter, it was a struggle for Verdooren to get nice folks to venture down to what had become, in recent years, a distant fourth (or fifth or sixth) on the list of places Dallas goes when it wants to go out to eat. No amount of media exposure or marketing seemed to be enough.

Ultimately, this struggle turned out to be a greater hurtle than the restaurant could clear. Verdooren closed Zymology last week, after a short three and a half month run, citing “lack of money” and “lack of business due to the area” as the two primary causes of its demise. His voice during our telephone conversation was heavy with hindsight and exhaustion. Anger, however, didn’t come into play. He doesn’t blame the development company for overselling him on Greenville Avenue. He also doesn’t harbor any ill will toward the many potential customers who just wouldn’t drive outside their new comfort zones to visit his restaurant. For the most part, Verdooren seems to wonder where he went wrong. He eludes to many “what ifs”, including the possibility that things could have been different if he’d chosen a space that didn’t require such extensive renovation, or if the economy hadn’t petered out right when he decided to take the plunge. “I don’t blame anybody,” he concluded. “It’s really difficult right now.”

So there you have it: no explosive face-offs, no underhanded back stabbing, no shady deals gone bad. Just a couple of guys that made an effort and are already planning their next move. Verdooren says he’s flattered by the many folks who have inquired about his well-being and asked where they might find him next. He’s looking into his options, and is optimistic about the future.

My husband observed that this tale perfectly illustrates a philosophy from the world of professional boxing. Simply stated, you never know what a fighter’s really made of until he takes his first big fall. Something tells me Ben Verdooren isn’t down for the count. As for lower Greenville Avenue, however, only time will tell if the glory days are gone for good.

Comment Card

2009-05-21T03:16:00.003-06:00

Hey, Patio People!

Where's your favorite place to chill al fresco here in Big D?

p.s. And we're giving bonus points if you also add what to drink when you're there!

Catty Corner: Rachael Ray's Mess-ipes

2009-05-19T16:00:00.000-06:00

Note: I have confessed numerous times on this blog to loving Rachael Ray Magazine. I'm not proud of it. And I'll add that this post should in no way lead you to believe that I will cease to indulge in my favorite monthly (junk) food mag just because the latest issue grossed me out. However, those of you (and you know who you are) who have given me flack for my RR Mag habit may have had a point...

The June/July double issue of Rachael Ray Magazine started out sunny, as usual, with a spread of summer shopping essentials and the monthly kitchen disaster round table, but when the recipes started in, things took a turn for the worse. Much, much worse.

What with her multiple television shows, books and the magazine, RR often reaches far outside the box when it comes to recipe development. And I find that entertaining. I mean, when you've gotta write dozens of original recipes each month, creativity is key. I am usually quite amused by Ray's unusual "stoups" and "sammies" and what-have-you; I read them for entertainment value and I've even made a few of her dishes over the years. This time around, however, she lost me. Upon reading many of the concoctions in this month's mag, instead of letting out my usual chuckle and sighing with amusement, I instead gasped in horror and threw up a little in my mouth.

But rather than drone on about their comparatively disgusting qualities, I'll list of a few of this month's most appalling Rachael Ray Mess-ipes (as I'll now be calling them) and you can "ew" for yourself:

Tuna Salad Lasagna Stack: This recipe combined an unholy trinity of tuna salad, boiled lasagna noodles and red pepper puree. It didn't even get a stint in the oven before serving, so the whole mess is room temp to boot. Ew. I think Aunt Mavis' three bean and tuna casserole just lost its place of honor in the Gallery of Regrettable Foods.

Tropical Tuna Salad Supper: Tuna terror strikes again - but what this disaster needed was an editor. Eliminate the orange marmalade, frozen edamame, plantain chips (???) and a few other things from this salad recipe and maybe you could actually taste the top-dollar ahi somewhere in the mix.

Sugar Snap Peas-and-Salami Stir-Fry: The name says it all, people. Serve atop steamed rice and you'll never have to put up with dinner guests again.

Runners Up:

Rachael isn't to blame for these two stomach-turners, but they were in the mag, so they're fair game.

Dishwasher fish: Why are people so fascinated by this mess? Seriously - tell me if you know. This month, RR mag rehashes the old gimmick and even points out that you can steam your foil-wrapped fish while you wash dishes (soap and all). I don't care if not one microscopic droplet of caked-on food or Jet Dry seeps into that packet; it's still gross. Would you poach fish the same way in a sinkful of soaking pots and pans? Didn't think so. Go boil a pan of water and poach your fish in there.

Michelob Ultra Tuscan Orange Grapefruit Light Beer with Natural Flavor: Don't shoot the messenger. Direct your complaints to Anheuser-Busch Inc., St. Louis, MO.

Pinkies Up!: Tea Time at the Arboretum

2009-05-18T06:21:00.018-06:00

Sunday was perfection. What a day for an outing!

The sun was shining - sparkling even - and a cool breeze had blown all the heat and humidity to Houston (I think). My sweet Momcat had arranged for tea at the Dallas Arboretum in honor of our friend B.J.'s birthday, and the three of us headed over to those gorgeous gardens on the shores of White Rock lake around noontime with visions of marigolds and ivy and tiny crustless sandwiches dancing in our heads.

After taking a leisurely hour to wander through the Arboretum under the cloudless sky, we made our way to the DeGolyer Garden Café for afternoon tea. With sunshine streaming through picture windows and the soft sounds of a piano player in the distance, we then nibbled traditional tea-time treats while sipping from delicate china cups and catching up on all the gossip. How civilized!

We began with the café’s Signature Zucchini Dill Soup. Light and fragrant and ever-so-slightly creamy, it tasted just like spring.

Next we enjoyed a tiered tower of tiny sandwiches, including turkey with herb butter on rosemary bread, chicken salad on wee little croissants and creamed cucumber wedges, which were the hit of the afternoon. I’d never tasted a cucumber sandwich before – had only heard of them on those PBS specials with folks who wear ascots – but I was surprised by their delicate and refreshing flavor. They were an ideal match for warm sips of Apricot Orange, Strawberry Vanilla and Peach Ginger tea.

Finally, another picture-perfect tray appeared bearing mini-cheesecakes, amaretto brownies, chocolate-covered strawberries and light, buttery scones. Slathered with strawberry jam and clotted cream, those warm scones were just the right touch at the end of such a delightful meal. (See that hand lurking in the background? Even prim and proper ladies get impatient while waiting for fussy bloggers to figure out their cameras...)

While we did spot a few gentlemen enjoying tea in the dining room, I’d say this is a treat best enjoyed with your girlfriends – and enjoy it you will. We left relaxed and chit-chatty, and took a spin through the gift shop before heading back home. To top off the perfect day, Momcat and the birthday girl (see below) both found adorable souvenirs, and I bought myself the worlds’ greatest hat (think Hunter S. Thompson meets Tommy Bahama).

To arrange an Afternoon Tea with your ladies-who-lunch

visit www.dallasarboretum.org.

Local Schmocal

2009-05-15T05:30:00.007-06:00

"This mission creep has the original locavores

choking on their yerba mate."

This sentence pretty much sums up the controversy brewing over the subject of Kim Severson's article "When 'Local' Makes It Big" from Wednesday's New York Times. She explores the "broad interpretation" of the meaning of "local food" embraced by large corporations (such as Frito-Lay) in an effort to capitalize on this growing consumer trend. It's an interesting and educational look at how, as Michael Pollan puts it, corporations "can turn any critique into a new way to sell food."

C&S

Vapiano: Dinner and a Show

2009-05-13T06:53:00.015-06:00

I had the pleasure of visiting Vapiano, Mockingbird Station's new "fresh-casual" restaurant, last weekend for lunch and a chat with owner Tim McCallum. In addition to serving up delicious, made-from-scratch Italian pastas, pizzas and salads, McCallum is also committed to making this first Texas outpost of the European chain reflect its unique location. Here are just a few of the local touches I loved:

- Texas wine. Vapiano offers an eclectic array of wines by the glass and bottle. I was pleasantly surprised to note Grape Creek Vineyards' Bellissimo is on the list.

The restaurant's indoor herb garden

- Local "greens". Over 1,000 herb plants are growing at restaurant, many surrounding two olive trees transplanted from Bella Vista Ranch in Wimberley.

- Resident artists. Works by local artists decorate the walls in Vapiano's chic red cocktail lounge and a giant blackboard hangs in the dining room, painted with colorful scenes by SMU art students.

A chef at Vapiano, putting on the "show"

This attention to detail is also reflected in the food - and that's the most important part, right? All of Vapiano's pastas and sauces are made fresh in-house, and the aforementioned herbs are harvested for use in the restaurant's signature dressings.

And speaking of pasta, one of the most interesting aspects of a trip to Vapiano is watching the chefs prepare your meal right before your eyes. “Part of Vapiano is the show," McCallum explained to me, with a smile. Utilizing futuristic magnetic induction cooktops, their chefs can whip up a simmering sauce in the blink of an eye. Add some fusilli and call it a meal! Limitless choices for customization (make it spicy, try a new pasta, add some chicken or steak, etc.) also make the process interactive.

...Oh, and did I mention that no dish is over $10.95? In fact, many ring in at around $8. Nice. Check out www.vapianointernational.com for more info and menus.

C&S

Comment Card

2009-05-12T12:56:00.004-06:00

Is there anything that you absolutely, positively, under no circumstances

would ever, ever eat?

Be honest - we're all friends here...

On the Town with Ted Allen

2009-05-11T04:58:00.007-06:00

How do you make a girl like me very, very happy?

Send her out for a night on the town

with one of her favorite food personalities!

Me, Ted Allen and Eddie G. outside Mercy in Addison

I was pleased as punch to attend a private dinner with Ted Allen of Chopped and Food Detectives fame last Friday night. (You may also remember him as one of the Fab Five on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.) Ted was touring through town with the folks from Robert Mondavi wines, and he joined me, Eddie G. and several other local food-lovers at Mercy Wine Bar before we all headed over for front-row seats at his Taste Addison appearance.

The crowd was comprised of contest winners (myself included) and their guests who had written in with a culinary question for Ted to tackle. There were also a couple of local media-types in attendance, including Kim Pierce of the Dallas Morning News and Arnold Wayne Jones of the Dallas Voice. (Eddie G. and I shared a table with Mr. Jones, who kept us in stitches throughout the evening!)

Ted arrived at the restaurant with little fanfare - no entourage for this down-to-earth guy - and proceeded to set everyone at ease with his friendly, outgoing personality. Clad in a sport jacket, jeans and those trademark specs, he mingled with the crowd, shaking hands and signing cookbooks before we all settled in to a multi-course feast. Ted, unfortunately, didn't get more than a few bites of the meal (which included, among other treats, tuna tartare with avocado and grilled filet mignon) as he discussed our prize-winning questions while we ate.

My question centered around my new pal Eddie G. of Dallas Vegan and our mutual love of wine. Choosing a perfect bottle is rarely a problem for yours truly, but I wondered if Ted had any suggestions for vegan food pairings we could enjoy alongside. While he admitted that veganism was a relatively unfamiliar concept to him, Ted seemed genuinely interested in learning more about the animal-free way of life, and even encouraged Eddie to "vegan-ize" a few recipes from his new cookbook and share the results. Cool!

Speaking of wine, our dinner dishes were paired with four wines from the Robert Mondavi Private Selection line, including a crisp Sauvignon Blanc and a luscious Meritage blend that was the favorite at our table. As Ted pointed out early in the evening, these wines drink much more "expensive" than their actual price tags. Coming it at around $10-$15 each, they are definitely a great bottle for your buck. I also enjoyed the Chardonnay, which is light on the oak and pairs well with food.

Ted Allen cooking for the crowd at Taste Addison

After dinner, we all headed over to Taste Addison (in a private luxury bus!) to watch Ted's live demo. He cooked Shrimp Scampi over Zucchini Carpaccio for the crowd and took additional questions relating to food, wine and his days as a judge on Top Chef (he left the show when he got his own gig on the Food Network). Afterward, Eddie and I headed back to Mercy for a little debriefing session and reflected on the evening. We both agreed that Ted is a great guy - knowledgeable, approachable and engaging. The whole night was a treat, made all the better because I could enjoy it with a dear friend. Big thanks to Ted Allen and Robert Mondavi and Eddie G., my favorite vegan!

C&S

Reader Recipe File: Taco Soup and Southern Cornbread

2009-05-08T04:12:00.008-06:00

Today's featured cook (on the right) last year in Vegas

celebrating his 50th birthday. ...I still have my commemorative shirt!

Rodd Gray is unlike anyone you'll ever meet - because he's actually several awesome people rolled into one. As Ms. Patti le Plae Safe, he is an entertainer extraordinaire (and host of Gay Bingo each month in the Rose Room); as Hott Rodd the Hair God he's one of Dallas' finest stylists; and as just plain Rodd (who is anything but plain), he is a loving, caring friend to all who know him.

What many people might not know about Rodd is that he is quite the cook. Whether it's a down-home favorite he learned back in Arkansas or a sophisticated new dish he created on his own, pretty much everything that comes out of his kitchen is seconds-and-thirds good. Today I'm sharing two easy recipes that Rodd always serves together. This Taco Soup, ladled over a slice of Southern Cornbread and generously sprinkled with cheddar cheese, is a plate of pure heaven. And it makes enough for plenty of extra helpings. Enjoy!

Taco Soup

3 1/2 pounds ground chuck

1 pound bulk sausage (your favorite)

1 can each:

hominy

navy beans

black beans

garbanzo beans

yellow corn

white corn

green beans

sliced black olives

Rotel

2 envelopes taco seasoning

2 envelopes ranch dressing

Brown beef and sausage in a soup pot and add all other ingredients (do not drain cans). Simmer for one hour or longer.

Southern Cornbread

1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1 tsp. salt

4 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 cups milk

3 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Combine all dry ingredients. Combine eggs and milk in a separate bowl and add to dry ingredients, stirring just until incorporated. Heat oil to boiling in the microwave and add to the batter. Pour batter into a baking pan (Rodd doesn't specify size - C&S) and bake at 450-degrees until golden brown.

Wrap-N-Mat: What a great idea!

2009-05-06T04:32:00.006-06:00

I was browsing through the Green Living store in Lakewood yesterday when I happened upon a totally cool invention: Wrap-N-Mats!

Has anyone heard of these before? They're new to me, and I haven't seen such a simple and purposeful idea in quite a while. Washable, reusable and available in a wide array of prints, these sandwich wrap-slash-placemats are both convenient and environmentally friendly. Unlike regular sandwich bags (which are intended to be used one time only), the Wrap-N-Mat is designed to lay flat for easy cleaning, and doesn't have any nooks and crannies in which bacteria like to grow. How smart!

At $10, they an affordable way to make a difference every day - and they'd also make a great gift for any office lunch-ers and/or earth-lovers on your list. I picked up one with cute little doggies on it, but you could go for any one of dozens of colors or prints yourself. I also have a feeling they'd work out really well to transport, say, a couple of cookies and a brownie for snacking even if you didn't have to pack your lunch that day.

C&S

Comment Card: By Request

2009-05-05T05:04:00.004-06:00

Yesterday my Mom left a comment asking if anyone had any good summer soup recipes to share. Great question! Soup ain't just for winter - in fact, gazpacho was made for this time of year. Cucumber, melon and strawberries also star in some popular summer soup recipes. So, do any of you have a good one to share?

And p.s. to J.R.: I'll bet your new veggie garden will have us in gazpacho in no time. But I'd also guess your recipe calls for a quart of heavy cream and three sticks of butter :)

Dean's Puttin' on the Ritz for Mom

2009-05-03T15:42:00.008-06:00

Nobody loves you like Mom. She changed your Pampers and fawned over your first word - even if nobody else could understand it. She taught you all about life and love and braising a perfect pot roast. Now it's her turn.

Mother's Day is coming up this Sunday, and I hope you've got something really special planned for your Mom. ...But if you're still stumped, here's a sneak peak at the Mother's Day menu from Fearing's at the Ritz-Carlton. Wouldn't a little Smoked Pecan-Crusted Alaskan Halibut show her you really care? And as an added bonus, check out my pal Annie Potasznik's interview with Chef Dean himself in the video link below.

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there - especially my own Mom, Deanna, and FoodiePrincess who will be celebrating her first Mother's Day this year!

DallasEats Hearts Eating in Dallas

2009-05-01T05:54:00.002-06:00

In case you missed it, click here to check out yesterday's Appetite for Instruction featuring Margie from Eating in Dallas.

Big hugs to Margie for sharing her delicious recipe for Brie with Red Grape Salsa and Toasted Walnuts. Also big thanks to Hubbard for allowing me to crash his Sunday with a camera and clipboard. Finally, belly rubs to Maxine and Roger Staubach for being on their best behavior!

C&S

Heaven in the Hill Country: Recipes from Hoffman Haus

2009-04-30T04:50:00.015-06:00

Heaven is Hoffman Haus on a warm, sunny day.

FP and I both adore Hoffman Haus, a unique bed and breakfast in the Hill Country town of Fredericksburg. Comprised of several guest cottages surrounding a generous home and dining hall, the property is naturally landscaped for a casual Central Texas feel. Each room has its own theme, but all share owner Leslie Washburne's classic, minimalist style. In other words, you won't find any doilies or porcelain knick-knacks at this B&B. And that's just one of the many reasons to love it.

The best part of any stay at Hoffman Haus just might be the food. Each morning, a basket filled with homemade treats is delivered right to the door of your cottage and no matter what it holds, you know you're in for a treat. Maybe you'll enjoy some home-baked muffins while watching the sun rise in the courtyard (feed the last bite to a lucky koi fish in the pond), or you might decide to curl back into bed with a cup of coffee and a plate of cheesy, comforting eggs. Good morning, indeed.

As I was organizing my kitchen yesterday, the following recipe fell from between the pages of a cookbook, and it seemed like the perfect time to share it on the blog. Leslie gave me her recipe for easy Eggs Florentine years ago, and it's a simple way to get a little taste of Hoffman Haus whenever you're in need. I've also thrown in a recipe for Artichoke Phyllo Packets from an article I wrote on the Natural Palate, Leslie's farm house cooking school just up the road from the inn. It's not as easy as the eggs, but it's well worth the effort.

Enjoy!

Hoffman Haus Eggs Florentine

1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

8 eggs, beaten

4 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled

1/2 lb. havarti cheese, grated

1/2 lb. feta cheese, crumbled

1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a round pie plate or quiche pan and set aside.

Using a colander or your hands, squeeze as much liquid out of the thawed spinach as possible. Combine spinach with remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl - mixture will be thick. Pour into the prepared dish and bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

Artichoke Phyllo Packets with Creamy Lemon Tahini Sauce

Artichoke Filling:

1/2 c raw almond slivers
2 tbsp. pine nuts
1 c frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
1/4 c vegenaise (vegan mayo)
2 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 tsp. sea salt

Place all ingredients in bowl of food processor and process until combined and mixture is the consistency of a coarse paste. (This filling is also great tossed with pasta and served hot or cold. - C&S)

To make packets:

Frozen phyllo dough
Canola, olive, or other vegetable oil

Thaw phyllo dough overnight in refrigerator. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the stack of sheets lengthwise down the center, along the fold. Depending on the
brand, you may need to make two cuts. Sheets should be approximately 12x4
inches. Use three of the cut sheets per packet, with a light brush of oil in between
each layer. Place 2-3 rounded teaspoons of filling toward one end of stack and fold up triangularly, like a flag, trimming any excess phyllo after the last fold. Brush top of packet lightly with oil. Bake packets on a cookie sheet for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Serve with Creamy Lemon Tahini Sauce.

Creamy Lemon Tahini Sauce

2 tbsp. tahini
2 tbsp. mellow white miso
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 c water

Place all ingredients in bowl of food processor and process until smooth.

For Your Little Chow Hound

2009-04-28T05:42:00.009-06:00

Imagine Max's surprise when his new friend Eddie showed up the other day with a big ol' bucket-full of homemade cookies just for him. Imagine my surprise when I learned how easy they were to make.

I've baked dog treats in the past, but they always seemed to have about 20 ingredients and required me to haul out my food processor and a rolling pin. Needless to say, I haven't done that in a while. This recipe, on the other hand, is super-simple, and I can personally attest that many kinds of dogs find them irresistible. ...Not only did Max love 'em, but his friends Waylon, Romeo, Pickett and Coco all enjoyed one, too.

Thanks to VegSpinz and DJ Karma for this recipe, and another big thanks to Eddie!

Yummy Peanut Butter Doggie Biscuits

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup whole oats
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
3 tbsp. molasses
3/4 cup water

Mix all ingredients into a stiff dough. Roll into balls and flatten to about 1/2-inch thick and arrange on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, turn off heat and let them sit in the oven until nice and hard. Makes about 12 treats.

NOTE: Eddie removed the cookies from the oven immediately after baking for a softer treat. Depending on your dog's taste, bake them hard or soft as you wish.

The Pantry: An Update

2009-04-27T04:26:00.000-06:00

It was touch-and-go there for a while, but after six weeks of intensive care, I'm pleased to report that the patient - er, pantry - is largely out of the woods. Thank you all so much for your words of care and concern; this recovery would not have been possible without your support.

I'll continue to monitor the pantry's progress on an ongoing basis, and will keep you apprised of any further improvements or, heaven forbid, relapses. We still have a long way to go, but the future looks bright.

Your friend and food confidant,

C&S

p.s. Click here to see the before picture. If you dare.

p.p.s. Yes, those are purple Easter Peeps. I'm waiting for them to get stale - they're better that way.

Comment Card

2009-04-24T03:30:00.007-06:00

"Yeah, man - you just gotta try it!"

I had the best talk with my nephew Nate last night. After discussing baseball, dogs and his upcoming move back to Texas, we got around to the subject of dinner. "What did you have tonight?" I asked. "Mashed potatoes," he answered. "With cheese and bacon bits!" I allowed as how this sounded very yummy, and he replied with a five-year-old boy rave review: "Yeah, man - you just gotta try it!"

How cute is that? It made me remember my favorite dinner when I was five: macaroni and cheese - from the box. Nothing could compare. So, what was your dream meal when you were little? What kept you hanging around the kitchen asking "Is it ready yet?" every three minutes until dinnertime? Was there a school cafeteria dish that you would count down the days to each week? Or maybe something from the ice cream man? (Remember him? I couldn't get enough Chocolate Eclair bars...) Tell us all about it!

C&S

p.s. Nate's sister Abby is also a trip...but she'd still rather be playing than stuck at the dinner table.

You'll Love 'Em, Pho Sho': Vietnamese Faves

2009-04-22T09:27:00.002-06:00

FoodiePrincess and I share an all-consuming love of Vietnamese food.* Especially now, as the temperature begins to climb to its August apex, we long for the fresh, vibrant flavors of our favorite Southeast Asian cuisine. But let's face it - it's not really the kind of food you want to make at home. Ever tried to wrap your own rice-paper spring rolls? 'Nuff said. This stuff is better left to the experts. Good thing we've been scouting out awesome Dallas-area Vietnamese restaurants for, oh, about fifteen years or so...

Below you'll find a few of our pho-tastic faves - and we're always on the lookout for more. Have we missed one of your favorites? Must we rush right out to crunch and slurp at a new spot? Please do share! In the meantime, get ready to program your GPS:

DallasEats' Vietnamese Favorites

Mai's

4812 Bryan St # 100
Dallas, TX 75204

FP and her adorable hub love this little East Dallas spot. She's partial to the Pho Tai (as she is pretty much everywhere), and the Spicy Chicken Soup is also to-die-for good. P.S. - don't miss the crispy spring rolls. Yum.

Pho 95

9780 Walnut St #120

Dallas, TX 75243

Both FP and I have been hitting Pho 95 since high school. A fancy chef I interviewed recently proclaimed a love for this hole in the wall, too. But don't expect white tablecloths and fawning servers - it's strictly "slurp 'em if you got 'em". We haven't tried anything we haven't liked, and the prices are such that you'll have plenty of pocket money left for a shopping spree at Hong Kong Marketplace after lunch (Pocky for dessert!).

Pho Bac
153 N Plano Rd
Richardson, TX 75081

Pho Bac is similar to Pho 95 in its aesthetic (or lack thereof), but also similar in that the food is just delicious. Excellent Pho, vermicelli dishes and crispy little Vietnamese Eggrolls.

Vietnam

4302 Bryan St

Dallas, TX 75204

This recently-discovered favorite offers a full menu of delicious dishes in addition to a pretty darn good lunchtime buffet. Judging by the crowds, we weren't the first on the scene with this one, but that hasn't stopped us from spreading the word. Pho, Banh Mi and spring rolls are all great at Vietnam, and the aforementioned buffet made my Dad very happy on our last visit - and he knows his stuff!

Green Papaya

3211 Oak Lawn Ave

Dallas, TX 75219

What can we say about Green Papaya that we haven't said before? Well, plenty actually - in recent months, we've discovered the #24 and the #35 (we think), a cool bowl of chicken and vermicelli with all the good stuff (much like pho without the broth) and a wicked delicious shrimp coconut curry that might leave you licking your plate. Both pair well with a tall, cool glass of Sauvignon Blanc on a warm spring evening. They might even tempt FP away from the Canh Chu next time around...

Happy slurping! Enjoy!

* It's just one of the things we have in common with the incomparable Anthony Bourdain. But we're not telling what the other ones are. Yet.

Oak Cliff Earth Day: Green Tastes Good!

2009-04-21T05:37:00.000-06:00

Oak Cliff Earth Day was a blast!

I attended the OCED 2009 festival at Lake Cliff Park last Sunday - along with about 7,500 other earth-loving folks. What a gorgeous day to celebrate the planet! In addition to exploring dozens of eco-friendly vendors and exhibits, I munched some tasty treats and met some real characters. Here are a few highlights from the event:

1. First and foremost - the food! Right inside the stone pavilion which served as the entrance to the festival, several restaurants and food vendors were offering yummy things to eat. Bolsa, It's a Grind (see smiling faces above), Marble Slab Creamery and Kessler Cookie Company were just a few of the tempting choices...

2. ...but I only had eyes for Spiral Diner. This brownie lasted exactly 1/10 of a second after the picture was taken. It was amazing. (Thanks for the tip, Eddie!)

3. Speaking of sweets, I'm sorry to report that these colorful cupcakes were inedible. You put them in your bath. Hmph. Not sure how I feel about the food-themed toiletry craze - but they sure look cute.

4. Susan and Brandon Pollard of the Texas Honeybee Guild were in full costume for the festival. These "Urban Beewranglers" offer bee rescue and relocation services, in addition to various products and educational programs. (Maybe Jason should give them a call.)

5. There were adorable dogs everywhere you looked (like the blonde cutie above), and lots of pet-centric booths. I picked up a few samples of Innova holistic pet food for Max at the Green Pet tent. He liked the cheese puff treats almost as much as I liked that brownie.

What a wonderful, feel-good day. I'm so glad I made the trip to the OC to see what it was all about, and I've already marked my calendar for next year's event.

C&S

p.s. Earth Day is coming up tomorrow, and I'll be celebrating at Mockingbird Station. How 'bout you?

Now that's what I call "local"...

2009-04-19T05:05:00.000-06:00

Check out this hilarious video of our friend Jason Lye setting up a backyard bee hive. Heck of hazardous hobby when all you get is honey, if you ask me. Makes my dream of a pet nanny goat (hello, homemade chevre!) seem downright tame. Enjoy!

C&S

Comment Card

2009-04-17T05:42:00.005-06:00

Do your eating habits change as the weather warms up?

Traditional thinking goes that we're more likely to munch a salad or sip cold, refreshing drinks when the temp begins to climb upward in the spring ... but in all honesty, I'm up for a steaming bowl of oatmeal or a big, bold Cabernet even if it's 100+ outside. Really.

So, how 'bout you? Does your eating and cooking change this time of year? If so, how? If not, why not? I'm curious!

C&S

Bliss & Tell: A First Look at Bliss Raw Cafe

2009-04-15T11:00:00.002-06:00

How much do you know about the raw food movement?

Until last week, I didn’t know much – and what I learned

might surprise you...

My good friend Eddie G. of Dallas Vegan, an all-around awesome guy, invited me to attend a “first look and taste” at Bliss Raw Café and Elixir Bar on Greenville Avenue last Friday, and it was an experience I won’t soon forget. In preparation for our feast, I grilled Eddie (who is not a raw foodist, but knows a lot about it) on the various ins and outs of this peculiar and fascinating way of life: What does it mean, exactly? What are its purported benefits? And most of all, why is it so hot-hot-hot (or “cool”, as it were) right now in 2009?

In its simplest terms, eating “raw” means consuming foods that have not been cooked. Pretty simple, right? Well, not really. Foods deemed acceptable by raw foodists have not been heated above 115 degrees, but more importantly, great attention is paid to certain “super foods” – additives derived from plants and medicinal herbs that enhance the flavor and increase the health benefits of raw dishes. More on those later. Further, special kitchen contraptions – dehydrators and the like – are employed in advanced raw kitchens to simulate baked goods and other cooked items using raw ingredients. The lengths to which a raw chef will go to simulate a hamburger bun, for instance, without the benefit of leavening agents or a conventional oven, is nothing short of alchemy. More on that later, too. To put it mildly, there is much more at work here than tossing salads and blending smoothies.

But why go to all this trouble in the first place? Well, raw foodists believe that consuming foods in their raw state is the best way for the body to receive the full benefit of everything they have to offer. They believe that optimum health (including increased energy and stamina and the prevention of disease) is achieved only by eating food that has not been subjected to the damaging power of heat. Many Hollywood celebs have adopted this way of life in recent years, and as Eddie pointed out in his article for the City of Ate: As L.A. does, so does Dallas – eventually. But there's much more to Bliss than jumping on the latest designer diet bandwagon.

Eddie and I arrived at the café on a sparkling, sunny afternoon, and the tiny spot was bustling with busy chefs and food-lovers eagerly awaiting this “first taste” experience. We were greeted by Maria Whitworth, official spokesperson of the new restaurant, who showed us to our seats at a small bar on one side of the tiny, street-car shaped space. Chefs Brian Hudson Smith, Brett Thompson and Johnny Raw Appleseed were hard at work in the kitchen (that's Ms. Appleseed and Mr. Hudson clowning for the camera, above). After meeting and greeting the other guests – two lovely local actresses and a friendly girl who, like me, would be experiencing her first raw meal – Maria presented us with menus and the food parade began. What a spread!

Here is a run-down of everything we sampled – the hits, the misses and the show-stopping surprises:

Appetizer

Nori Bites: This dish was all about presentation – it looked like a beautiful plate of sushi from any top Asian restaurant in town. A dipping sauce of Nama Shoyu (unpasteurized soy sauce), ginger, lemon juice and garlic was a refreshing condiment. The flavor was not unlike a California Roll with a little of Mom’s tuna salad in the background. Eddie didn’t care for it, but I enjoyed its subtle play on traditional sushi-roll flavors.

Soup

Corn Chowder: I am sad to report that this was the “thudder” of the meal. Both Eddie and I felt the dish was too rich and the raw green onion garnish overwhelmed the subtle flavor of fresh corn.

Entrees

Rawko-Taco Plate with Chocolate Salad: (pictured at left) This was my very favorite dish of the day. These “rawko-tacos” are a wonderful twist on traditional tacos, featuring all the comforting Mexican spices you’d expect and a few surprising new flavors. The rust-colored taco shell, containing corn, flax meal, onion and spices, had just the right sturdy but chewy texture to stand up to its filling of sundried tomato and sunflower seed paste. Might sound strange, but it was absolutely on-the-money.

Chocolate Salad on the side was a cole slaw-like combo of cabbage, avocado and “Chocolate Bliss”, one of the aforementioned “super food” powders containing cacao, hemp seeds and all manner of dried fruits. According to the package, those who consume “Chocolate Bliss” can expect “continuous peak mood, energy and beauty”. Such benefits don’t come cheap, but the folks at Bliss Café have figured out how to work “super foods” into many menu items while keeping prices reasonable.

Pesto Pizza: Unfortunately, after the stunning success of the taco plate, this pizza faded into the background. It did, however, feature nice Italian spices and the pesto topper was as delicious as any conventional pesto I’d ever tasted.

SunnBurger: (pictured above) Johnny also calls this her “SuperBurger”, as it features another “super food” called "Revitaphi". This powder contains over 40 probiotics, along with various veggies and enzymes, and Johnny believes it inspires her artistically in addition to its physical benefits. I have to admit that I wasn’t thinking too much about all that, however, after I took my first bite. This burger was delicious! The bun was especially clever, approximating a tender Mrs. Baird’s by way of kamut, agave and who-knows-what else. The patty itself was standard fare, but in combination with that bodacious bun and a schmear of cashew “mayo”, it went far beyond the usual boring beef-less burger. Bravo!

Dessert

Both the Coconut Berry Parfait and the Strawberry Sheezcake were creamy and comforting and not overly sweet. The Sheezcake was my fave, owing to its rich crust that tasted a lot like halvah, one of my favorite childhood treats.

Elixirs

With each course, Brian presented one of his special smoothie-like concoctions, all of which were intriguing and a couple of which were downright sinful. We especially liked the Minty Hemp Drink, which tasted just like your favorite minty milkshake from the corner ice cream shop. (photo, left: Brian the Elixir Mixologist)

Ultimately, the experience was eye-opening – but not at all for the reasons I had anticipated. For starters, Johnny and the gang are so down to earth, so absolutely approachable, I didn’t end up feeling like a heathen in church on Easter Sunday (as I was afraid I would). If anything, they are even more excited for their food to reach those of us outside of their immediate circle. Second, far from pretentious or too-cool-for-school, the restaurant is actually so “Austin” it’s not even funny. It embodies the laid-back, casual cool we associate with our neighbor to the south, and Johnny herself, pierced and be-clogged and sparkling with health, looked like she beamed up from Guadalupe St. just in time for the tasting. And last but not least, I’d totally go back. While I don’t intend on converting to a raw diet any time soon, I’m sipping a “Chocolate Bliss” smoothie as I write this post, and am now tuned-in to another delicious niche cuisine available here in Dallas.

Bliss Raw Café and Elixir Bar

6855 Greenville Avenue

214-987-0204

Opens April 28th

Catty Corner

2009-04-14T04:46:00.009-06:00

Are you ready for some more meow?

Catty Corner #2: New Edible Wasn’t as Tasty as I Expected…

Can I tell you how excited I was to read the first issue of Edible Dallas and Fort Worth? I was given a copy of Edible Austin some time ago by a friend in Fredericksburg and I proceeded to devour it cover-to-cover on the car ride back home. I eagerly anticipated the arrival of this magazine dedicated to local, seasonal and artisanal foods when I heard it was coming to the Metroplex – and I finally got my hands on a copy last Saturday. Sigh. It wasn’t all that I had expected...

First of all, I’d like to point out what I enjoyed about Edible:

Variety: The articles presented covered a wide range of topics – gardening, cooking, farming, etc.

Tom Spicer: I loved the profile of the man behind F-M 1410. Kim Pierce captured his passionate conviction and eccentric individuality.

Recipes: Who doesn’t love recipes? My mouth really watered for “Deborah’s Herb Crusted Chevre Medallions”.

…However, I’d be fibbing if I said that the good outweighed the bad. I think it was about a 50/50 split. Here are my issues with the issue:

On the detail-oriented side, I’d like to strongly suggest that Edible add photo captions. For example, I had no idea who the fellow was who was pictured with the article on Bolsa. Is he one of the owners or the chef? And what is the name of the delicious dish to his right? Likewise, other mystery photos detracted from my enjoyment of the magazine, instead of adding to it as they should.

Second, I would have liked a short bio on the contributors in the style of other magazines. The section called “Notable Edibles”, for instance, is written by the “Edible Staff” – who are they? What are their backgrounds and areas of expertise? The magazine is about getting more personal with your food, after all, so why not give us a little info on the folks behind the words, too? (The website offers background on a couple of contributors, but why not the magazine itself?)

Third, some of the content left much to be desired. Case in point: “The Pleasures of Eating” by Wendell Berry was, in my estimation, a rambling, reprimanding rant against the very folks who would be reading it for not being aware enough to recognize the shortcomings of their own food supply. I’m sorry, but wouldn’t the audience for such an article (readers of Edible magazine) be quite aware of why, how and what they were eating? Various parts of the essay also seemed – how to put it? – folksy and outdated. Take the following quote: “Like industrial sex, industrial eating has become a degraded, poor and paltry thing.” What exactly is Mr. Berry getting at here? I don’t think I even know what “industrial sex” is. The rest of the paragraph didn’t adequately explain the comparison.

Later, while discussing food advertising Berry states, “If one gained one’s whole knowledge of food from these advertisements (as some presumably do), one would not know that the various edibles were ever living creatures or that they all come from the soil or that they were produced by work.” Has this man watched television or read a magazine lately? Not only do I believe that most advertising these days strives to achieve a goal opposite of his claim – in fact exaggerating the connection between their products and the earth – but I’d further hypothesize that any grade-schooler in the country knows that beef comes from cows, which are living animals, and that vegetables grow in the ground. Only when I flipped to the end of the article and saw that it was originally printed in 1990 did I understand why some of the statements in the piece seemed out of touch with 2009.

Further, a profile of Khatter Vineyards left out a crucial detail. I have visited this small vineyard and winery, and I think the most important point to mention when suggesting it as a destination (as the article did) is that it is located in the side and back yards of a private home in a residential neighborhood in the suburb of Parker. Reading a passage like “…nestled among towering pecan trees, overlooking a crooked creek…” gives a very different impression, no? Carolyn Khatter is a lovely person and she makes some damn good wine, but we must be clear about these things.

There’s more, but I won’t press on. I have high hopes for the next installment of Edible Dallas and Fort Worth, even though this initial effort didn’t satisfy my appetite. Perhaps issue two will have worked out some of these kinks.

And now, I'm off to my scratching post.

C&S

Reader Recipe File: J.R.'s All-Carb Edition

2009-04-13T05:52:00.015-06:00

Many of you loyal readers may feel like you know J.R. Gower already - he often composes hilarious novellas in the comments section and once captivated an entire party-full of DallasEats regulars with a plate of his 'Witches.

The cook in question (right), with his schwag-bag

from the DallasEats Mixology Competition.

In truth, everything this guy touches in the kitchen turns to gold. And now we know his secret: don't be shy with the butter. Or the cream cheese. Or the mayo. He's provided a couple of smack-your-Mama delicious recipes for us today that will be a hit at any spring barbeque or dinner party. Just be sure everyone pops a Lipitor first.

Better Than Yours Potato Salad

4 Large Baking Potatoes (Washed and dried....these are not dishwasher safe)
1 30 oz. Jar Hellman's Mayo (NO MIRACLE WHIP)
1/2 cup Red Onion (optional)
Olive oil
Fresh Ground Black Pepper
Course Kosher Salt
Dill Weed

Preheat oven to 350.

In a piece of aluminium foil large enough to wrap an inividual potato, pour a generous amount of olive oil, add a pinch of salt and a few turns of black pepper. Roll the potato in the mixture and then wrap with foil; repeat for additional spuds. (I like to add a generous amount of Olive Oil - at least a TBSP - because you are going to bake the potatoes and it will absorb and give them a little bit of a fried taste which is what really makes this salad.) Bake the potatoes for 45-60 min. or until you can pierce easily with a knife. Allow potatoes to completely cool in foil.

Once cool, place potatoes, skins and all, in a large mixing bowl and add any remining olive oil to the bowl as well. Then add the entire jar of mayo and the dill. The dill should be added to taste. I would say I typically add 1/8 to 1/4 cup. Gently mix everything together to combine. (The potatoes will fall apart but you want to be careful to leave them a bit chunky.) Add the red onion and any additional salt and pepper to taste.

MMMMMMMM Mashed Potatoes

10 Red Potatoes, halved
1 Red Onion, chopped
1 TBSP White Vinegar
2 Sticks Butter
1 8 oz. package Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 Cup Heavy Cream
Kosher Salt
Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Place potatoes in pot and cover with COLD water. Add vinegar. (The vinegar makes the potatoes extra-vibrant in color and allows them to be fluffier when whipped.) Bring potatoes to a boil and simmer until tender, but not falling apart.

In a separate pan, melt one stick of butter and saute the red onion until tender and translucent. Set aside. Also, warm your cream to hot but not boiling.

Once the spuds are done, drain and place them back in the pot. Add in sauteed onions with all butter, and add the additional stick of butter, cream cheese, and warm cream. Mix with hand mixer until completely whipped and light and fluffy. Add additional warm cream as needed to reach desired texture. Add Kosher salt and pepper to taste.

*J.R. says: "The best part about these mashed potatoes is that the onion will completely disappear and give them a great flavor - so any anti-onion guests will never ever know they're in there. But they'll love these potatoes...trust me...I have done it a million times with a Cheshire grin on my face the entire time!"

And finally, a shameless plug: Check out J.R.'s House of Style for a unique shopping experience!

We've Worked Up Quite an Appetite!

2009-04-09T13:22:00.008-06:00

Have you checked out Appetite for Instruction lately? Today's featured chef is Michelle Carpenter of Zen Sushi who generously shared her delicious and stylish recipe for Ceviche Martinis (pictured above).

I have to admit, this weekly bug-a-chef column is a lot of fun to write. Not only does it give me an awesome excuse to call up any restaurant in the city and ask for one of their most delicious recipes, but it also offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the chefs themselves make the dish. For instance, following along with Chef Michael Tyler, I learned that making Italian Buttercream Frosting isn't nearly as difficult I'd always assumed it would be. They key, he showed us, is patience. (And a reliable candy thermometer.) And speaking of patience, I don't know that I'd have the self-control to wait 12 hours while Jeffrey Kowitz's brisket braised in the oven, but now I've got the recipe if I'm ever feeling up to the challenge.

Click here to check out the A.F.I. archives. We're working up quite a collection! And feel free to chime in with any suggestions for future chefs you'd like me to bug. ...I mean interview.

C&S

Restaurant Bargains from Texas Monthly

2009-04-08T13:19:00.006-06:00

I love getting something for (almost) nothing... Don't you?

The cover of April’s Texas Monthly magazine promises “Free Food! (Almost.)” and Patricia Sharpe’s feature, “How to Eat Well in Hard Times” definitely delivers. Her selection of exceptional, economical restaurant meals from across the state includes four picks from right here in Big D:

1. Grilled Pork Over Vermicelli with Green Papaya from Bistro B

2. The Fried Chicken Dinner from Bubba’s

3. The Beef-and-Cheese Cachapa from Zaguán Latin Café and Bakery

4. Chicken Potpie from Cowboy Chow

My mouth is already watering. Has anyone tried any of these dishes? If so, how do they rate on *your* cheapskate gourmet scale? Some of her picks from other cities also looked tempting - I'll definitely reference this article on my next trip to Austin or Houston or even Fort Worth (but I'll let you pick up your own copy for those).

Click here for a extra-bonus slide show, narrated by Ms. Sharpe.

Reader Recipe File: Gazpacho Dip and Tiramisu

2009-04-07T09:58:00.009-06:00

Cynthia Hurley isn't just a legal eagle, she's also a wicked good cook.

(Couldn't resist the post - gotta love the 80's!)

We've known Cynthia for going on 10 years now, and she's always been one of our favorite folks to talk food with - restaurants, cooking shows and most of all, recipes. She's shared two of her finest with us today, a quick and easy party pleaser and a sinfully delicious dessert. Of her Gazpacho Dip, Cynthia says, "This dip is awesome - easy to make and easy to prepare ahead. Add the avocados right before you serve." Her recipe for tiramisu follows. It's a frequent fund-raiser at dessert auctions, but we won't tell anyone if you make it for your own selfish purposes...

Gazpacho Dip

*Courtesy of The Texas Experience, the Richardson Woman's Club's first cookbook

1 4-oz. can chopped black olives
1 4-oz. can chopped green chilies
2-3 tomatoes, diced
4-5 green onions, diced
1 1/2 tbsp. cider vinegar
1 tsp. garlic salt
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
ground pepper to taste

2-3 avocados, diced

1. Combine all ingredients except avocados.

2. Marinate and chill 1-6 hours. Add avocados before serving.

Tiramisu

6 egg yolks
1-1/4 cups sugar
1-1/4 cup (2 tubs) mascarpone
1-3/4 cup + 1/2 cup heavy or whipping cream
3 packages, (3 ounces each) ladyfingers
1/3 cup Kahlua
1 cup strong coffee
1 tbsp. powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

chocolate curls to garnish (I use dark chocolate)

1. In a small mixer bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and lemon-colored, about 1 minute.

2. Place in top of double boiler over boiling water.

3. Reduce heat to low and cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

4. Add mascarpone cheese, beating well.

5. In small mixer bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks form. Fold into egg yolk mixture; set aside.

6. Line bottom and sides of 2-1/2 to 3-quart bowl or souffle dish with ladyfinger halves, split sides up.

7. Brush with coffee liqueur and coffee, blended together.

8. Spoon half of egg yolk-cream mixture into ladyfinger-lined bowl.

9. Repeat ladyfingers, espresso and cream layers.

10. Garnish with Sweetened Whipped Cream (directions follow) and chocolate curls.

11. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Sweetened Whipped Cream: In small mixer bowl, combine 1/2-cup heavy or whipping cream, 1 tablespoon unsifted confectioners' sugar, and 1/4-teaspoon vanilla extract. Whip until stiff peaks form.

Comment Card

2009-04-06T03:00:00.000-06:00

Speaking of tricks, which one's your favorite?

All of us cooks have a little something up our sleeve to save time, add flavor or impress our guests. Whether we learned them from Grandma or (gasp!) Sandra Lee, these secrets run the gamut from simple to complex to slightly bizarre. Here's a couple to kick things off:

Freezing bananas: When making banana bread or anything that calls for mashed bananas, I freeze them first (in the peel), then thaw them out on the counter before proceeding with the recipe. It makes them much easier to mash, and they'll blend right into any batter - no lumps.

Mayonnaise in cake: Anyone heard of this one? I've never tried this trick, but adding mayo or Miracle Whip to cakes dates back to the 50's, I think, and is supposed to yield unbelievably rich, moist results. I wonder if it really works...

Now let's hear yours!

Catty Corner

2009-04-02T14:44:00.001-06:00

You all know me pretty well by now. (So you also probably know that this isn't my cat - it's FP's.)

I'm a sweet girl, and I like to play nice...but sometimes plain ol' nice just doesn't cut it. Know what I mean? I've decided to add an every-now-and-then feature in which I can get some things off of my chest - and hopefully info-tain you in the process! To that end, I present Catty Corner (with thanks to my hubby for the clever title).

Catty Corner #1: Disses and Disappointment

Not long ago, I met a friend for lunch at a new place we'd both been dying to try. It's a smaller offshoot of a beloved local legend, tucked into a cozy corner near the Crescent. I arrived at 12:20 (a little early) that Friday afternoon to find the place hopping - great-looking cars buzzed through the valet line and the patio was packed with pretty people. As I approached the front door, I momentarily regretted my jeans-and-tank-top attire (I'd decided to play it L.A. that day), but shrugged off my worries in favor of focusing on the great meal ahead.

Inside at the host stand, I spotted a Silver Fox-type that I was sure was one of the owners chatting up a couple of botoxed blondies in low-cut tops. "How do you like our new place?" he asked with a grin, and whisked the pair to a table as they gazed about in admiration. He returned to his post an offered me a warm smile, but when I asked for a table for two, he directed me to the bar and told me I'd have to wait. Though I spotted several free tables here and there, I kindly obliged (he was very sweet about it) and squeezed into a space at the end of the bar behind a giant plant. I thought perhaps the delay was due to my "incomplete party", though I wasn't told this in so many words. In fact, I was assured that my table would be ready very soon.

As I waited (and waited), servers buzzed around me, a man to my left munched a burger and I began to feel very much in the way. My lunch date eventually came to my rescue, however, and we were seated at a small two-top in the back of the dining room. It still wasn't clear whether our being seated after her arrival was a coincidence or not, but I decided not to worry about it. I also didn't fret the nook-and-cranny table location, as I hadn't requested a specific spot, and sometimes these things are the luck of the draw.

I'd had plenty of time to look over the chalkboard while I was waiting at the bar, so ordering was quick-and-easy: the pasta with seafood special for me, and the club sandwich for my companion. We settled into the friendly banter of two old friends with a lot of catching up to do, but when our food arrived, my relaxed demeanor quickly turned sour as this restaurant racked up strike three. The special had been billed as a dish of whole wheat pasta tossed with trout, scallops, mussels and the like ($12, I believe), but it arrived looking more like spaghetti from a kids' menu. The only discernable sea creatures in the bowl were the mussels - four to be exact - one of which hadn't opened and necessitated quick disposal. Digging around, I found various bits of other fish, but the dish was awkward to eat, as someone had decided to break the long strands of whole wheat linguine in half before the boil. The result were floppy, flappy noodles that refused to twirl and threatened to throw tomato sauce across the table with every dip of the fork. To top it off, fragments of mussel shell peppered the dish (one of the bivalves had cracked), adding a gritty grind to every other bite. In short, there was nothing special about this special.

To be fair, my friend liked her sandwich and our server was quick to please. (She crossed the line to overly-solicitous a couple of times, actually, but it wouldn't have bothered me if everything else had gone off without a hitch.) We exited to a quick goodbye from the same Dapper Dan who greeted me, and on the way back out into a glittering sunny day, I spotted the blondies from the door at a prime table on the patio. I'll admit a touch of envy. I'd give this spot a second chance, but I'll avoid the pasta and hand-pick my own table next time, thank you very much.

C&S

This girl loves wine even more than we do...

2009-04-01T08:51:00.010-06:00

Up for an out-of-the-ordinary outing?

A DallasEats regular sent me some info today on a very intriguing one-woman play called "Still Spinning the Bottle" starring a cheeky chick named Krissi Reeves. This trustworthy reader assures me that Ms. Reeves' antics are well worth the price of admission, and you've got three performances to choose from this weekend. Here's a personal message from the star of the show:

"Hi.

I'll be performing my one-woman comedic play, Spinning the Bottle, this weekend at the DFW Fringe Festival @ The Dallas Hub Theater. In 2008, Spinning the Bottle won '1st Place Producer's Pick' & '3rd Place Audience Award' at DFW Fringe! So, you know, it's pretty dope.

This year, I'm back with more wine, more adventures in absurdity and more mind-numbing inquiries into the human heart. Hiccup. I have three shows this weekend - listed below. And afterwards, we can have cocktails! Come out this weekend - support local theater and definitely support Deep Ellum!"

- Krissi Reeves

DFW FRINGE FESTIVAL @ DALLAS HUB THEATER IN DEEP ELLUM

Friday, April 3rd @ 10 pm
Saturday, April 4th @ 2:30 pm
Sunday, April 5th @ 2:30 pm

Click here for more information on the show and a link to purchase tickets. Click on the "Fringe Festival" box, then scroll down until you see "Still Spinning the Bottle".

Rachael Ray Says: Nuke Your Garlic!

2009-03-31T08:28:00.013-06:00

"Tip: Microwave garlic cloves for 10 seconds -

the skin will slip right off."

- Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine, March 2009

Ever heard this one before?

This trick really piqued my curiosity, so I gave it a whirl. The results? Mixed.

I've often zapped a lemon or a lime prior to juicing, but I'd never heard of giving garlic the same treatment to facilitate the peeling process. Turns out, it works like a charm. When you bust open the head, separate the cloves and microwave them for 10 seconds. The skins will, indeed, slip right off - but that's where you should stop when using this trick.

It's great for applications in which you'd keep the clove whole (such as roasting), but when I tried to proceed with mincing the garlic, it had turned so sticky that I had a hard time getting the job done. That small burst of heat must also release a certain amount of ticky-tacky juices, because that garlic wanted to cling to the knife and to my fingers, rendering the chopping process much more difficult than if I had peeled it the old-fashioned way.

Final score? 5. This tip is useful about half of the time, in my estimation.

C&S

Austin Adventures: In With the Old, In With the New

2009-03-30T05:31:00.010-06:00

Good Morning!

As promised, I have much to share from our trip to Austin last weekend. We visited an old friend and made a couple of new ones (restaurant-wise, that is), and were reminded just how awesome it can be to head out for the evening with no specific destination in mind...

Friday Night

Looking for a bar on 6th Street is kind of like shaking presents under the Christmas tree. You can check out the wrappings ("Ooooh - shiny!") and get a vague idea of what's inside ("Sounds kinda boring..."), but you really don't know what you're in for until you tear the paper off and go inside. Or something like that. Anyway, when the hubby and I headed out the front door of the hotel and landed on 6th that first night, we really didn't know where to go. We figured we'd wander the street and open a door when the mood felt right. A few blocks down, however, we realized that we'd need a little nudge in one direction or the other, so we stopped a hip-looking shopkeeper on the sidewalk. We asked for a cool bar with a patio and she pointed us toward Casino El Camino. Awesome suggestion!

This place was all tiki-ed up, with colorful murals painted on the walls and a creepy statue-slash-fountain gurgling his little heart out on the patio:

We really liked Casino El Camino. At around five when we arrived, we had the patio to ourselves, but it quickly filled with local-looking types chugging cold beers and munching burgers (Did you see the sign above? Those burgers looked great!). I'm glad we asked a local - if we'd gone it alone, we could have unwrapped some underwear, if you know what I mean.

We stayed at the Casino until sunset and then headed down the street to Geisha Sushi for a bite. This place is a dive, but the sushi was to-die-for. We had a little of everything, including the "Crazy in 6th" roll, which consisted of deep fried shrimp, cucumber and tuna drizzled with a spicy sauce. It was crazy good. We'd never been to Geisha before, but we'll be back. Here's to a great night of firsts on 6th!

Saturday

Saturday afternoon, we headed out to the lake to revisit an old haunt that had a close call a couple years back. The Oasis is a giant restaurant/bar/gift shop complex located 450 feet above Lake Travis. As you can imagine, the view is absolutely spectacular, and the restaurant itself is pretty damn fun too, what with all the funky statues dotting the grounds, kitchy decor and friendly staff.

Here's an example of the restaurant's eclectic outdoor art:

We love the Oasis, but we hadn't been since the restaurant was damaged in a fire back in 2007. Hearing the news up here in Dallas, we were afraid our old friend might be gone for good, but The Oasis was back up and running shortly thereafter. They also took advantage of the unfortunate event and began a series of renovations. According to the nifty informational brochure I picked up on Saturday, they added more than 8 new party rooms in the process and can now accommodate gatherings of up to 2,200 people. Wow!

We were a little bummed that the patio was uninhabitable that day due to high winds, but we snagged a seat at the window, which was the next best thing. We munched fried shrimp and fish tacos while enjoying this amazing scenery:

After lunch, we took a drive and watched shadows and sunlight dance on the water as we dipped and curved through the hills surrounding the lake. It was a beautiful afternoon, and a wonderful trip altogether. I can highly recommend any of these spots for your next visit to Austin. Enjoy!

C&S

Three Days Off

2009-03-24T12:26:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to give a quick shout-out and let everyone know that I'll be taking a short break from blogging between now and the end of the weekend. Stay tuned for a new post on Monday, and maybe I'll have some dining adventures from Austin to report next week!

C&S

Reader Recipe File: Baked Mac & Cheese and Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

2009-03-24T04:54:00.006-06:00

Ready for more reader recipes? Part Two is pasta-rific!

Today's guest chef is B.J. Foley, a dear friend, beloved Grandmother of eight, football fanatic and all-around awesome cook. B.J. and I have lunch on a regular basis, and if I'm lucky, she'll also bring along a sample of her latest creation for me to "taste test" for dinner that night. Hand-delivered home cooking? That's my kind of take-out!

B.J. has offered up two creamy, comforting pasta recipes for our series, both of which are favorites with her "grands". In fact, after tasting her trademark Mac & Cheese, the kids finally gave up the blue box! And as for the Alfredo, how could you possibly go wrong with ricotta, heavy cream and Parmesan cheese? 'Nuff said.

Thanks, B.J.!

Baked Mac & Cheese

3 cups cooked, drained macaroni
1/2 cup butter
3 tbsp. flour
3 cups milk
1/2 tsp. salt
4 ounces cubed cream cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded swiss cheese
1 cup shredded brick cheese
3/4 cup crushed potato chips
1 tbsp. melted butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Melt 1/2 cup butter in large saucepan and stir in flour. Continue stirring until smooth. Add milk, salt, and cream cheese and continue cooking and stirring until sauce has thickened. Mix sauce with cooked macaroni and 3 remaining cheeses and spoon into a 9x13 pan or 3 qt. casserole. Sprinkle with crushed potato chips combined with 1 tbsp. melted butter. Bake about 30 minutes until golden brown.

Hint from B.J.: "Before mixing the sauce into the macaroni, I add the other three cheeses to it, stir and allow them to thoroughly mix into the sauce. Then I add the macaroni. This makes for a more blended cheese sauce."

Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

1 pound fettuccine pasta
1 1/2 cups butter, divided
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into cubes
2 16-oz. containers whole milk ricotta cheese
1 pint heavy cream
1 tsp. salt
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook fetuccini in salted, boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain. Melt 2 tbsp. butter in large skillet over medium heat and saute chicken until no longer pink and juices run clear. In a large saucepan combine ricotta cheese, cream, salt, Parmesan cheese and remaining butter and cook over medium heat until well combined, about 10 minutes. Stir in cooked fetuccini and chicken and simmer until heated through.

Enjoy!

Comment Card

2009-03-23T04:41:00.005-06:00

Not only is a certain busy blogger's birthday coming up (March babies rock!), but we also just celebrated another exciting birthday here at DallasEats...

All this made me wonder - what's your favorite treat on your special day? I love sweets, especially cake of all sorts, but there's not one particular type that's my favorite. Each year, I pick something different, and that's become kind of a tradition in itself. I know many folks, though, who always have one kind or another - and it just wouldn't be their birthday without it! Other friends enjoy a certain savory dish to mark the occasion, either made by a loved one or served at a favorite restaurant.

So, how about you? What's your birthday treat of choice?

Celebrate Spring Today at Whole Foods!

2009-03-20T03:44:00.000-06:00

Whole Foods is celebrating the first day of spring in a

very C&S-friendly fashion!

Stop by the Highland Park store today for a free tasting of 20 wines from 4-7 p.m.*! Yes, that's 20 wines to mark the beginning of patio season and the first blushing buds of the year.

... And while you're at it, stock up on Castillo Guijosa Tempranillo, now on sale at WF for the low-low price of $6.99. This red's a little spicy, a little smoky and just right for a March evening with a bit of chill left in the air. And if you take advantage of the 6-bottle discount, this deal will definitely put a spring in your step.

Have a great weekend!

C&S

* I learned about this event by reading a flyer at WF Highland Park, and I later called them to confirm the details. The Lakewood store will be hosting a similar tasting, but not until April 1st.

A Quick Quiz for Cooks

2009-03-19T05:43:00.005-06:00

Got a pad and pencil handy?

In Monday's Well Column in the New York Times, Tara Parker-Pope presented the findings of an interesting study conducted by Cornell University on the subject of home cooking. The researchers there, after studying hundreds of individuals who are the main shoppers and chefs for their families, isolated five primary categories into which we home cooks fall. Each type has a very different and powerful effect on the eating habits of his or her family.

From the "Methodical" cook who follows recipes to the letter to her adventurous and experimental "Innovative" counterpart, these "personalities" are revealing - if a bit simplistic. I didn't find that I fell into one category exclusively, being the type to exhibit habits and preferences from any of the five (or a combination thereof), depending on which side of the bed I woke up on that day. I did, however, learn that I'd like to be more like one particular category, so now I can make a few changes in that general direction. It's an interesting - and easy - quiz. Click here to see for yourself.

Has Sandra Lee Jumped the Shark?

2009-03-18T04:00:00.006-06:00

We DallasEats girls are equal-opportunity when it comes to cooking shows. Between the two of us, we can find something to like in pretty much any program. That's not to say we don't pick favorites (FP was *this* close to erecting a shrine in Ina Garten's honor, before I pointed out that so many candles in close proximity to all those Barefoot Contessa books might present a fire hazard...), but when cooking is your favorite spectator sport, the Food Network is your oyster. Or something like that.

My love of Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee is a perfect illustration of this philosophy. Over the years, I've developed a fondness for Sandy (that's what her nieces, nephews and devoted fans call her) and her creative, quirky twists on traditional and trendy dishes. For those of you who haven't tuned in to this program, the premise is that Sandra Lee uses "shortcuts" in the form of canned, jarred, frozen or otherwise prepared foods to execute recipes in a quick-and-easy fashion. Her show is aimed at average home cooks, as opposed to amateur Iron Chefs who might experiment with sous vide in their spare time. In addition to fully-coordinated theme menus, her shows also feature cocktail recipes and decorating tips. In fact, that's probably what attracted me in the first place. How can you not love a show that offers up a new cocktail recipe almost every week?

Over the years, I've enjoyed tuning in and soaking up Sandra's concoctions. I've even made a few at home myself - her cake and cookie recipes are especially tempting. When she's veered into Salisbury Steak territory, I've turned my head and hummed a tune, more than willing to allow her a few moments of 50's-era regression in the name of nostalgia. And if a "tablescape" or two struck me as a little on the tacky side (or downright over-the-top), who was I to judge what someone else might deem the perfect theme for their next Bunko night with the girls? Sandy had, after all, cruised with P. Diddy on his yacht, sipping vodka and Red Bulls with one of the coolest guys on the planet. Really. That should count for something, right?

Well, the episode entitled Easy Elegance which aired this past weekend made me take a good hard look at this rationale. The menu it featured was shocking on so many levels, I had to watch it twice to soak it all in. In addition, her table decor and matching outfit crossed the line from cute and kitchy to borderline brothel. And so, in the name of good blogging I've crunched a few numbers to help us all make sense of the shark-jumpage...

Semi-Homemade Cooking - Easy Elegance

Featured Recipes:

Cheddar Cheese Baked Potato Soup

Sauteed Zucchini with Garlic and Herbs

Smothere d Meatloaf

Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding

Maple Shake

The Shocking Totals:

Cans of Soup:

6 (4 condensed, undiluted)

Various Packets:

4 (including, but not limited to, Shake and Bake, Onion Soup and Vanilla Pudding Mix)

Misc. Other Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 1/4 lbs. ground pork

2+ Cans Evaporated Milk

1 Pound Cinnamon Rolls

4 Cups (light!) Butter Pecan Ice Cream

(Paltry) Fresh Vegetable Count:

1 potato

2 zucchinis

Keep in mind that these recipes are meant to be served together as a complete menu for 4-6 people. That's one whole can of prepared soup and 6 oz. of meat per person, just for starters. Yikes! I mean, she's never claimed to be a healthy chef, but this is ridiculous. This episode should have come with a disclaimer for diabetics and those suffering from high blood pressure. The worst part? It looked kinda good to me after watching her show all these years. Sad to say I can't say the same for the show's theme decor - it brought to mind an antique store tea room on acid. I think I'm going to have to re-evaluate my cooking show criteria, and in the meantime, I'll be keeping an eye on Sandy.

C&S

Cookies and Cuteness

2009-03-17T05:54:00.005-06:00

Kids and cookies: They go together like peanut butter and jelly, like Tom and Jerry...like broccoli and ketchup at Eddie G.'s house (!).

Seriously, though, I couldn't resist sharing this picture of my adorable nephew enthusiastically displaying the cookies I baked for him this past weekend. Is there anything so wonderful as watching someone - especially someone so cute - enjoy food that you've made for them with love? I think not.

My go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe has always has been the classic Toll House version. This time, I added rainbow sprinkles for an extra, kid-friendly kick. What's your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe? Care to share?

C&S

Reader Recipe File: Thai Noodle Salad & Wine Punch

2009-03-16T04:00:00.001-06:00

Good Morning!

Today, in the first post of a new series, I'm offering up two delicious recipes from one of our DallasEats regulars who really knows her way around the kitchen. Since FP is going to have her hands full for a while, I figured this was the perfect opportunity to cajole a few of the best home cooks I know into sharing some of their well-kept secrets. Pretty sneaky, huh? We're all cooking at home more these days - well-stocked pantries at the ready - and this series will offer some new and tasty dishes to work into the rotation.

First up is Marcie Thomas, an amazing cook I've known almost all my life. Throughout the years, my family and I have enjoyed many wonderful dinners at the home of this dear friend. When I got married, Marcie surprised me with the gift of a collection of her recipes, and it has held a place of honor in my kitchen ever since. From warm, hearty soups to sweet, sinful desserts, Marcie has a wide-ranging recipe repertoire - including the two all-time favorites she's shared with us today. So, whether you're in the mood to Thai a new salad, or if your happy hour could use a little punch (sorry...couldn't help myself), she's got your bases covered.

Thanks, Marcie!

Thai Noodle Salad

1-8 oz. pkg. vermicelli, cooked and drained

1/3 cup chopped cilantro
2 cloves garlic, minced

1 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
¼ cup fresh lime juice

1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. honey

1 ½ tsp. sesame oil
¼ tsp. sea salt

2 carrots, grated
1 English cucumber, chopped

1 cup shredded cabbage
¼ cup dry roasted peanuts

Process cilantro, garlic, jalapeno, lime juice, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil and salt in a food processor until smooth. Toss together pasta, cilantro dressing, carrots, cukes and cabbage. Sprinkle with peanuts just before serving. Recommended to serve salad immediately but leftovers will keep a day.

Refreshing Wine Punch

2 cups red or rose wine
2 cups cranberry juice (regular or reduced sugar)
1 6-oz. can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed (do not dilute)

Combine in pitcher and chill until serving. Garnish with citrus slices.

Comment Card

2009-03-13T06:07:00.003-06:00

In honor of FoodiePrincess's recent announcement, let's talk cravings - pregnancy-related or otherwise. What's the weirdest, wackiest craving you've ever experienced or heard about through the grapevine?

I'll kick this one off with a doozie: A certain sweet someone I know craved grapefruits with a vengeance while she was expecting, and was even awakened in the night by her intense need for the sweet-and-sour fruit. More than once, she consumed multiple grapefruits in the wee hours and even dreamed about the darned things when she finally got back to sleep!

Wacky, huh? Now it's your turn!

C&S

For Shame!

2009-03-12T05:00:00.003-06:00

WARNING: The following post contains material that may be upsetting to some culinary-minded individuals. Reader caution is advised.

I have a confession to make.

The shocking photo at left is an un-retouched image of my own pantry, taken just days ago in a moment of quiet desperation. I have grown to know and love you all, dear readers, so when I realized I had a problem, I knew I had to come clean...

Things have been pretty hectic lately. What with work, family in town and about a million other things going on, I've not had a lot of time for planning, shopping or cooking - at least not cooking of the creative variety. We've been eating out a lot, and when we're at home, it's all about grab-and-go.

I guess I didn't understand just how dire the situation had become until I was rooting around to see if I had another jar of jam - to slap together the 900th pb&j of the week - and discovered that, no only didn't I have the jam, but I didn't have much of anything else either. The cupboard was basically bare, save for a few spices, some ancient canned goods and a bag and a half of Fritos (I swear those aren't mine...). Oh, the shame! What self-respecting food and wine enthusiast would have allowed things to reach such a desperate low? How did I manage to continually knock eating well at home so far down my priority list that I wound up scavenging for Smucker's in my very own pantry? I'd laugh if it weren't so sad.

I believe I've taken the first step in my recovery by coming clean to you all today. Now the restocking can begin. But where to start? I'm not keen on those pre-made pantry lists put together by the experts - I'd really like to know what you all always keep around. What pantry items do you find the most useful for quick and tasty meals and snacks? What are you never, ever without? Hopefully, with a few good pointers, my pantry and I can soon return to happy, healthy harmony once again.

C&S

FoodiePrincess is a Mom!

2009-03-10T09:02:00.004-06:00

I am excited to announce that yesterday at 6:01 pm, Miller Allen Brant made his entrance into the world. It was a bit of a scary day, as he was about three weeks early, but weighing in at 6 lbs. 4 oz, he is doing great.

Because of this exciting new adventure, I will be taking a maternity leave from the blog for a couple of months. I will definitely miss working with C&S during this time and interacting with our readers. I promise to come back with a vengeance in May, however, and not just with stories about making your own organic baby food or breast vs. bottle.

Thank you to all of you DallasEats readers (and especially to Classy&Sassy, otherwise known as Miller's Aunt Lisa) for your support. This is certainly a new adventure for me and my husband, but we couldn't be more thrilled to be starting it together.

Take Care,

Savor Dallas: A Delicious Diary

2009-03-10T05:39:00.005-06:00

This past weekend was Savor Dallas, our annual two-day, multi-venue food and wine event. Click the link below to read my full report on Saturday's International Grand Tasting, the centerpiece of this wonderful weekend. I had an all-access pass, from behind-the-scenes set-up early in the day to an evening filled with chefs, winemakers and lots of amazing dishes and drinks.

D Magazine's SideDish: International Grand Tasting Diary

Did you attend any of the Savor Dallas events? If so, which? What were your impressions?

C&S

Comment Card

2009-03-06T07:19:00.003-06:00

Mardi Gras has come and gone, and we're now well into the season of Lent. This time of year, to many, is about thought and reflection, beginning with the pledge to abstain from an everyday pleasure as a reminder to focus on faith. Often, this pledge involves a favorite food or beverage - chocolate, wine and red meat are common indulgences given the boot each spring by thousands across the city.

How about you? Have you given up a delicious favorite or daily treat for Lent? Have you managed to stick to the program so far, or is it tougher than you bargained for?

New Feature: Chow Hound!

2009-03-05T07:13:00.003-06:00

Look to the left-hand side of your screen to see

DallasEats' newest feature: Chow Hound!

Each week or so we'll be posting an adorable pic of one of our four-legged fans, beginning today with Vince Young, FoodiePrincess's boisterous brown-eyed boy. Enjoy!

C&S

p.s. Should we feature your Chow Hound in the future? Post a comment and let us know!

Peeps!: March Marshmallow Madness

2009-03-04T08:44:00.000-06:00

It's our favorite time of year again, Peeps!

Though they now come in shapes and colors to compliment just about every holiday, most of us still associate Marshmallow Peeps with the pastel baskets, plastic grass and multi-colored eggs of Easter. Each spring, as the weather turns warmer and tulips come in bloom, these fluffy treats bring a smile to so many faces...and a sadistic smirk to others.

Turning 56 this year, the Peep is more popular than ever, but perhaps in a different sense than Bob Born of the Just Born company envisioned when he brought this unique candy to the masses back in the 1950's. Whereas chocolate bunnies and jelly beans, also traditional at this time of year, have only ever warranted a passing appreciation of their seasonal sweetness (and maybe an ear-biting joke or two), Peeps have inspired art, crafts, recipes and more than a few disturbing experiments*.

What's the fascination? If you have to ask, it's high time you sunk your teeth into one of these sweet, sticky, gratifyingly granular, adorably creepy little marshmallow birds. And while you're savoring the sinful sponginess of it all, click through the list below for the good, the bad and the downright weird in the world of Peeps.

Marshmallow Peeps: The Official Website

This site is chock full of Peep lore, fun facts and info on the full Peep product line.

Washington Post: Peep Show II

37 creative contenders in the Washington Post's second annual Peeps Diorama Contest. Hilarious!

PeepResearch.org

Lest you worry about the little guys, this disclaimer is offered to ease your mind: "Before any testing begins, all Peep subjects are thoroughly examined and sign a disclosure form explaining the potential risks of their volunteer service."

PeepsShow

Original Peep art by David Ottogalli. This site also has free Peep screen savers and wallpaper - sweet!

Video: Three Peeps in a Basket...In a Microwave Oven

Oh, the carnage.

And if you're still curious: Peep Image Google Search (Don't miss the Peeps and Peppers Stir-Fry!)

*My Mother floats Peeps in the toilet every Easter. Really. It's a wonder I turned out as nearly normal as I did.

Top Chef: New York, Finale

2009-03-03T13:00:00.001-06:00

Finale, Part 2 (Otherwise known as the actual Finale)

Finally the field of chefs has been cut down to only three: Stefan, Hosea and Carla. Other than Stefan, probably not an outcome I would have predicted at the beginning of the season. Not that I have anything against Hosea, but he's always seemed kind of middle-of-the-pack to me. And although Carla has been awesome the last several episodes, she started off so weak that there was really no way to see this coming. Yay, Team Carla!

Predictably, the challenge for the final round is rather simple -- cook the best three course meal of your life. I love it. They will be cooking their meals at Commander's Palace, and the dishes will be served head-to-head. They will be free to use any of the ingredients found at Commander's Palace, so I think we can all rest assured that they will be top quality.

And then, of course, twist #1. Because the chefs will have a limited amount of time to prepare their dishes, they will need some assistance. This comes in the form of three ghosts of Top Chef's finale past - Casey (Dallas' own) from Season 3, Marcel from Season 2 and Richard (LOVE HIM) from Season 4. All three came this close to winning their seasons, but all three blew it (especially Richard) in their finale. The chefs draw knives to see who will be paired with who, and Hosea draws first pick. He goes with Richard (I would have too), Stefan takes Marcel with his second pick (now there's an interesting pair), and Carla is left with Casey - although she claims she would have picked her anyway.

I am going to skip ahead here a bit, because I couldn't find a picture to go with twist #2, and I want to include it in the recaps of the chefs' dishes. After getting 2 hours of prep in after the challenge is announced, the chefs return to the kitchen the next morning to find Tom standing there with a big ol' dead alligator. He tells them that they will have to create a fourth dish - an appetizer to be served before dinner. There are three possible proteins - alligator, crab and red fish. Tom produces a king's cake (love it!), and whoever pulls the baby gets to pick who gets what protein. Hosea gets lucky again, and he picks the red fish for himself, the crab for Carla, and of course sticks Stefan with the alligator. Way to poke the bear, Hosea.

Carla decides to base her menu around French comfort food, which sounds like a good plan and right up her alley. She mentions doing her version of a bouillabaisse, and doing a meat-and-potatoes course. Here's where things start to go downhill fast. Casey suggests that Carla sous-vide the steak, since it's so easy. Carla has never tried this technique (Danger!), but agrees to give it a shot. Seriously. On the finale. She decides to try a technique she's NEVER done before. I kiss Carla's chances of winning goodbye at this point.

And from there it only got worse. For her third course, she had decided to do a cheese tart with a marmalade and some other yummy bites. Casey, once again (or at least it appeared on the show) talked her out of her game plan and into doing something outside her comfort zone. Carla takes her suggestion to do a blue cheese souffle (yum), but botches it by putting it in an oven that is too hot. The souffles are curdled and inedible, so she is left with no real third course. Needless to say, the is out of the competition.

Casey, by the way, did not appreciate how she was portrayed in the finale. Check this out...

Hosea calls himself a "flavor junkie" and wants to base his meal around strong flavors. Hmmmm. Isn't that what all food is based around? Flavor? But anyway, his menu does sound pretty darn tasty. For his first course, he's doing a trio of sashimi, which being a fish specialist you would think he would knock out of the park. His second course sounded like the best dish of the evening to me - scallops with foie gras and pain perdu and apple compote. Yes, please.

He decides not to do a dessert course (which Tom totally okay-ed when he announced the challenge) and instead does a venison loin for his third course. I commence drooling again.

So, this is pretty much Stefan's to lose, right? Wrong. Once again this week, Stefan acts only mildly interested in the challenge, and much more interested in being a jerk. I have enjoyed him all season, but this was the first episode for me where his joking and ribbing with the other contestants crossed the line from amusing to douche-y.

But back to the food. For this first course, he commits a major food sin, and chooses to freeze the fish he's using for his halibut and salmon carpaccio. He says this will allow him to slice it thinner, but this seems like a mistake to me too. The whole point of gorgeous, fresh fish is that it hasn't been frozen, right?

His second course sounds much better, and much more classically Stefan: squab with braised red cabbage and schupfnudlen (hand-made noodles that look kind of like spaetzel to me).

For his third course, Stefan does decide to do a dessert, putting together a whole plate full of little bites of ice cream, a banana pop, and some other random stuff. Compared with some of the other desserts he's done on the show, this one just looks kind of busy and fussy, not like something I'm dying to try. We'll see what the judges think.

When it comes down to judging, we get twist #3 - Fabio will be one of the judges! Yay! He is joined by Rocco DiSpirito, Branford Marsalis (who is ADORABLE at the judge's table), a bunch of other random New Orleans chefs, and the usual suspects - Toby, Padma, Gail and Tom.

The appetizer course pretty much seems to be a wash, as they love all of them. Hosea did a corn cake with red fish, Carla did a blue crab soup that sounded kind of Asian-inspired (Casey's influence again?), and Stefan did an alligator soup.

Then it started to get interesting. For the first course, everyone LOVED Carla's bouillabaisse. They said it was totally a "Carla" dish and that they could taste the love. Hosea's dish is deemed beautiful (it was gorgeous on the plate) but under-seasoned and just kind of uninteresting taste-wise. Everyone agrees that Stefan shouldn't have frozen the fish, which left it kind of watery, but that the dish itself was well-executed.

During the second course, Carla started to get smacked down. The sous-vide steak was deemed tough (ouch) and the plate itself overly fussy. Hosea's scallop dish was very good, although Rocco is "tired of foie gras". Gag. Both Gail and Marsalis totally call him on this pretentious posturing, though, which is adorable and hilarious. Everyone LOVES Stefan's dish, which was the best of the round, although Hosea's is a close second.

Poor Carla, by the time the third course rolls around, she is already out of the competition. Poor thing doesn't even have a real dish to put out, and everyone is very disappointed. Stefan's dessert course isn't met with much enthusiasm, with Gail calling the plate something straight out of 1992. Ouch. Some of the judges do give him credit for even offering a dessert, though. Hosea's venison, on the other hand, is a big hit with everyone.

When they get to panel, things get emotional pretty quickly for poor Carla. My heart was just breaking for her when she explained tearfully that she didn't cook "her food" and that's where she got tripped up. Even robot Stefan seemed sad for her and tried to offer her some comfort, which was a nice gesture. But it was clear to everyone - including Carla - that she was out of the running.

What became more clear as judging continued, however, was that everyone pretty much agreed that Hosea had made the best meal of the night. However, Stefan's second course was deemed to be the best overall dish of the night. Would that, paired with his great track record over the course of the season be enough to net him the title of Top Chef?

No. Hosea is named Top Chef, finally beating his season-long nemesis, Stefan. Although I totally think Stefan (and probably Carla) is a better chef than Hosea, it seemed to me that Hosea earned it. That being said, I still felt disappointed at the outcome.

Overall, I think this was kind of a weak season of Top Chef. There just didn't seem to be as much talent in the field as in the past, and I think that really hurt the overall entertainment-factor this season. That fact, paired with the disastrous Hosea/Leah show-mance, put this as my least favorite season of Top Chef ever. However, I still enjoyed it, and I will be there to watch again next season!

Is Malbec The New Merlot?

2009-03-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

The Wall Street Journal wine report linked below is doubly interesting: Not only does it present some startling stats about current wine purchasing trends, but interviewee Howard Silverman also offers up an assertion about Malbec, that hot new red from Argentina.

As proprietor of Howard's Wine Cellar in Chicago, Silverman has witnessed first-hand the recent consumer migration toward lower-priced wines (a trend dubbed "trading down" in the biz), and has apparently spent considerable time and effort seeking out quality bottles that fall into the $10-$20 range. One of his bargain best-sellers is of the aforementioned South American variety, and he explains that these days, Malbec seems to be the "new Merlot". In other words, the delicious crowd-pleaser is here to stay.

WSJ: Fine Wine on a Beer Budget

Enjoy,

C&S

A New Dallas Wine Trail!

2009-02-27T07:16:00.006-06:00

There's a new trail in town...

Just in time for Texas Independence Day (Monday the 2nd - mark your calendar), my special report for D Magazine's SideDish has all the details on a brand new Dallas wine trail!

Read on for more info on a trio of boutique wineries right here in our own back yard, as well as a preview of new art from the Texas Department of Agriculture's Go Texan Wine program. What better way to celebrate this very Texan holiday than by enjoying a glass of our state's finest? Cheers! - C&S

SideDish Report: Texas Indpendence Day

(photo: Benjamin Calais of Calais Winery and Lisa Petty, by Lara Bierner)

Top Chef: New York, Finale Part 1

2009-02-26T07:19:00.002-06:00

Woo hoo! It's finale time! I'm ready for some drama. And as the final four arrived in New Orleans, right away Fabio's mohawk (finally!) started the episode off with a bang. It just wouldn't be a complete season of Top Chef without a mohawk.

When the group met up with Padma for the QuickFire, it was revealed that Emeril Lagasse would be the guest judge for this episode. Clearly, not a big surprise, as he is so closely associated with NOLA. The next announcement, however, was a surprise. The top four would not be competing in the QuickFire. Instead, the last three chefs booted off the show, Jamie (yay!), Jeff (whatever), and Leah (ugh) would compete to get another crack at the Top Chef title.

I was excited, because I was very disappointed to see Jamie go home a couple of weeks ago. I think she's definitely talented enough to be in the top five. However, Jeff and Leah came with their game faces on as well. Jeff especially seemed very confident. The challenge was pretty straight-forward: come up with a dish using one of the signature ingredients of New Orleans, crawfish. YUM! Jeff did something really simple - Crawfish and grits - but it looked pretty tasty. Jamie made a corn cake topped with a poached egg and crawfish cream sauce that looked pretty amazing. She had me at crawfish cream sauce. Leah made gumbo, even though she admitted she'd never made it before. Seemed like a weird decision to me.

Apparently, Jeff's grits must have been pretty unbelievable, because Emeril fell all over himself complimenting him as he named him the winner. Jeff was awarded Emeril's new cookbook (yawn) and was informed that in order to make it to the finale (part 2) he would have to win the Elimination Challenge. Whoa. Good luck with that.

So what would this elimination challenge entail? Well, the chefs are taken to the place where they hold the floats for the Krewe of Orpheus that participate in the Mardi Gras parade. They were then told that later that night they would be catering the Orpheus Masquerade Ball at the New Orleans Museum of Art. The chefs would be required to make two dishes and a cocktail to feed (and water) 100 hungry guests. To up the pressure, there would be not be just one chef eliminated at the end of the challenge - there would be two.

The winner of the challenge will also receive a Toyota Venza! I've never heard of one/seen one before, but the chefs seem pretty psyched about the opportunity.

Don't the judges look cute in their masquerade outfits? I thought so. But back to the kitchen...Carla decides to make an Oyster Stew and a beignet with shrimp and andouille sausage. Yes, please. I will have both. As her drink, she chooses to go with a non-alcoholic option, a cranberry and lime spritzer, as she isn't a drinker. I respect this decision, but I am worried about how it will effect her, as I have grown to like her so much. She also freaked me out with the oyster shucking, but thank goodness that ended up working out okay.

Hosea goes with a duck, sausage and chicken gumbo - which he has apparently been working on perfecting at home - as well as a pecan-crusted catfish dish. He sounded pretty knowledgeable when talking about the gumbo, but his second dish seemed a little boring. His drink, on the other hand, sounded pretty tasty, if overly trendy. He made a blood orange and pomegranate hurricane. Are there any two ingredients that are getting as much hype these days? I think not.

Fabio decided to go above and beyond and make three dishes: a rabbit maque choux (pronounced "mock shoe" according to wikipedia) served with grits, a crawfish and crab pasta dish (sounds very Pappadeaux) and a muffaletta bread (yum). For the record, maque choux is a dish of corn, peppers, tomatoes and onions simmered together in a broth (thank you again, wikipedia). His drink is a bell pepper martini. Not sure what to make of that, but at least it's somewhat original.

Jeff made a pot de creme with crawfish and a fried oyster with sausage. The oyster didn't look like much, but the pot de creme looked pretty freakin' tasty. And his drink (a cucumber mojito) looked even better.

Stefan, who treated the whole challenge with a rather disinterested attitude, also made a gumbo, although his featured rabbit and duck. He didn't seem to have the gumbo chops of Hosea, but knowing Stefan, it was probably pretty tasty anyway. He also made an apple beignet and a black cherry rum cocktail. The rest of the chefs were unimpressed with his attitude, and I started to get the feeling that although his food sounded pretty good, his 'tude might get him tossed.

Once the judges started going around doing their tastings, it became pretty clear that all of the chefs really brought their a-game to this challenge (well, except maybe Stefan). Everyone had at least one dish that blew the socks off the judges (well, again, except maybe Stefan), but there was no, "ew, this is terrible" dish.

The top dishes seemed to be Carla's stew and her beignet (yay, team Carla!), Jeff's cucumber mojito and his oyster (must have been better than it seemed like it would be), Hosea's gumbo, and Fabio's maque choux. Stefan's food was universally agreed to be 'pretty good', but nobody seemed blown away by any of it.

Once again this week, Carla was named the winner! Where has she been all season? She's been totally kick-ass lately, and I am really starting to think she could win this thing. Hosea is also declared safe.

Unfortunately for Jeff, who did quite well in this challenge, he was automatically eliminated because he didn't win. It was really too bad, because he did seem to perform very well. And his cucumber mojito looked scrumptious.

Sadly, the two men of Team Europe found themselves on the bottom this week. Stefan was rapped pretty hard for phoning it in this week, and Fabio was dinged for some relatively minor quibbles about his food along the lines of, "I wish it had just had a little more spice."

I have to say - I think that Fabio was robbed this week. During the tastings, it seemed like people enjoyed his food much more than Stefan's, but I think Stefan's overall performance must have carried him through once again. A finale without Stefan wouldn't have seemed right, but at the same time, he did clearly try to coast this week. Oh well, we'll see what happens when he takes on Hosea and Carla in the finale. I can't wait!

Cost-Conscious Cocktails

2009-02-25T09:30:00.006-06:00

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Here's a little something to get you over the hump:

My pal Annie Potasznik over at NBC DFW has compiled a convenient list of local happy hour specials for our after-work enjoyment. Featuring choice hangs in the Uptown, Knox/Henderson, Downtown and Oak Cliff neighborhoods, this list begs to be printed out and tucked in your wallet for easy-access the next time you're in the mood for a tasty bargain beverage. Cheers!

C&S

Want Greener Restaurants? Speak Up or Write It Down...

2009-02-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

It never fails to irk me: Each time I order soup to-go from my favorite lunch spot, I wind up kicking myself on the way back out the door for, once again, forgetting to request that I be spared the dozen or so extra napkins and the plastic utensil packets in my bag. Back at home, I attempt to reuse what's reusable, but let's face it - most of it just winds up tossed away.

Though I sometimes remember this eco-friendly caveat to my order, it never occurred to me that maybe the restaurant should take it upon itself to ask diners if they require all that extra stuff in the first place. When this idea finally dawned on me, I had something of a green a-ha moment, as Oprah might say. Next time I head to my soup spot, I'll be filling out a comment card or two.

The folks at Ideal Bite think that we should all take it upon ourselves to ask for what we want in the way of greener practices at our favorite restaurants by filling out a comment card, writing a letter or just speaking up the next time we dine out. One of IB's daily emails last week highlighted a few of their favorite recommendations:

- Recycling

- Serving water only upon request

- Using local, organic ingredients were possible

- Stocking biodegradable takeout utensils and containers

- Opting for green cleaning products

- Installing motion detectors in bathrooms so lights don't stay on 24-7

- Offering waste cooking oil to local biodiesel drivers

I love this list, and I think my eco-piphany of asking take-out customers whether or not they require napkins and utensils (or even bags, for that matter) is a good addition. Thanks, Ideal Bite. Here's to speaking up or writing it down the next time you eat out!

Comment Card

2009-02-23T05:00:00.000-06:00

Speaking of breakfast, are you an a.m. eater, or does the morning meal totally turn you off? Has it always been that way, or do you go through phases?

We DallasEats girls are both breakfast devotees, but we're always curious to hear other folks' thoughts on the subject. Also, for all of you in the strictly coffee category, is there one special dish that will bring you to the table in spite of your aversion?

Tom Colicchio Doesn't Eat "Healthy"

2009-02-19T07:46:00.007-06:00

In an in terview posted on the New York Times' Well Blog today, celebrity chef and restaurateur Tom Colicchio shares some interesting opinions about how kids should eat and how parents should be cooking.

The Top Chef head honcho will participate in a panel discussion on family eating this weekend at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, along with the likes of Rachael Ray, South Beach diet founder Dr. Arthur Agatston and cookbook author and famous significant other, Jessica Seinfeld. Even though I have no little ones of my own (unless you count dust bunnies), I found his comments on this subject enlightening and refreshingly off-the-cuff. For instance, when questioned about whether restaurants are doing their fair share when it comes to promoting healthy eating, Colicchio quipped, "What chefs can do when it comes to getting the word out is have people understand food differently. If food is well sourced and well prepared, I don’t think the word healthy needs to be brought into it. ...I’m not worried if I’m using four different cheeses and it’s high in fat. It’s real food. That’s what’s more important."

I wholeheartedly agree. Between this and his recent life-saving heroics, Mr. C's stock has gone way up in my book. Click here to read the interview in its entirety.

C&S

Top Chef: New York, Episode 12

2009-02-18T10:42:00.019-06:00

The Last Supper

After last week's shocking elimination of Jamie, this week's Top Chef set us up for a pretty interesting ride. With Stefan as the obvious favorite to make it to the finals, it seems to me that the other four (with the possible exception of Carla) are pretty evenly matched. They each have talent, but they also all have their faults. I thought Carla would likely be booted this week, with Leah and Fabio being next on my list of possible boot-ees.

As soon as I saw Wylie Dufresne, I figured the challenge would be all about molecular gastronomy. He's been on the show before, and is apparently quite the big-wig in the field. However, when they talked about the challenge, those words were never mentioned. Wiley simply spoke of his love of eggs, and the chefs were then instructed to come up with an egg dish that would "surprise and delight" Wiley.

The chefs went about this in very different ways. Stefan did something that looked incredibly cool, making a panna cotta with a mango puree inside that looked exactly like a soft-boiled egg when you cut it open. That blew my hair back a little bit, I must admit. Hosea did a sushi roll, but instead of wrapping it in seaweed, he wrapped it in a thin sheet of egg white. It looked cool, but it didn't sound particularly tasty. Leah made a fancy quail egg thing that involved bacon hollandaise (I'll take it), but didn't seem particularly inventive. Fabio did an over-wrought three component dish that was very dessert-like, but didn't impress like Stefan's dish.

And then there was Carla. She admitted up front that she didn't know jack about molecular gastronomy, so she was going to go completely the other way and just try to do something clever. What she came up with was green eggs (eggs with spinach) and ham with a salsa verde. I thought that idea was a little hackneyed, but I guess it must have been quite tasty, because she was named the winner. No, seriously, she was. I thought for sure that Stefan had it in the bag, but I guess Wiley was hypnotized by Carla's crazy eyes or something.

And then it was time to talk Elimination Challenge. Padma had the chefs draw knives, and they were each paired with a famous chef. They were then told that they would be cooking these chefs their "last meal" and that they had all selected their favorite dish. The match-ups were as follows:

Carla: Jacques Pepin, roast squab and fresh peas (I actually have never tried squab, and I know this is totally ugly American of me, but pigeon? Ew.)
Fabio: Lidia Bastianich, roast chicken with potatoes and a leafy salad (Seriously? Salad for your last meal?)
Stefan: Marcus Samuelsson, roasted salmon with spinach (How very Nordic of him to pick Salmon)
Hosea: Susan Ungaro, shrimp scampi and tomato provencale (My favorite pick. Yum.)
Leah: Wiley Dufresne, eggs Benedict (Pretty darn good choice too.)

Okay, I have to admit, Carla is growing on me. She was so cute and excited that she's be cooking for Jacques Pepin. I believe she referred to them as "two peas in a pod" because they both like pees. Then she cracked herself up. Adorable, even if she looks like a cross between Sideshow Bob and Beaker from the muppets (in a good way). Once again, I assumed erroneously that Carla would have trouble with her dish. She knocked it out of the park again, and although her squab was a little over-cooked to some (not at all to others) everyone agreed that her peas were the best dish of the night. Seriously, how good must these peas have been to get that kind of praise?

Hosea went out on a limb a bit by not doing a traditional shrimp scampi and tomato provencale. I think this was actually smart of him, because it didn't allow the judges to compare it to "the way they would have made it". They could only compare it to whether or not he executed what he was trying to do.

Leah seemed kind of scattered in the kitchen (as usual), and the judges were fairly unimpressed with her dish. The main complaint was that the egg was pretty watery (gross) and that the hollandaise was too runny. Dufresne was also offended that she added a salad to his meal. Now that's a man after my own heart.

Stefan scared me this week in the kitchen by proclaiming that he could "make this dish in his sleep." Uh oh. When chefs start bragging like that, it's never a good sign. He also mentions that since he didn't know how Chef Samuelsson would like his spinach, he would serve the salmon both with cream and without. Huh? When it was served to the judges, the feedback was not good at all. The salmon was apparently over-cooked, and the spinach was pretty boring. Yikes. I am sweating a little now after what happened to Jamie last week.

Fabio had a major mishap in the kitchen, breaking his finger (ow!) while preparing his meal. He had to finish with his hand all taped up awkwardly, and you just felt terrible for the guy. Of course, he handled it with his usual good humor - I heart this guy. And I was so excited when his dish was served and he got such high praise for his chicken and potatoes, even though the judges pretty much hated his salad. Since that was such a small component, I figured he's still be okay.

Not only was Fabio okay this week, he was named the winner - I believe for the first time. Yay! Carla was pretty much declared "second place" and they both left the judges room jumping up and down and getting super-excited.

I honestly thought for awhile that Stefan would go home (there was basically nothing about the dish that people liked, other than the "flavors" that Tom Colicchio kept mentioning), but fortunately, Leah's dish must have sucked just enough for them to justify sending her home instead. Thank goodness. A finale without Stefan would have seemed cheap. I was glad Leah was sent home. She has definitely worn out her welcome with me, in case you hadn't figured that out already :)

So the final four headed to New Orleans for the finale are: Hosea, Carla, Fabio and Stefan. Clearly, I think Stefan is the favorite, but what do you all think? Does anyone else even stand a chance?

Esquire Mag's Ode to the Most Important Meal

2009-02-17T08:33:00.010-06:00

In case you had trouble getting past the Clive Owen cover of this month's Esquire Magazine (not saying that I personally had a problem...), here's recommending you go ahead and flip to page 107 and drink in the heady food porn that is Esquire's All-You-Can-Eat Breakfast.

Beginning with a drool-inducing photo of Banana Bread French Toast dripping in vanilla bean infused maple syrup and capped with a quivering crown of lemon sour cream, this special section proceeds to persuade the reader through essays, recipes and restaurant listings of the absolute indispensability of the modern American morning meal. Divided into two parts - dining in and dining out - you'll first enjoy eight pages of how-to's from chefs around the country interspersed with witticisms and observations on the subject at hand. A case in point, from Scott Raab's Love, Or Scrambled Eggs: "Breakfast is breakfast. No metaphor, no symbol - save maybe in the sense that any social custom mirrors every other social custom, which is to say that either everything is a metaphor or symbol, or that nothing, especially not so fine and free a thing as breakfast, is. Breakfast is too good to screw it up with meaning." And that, my friends, is why I love Esquire.

Also contained in the first section is a recipe for Jalepeno and Ancho Oatmeal from Chef Edward Lee of 610 Magnolia in Louisville. Combining such divergent ingredients as dried cherries, Hungarian paprika, coconut milk and (you guessed it) jalepeno peppers, it may just be the most peculiar recipe I've ever read. The photo of another offering, Pulled Baby-Back Ribs Benedict from Chef Raymond Chen of the Inn at West View Farm in Dorset, Vermont, actually forced me to lay my head between my legs and count slowly to ten, lest I faint from overwhelming desire. (Sorry, Clive.)

The dining out section that follows provides an "unranked, incomplete, and unimpeachable list of the best breakfasts across America." I'm sorry to report that Dallas is not represented, however the list makes for great reading nonetheless. Who knew that Minneapolis loves a little bison-sausage bread in the morning? Waffle House also gets a shout-out in this second half, and New Orleans is named "America's Best Breakfast City". Anyone who has ever felt a beignet from Cafe du Monde melt on his tongue under a hot blanket of cafe au lait will absolutely agree with that honor.

And that's not the half of it - I've only scratched the surface here, people. Pick up a copy for yourself, and while you're at it, help me come up with a few North Texas suggestions for the next time around: Where's the best breakfast in the Metroplex?

C&S

Curious Cookbooks Part II: Shalom Y'all!

2009-02-16T11:00:00.000-06:00

Another trip to the East Coast by a group of loved ones netted me another curious little cookbook last week - yay! This one is entitled Shalom Y'all, and was compiled by the Congregation Mickve Israel of Savannah, Georgia. While it doesn't involve such exotic dishes as the last one, this book is quite tempting in its own special way...

Mickve Israel, a reformed congregation, was founded in 1733 by 42 original members, just months after the Colony of Georgia was established. In 1876, a beautiful synagogue was built to accommodate the growing community, flanked by two giant palms in grand Georgia style. A pen and ink drawing of the Mickve Israel temple graces the cover of this cookbook, and it is still their home to this day.

After reading the recipes, notes and narratives in Shalom Y'all (it tickles me to type that!), I am left with the impression that this a warm and adventurous group that enjoys celebrating the food of cultures near and far. This passage from the introduction says it all: "Our Sephardic, Italian and Indian Sabbath dinners, complete with appropriate musical accompaniment at services that follow, highlight Jewish ethnic traditions around the world. Our annual food festival featuring homemade chopped liver, blintzes, chicken soup with matzo balls, apple strudel, and Rabbi Belzer's Ah-Mein Lo-Mein offer to the community at large a glimpse of our culinary talents and love of food."

This book has a little something for everyone, whether your childhood memories revolve around matzo balls and potato pancakes or chicken spaghetti and pecan pie. (Or both, like me.) Here are a couple of my favorite recipes from Shalom Y'all, dog-eared for future kitchen adventures.

Chicken Country Captain

The lineage of this beloved Southern dish was explored in a recent article in the New York Times. This version looks like a classic.

1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 fryer, cut in pieces

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium green pepper, chopped

1/4 cup cooking oil

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tsp. curry powder

1/2 tsp. thyme

16 oz. can Italian tomatoes

2 tbsp. raisins

2 tbsp. toasted slivered almonds

3 cups hot cooked rice

Mix flour and half of salt and pepper in a paper bag. Toss chicken pieces in the bag to coat with the seasoned flour. Heat oil in skillet and when hot, brown chicken pieces until brown on all sides, removing chicken to platter. Then add onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic, sauteeing until tender. Add remaining spices and tomatoes. Bring to boil. Return chicken pieces to the sauce, reduce heat and simmer, covered, about 30 minutes. Serve over hot rice, sprinkling with raisins and almonds. Serves 4.

Charoses

I found the recipe for this Passover dish in the "Holiday and Traditional" section, along with such favorites as Chocolate Coconut Macaroons, Lox Spread and (gasp!) Gefilte Fish.

2 boxes dates (pitted)

2 cups almonds (or pecans)

4-5 tbsp. sweet Passover wine or grape or apple juice

3/4 box raisins

3/4 bag coconut

cinnamon (to taste)

3-4 apples (peeled)

Put everything through a meat grinder. Add more apples and wine to sweeten.

Vegetable Chopped Liver

And because no spiral-bound community cookbook seems complete without a few oddball recipes, I had to include this contradictory dip.

3 tbsp. oil

1 onion, minced

1 lb. mushrooms, finely chopped

2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped

1/2 cup walnuts, minced

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil and brown onions, until glazed. Set aside. In pan, add mushrooms and walnuts and brown. Add to onions, along with chopped eggs and salt and pepper. Mix well and serve with crackers or matzo.

Friday Digest: Restaurants, Reading and News

2009-02-13T05:51:00.020-06:00

For the past few weeks, I've been in full exploration mode, both at home and out-and-about. So many new restaurants to visit, so many subjects to explore! Here's a small sampling from my recent culinary adventures, as well as some recommended reading and an exciting announcement:

Tasting Notes

The following are first impressions of a few restaurants visited during the past couple of weeks - no reviews, just quick bites. Have you been? If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts as well!

Kozy

4433 McKinney Ave., Dallas

214-219-5044

I'd heard raves about this tiny spot, serving chef-driven plates marked by creative flavor combinations and fresh, often local, ingredients. I popped in with a friend around noon on a Saturday to find the place humming but thankfully not jam-packed. We settled into a booth and perused the menu; both breakfast and lunch were available. After a brief confab with our mohawked waiter, I selected the Kozy Salad with Salmon and my date went with the grass-fed beef (I believe) tacos.

My salad was generous, studded with berries and slivers of green apple. Topped with a glistening, marbled salmon filet, cooked to medium as per my request, it was both refreshing and satisfying. A small cup of balsamic vinaigrette on the side was perfection. The tacos were also proclaimed a "hit", but to my eye, that plate was lacking. Two tacos and a little guacamole for a double-digit price tag? I was assured that they were more than filling, however, and to be fair, meat of that quality costs a pretty penny. Also, my friend commented that he was actually pleased to be spared the usual carb-a-rific plate-fillers. In the end, we were both happy campers, save a few hiccups in service. I'll definitely be heading back to Kozy soon.

Vietnam

4302 Bryan St., Dallas

214-821-4542

Last Monday's episode of No Reservations left me with a mad pho craving, so when my pops called to see if I had lunch plans the next day, I was quick to suggest we visit a spot that I'd been meaning to try for some time. A friend had recommended Vietnam ages ago, and I was sure they'd have something to satisfy the soup monkey on my back. Sure enough, Vietnam has a full menu of traditional pho variations, as well as an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet on weekdays. Dad opted for the buffet (natch), and I selected the pho with beef. In fact, the menu had a wide array of dishes to choose from, including traditional spring rolls and entrees, in addition to soups.

While I slurped and crunched and sipped my way through my steaming bowl of pho, Dad paraded a seemingly endless array of colorful dishes across the table in front of me. He proclaimed most of them "good" and a few of them "great", with just a couple ranking in the "eh" division. My pho was also a solid "good", featuring full-flavored broth and a generous tangle of tender rice noodles. Requisite garnishes of bean sprouts, cilantro, basil and lime were fresh and plentiful. I can't say much for the atmosphere at Vietnam, but it seems to be a very popular spot for a quick and affordable lunch. I'll keep it on my list for the next time a pho craving strikes.

Black Friar Pub

2621 McKinney Ave., Dallas

214-953-0599

A friend tipped me off to this new bar from the owner of the Idle Rich, and even if I hadn't known ahead of time, I would have figured out the connection to its sibling across the street shortly after walking through the door. Black Friar's menu of beers and bites and those famous cheese boards is just about the same as you'll find at Idle Rich (or The Old Monk, for that matter), and the pub-type atmosphere also felt familiar. The after-work crowd on our visit was friendly, and the beers were nice and cold, but the service left much to be desired.

After attempting to flag down one of several waitresses for a quarter of an hour, we gave up and trekked to the bar for our first round. The second round ended up being self-service, too, but someone eventually wandered our direction after we tried to order food from the bartender. In the waitresses' defense, it was a busy night, and I'm sure the exercise did us good. At any rate, we had a great time and the tab was nice and tiny.

Enrich Your Mind

Salt: A World History

by Mark Kurlansky

"A salt is a small but perfect thing."

Salt built the Great Wall of China, and paved the way to the American West. It was the driving force behind the first of the famed Roman roads and an indispensable element in the sacred Egyptian process of mummification. Prized as an aphrodisiac and an explosive, a preservative and a palliative, salt has been and always will be a crucial commodity to civilizations around the world. This fascinating book details salt's role in the rise and fall of empires and its uses in chemistry, medicine, warfare and, of course, cookery, throughout recorded time. I was shocked to learn the extent to which salt - making it, storing it, trading it and using it - has shaped our world. This book is a great read for food lovers and history buffs alike!

In The News

And, finally, we have an announcement to make:

DallasEats has been named one of the top food blogs in the city by Where The Locals Eat, a guide to the best restaurants in the country. We're honored to be featured on this national site, along with news, recommendations and other tasty tidbits. Thanks a million, and we promise to keep up the good work!

Comment Card

2009-02-12T07:42:00.012-06:00

Just in time for everyone's favorite chocolate-covered holiday, we've got a very sweet question for all of you:

If you were a candy in the famous Whitman's Sampler,

which one would you be?

Caramel? Coconut? Strawberry Nougat? Or do you think that See's Candies or Godiva is more indicative of your own personal style? Here's a link to get you started, but when it comes to this Comment Card, let your sweet tooth lead the way!

Top Chef: New York, Episode 11

2009-02-11T12:24:00.014-06:00

Le Bernardin

I was so excited about this episode, because I absolutely love Eric Ripert. Every time I've ever seen him on TV or read any of his interviews, he always comes off as super-humble and nice. I also was lucky enough to have the opportunity to eat at one of his restaurants, Blue, when I was in Grand Cayman last year, and let me tell you, it was one of the most memorable meals of my life. Seafood heaven.

So, after a lame quickfire last week, we got a doozy this week. Since Ripert is a seafood chef, the challenge was a fish filleting tournament. Yikes. Hosea is both nervous and excited, since - as he has mentioned about 1,000 times this season - he is a seafood chef. The first fish is a sardine. Yikes. So tiny, so many bones. Carla knows she is screwed from the get-go, and won't even show Ripert her fish. He is obviously amused, which was pretty cute. Jamie also got the boot in this first round. Leah pouts and talks about what a horrible job she did (like she does on every QuickFire) but then is named as the best in round one. Hosea, Stefan, and Fabio also advance to round 2.

The fish in round 2 is an arctic char. Pretty different from the sardines, as they are pretty ginormous. Hosea takes this round, and is pretty proud of himself. Leah pouts again about how she's doing such an awful job, only this time she just freakin' quits in the middle of the challenge and refuses to do her second fillet. She is officially my least favorite contestant this season. What a chump. Stefan also advances and Fabio is eliminated. Darn. Anytime we can get Fabio screen time, I am happy.

In the third round, they upped the 'ick' factor significantly an gave the contestants "recently killed" eels to fillet. Apparently nobody told the eels they were dead, because they were squirming and squiggling around all over the place. GROSS. Apparently Stefan is an eel master, and it is clear that he has this round in the bag from the beginning when he grabs the eels and nails its head to the cutting board. No I am not kidding. he then peels it like a banana and fillets it in what seems like about 30 seconds. Hosea, on the other hand, basically just has to watch Stefan and copy what he does. To his credit, it looks like he did a pretty decent job for his first time working with eel. To Stefan's credit, he totally kicked Hosea's ass and won the QuickFire, once again earning "a significant advantage in the elimination challenge".

The next day, the chefs are invited by Chef Ripert to have a six-course lunch. Hmmmm, interesting, six courses...six contestants...I wonder if there's a connection there. Anyway, the food looks rockin' and deceptively simple. Jamie says something totally obnoxious about how she isn't inspired by this kind of food, and even though I usually like her, this sounds so bratty that I pretty much want to slap her. At that point, I start to get worried about her, because they seem to be focusing on her a lot in this episode.

After lunch, Padma tells the contestants that they will be recreating the six dishes that they sampled at lunch. Stefan gets to choose his dish, as a reward for winning the QuickFire. He chooses the Baked Lobster with Asparagus and Hollandaise Sauce, which does appear to be the easiest dish (and also looks so good that I want to eat my TV - but that might just be because I'm 8 months pregnant).

The other chefs draw knives, and their fates are revealed to be:

Carla: Oil Poached Escolar with Potato Chips in a Bearnaise Sauce
Hosea: Spiced Monk Fish with Black Garlic
Jamie: Sauteed Black Bass and Braised Celery with Serrano Ham Peppercorn Sauce
Fabio: Sourdough Encrusted Red Snapper with Tomato Basil Consomme
Leah: Baked Mahi-Mahi with Miso and Matsutake Mushroom Sauce

Once the chefs get in the kitchen, it became pretty clear that this was not an easy challenge. Other than Stefan, who basically sailed through preparing his dish (the only issue was that the hollandaise was a little thick), and Carla, who apparently is a classically trained French chef (huh?), the contestants really struggled. The good news for the chefs was that before they prepared their final dish to serve to the judges, they would have a chance to do a trial run for Chef Ripert who would give them a short critique.

Hosea was totally unfamiliar with the spice used in his dish, and apparently used way too much of it, according to Chef Ripert. Fabio had too much crust on his fish, but the flavors were spot on and the fish itself was well-cooked. Leah's dish was a mess, apparently. She couldn't figure out how the sauce was made, so apparently she mixed the miso with butter, which Chef Ripert said was all wrong. Poor Jamie was so in the weeds that she didn't even have time to get a dish together for Chef Ripert to taste. Apparently she hates celery, and had never braised it before, and was really struggling with the concept. Doesn't seem like it would be that difficult, but she was hating it.

At the judges table, Stefan, Carla (two weeks in a row!), and Fabio were the top three. I thought Carla should have won (never thought I would be saying those words), since her dish seemed to be much harder, and she pretty much nailed it, but they named Stefan the winner instead. His price was pretty bad ass - not only did he win Chef Ripert's new book, he also got a chance to work with him in his kitchen and accompany him to a food and wine festival. Not too shabby.

The bottom three were Hosea, Leah and Jamie. Hosea's monkfish didn't have time to rest, so the texture was off. His spicing was also still too strong. He quickly admitted he knew the fish needed to rest but just didn't have time, and it was pretty clear that he wasn't really in trouble. Leah, on the other hand, did not impress the judges at all with her half-hearted explanations and total lack of understanding of the dish. I am so ready to see her go already, but I guess it wasn't in the cards this week, although Colicchio did give her a talking to about quitting during the QuickFire.

Unfortunately, Jamie was the chef to get the boot this week. I guess she totally over-salted the celery in her dish to the point of it being almost inedible. What a shame, because I think she was definitely one of the most talented contestants on the show this year. I would have sent Leah home over her in a heartbeat, as at least Jamie seemed to understand what she did wrong, but alas, I am not the one making these decisions.

Nero d'Avola: So Tasty, So Trendy

2009-02-11T09:47:00.004-06:00

In today's New York Times, wine sage Eric Asimov highlights a Nero d'Avola blend in his article on value wines from Italy. The trend continues! I can't wait to try Cerasuolo di Vittoria, in which the frappato grape keeps my current crush company.

Asimov recommends two producers in particular: Pithos ($40 - this one gets filed under "Special Occasion") and Valle dell'Acate (a steal at $16). Click here for more Nero picks from Natalie MacLean and here for a full profile of this Sicilian sipper, along with a few of my own personal faves. Enjoy!

C&S

Quickie Quote: Bittman Bites Back

2009-02-10T10:23:00.007-06:00

This month's Body + Soul Magazine features a mini-interview with Mark Bittman, everyone's favorite Minimalist. Below is a thought-provoking quote from that piece. I highly recommend picking up the March issue of Body + Soul to read the rest - along with lots of other good-for-you stuff. It also inspired me to look into Bittman's latest book, Food Matters...

"The real danger to our bodies and our planet, in terms of poisoning the earth and global warming, is the industrial raising of meat and fish. Do I think eating a bowl of pasta is a crime against humanity? No. Do I think eating half a pound of meat a day is? Yes."

- Mark Bittman in Body + Soul Magazine, March 2009

A Valentine Treat from Aneita Fern

2009-02-09T11:27:00.009-06:00

Aneita Fern is offering a limited edition pack of sinfully sweet recipe cards just in time for Valentine's Day!

Head up to Dallas' oasis of Arts and Crafs tranquility this week to pick up a few of these adorable cards for yourself - they're sure to come in handy. Thanks to Cupid, we're all in the mood for something sweet right about now, and chalky candy hearts just aren't gonna cut it!

In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I'm partial to the winning recipe for James Beard brownies, submitted by none other than my own sweet Mom. I guarantee it's one of the best brownie recipes you'll ever bake.

Happy Valentine's Day - Here's hoping it's an extra sweet one!

C&S

Top Chef: New York, Episode 10

2009-02-08T18:10:00.029-06:00

Due to a busy week at home and at work last week, I was a bad, bad blogger and missed my usual Top Chef post. That means that this week you'll get two Top Chef posts from me. Hope you're hungry!

Episode 10: Super Bowl Chef Showdown

Shockingly, this episode was kicked off with a QuickFire that was product placement-tastic. The Chefs were asked to create a dish with either nuts and grains (Carla), poultry (Jeff), meat (Hosea), fruits (Leah), seafood (Jamie), dairy (Stefan) or veggies (Fabio). The catch was that they had to use oats - Quaker Oats! - in the dish as well. Yawn. I'm not going to get into too much detail, as this QuickFire was pretty lame and I have a lot to cover in this post. Basically, pretty much every chef used the oats in the same way, as a crust of some sort for their dish. Some turned out better than others, and Stefan was declared the winner with his banana mousse with oat sugar crisp (yum).

The Elimination Challenge on this episode was much more interesting. The Chefs were each given a city that corresponded with an NFL franchise and told that they would have to create a dish that could be cooked in twenty minutes (yikes!) from a mystery basket full of ingredients associated with each city. Sound confusing? I'm not even done yet. The chefs then had to battle with a Top Chef All Star from a past season to see who could come up with the best dish. The match-ups were as follows:

Dallas Cowboys: Stefan and Andrea, Season 1 (Stefan got to choose his city and competitor because he won the QuickFire)
New Orleans: Carla vs. Andrew, Season 4 (speaker of my favorite Top Chef line of all time - "I've got a culinary boner right now.")
Miami Dolphins: Jeff vs. Josie, Season 2 (and owner of one of the most famous faux-hawks in Top Chef history)
Seattle: Hosea vs. Miguel, Season 1
Green Bay: Fabio vs. Spike, Season 4 (I was never impressed with Spike, and always found him decidedly creepy)
New York: Leah vs. Nikki, Season 4
San Francisco: Jamie vs. Camille, Season 3

We could certainly have a lively debate about whether or not these are truly "All Stars", but that is really neither here nor there. Stefan clearly didn't respect Andrea when he picked her, which made it even greater when she beat his Euro-ass in the challenge. What about salad said "Dallas" to Stefan? Not sure, but he was pretty clearly not taking the whole thing very seriously and it burned him.

I thought Hosea's dish, a crispy salmon roll with ginger blackberry sauce, sounded and looked really yummy. Carla's gumbo also looked tasty, and I was certainly impressed that she made a freakin' gumbo in 20 minutes.

In the biggest surprise of the week, Carla won the challenge. I thought for sure she was done for this week (and still think she is the weakest chef on the show), but I guess her gumbo was really as good as it looked.

On the not-so-good side, Fabio lost his challenge with his venison, which was apparently quite overcooked. I believe it was Tom who said something to the effect of, "It was already dead, you didn't have to kill it." Jeff's ceviche-off with Josie was also unsuccessful, and he whined like a big baby when he lost because, "ceviche isn't supposed to be hot." Well, pretty sure it's not supposed to be cooked either, buddy, but that didn't stop you.

The bottom three were Stefan, Fabio and Jeff, the three chefs who lost their match-ups. I was terrified that Fabio would be sent home (oh, how I love him), but instead it was pretty-boy Jeff. I can't say I will miss him, but I will miss giggling every time his title as "Executive Chef at Dilido Beach Club" comes up on the bottom of the screen.

NBC DFW's Around Town

2009-02-07T07:54:00.005-06:00

Did you know there's a new source for dining news you can use here in Dallas/Fort Worth?

Check out NBC DFW's Around Town site for info on openings, closings, special events and more. Recent features include a face-off between two North Texas barbeque favorites, a tip on where to find top-notch Tex-Mex treats and a budget-friendly cooking lesson from a pair of local chefs. Yum.

New articles and videos are posted every day, and Around Town can also be seen throughout the week on the NBC 5 news (Hi, Annie!) - so be sure and set the TiVo. What a delicious addition to the Dallas dining scene!

C&S

I See Hummus in Your Future...

2009-02-05T11:51:00.013-06:00

This week's Appetite for Instruction features a delectable hummus recipe from Cosmic Cafe. I can personally attest that it is one of the best versions of this classic Mediterranean dish that you'll ever dip a pita in - thanks to not one but two secret ingredients.

Cosmic Cafe is an Oak Lawn institution, decorated in colorful murals and exotic statues (the fellow above watches over the parking lot). Owner Praveen Sachdev reports that his hummus is one of the restaurant's most popular plates, and he took his sweet time coming up with the perfect palate-pleasing formula. A full menu of vegetarian delights is also available, including samosas, quesadillas, tacos and more.

The shaded patio at Cosmic Cafe is one of my favorite spots for rest and relaxation, and now you can enjoy a taste of that nirvana in the comfort of your own home. Enjoy!

Quick Poll: Destination Dining

2009-02-05T06:21:00.008-06:00

While flipping through the latest issue of Rachael Ray Magazine (uh-huh, I read it - but I've already confessed), I came upon a very interesting stat. In a recent survey of some 13,000 of their readers, 40% reported that their vacations "revolve around food". Wow.

Being the hungry little thing that I am, it should come as no surprise that any time I leave home - for a week or for the day - I've spent a considerable amount of time mapping out where I might find some local, adventurous or just downright delicious bites to eat. But up until now, I thought this peculiar quirk was relatively rare, shared only by the most obsessive of my fellow foodie friends. Guess not.

I will hereby no longer feel even a little embarrassed when asking to divert several miles off the tourist trail to sample a regional delight (Natchitoches Meat Pie, anyone?). And I won't even blink when suggesting a hotel based solely on the chocolates that it places on your pillow. So there. From here on out, I'm a proud 40-percenter!

Now, what about you? Do you fall into this category of galavanting gourmets? When did you last take a vacation, and did it "revolve around food"? If so, how?

C&S

More Fun With Bacon!

2009-02-02T06:45:00.008-06:00

While we're on the subject of bacon (along with everyone else it seems), a friend emailed me with a delicious blast-from-the-past yesterday and it seemed like the perfect time to share it with all of you...

The following is a recipe we've enjoyed at this friend's house over the years - in fact, these lip-smacking sticks are probably why we were always among the first to arrive at her gatherings! They're the kind of cocktail nibble that disappears fast and will keep people talking long after the party is over. And they're just about as easy as can be. So break out the bacon (again) people, 'cause you're gonna want to make these little beauties tonight!

Karen's Bitchin' Bacon Breadsticks*

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Wrap thinly sliced bacon around grissini (those long, skinny, crunchy Italian breadsticks).

3. Combine 1/3 cup dark brown sugar and 3 tablespoons chili powder in a long, shallow dish. Roll bacon-wrapped breadsticks in this sugar mixture.

4. Place breadsticks on a broiler pan 1/2 inch apart and bake for about 20 minutes. (Karen's note: "Careful - I noticed they tend to jump around in the oven as they cook!")

Enjoy (and make extra)!

*This is not the recipe's original name. I think Karen once told me that it came from the Sweet Potato Queens, but don't quote me on that. - C&S

Rusty's Grass Finished Beef

2009-01-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

An email from DailyCandy last Friday piqued our curiosity in a way that no shoe sale or new lipgloss ever could...

The message in question touted the products of a company called Rusty's Grass Finished Beef based in East Texas. Specializing in pasture-raised, grass-fed beef and lamb, the company believes in creating a "stress free and holistic environment" for its animals. This careful handling makes for a healthier, and likely tastier, end product.

Now, you know that we here at DallasEats will seldom recommend a product that hasn't passed over our own two (um, make that four) lips, but this company sounds like a real gem. And after reading about this on Tuesday, we're even more interested in finding local, independent sources of meat. Why haven't we heard of Rusty's before? Who knows... But we're glad to have finally found it, and our Beef Sampler Pack is on the way. (By the way, Rusty himself called to confirm my order after I placed it online, and he is just as sweet as he can be! - C&S)

Check out the website for more info on Rusty's Grass Finished Beef, and to peruse a menu of their steaks and roasts and sausages and such - all of which can be delivered right to your door.

C&S

Super Bowl Munchies!

2009-01-29T07:20:00.012-06:00

What's hot and crunchy, packs a spicy punch

and will disappear before half time?

...Give up?

It's Susie Buck's Texas Rumaki (a.k.a. Jack's Bites), and you can learn how to make this easy crowd-pleaser in today's Appetite for Instruction on the Dallas Observer's City of Ate blog. Susie, chef and co-owner of Jack's Backyard in Oak Cliff, is a pro when it comes to giving hungry, fun-loving guests exactly what they crave. I had the pleasure of visiting with her earlier this week, and she provided step-by-step instructions for putting together this popular appetizer at home.

Read all about Susie's Texas Rumaki today and your guests will thank you Sunday. Take my word for it - bacon never had it so good.

C&S