Restaurants

No More Blues

By Dave Faries 

When the inaugural Savor Dallas event wrapped up last February, Jim White and co-founder Vicki Briley-White declared the thing successful. After all, some 4,000 people showed up for a two-day bender, along with dozens of local restaurants and hundreds of wineries. Yet glitches occurred: A registration area staffed by volunteers bogged down, and the wealth of seminars (27 in one day) overwhelmed guests. For the second go-round, they've boosted the registration system, hired an outside vendor to handle online ticket sales and scheduled a more manageable educational program. Celebrity wine babe Andrea Immer will attend, along with nationally recognized chefs. Oh, according to White, Savor Dallas also booked saxophone legend David Sanborn for a "Bubbles & Jazz" party at the Wyndham Anatole. They plan to limit seating for the concert, which will follow an award ceremony featuring "some names you know" (White's way of being coy), to 1,200 or 1,400. Jerry Thompson, the new event coordinator for Savor Dallas, secured the Grammy winner and a possible "surprise guest" (more annoying coyness). Otherwise, Savor Dallas remains a celebration of food, wine and spirits, a chance to sample 500 bottles and dine at 50 or so restaurants in one gluttonous weekend. The event starts Thursday, February 16, with mix-and-mingle fetes in the African American Museum and Latino Cultural Center. Sanborn and other stuff happens Friday, including the Arts District wine stroll, which eventually devolves into more of a wine stagger. Saturday's festivities begin with a bunch of hungover attendees slumped in various seminars, followed by the massive Grand Tasting and a bit of drunken revelry known as the Texas Outlaws Party. Damn, the Whites know how to stage a throw-down (although he refers to it as an "opportunity to showcase Dallas"). For tickets check out www.savordallas.com. .

Fishing: Chef Joel Harloff of Landmark Restaurant in the Melrose Hotel brings classic British pub fare to the Library Bar every Friday, meaning fried fish and handmade chips. Now all the place needs is a bit of crumpet-packing Bristols... Martini Ranch is celebrating its "11th" anniversary with $3 drinks until December 19...The second Wine Around--four chefs, one meal, a lot of wine--finds its way to Iris on Sunday, October 23...Thanks to mother nature, the North Texas Food Bank expects to distribute seven million pounds of canned goods and other ingredients in November and December. Last year they divvied out a mere three million pounds. Want to help? Drop off spare nonperishable food items at any Dallas fire station.