When we began researching this week’s topic, a female acquaintance dismissed the mystery of women cavorting over a table of appetizers. “It’s just like a guy’s night out,” she said. But men rarely gather in a large group to sip house Chardonnay, admire each other’s footwear and snap countless shots…
When flooding of near-biblical proportions (Reader’s Digest edition) smote Dallas a couple weeks ago, it washed out the third stop of Wine Around. The unique dinner tour involves chefs from Nana, Iris, Mercy and Taste. Each scheduled event pairs a particular varietal with courses prepared by each restaurant. Good idea,…
If life hands you lemons, and we mean really big ones with rinds the size of a grapefruit, make limoncello. For anyone unfamiliar with this old Italian proverb, residents of the area around Sorrento began steeping castoff peels in alcohol centuries ago, while more modest cultures settled for lemonade. The…
Let’s try out that old Sesame Street game, shall we? One of these things is not like the others; one of these things just doesn’t belong. Did you guess a neighborhood sushi restaurant in Cowtown? Maybe a popular Japanese destination owned by a native of Taiwan who received her culinary…
Several times in the past we’ve alluded to urban provincialism, a mindset that narrows Dallas or other cities to a series of exclusive “neighborhoods.” People living in, say, Lakewood or Uptown rave about the virtues of their domain and refuse to explore anything beyond Interstate 635. Granted, there are a…
We believe top tens or best-ever rankings act as a kind of intellectual argument in shorthand. To print a list is to engage in a discussion without presenting supporting evidence. Sound a bit far-fetched? Well, the Burning Question crew pondered the topic pretty thoroughly one afternoon while our editor droned…
Of course you remember the Seinfeld episode. We mean the episode, when Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine tested the bounds of self-denial. It resonated because, well, humans…um…not that we, um…Hell, you know what we’re saying. When provided access to things that bring pleasure, the human animal finds it difficult to…
The as-yet-to-be-seen-but-always-heard Moroccan concept, Tangerine, may again be making noise. If you’ll recall, Rocky Boustani took a massive financial hit when, after starting construction on the old Sipango location, the failure of all parties involved to sign on all dotted lines sent the deal careening into the hands of lawyers…
Kenny’s Wood Fired Grill is designed to resemble a 1940s Chicago-style chophouse serving New England-style seafood, pumping Uptown’s favorite mind-numbing spirit (Grey Goose) from frozen taps in a suburban location, pouring wine with French fries, hiding elegance behind self-promoting “artwork” and 30-something patrons wiggling through the room in low-rise jeans…
Deep Ellum in bright sunlight can be a downright alarming sight. There’s no hint of lurid, neon-streaked discord. Only silent brick structures, pitted by age, and a few lonely cars headed somewhere else. It looks like a small town in Illinois. Sitting down for lunch at Tarantino’s Deep Ellum, my…
We just finished re-reading that Hemingway novel set in Spain. You know the one; there’s a river, a lot of wine and a bit of violence. OK, granted we weren’t really paying attention as we flipped through the pages, what with the playoffs and all. But we noticed something interesting…
The opening act was almost comic. The setup: waiting at the sparsely attended bar for a dinner companion to arrive, ordering vodka martini up with a twist, “a martini, please.” The improv take: After searching for a couple minutes the bartender decides they’ve run out of Monopolowa. How ’bout Stoli?…
Before launching into this week’s topic we must pat ourselves on the back for a vaguely heroic act. Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, a man we presume to be New Zealand’s ambassador to Canada wound up in our beat-up Kia. Because our conversation focused on beer and American tastes in…
If bound to commit one of the seven deadly sins, a trespasser might as well have a bit of fun while engaged in the act. Lust should be directed at, say, the Victoria’s Secret catalog, not the Sears girdle section. Best to spend sloth in front of a TV on…
The demands of life force little trade-offs every day. Burgers and fries are far more appealing than a simple green salad, for example, but a constant diet of the all-American combo may transform those once-healthy arteries into grease traps. Even worse, it could turn you into a documentary film director…
Culinary terminology has slipped through the looking glass into that ambiguous place where a word means just what someone intends it to mean. For instance, some restaurants advertise “new American” cuisine, an imprecise catchall phrase referring to menus featuring, oh, French, Italian, Southwestern and whatever else the chef wishes to…
It takes more than just guts to stare down gambling’s finest in front of a national TV audience. In the common vernacular, it takes brass cojones or perhaps a Big Johnson. Derick “Tex” Barch must think so, anyway. While the veteran poker star was finishing third this summer in the…
Like the sirens of mythology, professional kitchens are diabolical fiends bent on destroying any human form lured into their realm. Think we’re being a tad dramatic? Early one evening several years ago, Marc Cassel and his team finished up preparations for dinner service at Star Canyon. Perfection or something near…
Near the end of our second visit to Randy White’s Hall of Fame Barbeque a guest at our table asked a pointed question: Why would a local football legend lend his name to such a place, and shouldn’t every hall of fame across the country write a stern “cease and…
If we could somehow bring bickering groups together and help them find common ground, would we end up with a perfect world? The difficulties are enormous. For instance, we asked Andrew Lostetter, a bartender at Sense and single malt Scotch aficionado, his opinion of the typical Dewar’s fan. “You think…
Once upon a time, Tristan Simon bought up the Barley House location, sketched out plans for a casual drinking spot serving pub fare called The Porch and set an opening date sometime toward the end of this year. But the usual delays kicked in, giving the Henderson Avenue impresario more…
Don’t call Vickery Park. It’s just a neighborhood tavern tucked alongside dressier venues on Henderson Avenue, after all. No need for reservations and, besides, the phone’s hidden in some back office. Hmmm–if a phone rings in an empty room, does it make a sound? “We never hear it,” staff members…
