We always were a sucker for the ones who play hard to get. By most indications, La Michoacana Meat Market doesn’t really care if you want to shop there. Its low-key Greenville Avenue storefront (one of numerous area locations) sports an ancient-looking sign and the front door, covered in metal…
Top Cellars Connie Lewis has the job you didn’t know you wanted. The pretty 30-year-old blonde spends her days in fine restaurants, hotels and custom homes, helping wine lovers and experts design tony treasure chests for their precious bottles. And despite what you might think, her upscale niche profession has…
Let’s get this out of the way right up front: the cupcake wasn’t good. Billed as “magnificent vanilla cake…topped with vanilla and chocolate buttercreams,” The Cupcakery’s ‘Oh, My Gosh – Ganache!™’ cupcake was instead a bland, boring base topped with icing that tasted a whole lot like the inside of…
“I’m inexperienced. But my eagerness, I think, makes up for that.” It’s been almost two weeks since star Southwestern chef Stephan Pyles turned heads in the Dallas dining world by appointing Matt McCallister Executive Chef of his self-named restaurant downtown. The rumor mill’s been working overtime ever since, with whispers…
Recipe Demonstrated by Miranda Martinez On Monday we introduced you to Miranda Martinez, self-proclaimed “regular person raw foodist”. The Dallas-based actress went all raw back in 2007, after running through just about every diet known to humankind. She dropped 60-plus pounds and now she’s busy spreading the word about her…
Long before these dismal days of gut-busting King Size Snickers and 3 Musketeers Dark Chocolate Mint (an unholy creation, for sure), there were Goo Goo Clusters and Zagnuts and Squirrel Nut Zippers…uh…must…resist…Beavis and Butthead…laugh… Candy used to be cheery and novel, didn’t it?–a few bites of fun. Where did our…
A couple of new food-related sites caught our eye last week…while we maybe should have been working. Aren’t you glad we’re willing to procrastinate? [Editor’s note: you should have been working–and stealing stuff from the Internet to cover your tracks doesn’t count].SympathyFood.com: Why say it with flowers when you can…
“I’m a regular-person raw foodist,” says Miranda Martinez with a gleam in her eye. “I still live in the real world.” Coming from her, we actually believe it. Two years ago, the Dallas-based actress and producer turned off her oven and didn’t look back. Sixty-plus pounds later, she claims she’s…
Ben Verdooren might have been down, but he was far from out. Just weeks after the abrupt closure of his restaurant Zymology, this popular young entrepreneur is staging a comeback. And you might be surprised to learn just how far he didn’t travel to find a new gig. Bandera sits…
Recipe Demonstrated by Scott Whittall of Buli The half-mile stretch of Cedar Springs from Oak Lawn to Wycliff has remained staunchly Starbucks-less in a world where corporate coffee shops are as common a sight as burger drive-thrus and SUV’s. But nobody on the block seems to care. Who needs one…
Summertime wine buying often leads to an irksome game tug-of-war between your mind and your wallet. You love your friends (well, most of them anyway; at least you want to be nice in hopes you’ll get something out of them someday), and you don’t want to serve them swill until…
Somewhere in the back of a darkened warehouse, surrounded by half-eaten buckets of chicken, a cartoon sailor and a country colonel are quaking in their boots…and no, that’s not one of those “don’t ask, don’t tell” scenarios. “Damn that Zaxby’s,” they’re hissing between bites. “Damn them and their plump, juicy…
The deserted parking lot should have been a red flag. Our trip to Mari’s Taqueria started out with a promising tip, and somewhere between taking the flyer from the taco-loving lady at the gas station and walking into the restaurant that day, we’d worked ourselves up into a lather, wondering…
If the thought of another 4th of July spent dodging toddlers brandishing sparklers like Jack Sparrow’s sword leaves you craving something red, white and intoxicating, maybe a more grown-up celebration is in order this year. You need $50, but it will buy your ticket to freedom at the Annual 4th…
Recipe Demonstrated By Jesse Sanchez Of La Calle Doce Jesse Sanchez loves the restaurant business. It’s a family thing. Back in 1981, his brother-in-law Oscar Sanchez took over a hard-luck spot in Oak Cliff that even the Cuellar family of El Chico fame couldn’t conquer. Almost 30 years later, La…
Last Wednesday, the folks at the Texas Department of Agriculture (an organization that definitely deserves a cooler name) took over Pappas Bros. Steakhouse for a big ol’ photo shoot to promote the Go Texan Restaurant Program. Showcasing restaurants serving Texas wine, produce, shrimp and other Lone Star products, the program…
Behold, the mouthwatering lunchtime spread at the Dallas County Municipal Courts building. Nothing like stale, B-level vending selections to leave you longing for a sweet taste of freedom. And this is the dining room. Not much in the way of atmosphere, but we hear “faux bois” is all the rage…
A new Asian fast food joint is rarely big news, but in the case of three-week-old Thai2Go, a couple of key details set it apart from the crowd.For starters, Thai2Go is located in the new Cityville development on Medical District Drive. This heavily-trafficked cross street connecting Harry Hines Boulevard and…
Are Bento Boxes the new sandwich wraps?All of a sudden, bentos are everywhere, inciting flashbacks to the tortilla attack of the early 2000’s, when everything but old gym socks was getting the “roll it up and call it lunch” treatment. Now everything’s going in a box.Both fads are rooted in…
Recipe Demonstrated by Chefs Nathan Tate and Randall Copeland of Restaurant AVA There’s been much ado about Copper River Salmon lately. Its name is tossed out left and right, accompanied by buzzwords like “sustainable” and “seasonal”, but what exactly is this trendy fish? What makes it different from its more…
Last night, Channel 8 Meteorologist Greg Fields and Rick Boyer of Robert Mondavi hosted a small dinner at Abacus to introduce the legendary California brand’s new Solaire line of wines. Boyer, who is gearing up for his 32nd vineyard harvest later in the year, is the winemaker behind the new…
The food biz is risky. Dallas is an incredibly competitive market when it comes to restaurants, and given the current economy, it’s tougher than ever before to make a go of a place while everyone is cutting back on pretty much everything. Starting a new food business requires much in…
