Culinary Institute of America

Patrick Stark is Dallas' Most Rock and Roll Chef

He's played music in front of 25,000 people, opening for Styx, and cooked for folks like Johnny Winter, Butthole Surfers (we don't even wanna know what they ordered), ZZ Top and more recently, as part of his sweet new gig as the head cuisine honcho at Sundown at Granada, actor Will Ferrell. He also ... More >>

Sundown Chef Patrick Stark Talks Sourcing Locally and Scorching Hot Pans

Originally from Akron, Ohio, Patrick Stark, chef at Sundown at Granada, enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America fresh out of high school at 17 years of age, partially because he just wanted the get the hell outta town. He's worked throughout the United States, a few spots in Europe and had a t ... More >>

Chef Tre Wilcox on Masks, March Madness and the Perks of Being a Private Chef

Walking towards the back of Marquee to interview Tre Wilcox, I spot him having a rather intense conversation with a guy in a suit about the menu. I grab a seat in a plush booth and wait. No more than a minute later he starts to walk over, but gets interrupted twice by two other employees with just a ... More >>

Komali Chef Anastacia Quinones on the Allure of Victor Tango's, the Mulato Chili and More

Anastacia Quiñones is just one week into her new job as chef at the modern Mexican cuisine spot Komali. The Dallas native attended the Culinary Institute of America in New York, then fell in love with San Francisco after just several hours visiting. After working there for a few years, she returned ... More >>

Oak Chef Jason Maddy on Starting at McDonald's, Tiny New York Kitchens, and More

Jason Maddy is the executive chef at the recently opened Oak in the Design District. Maddy grew up in Austin and, after attending culinary school in New York, worked at David Bouley's Danube, then the Driskill in Austin. A few years ago he was recruited by John Tesar to work at the Mansion, where he ... More >>

Top Chef: Texas Cost Taxpayers $200K More Than First Reported, Thanks to San Antonio

​We've been telling you since the summer about the estimated $400,000 the Texas governor's office agreed to pay the producers in exchange for them promoting the state's brand in the ongoing, Texas-centric season of Top Chef. Last we checked in, the producers, a California company called Magica ... More >>

Top Chef: Texas Claims Some More Public Money, This Time for a Slick Tourism Web Site

​We're still waiting to see whether a judge thinks we're entitled to more details on how the producers of Top Chef will spend the estimated $400,000-plus the state paid to see its brand integrated into the show, which the show has thus far accomplished with lots of boots, Texas flags, and dish ... More >>

Katherine Clapner, the Woman Behind Dude, Sweet, On Life as a Chocolatier

​Each week we meet a new local chef in our Three-Course Meal series. This week, Katherine Clapner, the woman responsible for making us crazy for Dude, Sweet Chocolate, explains how she paved her way to her little shop in Oak Cliff, which recently was named Best Devil's Advocate and Best Chocol ... More >>

Granada Theater Takes Over M Street Bar, Introduces New "Sundown at Granada" Concept

Meet Sundown at Granada.​More interesting venue news to pass along this week: The Granada Theater this afternoon has announced that it will be taking over the adjacent-to-the-theater 3520 Greenville Avenue address, most recently the home of M Street Bar, to launch a new neighborhood beer garden an ... More >>

Three Years After Ike, the Shrimp and Fish are Still Frying on Galveston

Lauren Drewes DanielsGaidos, the grandaddy of Galveston seafood restaurants, was spared the brunt of Ike and keeps dishing out the shrimp.​After the hurricane of 1900 annihilated what was then the bustling market center of Galveston, residents vowed to rebuild and never allow another such cata ... More >>

Jennie Kelley's Different Kind of Spree

FoxPolyphonic Spree member Jennie Kelley competes on MasterChef.​Jennie Kelley may possess no more or less an unusual background as preparation for being one of the latest contestants to face the kitchen fire of notable British hothead, Gordon Ramsay on his second season of the MasterChef seri ... More >>

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 >>

Culinary Institute of America Bakery: It's What's Cooking in San Antonio

There's a new and affordable way for interested eaters to experience the Culinary Institute of America's San Antonio campus. The school's bakery, its first retail operation, was tentatively scheduled to open this week - although staffers were still experimenting with how to best position pastries i ... More >>

Nana's Anthony C. Bombaci on Life in Spain,
TV Unreality and Family Life in the Kitchen

Anthony C. Bombaci​Anthony C. Bombaci, executive chef at Nana, was quiet at the beginning of our conversation, perhaps even a little guarded. That's not entirely uncommon when a chef speaks to the press, but once the conversation moved to the many years he spent living and cooking in Spain and ... More >>

New Culinary Textbook Tells Chefs to Put the Flavor and Some of the Fat Back in Nutrition

​While a new culinary nutrition textbook is geared toward chefs working in professional kitchens, a co-author says the book's advice would be equally appropriate for amateurs charting new diet plans for 2011. "Moderation and variety is the key," says Cathy Powers, a former Culinary Institute ... More >>

Tre Wilcox: Loft 610's Master of Discipline
On Food, Fame and the Future

Courtesy of Tre Wilcox and Loft 610Tre Wilcox​I was worried when I first arrived at Loft 610. Chef Tre Wilcox, 37, was running late for our interview, and when he arrived he was distracted, looking toward the open kitchen with each question, which he would think about carefully before answerin ... More >>

What the Dead Eat: A Día de los Muertos
Party Menu

​Halloween is so passé. It's nothing more than Christmas, a commercial boon for cheap decorations, terrible eats and overdone getup far removed from its cultural and religious foundations. What people, especially those with an unending love for Mexican food, should celebrate is Día de los Muerto ... More >>

Scott Romano: Going Whole Hog
At a Downtown Jewel

Photo by Robert BostickScott Romano​Since the Observer recently named Charlie Palmer at The Joule the city's Best Fancy Restaurant in this year's Best of Dallas issue, we thought now would be a good time to get a look at the man behind the kitchen, executive chef Scott Romano. Like many of th ... More >>

Taco Cabana Commemorates National Taco Day with Street Taco--Wait, Isn't Every Day National Taco Day?

​In the last few years, the taco has become a mad scientist's laboratory. Many well-intentioned Vincent Prices -- whether from south of the border or homegrown -- have sought to elevate the taco, fusing it with disparate parts. Their experiments are to be commended; the masses that have dipped ... More >>

Joel Harloff Will Helm the Reborn Green Room in Deep Ellum

​Joel Harloff, who headed the kitchen at Dali until the popular One Arts Plaza wine bar closed last week, has been named executive chef of The Green Room in Deep Ellum. "Joel was on our wish list, but not necessarily our short list," managing partner Taylor Allday says in a release announcing ... More >>

I Think I'm Cooking Japanese

Appetite For Instruction: Blackened Trout With Linguine

Recipe Demonstrated by Chef Peter Gray of Cretia's on McKinney ​Cretia's on McKinney, the bistro-slash-bakery-slash-live music venue, reopened in March after a nine-month hiatus to, um, refresh and regroup. In addition to moving just up the road to the former Tijuana Bar and Grill location, a b ... More >>

10 Questions: James Tidwell Of Four Seasons

He was the 100th American wine professional to earn the title of Master Sommelier, but that's not the only thing Tidwell can be proud of.After graduating from LSU with a degree in international trade and finance, this son of a small town preacher set off for culinary school at the prestigious Culina ... More >>

10 Questions: Samir Dhurandhar

Nick & Sam's celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Ten years of prime beef, pan-seared foie gras and such, all cooked under the direction of an Indian chef.Dhurandhar has been cooking pretty much all his life. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and apprenticed in New York b ... More >>

10 Questions: Jim Severson

Before he opened Sevy's Grill back in 1997, Severson had already piled up 23 years of food service experience...probably not counting his time at McDonald's as a teenager.The Michigan native studied at the famous Culinary Institute of America and worked several kitchens before earning a local follow ... More >>

10 Questions: Tyler Florence

After 14 years on the Food Network and a small shelf full of cookbooks bearing his name, Florence is a true celebrity chef. But now he makes baby food. Yes, the man People called the "sexiest chef alive," host of Food 911, How to Boil Water and now Tyler's Ultimate recently started a line of or ... More >>

10 Questions: Joel Harloff

He cooked professionally for six years in Milwaukee before finally taking a break...to study at the Culinary Institute of America.Harloff then headed a string of highly rated restaurants in Wisconsin before heading south. Since arriving in Dallas just over a decade ago, he's developed quite a legacy ... More >>

Toque-less

Saltwater Willy's embraces a chef-free concept

Chill Out

Lanny's Things

Lanny's offers "high eating"

Some Sommelier

Brian Smith uncorks wine wisdom

Hitting the Mark

Visit the Landmark and give credit where it's due

Sex in the Kitchen

Why are most chefs male?

Kitchen Prism

Food is art at Mirabelle

Skipping School

Top chefs can spend 30 grand on school or just work their way up

Hash Over

Greenville Ave. Bar & Sewer; Slave! gets lost in the translation

Monument to an ego

Why is multimillionaire Scott Ginsburg building one of the world's most expensive restaurants in Dallas? Because he can.

Thin line between love and hate

Cork is a promising wine bar that's plugged its excitement for the drink

Food play

Nana Grill's new chef toys with compelling flavors

Hash Over

Slipping and sliding

Enjoy the skaters, avoid the food at Pearl Street Bistro

Grub at earth's end

A stop at The Classic Cafe means eating well where the highway ends

Cooking Up a Storm

Temperamental Dallas chef Avner Samuel is a genius in the kitchen, but he may have burned the one thing that matters most--his bridges

Taking a stand

Rebellious Chef Danielle Custer creates a risky menu for Laurels

Hot Dish

Flip-ing out

Many things to many people, Flip's remains one of a kind