Opening this past weekend, Okianos, the Mediterranean seafood restaurant on Belt Line Road in Addison, emerged as SoHo Food, Drink & Jazz following extensive remodeling begun in early October. Chris Finch, former sous chef of Chamberlain's Prime Chop House, has gripped SoHo's kitchen helm, creating a mid- to upscale seafood menu steeped in Italian and Asian influences. The restaurant will also squeeze live jazz into its modest dining-room space. This transformation comes on the heels of a couple of ownership and spelling changes (it was Okeanos under famed chef Avner Samuel) the place has endured in its 17 months of existence.
Mixed hash
Fish Executive Chef Chris Svalesen says he's sewed up sponsorships for his latest project, Fish TV, a 26-episode cooking series to debut on the TV Food Channel in February. Taped at the 900-square-foot demonstration kitchen at Sur la Table, the new upscale cookware store adjacent to Sipango, the show will feature audience participation plus regular visits from celebrity chefs such as Robert Del Grande of Cafe Annie in Houston and Jim Severson of Sevy's. Radio personality Jim White, host of the KRLD Restaurant Show, is producing the series...Also trolling among the finny tribe is chef Dan O'Leary, former Mansion executive sous chef, who cut loose from his latest foray at Bon Vivant Market this past New Year's Eve to launch a new restaurant. O' Leary says Fishbone Seafood Market & Grill will open in Inwood Village sometime this April after he embarks on exploratory jaunts on both coasts gathering ideas to tighten his menu. The 100-seat restaurant and retail fish market was spawned by O'Leary and Eddie Cervantes of Primo's Bar & Grill.
List watch
Poised to slap European wine imports with a 100 percent tariff if the European Union didn't peel away restrictions on banana imports from Latin America [Hash, December 3], the Clinton administration opted to exclude wine from the targeted list of EU products...I've never been a fan of wines rendered from organic processes--they often taste more like ripe laundry than fruit. But Fetzer Vineyards has recently created a few clean, respectable wines with its Bonterra label. The 1997 Bonterra Viognier is as bright and crisp as it is flush with floral aromas and rich, durable spicy peach and apricot flavors--a sure cure for Chardonnay doldrums. Find this wine on the list at the Green Room.
--Mark Stuertz
E-mail Dish at [email protected].
