You don’t get the pinks or the sheers, the lavish brasses or the visages of Shiva. You don’t get the busy pungent fogs of a hundred spices ground and goaded to cloak the hearty smells of protein buried deep within: lentils and lamb, shrimp and chicken. At night the Bukhara…
In Japanese, it is written, genki means energy, vigor or spirit. To this the Genki Sushi & Steak menu adds: “It is our hope and commitment to restore your full energy with our dishes.” Genki strives to live up to such boldness. Lined up on the mantel above the sushi…
Not long after the Aló Cenaduria & Piqueos menu was unleashed, founding chef Taco Borga was chided for his spelling. Ceviche is lettered “cebiche” on the menu, a composition Borga hastens to add was molded with the considerable help of Aló executive chef Julia Lopez, who steeped herself in Peruvian…
By the time you read this, Ounce Prime Steakhouse will be cutting up meat in the former La Valentina de Mexico space in Addison. Who birthed this measure? “It came from me. I’m it. I’m the driving force behind it,” boasts managing partner Danny Schertzer, a former Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse…
There is no music in Pho New Bay, but there is a high-definition television set anchored in one corner. It is tuned to the Discovery Channel. Right now on the screen is Bear Grylls, British Special Forces hunk-turned-adventurer-survivalist star of Discovery’s Man vs. Wild (among his favorite reads is Messy…
Sifting through the flashy, noisy contrails of Ghostbar, N9NE Steakhouse and Nove Italiano, nightclub entrepreneur Jesse Herman determined the key to Victory lies in dressing down. Call it dingy chic. Herman, who made his name propelling New York’s celebrity cauldron Pangaea, has linked with hospitality facilitator Donald Chick (Mansion, M…
Remember when Rosewood was courting chef Chris Ward (Mercury Grill), hoping to lure him into his own namesake restaurant in the 19-story Rosewood Court development in Uptown? Us neither. The deal seems to have fallen through before it was committed to paper. Enter Jack Baum. And David Gilbert, the talented…
It has the look of a speakeasy, or a port of ill-repute where scruples are scarce commodities. The entrance to The Club is in the quiet, expansive alley-like causeway that drains into the central courtyard at the Centrum building. The frame around the large door is black and leather-like. Gas…
Chef Kent Rathbun finally released a statement confirming what was reported here last week: He and former Ruth’s Chris Steak House CEO Bill Hyde have put their heads and resources together to acquire the Abacus and Jasper’s restaurant interest from the estate of the late Robert Hoffman, Rathbun’s longtime backer…
Fearing’s is a well-oiled machine. Service is prompt. Water is chilled and filled. Wine recommendations are astute. Skipping through the list, wanting a light-to-medium-bodied red to successfully straddle the orders of fish and red meat at our table, sommelier Paul Botamer talked up the Peltier Station Petite Syrah from Lodi,…
Heck, it’s a regular alias pile. That downtown hotel on Main Street formerly known as Joule Urban Resort has shed yet another “otherwise known as.” It was to be called Hotel Elan. No more. “It’s not going to be that,” says Caroline Lerner Perel of Juno Development, the luxury hospitality…
In Dallas, seafood is the black sheep, a gangly, stinky stepchild that doesn’t take to wood-fired grates or high-degree broilers with the same gusto as a corn-fed steer. It’s a placeholder on steakhouse menus, a light alternative for those who don’t relish beefy bloodlust or the burden a fine steakhouse…
Things haven’t gone well for chef Kevin Ascolese (once of Sfuzzi, Mi Piaci, Salve! Ristorante and Ferre) since he vacated Breckenridge, Colorado, where he flipped patties at Empire Burger, for Dallas. Ascolese left the slopes to upgrade the Patrizio’s restaurants (Highland Park, Plano, Highland Village near Flower Mound) for owner…
Every once in a while—not often, but often enough to prompt a sensory readjustment—you come across a dish with a glaring hole in the flavor profile that somehow fills itself. The sharp edges are there—a razor line of salt or a burst of sour or the balm of sweet—counterpoised with…
The things about Tradicion that stick in the mind are the remnants, the leftovers. Tradicion is the work of Ricardo Avila. Avila grips the reins (along with his mother) of Avila’s, a Tex-Mex staple on Maple Avenue for more than 20 years. Tradicion penetrated the odd space that was once…
Urban Bistro, the stunted Mediterranean concept chef Avner Samuel developed (with investors) in the defunct George Restaurant location, formerly the Riviera at Inwood and Lovers, closed August 24. Consilient Restaurants head Tristan Simon grabbed the assets (furniture, fixtures, equipment), scratched out a new long-term lease and will transform it into…
Olivella’s is outrunning its headlights. Its mouth can’t keep pace with the speed of its mind. Or is it vice versa? It’s not hard to pick up the flavor of chaos. Step into the restaurant. Muscle a path between the people seated at tables and on plush stools at the…
Kavala is like a finely chiseled face with a crooked nose or a chipped tooth or maybe a misshapen beauty mark. There’s a lot to love here. The trick is to separate those things that will make the casual peruser swoon from those only a mother could love. Though the…
Like many from Dallas’ wine royalty—Van Roberts (Lola), Drew Hendricks (upcoming Charlie Palmer restaurant) and Kyle Kepner (once of Luqa, once of Kenichi, now representing Republic National Distributing Co.)—Paul Pinnell has a fruit fly up his Bouchard Chassagne-Montrachet over Dallas wine list prices. “The prices are obscene,” he says. “Our…
To fully plumb the pleasures of tapas, it is essential to begin with a small cylindrical glass of fino, just a couple of ounces. Fino sherry (Domecq La Ina, $3.95) is a liquid throb that inflames and focuses the taste buds. Sherry sipping is a neglected gustatory ritual. This is…
There’s a certain lethargy to Stone Horse Bistro, a stiffness. It doesn’t completely unravel the place, but frays are visible through its gaunt earnestness. It appears on the appetizer menu, on the right side, under the heading “charcoal skewers.” Note four selections: lamb, sweetbreads, chicken gizzard and beef tongue. Enticing?…
Former club owner Brad Priebe, who once owned Suede Bar & Grill down on Greenville Avenue and had his fingers in the Dragonfly Bar & Restaurant before it went through its many incarnations (Milkbar, Syn Bar) and burned down and is now a nursery or some such, has joined hands…
