This week’s announcement of James Beard Foundation award nominees triggered another round of hand-wringing among food writers over whether the newly created humor award cheapens culinary journalism. The concern was raised yesterday on a listserv maintained by the Association of Food Journalists. While the writer who ignited the discussion didn’t…
There’s nothing more evocative of farmhouse cuisine than a pie, so it’s fitting that Bolsa — the Oak Cliff locus of field-to-fork dining — has hired a pie maker to handle its pastry menu. Kate Nelson, owner of the 2-year-old pie catering company Piecurious, began making pies for Bolsa about…
Woodford Reserve is continuing to capitalize on the popular “anyone can be a distiller” ethic that’s helped fuel the current craft liquor fad, actively promoting a program in which buyers choose their own barrels for blending. Woodford Reserve unveiled the “Personal Selection Program” eight years ago, but master distiller Chris…
The executive chef at Brackets has left, and the restaurant’s management team has decided against filling the position. Pedro Castrejon, late of Aventino and Ferre Ristorante e Bar, was at the helm when the table tennis-themed sports bar opened late last year in the former Trader Vic’s location. The restaurant…
With a drinks menu divided by historical era, The Cedars Social has provided local cocktailians with possibly the city’s most sophisticated beverage selection. But the most inspired page of the well-crafted menu features cocktails created by mixologists elsewhere. “I like to call it a liquid vacation,” bartender Mike Martensen says…
The North Texas Food Bank is borrowing a strategy from arts agencies, launching an organization for young professionals. While a spokesperson says the group’s target demographic isn’t underrepresented in NTFB’s volunteer ranks, the program is designed to help turn sometime supporters into longstanding advocates. “We are actively engaging the young…
Participants in the American Physical Society annual meeting at the Dallas Convention Center this morning had their pick among sessions devoted to magnetization dynamics in metals, piezoelectric oxides, heavy fermions and Texas barbecue. Hundreds of physicists chose the latter, crowding a ballroom to learn from Texas A&M meat scientist Davey…
Moving from Dallas to Seattle means I get to do a few things I’ve never before done, including piloting a U-Haul truck across the Rocky Mountains and visiting restaurants before they’re ready for review. I’ve held out on eating at Cane Rosso, Jay Jerrier’s immobile pizza kitchen in Deep Ellum,…
The organizer of Savor Dallas says the long lines that plagued Friday night’s wine stroll were a sign the city’s dining culture is on the mend from a recession that emptied reservation books. “I think it means people are feeling better about the economy,” Savor Dallas’ founder Jim White says…
Dallas chefs and restaurants, which collected an impressive five semi-finalist spots in this year’s James Beard Foundation awards competition, today were shut out of the contest’s final round. Stephan Pyles, The Mansion Restaurant at Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, The French Room, Café on the Green at Las Colinas’ Four…
The Cheap Bastard may soon be one fancy, bling-toting bastard. Our beloved Alice Laussade, a regular contributor to City of Ate, today picked up a James Beard Foundation nomination in the contest’s inaugural humor category for her story, “OK, Who Put Food in My Beer?” Laussade’s up against Slate.com’s Rosecrans…
Another overseas McDonald’s is affixing the “Texas” adjective to one of its newest menu items in hopes of making it more popular with the eating public. Two months after the release of McDonald’s Japan’s Texas 2 Burger, McDonald’s/Australia has begun testing its Texas Chicken Skewers at 44 restaurants in South…
Hamantaschen may be the most popular Purim pastry in the United States, but the triangular cookie’s not the only traditional dessert associated with the celebratory holiday. Purim, which begins tomorrow night, commemorates the Jews escaping a genocidal plot by the dastardly Haman, an adviser to the king of the ancient…
Texas bourbon, which is launching an assault on Kentucky’s whiskey supremacy, isn’t readily available just yet. Lucky connoisseurs around Austin and San Antonio this week were able to snag newly released bottles from Garrison Brothers in Hye, but most of the state’s bourbon is still sloshing around in barrels. But…
Fearing’s this weekend plans to donate a portion of its proceeds to Japanese tsunami relief efforts, becoming one of the first area restaurants to publicly announce its charitable giving plans. Spokesperson Bonnie Crail said she didn’t know the exact percentage of profits the restaurant intended to give to the American…
The Wingstop World Wing-Eating Challenge, iced-out during Super Bowl week, has been rescheduled for Apr. 13. The contest at American Airlines Center’s AT&T Plaza will coincide with another sporting event, although one of considerably less significance than the Super Bowl: The Challenge will precede the Mavericks’ last home game. Spokesperson…
When a sitcom actor surrenders to the lure of a movie contract or retirement or heavy drug use, the show’s producers have two choices: They can write the actor’s character out of their scripts or they can recruit a replacement with roughly the same build and hairstyle and hope viewers…
The dozen or so drinkers who show up for Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling’s free Saturday afternoon tours in northeast San Antonio don’t have much in common, save the ability to find the industrial park building that looks as if it might house a sports trophy warehouse or screen-printing operation…
Just as most basketball fans didn’t pay much heed to UNC Asheville before the Bulldogs stomped Arkansas-Little Rock in overtime last night, Scardello Cheese owner Rich Rogers hopes his shop’s second annual cheese bracket will bring attention to overlooked cheese regions. France took the “Tour de Fromage” title last year,…
Snuffer’s Restaurant & Bar failed to pay its primary supplier for more than $700,000 worth of food, according to a suit filed Monday in Dallas County District Court. Bassham Wholesale Egg Co. claims Snuffer’s has outstanding bills dating to January 2009 for items including cheese, ham, bacon and burger beef…
Young chefs may have mastered foams and liquid nitrogen, but many of them are stumped by the classical dishes that once formed the core of kitchen repertoires — or so claim The Pyramid’s back-of-the-house veterans. “I have chefs who’ve been here 32 years,” executive chef Andre Natera explains. “And there’s…
The Dallas Historical Society this week released a schedule for its upcoming “brown bag lunch” series, an institution some statistics suggest is rapidly becoming quaint. Brown bag lunches continue to thrive in academic settings, where professorial types are happy to have the chance to lunch on their own sandwiches of…
