Subject: Dave Faries

• NASCAR: A Yankee Pastime

  April 11, 2006

• Seriously, Just How Long's the Commute from Grapevine to Prague?

  May 27, 2008

• How ‘Bout Them Knockers: Angelo & Vito's

  November 3, 2008

• Hash Over: Bolsa's Farmer's Market, Free Wine, and a Guy Called Mike

  November 4, 2008

• Hash Over: Brothers To Expand, Brother's Shuts Down And Other Tidbits

  November 11, 2008

• Pairing Off: Microwave Popcorn

  November 12, 2008

• Hash Over: Big Cheese, Beer Breath and Other Stuff

  November 12, 2008

• Burning Question: Which Ingredients Do Chefs Hate To Work With?

  How would you like to slice into these everyday? Lobsters are easy. We mean that in a culinary sense. Bind up the pincers, drop them in water and commence to melting some butter. Likewise steak: a dash of salt, another of pepper and a crackling grill—that’s all there is to it, pretty much. In fact, when you think about it, some of our most account draining meals require about as much effort as Waffle House hash browns, maybe even less. Yep, chefs love surf and turf. But which ingredient

  November 14, 2008

• From the Any—And I Mean Any—Excuse To Party Department

  November 17, 2008

• Pairing Off: Turkey TV Dinners

  Photo: Patrick Michels There are, essentially, two rules to Thanksgiving—well, three if you include football: turkey and lots of it. Of course, not everyone makes it to the big family gathering. Police and firefighters must remain on duty, truck drivers and…um…others, may find themselves stuck with a TV dinner and a bottle of, well, whatever goes with microwave turkey.

  November 19, 2008

• Hash Over: Pappas Alumni Return And A Cougar Hunter Branches Out

  The old Rick Stein's, soon to be the new Tre Amici. Every so often the planets slip completely out of alignment and all kinds of improbable things occur. Just yesterday, for example, Judd Fruia said of his soon-to-open Tre Amici restaurant in North Dallas, “the wine list is too big—I have to cut it back.” Now, this is man who, as general manager of Pappas Bros., stocked $70,000 plus bottles, commissioned the world’s largest smokeable cigar, served crabs the size of Smart Cars, create

  November 20, 2008

• Wild Time At The Well

  When a box of bottled water samples from Mineral Wells arrived at the office this week, I claimed it immediately. I’m an unabashed snob who grimaces at tap water. At home I filter it through my PUR contraption before considering a drink. When I’m out and about it's the bottled variety, even when there's a fountain handy. I dig Smart Water (“the water with all the answers”), so why not give Crazy Water a try?

  November 21, 2008

• Burning Question: What Should You Do When You Have No Cash For The Valet?

  Photo By: Patrick Michels Set aside for now the question of whether valet parking represents an indulgence leftover from the pre-collapse heyday or a convenience necessary in congested parts of town. There are larger issues at stake. For instance, there we were at The Mansion on Turtle Creek waiting for the guy to bring our, um, classic bit of Americana around and mulling over plausible excuses. You see, we forgot to pick up some cash before pulling up to the valet stand. And although member

  November 21, 2008

• How 'Bout Them Knockers: Chef Chu

  Chef Chu 3355 Trinity Mills 972-307-7788   Promised delivery time: 40 minutes Delivered in: almost precisely 40 minutes   The Score Promptness: 50 Degree of difficulty: 3 Phone psych-out attempt: -25 (for attempt), 25 (because it worked) Nods to Charlie Chan era stereotyping: 15 Probably unwarranted hygiene concerns: -8 Food quality (in terms of poundage): 37 Food quality (in terms of food quality): -9 Environmental friendliness: -20 Potential for hangover relief:

  November 24, 2008

• Burning Question: How Much Time Do Chefs Spend In The Kitchen?

  Earlier this fall, chef Nobu Matsuhisa passed through for a well publicized book signing...and rare visit to his restaurant. Sometime in the next few weeks, Wolfgang Puck's people--not the great man himself--holds a meet and greet session for the real chef at his soon to open Dallas venue.  At least that's what our web guy tells us. Puck's PR machine sent him the invitation, apparently hoping to keep us away from the festivities. Not that the Burning Question crew would, say, take un

  November 28, 2008

• How 'Bout Them Knockers: Yumi To Go

  Yumi To Go5200 Lemmon Ave.214-528-9864Promised delivery time: 25 minutesDelivered in: 21 minutesThe ScoreCojones of phone order guy: 20Driver beating the odds: 65Degree of difficulty: 9 (no one likes driving on Oak Lawn or Maple)Stoicism of driver: -8Bonus because he had reason for suspicion: 4Thai-style chicken skewer: 9Orange chicken: -1Total Score: 98Overall StandingsYumi To Go 98Picasso's Pizza and Grill 85.5 Angelo & Vito's 77 Bangkok City (on Greenville) 73Chef Chu (North Dallas)

  December 1, 2008

• Hash Over: Holiday Jam, Cut Rate Wine And Other Stuff

  Don't know what to do with odd, even somewhat interesting and likely helpful news of this sort, but pass it along... Not only concerned for public health, but also for the hobby-deprived, credit-burdened gift-givers this holiday season, gourmands at Texas Oncology developed Jingle Jam--a Southern-style preserve they're willing to give away...in recipe form.

  December 4, 2008

• Hash Over: Home for the Holidays, Cut-Rate Lobster, Etc.

  Who knows why everyone takes such delight in gingerbread houses? The fate that befell Hansel and Gretel--or nearly befell; we only know the story through Bugs Bunny--when they encountered such a structure was none too pleasant.But last night, the Rosewood Crescent Hotel put the final bit of icing on their holiday centerpiece, a ten foot tall gingerbread house designed by pastry chef Eric Perelli and constructed over 240 hours by his team of overtime-hungry assistants.

  December 5, 2008

• War Without End

  The first of this morning's PR shots came from the folks at Abacus--something about AAA's Five Diamond Award and, more importantly, revisiting the moment when chef Kent Rathbun lifted (as in picked it up off the ground with his bare hands) an elk on Iron Chef America. But you can read about that on D's SideDish blog.When I bumped into Rathbun at an event last week, he launched into a 'the Dallas Observer should be nicer to restaurants' conversation. The sensitivity of certain chefs is understand

  December 9, 2008

• Pairing Off: Taco Bueno

  So good, its bano--isn't that the slogan? There's no shame in the occasional trip to Taco Bueno. Hard to resist the convenience and the colorful signage. Besides, if Dean Fearing can take guests to Primo's--only a few steps up--the rest of us are welcome to pick up fast food. But (and there's always a 'but' in this column), Taco Bueno's beef creations are relentless, throwing vaguely Southwestern spices against your palate, supported by a heavy phalanx of salt. To make matters worse, the ba

  December 10, 2008

• Name, Game

  A chef who speaks with the highest authority just emailed to voice his chagrin at the choice of Five-Sixty for Wolfgang Puck's soon to open venue atop Reunion Tower. At least a decade or so ago, Puck's staff weren't so trend-conscious (or wooden) when it came to naming rights. The emailing chef claims that when Puck and his then wife were considering a cute name for their baby (if it turned out to be a girl), his sous chef Sal Petrolino quipped "How about Wanna?"

  December 16, 2008

• Pairing Off: Chicken Fried Steak

  Texas should be ashamed of itself.In the old days this state produced larger than life heroes--men like James Fannin, Clyde Barrow and "Hollywood" Henderson. But now, after two from the Bush clan (three if you count Neil), a Rove and the guys at Enron, all we can cling to is our national dish.And chicken fried steak creates another larger than life problem. Assuming the figure of 800,000 plus portions consumed per day by residents is correct, this 800 calorie mass of abused red meat adds some 1

  December 17, 2008

• Slaughterhouse Eight: Steakhouse Serves Reindeer For Christmas

  Make that "Slaughterhouse Nine," including the once great Rudolf, pictured here in rare form.In one of the more disturbing promotions, Park Cities Prime offers reindeer chops through December 30, or as long as the carcasses of Prancer, Cupid and Blitzen are fit to cook. That's right--16 ounces of Dancer steak or the tender Rudolph Special, with asparagus and mashed potatoes for $49--a small price for putting an end to that socialist do-gooder Santa and his flying cattle.So yes, Virginia, there i

  December 23, 2008

• Pairing Off: Triscuits And Cream Cheese

  (Enlarged to show texture)Tomorrow night Florida meets Tex...um, those other guys...in college football's finale. This weekend, the NFL playoffs continue as the clock winds inexorably toward the Super Bowl. In other words, it's that time of the year when party snacks creep into the food pyramid. Now, most people resort to plebeian suds when gathering with friends for pretzels, cheese cubes and football. But, as you know, Pairing Off seeks to show that wine (which, by the way, packs a greater a

  January 7, 2009

• Cali Country

  First the BCS pushes Texas into the also-ran category and now this. The 28th National Beef Cook-Off is asking home cooks to submit "Sonoma-style" recipes for this year's contest.That's right, think simple, light and (above all) colorful...which can probably be achieved by carving thin slices of meat left to green in the sun.The best of these soft-core recipes will be selected for (and the chosen home cooks asked to compete in) for a high stakes competition in Sonoma. Some $70,000 will be on the

  January 8, 2009

• Review and Gallery: Fruia's Tre Amici

  Sara KerensIn this week's issue of the Observer, Dave Faries visits Fruia's Tre Amici, the self-styled steakhouse "with Italian flair." Check out his review here.As an added bonus for food porn fanatics, we present a gallery of photos from the restaurant, as seen through the lens of Sara Kerens. You'll find that slideshow here.

  February 5, 2009

• Review and Gallery: Coast Global Seafood

  Sara KerensThere must be something in the water here this week, because everywhere you look in our food coverage, there's more seafood. This week's Dish column sees Dave Faries visiting Plano's Coast Global Seafood.For a more colorful look at their digs, and a few of their dishes, check out our web-only photo gallery here.

  February 12, 2009

• Squirreling Away For The Recession

  In these deflating economic times, some of us here at the Observer have been doing our best to, oh, dole out less dough for lunch. Hell with stimulating the economy. One of us announced recently that she'd spent $72 on lunches in one week--and unemployment rates continued to climb.So lunch has devolved into frozen leftovers in what one DO-er dubbed the Recession Room--located across from Dave Faries' office, where he apparently spends the noon hour huddled with a mug of appetite suppressant cal

  February 17, 2009

• Letters

  June 21, 2001

• Letters

  July 5, 2001

• Letters

  July 12, 2001

• Letters from the issue of March 13, 2003

  March 13, 2003

• Blown Away | Dish: The Joy of Waiting | Big Talk | Golden years

  April 23, 2009

• Letters

  Punk Ranger

  July 28, 2005

• Know the Score

  Plus: Wet and Wilder; Greener Pastures

  March 31, 2005

• Letters

  March 6, 2003

• “Whine Flu,” | "Dish" | “The Big Buy-In,”

  May 14, 2009

• Yeah, But What If Baseball Went To The European Football Table?

  I know the Texas Rangers swept the previously mighty Boston Red Sox and we're all atwitter about the American League West division race heading into August ... September ... maybe even October? But what if baseball were governed according to, say, European football standards? You know, the top teams rewarded with international play and/or advancement and the worst facing relegation to the league below. I can see the initial extended excitement. Actually a reason to watch Pirates-Nationals a

  July 23, 2009

• Tracks of My Tears, | Slumming It, | Critics’ Pick: Tool,

  July 30, 2009

• Chef David Uygur Looks At Life After Lola

  ​A week ago today, Leslie Brenner of the Dallas Morning News dropped a bomb on the Eats blog: nine-year-old Lola on Fairmount Street is closing in October. The Uptown charmer has earned top marks from reviewers and locals alike for its thoughtful, well-executed menu and top-notch wine program. The announcement was disappointing, to say the least. In the words of our own Dave Faries, "Damn." Chef David Uygur has been with Lola since 2002 (with a brief break in 2005 to pursue another opportun

  August 12, 2009

• Mix-Mex: A Quick Tour Of Newly Opened Mexican Venues

  ​We Texans love our "Mexican" food. That is, we love flour tortillas filled with breast meat and corn chips dipped in processed cheese. Who wouldn't? Except, as we all know, that's not really Mexican, now is it? (And sometimes, as our own Chris Meesey would point out, the concoctions we adore aren't even really Tex-Mex.) At any rate, several restaurants--new and not-so-new--are tempting those willing to step away from the comfort of the combo plate. From Central American home cooking to

  September 15, 2009

• York Street Gets It Right by Doing Everything Wrong

  October 22, 2009