Say you play the oboe. Say you’re a regular oboe master and have designs on tooting your oboe in an orchestra. Your tryout will probably involve your plopping down behind a screen, so you’re unseen as you puff through a Mozart concerto: That’s because conductors aren’t supposed to care about…
The responses to the recent story I wrote about Dallas dining have been fascinating: Surely it bodes well for eating in this city that so many residents are passionate about the topic. Many of those readers who took issue with my thesis that the city’s dining scene is broken fell…
The spirits company responsible for St-Germain, an elderflower cordial beloved by cocktail geeks, is adding another ingredient to Texas bartenders’ arsenals. Crème Yvette, now available in six states nationwide, is slated to be released in Texas next month. The liqueur — made from violets, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and currants –…
The area developer for Tasti D-Lite, the frozen dessert chain that became a low-cal sensation when it opened in New York 23 years ago, says he isn’t worried about opening stores in a city dominated by yogurt shops. “Let me tell you something,” says Francisco Gomez-Palacio, a former telecom exec…
A new study showing the benefits of imaginary eating could help explain why few food writers are fat. The research, published in this month’s Science and reviewed on the front page of today’s New York Times’ science section, suggests the more you think about a certain food, the less inclined…
Chestnuts aren’t the only food worth roasting over an open fire: An increasing number of home owners are starting to treat their fireplaces as cooking implements. The trend, chronicled in the Wall Street Journal this week, wouldn’t stun anyone who ate cooked food sometime before the rise of the cast…
Restaurant gift cards are slipping in popularity, according to a recent report by MainStreet. The financial blog quotes Kwame Kuadey, chief executive officer of GiftCardResue — a company that buys unwanted gift cards at up to 90 percent of face value — as saying restaurant cards are among the cards…
While mezcal’s been hailed as the “next big thing,” it hasn’t yet caught on in Dallas. But Jason Kosmas yesterday advised the city’s leading bartenders not to shy away from creating drinks made with the agave spirit and its more dapper cousin, tequila. “I think what’s important is where we…
Food can be an inspired holiday present, but gourmet retailers say it sometimes takes a bit of razzle-dazzle packaging to make edibles seem more like a gift than groceries. Rather than stick a lonely hunk of parmesan under the Christmas tree, staffers at Central Market suggest using the cheese -…
Researching this week’s feature story on the Dallas dining scene gave me the chance to visit the archives of the Dallas Public Library, where I spent hours immersed in dozens of old community cookbooks uncovered by Texas/Dallas History Department manager Carol Roark – who would qualify for a dedication if…
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is giving North Texas smoked meat aficionados a sneak preview of its first new meat product in 58 years. The Dallas-based chain, which now has 134 locations across the country, is testing its spicy cheddar sausage at its newest store in McKinney. The sausage will be released…
It should be easy to shop for food lovers, since their hobby’s been so relentlessly commodified. Any self-respecting big-box store stocks cooking utensils, cooking gizmos, cooking show DVDs, cookbooks and cooking magazines. But which of those items are really worth buying? We asked a few local chefs which attractive culinary…
Tea at Christmastime tends to be a Victorian affair, complete with jam cakes and velveteen trimmings. But Farmers Branch Historical Park is this month reminding visitors that Brits don’t have the monopoly on hot tea service. A traveling exhibit on global tea traditions, curated by Tea in Texas Magazine, is…
With 22 days left for online voting, Dallas is trailing the leader in a Walmart-sponsored contest for food bank funding by more than 11,000 votes. Walmart’s “Fighting Hunger Together” program pits the nation’s 100 metropolitan areas with the highest rates of food hardship against one another in a Facebook race…
I once had a job at a bridal boutique that sidelined in dresses for prom. What I learned from the girls who came to our store in search of sparkles and sequins and as little material as their principals would allow is that preparing for a high school dance is…
Thousands of television sets had been sold in Dallas by 1951, but most of the time the machines weren’t good for much. The city’s biggest station aired a test pattern 15 hours a day. In homes across the county, hulking Philcos and Zeniths sat stone-faced in their mahogany veneer cases…
National chains are apparently racing to win over area burger eaters before In-N-Out reaches Dallas. Elevation Burger, which bills itself as the “only organic burger franchise in the U.S.,” is readying to open an outlet at the Hillcrest Crossing shopping center. And, according to Business Journals, Cheeburger Cheeburger is planning…
Tiffany Derry will be in the kitchen at Loft 610 tonight, joining fellow Top Chef All-Stars competitor Tre Wilcox to produce a $100 nine-course meal. And while tonight’s supper may be served with extra on- and off-screen drama, restaurant trend watchers say chefs showing up in each other’s kitchens is…
Vegetarian activists are rejoicing over the debut of five new vegan items at 7-Eleven stores in Manhattan, but a spokesperson for the convenience store says the sale of artichoke spinach noodles on 42nd Street doesn’t portend the national roll-out of a meatless menu. “I’m not sure where they got it…
The nation’s second-largest theater chain is opening a dine-in theater at Grapevine Mills tomorrow, suggesting the movie world’s major players aren’t ready to cede the “watch and eat” model to smaller operators. Grapevine is the sixth entry in AMC’s growing Dine-In Theater concept; a seventh location is slated to open…
A familiar name in doughnuts is returning to Oak Cliff after a four-decade absence. A new Southern Maid is set to open next week at the corner of Davis and Polk streets, Rob Shearer reported on the Go Oak Cliff blog this afternoon. Les Franklin, Southern Maid’s vice-president of development…
“Here’s what I was thinking for the Observer,” researcher Arnold Schecter says when I reach him by phone to discuss his latest findings. “You could say: Do you want flame retardant in your Christmas cookies?” Since some Observer readers might, it’s relevant that Schecter discovered 10 samples of butter purchased…
