I made it exactly 364 days with my 2012 New Year’s resolution to not step foot in a mall. I lost on the last day. No, that’s not annoying. At all. But, sometimes being a marginal parent trumps our own selfish whims, dreams and desires. So, when my daughter wanted…

D Magazine reported recently that Chef Tre Wilcox has left Village Marquee in Highland Park Village, citing a much-needed break as the primary reason. Wilcox will return to being a private chef and will also teach classes from his house. I interviewed Chef Wilcox early last year, and in what…

1. Bikini season: The guy in the Southern Comfort commercials, which encourages us to do “Whatever’s Comfortable,” is making us reconsider “sexy.” It’s working. Let it happen…

Earlier this month we reported that long-time Dallas restaurateur Monica Greene, who originally opened Monica’s Aca y Alla in Deep Ellum, split with the recently opened Monica’s Nueva Cocina. A message via the restaurant’s Facebook page announced that while the spot still carries her name, she was no longer a…

1. National Doughnut Day With Hypnotic Doughnut’s new advertising campaign, every day is doughnut day for the north side window seats at the Observer offices. Constantly gazing at this sign has proven… well, nothing really. Just that we pity the fools on low-carb diets. Back in June of this year,…

In addition to our aforementioned love affair with bacon, many other great things befell our city this year. In an attempt to be a spot-on “reporter” for all culinary things that fall under the subheadings of lowbrow, redonkulous or strange, I find myself on the cutting edge of nothing really…

The year 2012 very well may go down as the year bacon got knighted. Or killed. Not sure which. Regardless, for better or worse, America had a clamorous affair with bacon this year. No longer a breakfast side item, bacon is now a main course, also a condiment, vodka, a…

Kevin Blessing has been the Director of Food Services at Central Market for the past nine years. I called him up today to chat about how things are going at the stores just a few days before the biggest eating day of the year. So, are you busy? Is everyone…

If you find yourself in the soul-sucking portal of travel delays and cancellations at DFW Airport soon, well, happy holidays! While you channel Steve Martin in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, you can now have a spot o’ tea at the new tea emporium Teavana, located in Terminal A. If you’re…

Dain Pool and Jon Wagner really should have known better. They both come from families in the food industry. Pool’s father runs the Georgia-based Pool’s Restaurant Group and Wagner’s grandfather founded Johnsonville Sausage. So, a lot of people would argue that they should have known better then to stay in…

Remember this? The beer bike that was banned in Germany because of all the ruckus it caused on the roadway? We can’t imagine how 15 drunk people pedaling a bike through a busy city could possibly be a distraction, but we honestly wanted to find out for ourselves. Well, our…

If you haven’t started your holiday shopping, then good for you! I think we all perform best under the pressure of deadlines, so just let it happen. Wait another few days, then get around to it. Most places will be open on Christmas Eve anyway. And a lot of gas…

Thursday, December 20 With a $20 donation to the North Texas Food Bank, which equates to 60 meals, you and all your adult-like friends can crawl through the tubes at the Neiman Marcus in downtown. Yes, it’s real: Adult Crawl Night. And perhaps the first event ever named a crawl…

The supermarket of gas stations, Buc-Ee’s, recently opened their newest and largest store half an hour east of Austin in Bastrop. As I’ve advised before, if all hell breaks loose, try to make it to a Buc-Ee’s because you could live there for weeks. I find it fascinating that one…

I have a bread baker on my holiday list, which means I’ve had a solid excuse for spending time researching various cookbooks the past few days. First, I landed on Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza. It seemed a perfect fit for the baker who…

The Lakewood Brewing Company has wrangled their bottling line and will deliver the first bottles of The Temptress Stout and Lakewood Lager to three local Sigel stores this Wednesday afternoon. The beers will be available in cases of 12 ounce-bottles. Update: Looks like it’s six-packs of lager ($9.99) and four-packs…

On Wednesday the Beer Institute announced that the number of permitted breweries in the U.S. has reached an all-time high of 2,751, up from 2,309 in 2011. Not that we needed a stat to validate this craft beer resurgence, but it’s reassuring nonetheless. “Resurgence”, you say? Yes, our forefathers were…

Patent attorney Kevin Afgani and his wife, Catherine Kinslow, opened Craft and Growler just outside of Fair Park in mid-November. This new spot plays a unique role in the growing North Texas beer culture because it allows Dallasites to buy local beer and take it home to drink. See, only…