What Comes Around

When flooding of near-biblical proportions (Reader's Digest edition) smote Dallas a couple weeks ago, it washed out the third stop of Wine Around. The unique dinner tour involves chefs from Nana, Iris, Mercy and Taste. Each scheduled event pairs a particular varietal with courses prepared by each restaurant. Good idea, until Mother Nature intervenes. Aaron Gross of Taste, host of the waterlogged event, realized dinner plans were in trouble when chef Anthony Bombaci of Nana couldn't reach his kitchen to pick up ingredients for the evening. Now, a mere 9 inches of rain fell on the city, but 5 of that poured into Iris--knocking them out of action, as well. So Gross shut things down. Too bad no one bothered to inform Mercy's Schuyler Snowden. The petite chef paddled south only to find locked doors. It took her two hours and change to make it back to Addison. "It's still a sore point," she said two days later. As for Iris, owner Susie Priore closed on Monday for "major wet-vac action," followed by an afternoon of steam cleaning and a spell of dehumidification. "We had a gorgeous day on Monday so we could open doors," she reports. "Had electricity, water, food, wine, tequila--it could have been much worse." Wine Around number three, featuring four different Cabernet Francs, has been rescheduled for Sunday, April 2, at Taste. Expect Snowden to work off her frustration before the 7 p.m. start time. That's 6 p.m. for those who forget to adjust their clock.

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Goodbye to all that: Bar hoppers in Las Colinas, know two things. First of all, those guys in the corner giving you the eye, well, they're undercover KGB, um, TABC agents. More important, over the last many years you could count on stellar drinks and unflappable service from Cool River's bar manager Jack Freysinger. But the guy who worked alongside (and even trained) many of Tristan Simon's stars has had enough. For some reason he believes dragging himself home at 4 a.m. every day is detrimental to family life. April 13 will be his last behind the hook-shaped pick-up bar. He's abandoning service and hightailing it to another state. In his place: Steven Delano, formerly of Sullivan's. Delano plans to bring a couple of steak house exes with him. As he explains, "It will take two to replace Jack."

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Round and round: Speaking of wine, Nicola's Max Heidenreich is in the process of bringing--gasp--culture to Plano. His idea? An upscale wine and jazz fest centered in the Shops at Legacy development sometime next year...Speaking of the Good Book, surely kobe burgers at Snookie's is a sign of the apocalypse, as is bottomless mimosas on Easter at Dragonfly.