Brian Luscher

Balls, Boobz, and Potatoes: The Cheap Bastard's Iron Fork Recap

Last night at Iron Fork, a bunch of hipster food people got together and ate food at each other while wearing fashion clothes at the Dallas Contemporary. It was fun. See also: - The 11 Best Bites from the Dallas Observer Iron Fork 2013 - The People and The Food of Iron Fork 2013 I heard it was a ... More >>

White Rock Local Market Features Two Chef Demos This Weekend

I've been talking to a lot of farmers market types as of late. A recent interview with Tyler Horne, who's responsible for a small family of markets in Houston, illuminated the issue of the farmers market tourist. Sure, lots of us go to the markets on the weekends and pick up a coffee and croissant. ... More >>

Burning Questions for Pecan Lodge's Husband and Wife Duo, Justin and Diane Fourton

Each week (or thereabout) we ask a local chef three burning questions about his or her favorite culinary reads, food shames and best (or worst) meals. This week, we hear from Boss Lady and Pitmaster, Diane and Justin Fourton of Pecan Lodge. 1. What are your three favorite cookbooks? The Tex-Mex Co ... More >>

North Texas Taco Festival Books Top Shelf Taquerias and Some Notable Toques

Last year taco blogger José Ralat-Maldonado announced his plans to host a pretty sizable taco party. This morning he released more details about the event, and things are starting to look good. Taquerias serving up tacos at the event include El Tizoncito, Velvet Taco, Rusty Taco, Revolver Taco Lou ... More >>

BREAKING: Restaurant People Love Crossing Their Arms in Photos

Dallas chefs and restaurant owners looooove crossing their arms in photos. We should make it stop. It's the most important change that needs to happen in our restaurant scene. Seriously. Evidence:

There's a New Tumblr Devoted Entirely to Top Chef John Tesar's Eyeglasses

If you've been watching Top Chef you've probably noticed John Tesar's quirky habit of perching is thick-rimmed glasses on his inquisitively wrinkled forehead. What you might not have noticed is the look may quickly become what is the dorkiest Internet meme I've seen in some time. Local chefs (and ... More >>

Presenting: The Winners of Meat Fight 2012 (And Incredible Meat Photos)

Sunday, at Sons of Hermann Hall, it was every carnivores' dream Meat Prom. Purple, sparkling pigs, each wearing tiny party hats, sat on top of tables and glittered gold letters on standing signs indicated where myriad animal parts would be served. This was the scene at Meat Fight. In case you miss ... More >>

Hypnotic Donuts Has Pigs in Blanket Now. With Brian Luscher's Red Hots.

Brian Luscher's hot dog business has taken one more step towards tube steak empire. Hypnotic Donuts just announced it will be featuring Luscher's links at the shop, wrapped in biscuit dough sprinkled with poppy seeds and topped with a pickled serrano chile. Luscher has been quietly expanding the ca ... More >>

Bowery's Hot Dogs Lack Snap And Personality

I have a lot of respect for Brian Luscher's hot dog project primarily because I know first hand how difficult it is to make hand-crafted links. Hot dogs are an emulsified sausage with a significant amount of fat. That means the ground meat and fat are whipped until they resemble a pink toothpaste be ... More >>

The Cheap Bastard Is Throwing A Party, So Brian Luscher Took A Leak On Cane Rosso

Last November when I was a newly branded food critic, running around Dallas trying to figure out who had the best chips and salsa, Alice Laussade sent me an invite to a backyard barbecue. She called it meat fight, and while no punches were thrown, a fierce battle ensued as amateur barbecue enthusias ... More >>

Brian Luscher's Playin' With Tube Steaks At White Rock Lake Market

Soon, there will be another player in the Dallas sausage market. Brian Luscher is headed to White Rock Local Market every other weekend to peddle "South of Chicago" style red hots. The wieners will be available to purchase after they spend some time intimate time in Ms. Verna, Luscher's popular trai ... More >>

Houston-Based Becks Prime Drops Their Massive Burgers on Preston

Forest Lane has a new burger place. Becks Prime opened last week promising fresh, fast, burgers, steaks and sandwiches. The Houston based fast food chain with 13 locations, comes endorsed by the same Texas Monthly list that honored Brian Luscher with the greatest burger in Texas. How does Becks st ... More >>

Chef Brian Luscher of The Grape on the Kansas Beef Council's Bus Tour

Recently Sara Blakenship reported that chef Brian Luscher was embarking on summer camp tryst with the Kansas Beef Council. As proprietor and chef of The Grape on Greenville Avenue, undisputed burger master and barbecue pro, what better person to represent Texas out on the ranch? So, with permissio ... More >>

The Grape's Brian Luscher to Represent Texas at the 2012 Pasture To Plate

The Grape's owner and undisputed burger master Brian Luscher bid farewell to the Big D on Sunday, his eyes set on Wichita, Kansas. Luscher will represent the Texas Beef Council at the 2012 Kansas Beef Council's Pasture to Plate Tour, where he will tour multiple production lines and farms to learn ab ... More >>

How Dallas Chefs Grill: The Tools, the Meat and the Techniques

We tracked down a few Dallas chefs to get a little insight on how a Memorial Day cookout in their backyard might look, taste and smell. From grills and smokers to favorite cuts of meat, plus some tips for the novice, let their words serve as inspiration as grilling season officially begins this week ... More >>

Here's All The Crazy Food of The Box in One Place

The Box, if you haven't been following along, is the Cheap Bastard's brainchild, wherein chefs turn a box full o' crap and turn it into foodstuffs. Between Brian C. Luscher's weird-ass terrine of spam and quail eggs and the twinkie crowning inside a banana with homemade nutella, we've gotten some pr ... More >>

Dallas Restaurateurs Debate Whether a Cell Phone Ban Could Work, and How

A comment in my story a while back about phone stacking caught my attention. "In Japan they have 'No Phone Areas' in restaurants, bars and even the subway," Wagner Gui Tronolone wrote. "I think it's awesome!" It does sound sort of awesome. Sometimes a cell phone feels like a leash. At the other end ... More >>

Stuff Strangers' Chili in Your Face for the Benefit of White Rock Local Market This Weekend

As we've mentioned before, the White Rock Local Market is a great place to buy local produce from local farmers, which might sound locally redundant but unfortunately it isn't always. This community-inspired market is held the second and fourth Saturdays at the Green Spot, at 702 North Buckner Blvd. ... More >>

How Dallas Restaurants Manage Social Media

That restaurants are using social media to get their message out is nothing new. As soon as any business owner realizes that networks like Facebook and Twitter provide an outlet and advertising at a low cost -- only the man hours it takes to set up a feed and gather and interact with followers and f ... More >>

The State of Dallas Dining, As Told By Its Chefs

Starring Stephan Pyles, John Tesar, Katherine Clapner, Kent Rathbun, Teiichi Sakurai and a dozen other local chefs.

The Most Amazing Thing Stephan Pyles Ever Ate

FacebookStephan Pyles: Founding Father of Southwestern Cuisine, Eater of Grubs​Chefs for Farmers, a Dallas based group who celebrate small, local farms, is having some fun on their facebook page to promote their annual event.They asked Brian Luscher from the Grape to come up with a random ques ... More >>

We Gave The Grape's Brian Luscher a Big Box of Crap and He Made Us a Quail Egg Terrine

The Box. Note the baby food. Yum.​We all know that Dallas chefs are great at cheffing. So we thought it might be fun to give them a chance to show off their chef creativity and skills with a new challenge we'll be calling "The Box." Once a month or so, we'll invite a new lucky soul to attempt ... More >>

Eater Readers Think Jonathon Erdeljac is Dallas' Best Chef. Eater Editors, Not So Much.

Flickr​Andrea Grimes, former City of Ater and current editor of Eater Dallas, announced Eater Dallas' Award winners yesterday, to the chagrin of many commenters on the site. A series of blog posts -- used to determined Dallas winners in categories including Restaurant of the Year, So Hot Right ... More >>

Oh, Bacon Snap: The 2011 State Fair of Texas Bacon and Eggs Contest

Alice Laussade2011 Bacon and Eggs contest at the State Fair of Texas. Idea: Let's put all that stuff in my face.​Yesterday I had the honor of judging at the 2011 State Fair of Texas Bacon and Eggs contest. Yeah, be so jealous. There were six categories for competition: bacon appetizer, bacon e ... More >>

The Grape is Stuck in the Past, Right Where it Belongs

Compared to modern bistros, The Grape's menu and dining room seem dated. That's why it works so well.

How A Burger Took Over The Grape's Brunch

​Yesterday I wrote that scorecards aren't any fun for restaurant critics. They can be useful in certain applications, though, like comparing many versions of the same thing over time. Judges at food competitions use them. And it was a scorecard designed by Texas Monthly that forever changed di ... More >>

In-N-Out Vs. Whataburger: A Petty Patty Smackdown

In the beef between Whataburger and In-N-Out fans, you win by not playing.

Danyele McPherson Named as Sous Chef at The Grape Restaurant

Reservations just got more difficult to acquire at The Grape, chef/owner Brian C. Luscher's wine bistro, as Danyele McPherson was named sous chef today. McPherson is late of Stephan Pyles, where she began as line cook and worked her way up dice by dice to sous chef. She was educated at the Culinary ... More >>

Dine At The Grape Tomorrow Night After The Observer's Iron Fork

​After you get a taste of competition at the Observer's Iron Fork tomorrow night, make your way to The Grape(2808 Greenville Ave.) for this month's installment of the Come-As-You-Are dinner series. Tomorrow's dinner features boutique wines from Spain, selected by Sommelier and co-owner Courtn ... More >>

Dine in Delight

Where To Find Sharon Hage Tonight

Well, it certainly looks tasty.​If you're planning on staying at home tonight because, well, you just don't go out on Tuesdays, you might want to reconsider because Culpepper Steak House in Rockwall is hosting a white truffle dinner at 7 p.m. We can hear the groans already -- another truffle ... More >>

Brian Luscher Reaches for the Duck Fat: A Recipe for Pork Rilletes

​Today Brian Luscher takes us into his kitchen at The Grape where he shows us how to make a pate-like dish that originates from the Indre-et-Loire department of France (the same region where Rosewood Mansion chef Bruno Davaillon hails from). The meat is traditionally cooked for long periods ... More >>

Brian Luscher: Nice Guys Can Cook

Robert Bostick​The Grape is celebrating its 38th anniversary this month, which makes it the perfect time to chat with chef and owner Brian Luscher. When the restaurant's previous owners, Kathy McDaniel and Charlotte Parker, decided to give up the Dallas institution, they tapped their former e ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes: Cheese and Charcuterie Plate at The Grape

Photo by Jenny Block​As a countdown to the Dallas Observer's "Best of Dallas" 2010, City of Ate is serving up 100 of the favorite dishes we crave, savor and hope to scarf down again soon. These dishes are in no particular order. Some are little known, others celebrated. Some are pricey, others ... More >>

Appetite for Instruction: Fromage Blanc and Strawberry Confiture from The Grape

Photos by Sarah Johnson ​Fromage Blanc and Strawberry Confiture Demonstrated by Brian Luscher of The Grape You might know The Grape from its Texas Monthly fame for having the number one burger in Texas (which caused its burger sales to skyrocket, of course). Maybe you know the bistro from attendi ... More >>

The Souper Bowl

New Year's Noms

New Year's Noms

Mini Burger Backlash: The Big Ol' Mound Of Meat On A Bun Returns

The Grape's newly famous burger.​Much to our delight, the mini-burger craze has hit a bump in the road. Hey, don't get us wrong--we've got nothing against two-biters. They're cute and small and often even feature fancy meats. It's just the "s-word" that grosses us out. But whatever you wanna ca ... More >>

Burger Party At A Wine Bar? If Nothing Else, The Grape Has a More Effective Happy Meal.

All photos by Patrick MichelsThis month's "it" burger.​Since finding themselves smack at the top of Texas Monthly's "50 Best Burgers in Texas" list, ahead of local favorites like Adair's, Angry Dog, The Porch, etc., etc., things have been a little different at The Grape.To honor their top-ranked b ... More >>

Two Restaurants Score Big This Week

Chef Brian Luscher, one of the big winners.​Ah, bragging rights. Everyone wants to claim them, over your brother, a co-worker, the guy you battle for a parking space every morning. Now two Dallas restaurants hold them over the entire city.Nana was just inducted into the Nation's Restaurant News 2 ... More >>

Fashion Statements

Good God...Brian Luscher (The Grape) in a cowboy hat with pinstriped apron and Brooks Anderson (Veritas wine bar) in a camel jacket. Notify Tom Ford. Wait, scratch that. Maybe Edsel Ford?Chef Luscher won the sixth annual steak cook-off in Hico. That's his belt buckle in the case. 

Appetite For Instruction: Moules Frites-Part 2

Demonstrated by Brian Luscher and Karin Porter of The Grape Despite their reputation as the ultimate fast food, truly great French fries actually take some time. And they're worth it. Anyone who's gummed a gooey stick of the typical Dallas restaurant potato mush could tell you that. Thing is, wh ... More >>

Appetite For Instruction: Moules Frites-Part 1

Demonstrated by Chef Brian Luscher of The Grape "How do we improve on an institution?" That's a question Brian Luscher asks himself a lot these days. It's been almost two years since he and his wife Courtney took ownership of The Grape, a cozy bistro on lower Greenville Avenue that's been wining ... More >>

Short Orders: The Grape

The Grape2808 Greenville Ave.214-828-1981If not for The Grape, Dallas would have a small empty space in its culinary soul.Yeah, we'd have some cool wine bars with great kitchens--Dali comes to mind. We would even have a compliment of venues with old world charm, however contrived. But nothing el ... More >>

Tinsel Town Toppings

Tristan Simon expands his empire

Grape Juice

Tryst Of Fate

Are chefs very superstitious?

Innards and Outs

Which is more revolting: haggis, scrapple or head cheese?

Hash Over