Subject: Fruits and Vegetables

• A Dallas Woman Accepts Washington Post's "Eat Local Challenge"

  July 25, 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

• Cliff Notes

  There's a new executive chef in the kitchen at the Belmont Hotel's Cliff Café. And she's been busy. Robin Gill Lacy has already revamped the café's menu, and her experience as prepared foods team leader at Whole Food Markets and culinary research and development coordinator at Veria Natural Wellness in Arlington comes through in its focus on local and organic ingredients, including Frans Fryer's all natural meats, and cheese from the Dallas Mozzarella Company. Chef Lacy's new breakfast, lunc

  January 13, 2009

• Irish Spring Flings

  Patrick MichelsAs with other holidays, local restaurants are going all out with special St. Patrick's Day offerings for their customers on Tuesday. Urban Taco may not be the obvious choice for St. Patrick's Day revelry, but it's throwing its hat into the green ring for its lucky customers, serving a special St. Pat's chip & salsa trio. Let's see...guessing green, orange-ish and white. Looking for something a bit more authentic? The Tipperary Inn (5815 Live Oak at Skillman) opens at 11 a

  March 16, 2009

• Veggie Girl: Cosmic Cafe

  Fill in the blank: The best thing about Cosmic Café is... ...a deck of Tarot cards at every table. ...free yoga. ...unlimited mugs of soy chai. ...delicious plates of all-veggie food, whose prices all add up to multiples of nine. (We don't know why. We asked our waitress, and neither did she...but in Tarot, nine symbolizes completion of a cycle.) ...vegan cake! If you've been there, you know the answer: All of the above. At first, I didn't want to write about Cosmic Café because it seems f

  March 31, 2009

• Veggie Girl: Eatzi's

  A hat tip to the writers of Dude Food, who this February ensured that good ol' meat-eatin' men could dine successfully at Eatzi's. So, it turns out, can veggie-eating types. Eatzi's is one of those Oak Lawn institutions whose charming perks have given it staying power. It could be the outdoor patio with piped-in opera music, the surprisingly broad wine and bread selections, or simply the fact that it's one of few places where you feel European enough to kick back and have a glass of wine o

  April 2, 2009

• Maximo takes a lot of pride in its food. We're not sure why.

  April 9, 2009

• Veggie Girl: Nana

  It only took one vegetarian to convince Nana chef Anthony Bombaci to draw up a meat-free tasting menu. "They made reservations, they told us they were vegetarian and they paid for their food," Bombaci recalls. "And we served them meat." After their visit to Nana, Bombaci got a letter--"snail mail, not e-mail"--from one of the guests telling him how disappointed she was at the lack of vegetarian options on the menu. Then and there, he decided to create a menu that would not only accommodate v

  April 9, 2009

• RJ Mexican Cuisine: The West End Staple Should Focus on the Staples

  December 25, 2008

• Bolsa: Delicious "Slow Food" Without the Smug.

  December 18, 2008

• Suze

  In a generic strip mall setting, the chefs shine

  November 27, 2008

• Greenz Is About More Than Salads and Creative Spelling

  November 20, 2008

• Un-Super Size Me: One Week of Eating Local

  September 25, 2008

• Jack-Elitists

  September 18, 2008

• Bland on Bland

  September 18, 2008

• RA Sushi in Plano

  The attitude's served up raw, but the execution is half-baked

  September 25, 2008

• The South Rises Again

  Screen Door swings both ways, melding traditional Southern cooking with modern cuisine

  August 14, 2008

• Mi Corazón

  August 7, 2008

• Woodshed Trip

  July 24, 2008

• Bull Ring

  July 3, 2008

• What's in a Name

  June 26, 2008

• Bengal Tiger

  Spice and everything is nice at a new Indian eatery

  June 19, 2008

• Spooked Grill

  June 12, 2008

• Review: Cafe R&D

  Café R&D serves up pretty, tasty dishes, but where's the meow mix?

  June 5, 2008

• Gregory's Restaurant Brings Seasoned Urban Couture to Plano

  May 29, 2008

• Review: Moroccan Lounge Medina Oven & Wine Bar

  May 22, 2008

• Review: Villa-O

  The "O" is for original and organic.

  May 1, 2008

• Review: Spiral Diner & Bakery

  Spiral Diner & Bakery lets you avoid sins of the flesh

  April 17, 2008

• Review: Charlie Palmer at The Joule

  March 27, 2008

• Review: The Fillmore Pub in Plano

  Going green–both environmentally and Irish-spirited

  March 20, 2008

• Review: Afghan Grill

  At Afghan Grill, the fortunes of war pay delicious dividends

  March 6, 2008

• Review: Yao Fuzi Cuisine

  A pop and son duo bring authentic Chinese to Plano

  February 21, 2008

• Zymology continues a Greenville Avenue trend

  April 23, 2009

• Dude Food: Tacos Chano's

  Google MapsTacos Chano's934 W. Jefferson Blvd.214-948-1846Dude Factor: 6, or "Cheap Floor Tiles" on a scale of 1 ("Montezuma's Revenge") to 10 ("Cheap Prescription Meds")One of my favorite things about visiting Mexico is haggling over the price of souvenirs. There's nothing like the rush of taking home a belt buckle marked $10 for only $6. You can't try it at Wal-Mart...at least not without looking like a jackass. But in the open-air markets of border towns, good old-fashioned negotiation is acc

  April 28, 2009

• Veggie Girl: Mai's

  View Larger MapNothing about Mai's is bad. There are plenty of things that are weird, though: the racks of dog-eared issues of US Weekly and Cosmopolitan, the soft-rock instrumental remixes of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" and "Take My Breath Away," the organza curtains that barely hide the parking lot it shares with a taqueria called "El Bambi." But nothing's bad. The food is excellent, filling (huge portions, to a non-Texan) and easy on the pocketbook. The service was consistently friendly

  May 7, 2009

• Appetite For Instruction: Fisherman's Stew

  Recipe Demonstrated By Roseanne Dileo of The Libertine BarJesse HugheyRoseanne Dileo has been cooking at The Libertine Bar for about a year, following stints as a server and general manager at the beloved lower Greenville pub. As much as she liked front-of-house money, though, she says she prefers the relative calm of the kitchen (?). Dileo was kind enough to show us how to make one of the restaurant's featured plates. Simon McDonald, a partner in the restaurant and bar, says the Fisherman's Ste

  June 11, 2009

• Veggie Girl: York St.

  Veggie Girl finds vegan and vegetarian options at Dallas establishments of all kinds. The column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays.I love a good storm. So when I woke up last Thursday to howling winds and sheets of furious rain, I resisted the urge to crawl back into bed and instead opted for staring raptly out my window, thrilled by the weather. As it turned out, that was the day's high point--until dinner, anyway. Leaving for work was fine; I wrapped myself in a ski jacket and shot out of the

  June 16, 2009

• On The Range: Guacamole

  On The Range is a weekly exploration of the history and lore of Texas menu items. Jon Sullivan"Was there ever a fruit as sensual as the avocado? So rough-hewn, dare-to-touch-me masculine on the outside, so yielding, inviting, soft spring green and feminine inside?...It's no wonder that this perfect fruit begs to be mashed to enhance its melting, natural spreadable quality...Avocado flesh by itself has an unctuous quality and subtle flavor--no need to dilute it." Wow. The above undiluted des

  June 24, 2009

• Veggie Girl: Toy's Cafe

  A real hole in the wall.Sure, I love the high life. But I'm kind of a sucker for the hole-in-the-wall, too. In fact, it's really just the middling places--the Golden Corral's of the world--that bug me. It's the Groucho Marx effect.You know: "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member." Anyway, in search of good, cheap Thai food and banking on the chance that there'd be something for a vegan there, I ventured recently to Toy's Café on Lemmon, a 20-year-old (who knew?) bona fid

  June 30, 2009

• Veggie Girl: Houston's

  This week, Veggie Girl braved the crowds of plastically enhanced Women Who Lunch to try out Houston's. Rumored to have one of the best house-made veggie burgers in Dallas, Houston's is part of the Hillstone Restaurant quasi-chain that includes R D, across the street in Preston Center, and a few others scattered from Manhattan to Palm Beach. I knew, in other words, that it wouldn't be cheap, but I was determined to try the veggie burger. The servers at Houston's wear all black, with black a

  July 2, 2009

• Veggie Guy: Suma Veggie Cafe

  ​"Puff balls." That's what one of my non-veg friends calls the Orange "Chicken" at Suma Veggie Cafe. No--the guy's not the brightest bulb on the block, but others unfamiliar with vegan meat substitutes might also find it difficult to describe the glazed balls of who-knows-what...although, I now have a funny feeling the owners don't want you to know. Suma Veggie Cafe is a Chinese restaurant in Richardson that is not new to local veg-heads--it's been around for over a decade and, up until Spi

  August 13, 2009

• Veggie Guy: Roy's Natural Market

  ​After a rough Saturday night--I'll spare you the details, but I will say this: there was much vodka involved--Sunday's hangover carried into Monday. Tuesday--still not human. So I got online to Tweet about my misery. Then I saw a Tweet from one of my raw food friends that read, "Alcohol acts as a depressant on your brain. Your senses dull, and your perceptions become distorted." Another followed. "You can't process information as quickly. You think that the world is moving slower than it r

  August 20, 2009

• Veggie Guy: Asian Mint

  Fresh spring rolls.​My good friend Sara and I met a few years ago at a yoga class. We instantly hit it off, and started doing everything together...grocery shopping, dining, working out. She even moved into my building. But over the past couple of months, we've both been on crazy schedules. No more hanging out. Not even a quick phone call. So imagine my surprise when Sara called to tell me she got engaged to some guy named JJ! What?!? How did this happen? I've never even met the guy! Well

  August 27, 2009

• Veggie Guy: Vegan-Friendly Tex Mex Chains

  Latin stir fry at Mi Cocina.​A lot of people ask me where they can get some good vegan Tex-Mex around town. I usually guide them to Monica's, where vegans can get the best enchiladas in Dallas, but I understand that driving down to Deep Ellum isn't always practical...especially if you're on the wrong other side of the loop. These are my picks for vegan-friendly Tex-Mex joints with multiple locations: Mattito's: The Lite Vegetable Fajitas are steamed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, squash,

  September 1, 2009

• Veggie Guy: Sweet Tomatoes

  The minestrone at Sweet Tomatoes in Irving.​Our Lisa Petty likes to poke fun at me about my avoidance of salads. "Do you EVER eat salads?" she snarks. But I do eat my fair share...only I'm not usually happy about it. Allow me to explain where I'm coming from. I was a Golden Corral kid. There was nothing better on a Sunday afternoon than gorging on fried chicken carcass and a baked potato overflowing with butter, cheddar, and bacon. My mother always made sure I'd start off with a salad, thou

  September 3, 2009

• Veggie Guy: NAAN

  ​Ok--I'll admit it. The Shops at Legacy are pretty cool. Now if only they weren't all the way up in freakin' Oklahoma...erm...I mean Plano. I met up with my vegan buddy Drew at Legacy NAAN last week, where he'd set up a multiple-course vegan food tasting. It's located in the "old side [of the shops]," as one cougar standing outside of Fox Sports Grill put it. "Geez--I thought Dallas was bad about calling relatively new things 'old'!" "Oh c'mon, dude--the suburbs aren't THAT bad!" argued Dre

  October 13, 2009

• In a City of Gaudy Prime Beef Palaces, Dragonfly Has No Problem Laying Claim to "Best Steaks in Dallas."

  October 15, 2009

• Appetite For Instruction: Farmer's Market Burger With Grilled Onion Relish

  ​Recipe demonstrated by Amy Green, 2nd place in Sutter Home Build a Better Burger Contest Football season is in full swing. With football season comes game day food, and what's the best game day food? Burgers...and of course, hot dogs and chips. But let's focus on meat patties today. Amy Green recently returned back to Dallas after a long weekend in Napa Valley with $500 extra in her pocket . It was all work, though. She was there to win the alternative (non-beef) burger competition for the

  October 15, 2009

• Veggie Guy: Gluten-Free Vegan Joints

  A gluten-free vegan cookie.​Omnivores tend to think of veganism as a highly restrictive, complicated way to live. Considering vegans have cut out meat, dairy, eggs, and all other animal products from their diets, they're sorta right--especially here in the land of beef. So imagine what it's like for vegans with an intolerance to gluten. Now that's gotta be rough! Local vegan Alise St. Germain doesn't have to imagine it. Her severe gluten intolerance and ethical choice to follow a vegan diet

  October 20, 2009

• Veggie Guy: Madras Pavilion

  ​May seem bizarre to some that I would compare a South Indian dinner to my Mexican grandmother's breakfast taquitos, but that's exactly what came to mind while chowing down on my potato-filled dosa at Madras Pavilion. Growing up, my brother Michael and I hated eggs. Still do, in fact. Whenever Grandma would incorporate chicken placenta into our meals, we'd about lose our shit! Eventually she caught on and began experimenting with spices and add-ins to make our meals look and taste as lively

  November 5, 2009