A rumor erupted earlier this week that Truluck's co-owner Steve Fields announced at a luncheon that the restaurant completed a deal May 8 to acquire Fog City Diner and that the McKinney Avenue restaurant would be Truluck's by the end of June. But Fog City managing partner Jay Schimmel says it ain't so--yet. "The money's not in the bank...the deal has not been closed yet," he says. Schimmel adds that Truluck's has a significant amount of earnest money on the line and that unless a deal is closed by June 1, Truluck's will surrender the funds. Fields would not comment.
Name shell game
In the wake of a recently settled trademark lawsuit filed by Shells Seafood, a Florida-based restaurant company, See-Worthy Restaurants, parent of Shell's Oyster Bar & Grill and the newly opened Rockfish Seafood Grill, announced it will reorganize its restaurants. Shell's on Lemmon Avenue will be renamed Mother Pearl's Seafood House & Oyster Bar, while the Snider Plaza version will now be Halfshells Oyster Bar & Grill. Shell's in Colleyville will be converted to a Rockfish.
A fishy guest
Former Natchez owner Dan Vincent and chef-restaurateur Kenny Bowers, ex-Daddy Jack's partner and one-time Lefty's Lobster and Chowder House owner, just opened Big Fish Little Fish Restaurant and Boathouse in the Natchez digs on Henderson. The casual seafood restaurant features sauteed, grilled, and blackened fish as well as fried, boiled, and raw shellfish. It also has an authentic 1959 mahogany Cris Craft cruiser in the dining room that seats seven. Big Fish Little Fish kicked off with a KRLD News Radio "meet and greet" happy hour featuring Watergate figure and talk-show host G. Gordon Liddy.
List watch
For the first time ever, Dallas will be infiltrated by the champagnes of Comte Audoin de Dampierre, a house run by Count Audoin de Dampierre, whose family has been producing wines for seven centuries, and producing champagne for five generations. Comte Audoin de Dampierre has made its wines available in the U.S. for only a little over three years. The Cuvee des Ambassadeurs is crisp and rich with a bright, soft gold color, a nose of subtle toast and green apple, and a creamy texture that lingers with layers of clean complexity on the finish. You can find this Comte Audoin de Dampierre Champagne on lists at the Pyramid Room, the Mansion on Turtle Creek, the Hyatt DFW, the Landmark, Marty's, Grape Escape, and St. Emilion.
--Mark Stuertz
E-mail Mark Stuertz at [email protected].
