Garden Café is one of several little neighborhood jewels tucked away in East Dallas. The breakfast and lunch spot’s most distinguishing feature is the large garden behind the quaint white brick building in which it sits. Plots of herbs and rows of veggies keep the butterflies and bees busy, and…

The Texas Baker’s Bill is getting closer to being useful to bakers. Late last week, news circulated about new language for the Texas Food Cottage Law, which passed last year and allows home bakers to legally sell their goods with a few certain conditions. After the law was passed, the…

Do you remember where you were the first time you tried Cool Ranch Doritos? It was 1986, Goose and Mav were killin’ karoke in Top Gun, “Rock Me Amadeus” and “Papa Don’t Preach” were hits, and parachute pants and leg warmers were both in style. And Cool Ranch Doritos?! Damn,…

If you weren’t there for Opening Day on Friday, I’m sorry. But there’s a lot more to come, including tonight’s Opening Yu. We went Friday, and are here now with 10 tips, reminders and observations. 1. Tailgating at Rangers Ballpark on Friday was everything it was supposed to be. The…

JR Bentley’s “Chain Restaurant Hell” could have easily described Arlington for ages. But with Cowboys Stadium, the Super Bowl and record admissions at UTA, it’s finally got a few places with character. Well, OK, a lot of them are still chains, but not in the fast-food sense. If you want…

Tuesday evening, after tornadoes struck the metroplex, Scott Wooley, owner of the So-Cal Taco food truck, immediately started devising a plan to help the victims and relief workers. It’s all part of his gratuitous spirit, which is partly a result of his fight with cancer several years ago. He’s free…

When Nicole Van Camp was 15 years old, she decided to become a vegetarian based on the grounds of animal cruelty. But she lived in highly carnivorous Carrollton. Unless she wanted to starve, she had to learn to cook. She quickly fell in love with her new life-sustaining hobby. And…

Yesterday the farming trade publication Farm Futures carried a story on the potential rise in beef prices after the recent uproar over pink slime, or LFTB (lean finely textured beef). CattleFax, a beef industry research group, estimates the pink slime news cycle “is costing the U.S. beef industry $15 to…

In 1997, Rocky and Celeste Tassione traded in their urban lives for greener pastures north of Stephenville to grow organic, specialty greens through hydroponic gardening in one lone greenhouse. Their goal was to gather enough business through sales to restaurants to make a living of it. At first, it was…

Chef Nicole’s Secret Supper Clubs are held on Saturday nights at a spot called My Private Chef in Deep Ellum, at the corner Elm and Malcolm X. During the week, Holly Muller uses this place to prepare meals for her private chef business. But on Saturday nights, Chef Nicole Van…

Last week, checking out the scene on the west side of the big fancy new bridge, I noticed a sign on a yellow building one block south of Singelton (400 Bedford) that reads “Coming Soon: Babb Brothers Barbeque & Blues.” The first sign of life in the Trinity Grove development…

This week, the guys at Deep Ellum Brewing Company have been hard at work transforming their backyard into a beer garden. And on Saturday they’ll celebrate their new digs (at 2821 St. Louis St.) with an open house, tour, “general merriment” and a concert with Fish Fry Bingo. For grub,…

Oddfellows restaurant and Dallas Odd Fellows Lodge #44 are hosting an Odd County Fair on Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. at 7th and Madison streets in the Bishop Arts District. The aim of the fair is to raise money for the Sunset High School marching band to make the…

As pink slime walks in shame to the doghouse this week, another important movement that transcends many aspects of the beef and processed-food industries met a milestone. Just Label It, a campaign initiated by Organic Voices, whose aim is to require labels on genetically modified foods, gathered one million signatures…

Victor Tango chef Greg Bussey is a chef’s chef. By that, I mean so many other cooks in Dallas mention Bussey’s tables as one of their favorites to dine at. After meeting the soft-spoken, quick-to-smile chef, it’s easy to understand why. After attending the California Culinary Academy, Bussey spent some…

Deep Ellum Urban Gardens (DUG) is a community-funded garden aimed at providing a little green thumb relief and, eventually, fresh veggies to residents and restaurants around Deep Ellum. Last year they worked hard to raise funds to turn a sedate patch of grass at Canton and Good Latimer into something…

Back in 2010, students at Paul Quinn College, Dallas’ only historically black college, tilled up their football field to create an urban garden in a food desert. Since that time, the “We Over Me Farm” has cultivated over two thousand pounds of corn, squash, greens, tomatoes and other produce for…

Last week, Food & Wine magazine listed what it considers the 25 best burgers in the nation. The nation, okay? So, I’m thinking cattle-speckled Texas has got to be on their fancy list, based on the odds of landmass alone. Plus, there are some pretty solid chefs in the southwest…

Oh, pink slime, where did it all go wrong? Your name alone is gross, your photo induces a gag reflex and, unfortunately, the image has been seared into our brains (for now, anyway). And now grocery stores — including Walmart, where just about everything goes there — are banishing you…

I love bakers. Not because they smell like brown sugar and cinnamon. Or even because they make superhero birthday cakes. Nope. I love bakers because they’re scrappy. Back in June, the state enacted the Cottage Food Law, allowing home bakers to sell their goods under a few guidelines. Within that…