Dallas Drinkers Don’t Like Dallas Drinks

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…

Rolling in Dough at Noodle House

It’s 1 p.m. when I receive a phone call from an anxious voice on the other end of the line, asking me where I am. It’s Sky Kuo, owner of Plano’s Noodle House, and he’s wondering if I am still coming by to snap pictures in the restaurant’s kitchen. I…

NTFB Launches Young Professionals’ Group

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…

Physicists Probe Science Behind Barbecue

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…

Everything That’s Wrong With Texas Alcohol Laws In One Photo

OK, so the headline’s a slight exaggeration — it would take an album of photos to fully capture all the outdated laws and unfair advantages the giant (and foreign-owned, by the way) corporations of the beer world have over the small businesses trying to brew in Texas or distribute from…

Checking Out a Restaurant Before It’s “Ready”

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,…

Savor Dallas Founder Vows Long Lines Won’t Recur

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 Restaurants Shut Out of James Beard Contest

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…

Alice Laussade and City of Ate Score James Beard Nominations

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…

Baked Chicken Makes Aussies Think of Texas

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…

Sangria: Perfect for Punch-Drunk Love

A couple of Tuesday nights ago, my date and I went for dinner at Sangria Mediterranean Tapas and Bar on Cole Avenue.  On Tuesdays the restaurant offers half price bottles of wine, which you can take home if you don’t finish by the time the check comes.  We considered the…

Savor Dallas: Sampling Some Well-Balanced Meals

If we had gotten there 10 minutes later, we wouldn’t have been able to get a parking space, which is shocking since the Savor Dallas International Grand Tasting on Saturday night at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel started at 7 p.m. and we arrived at 7:10 p.m. Once we got in…

Restaurant Gives Diners Gas — Makes Headline Writer’s Day

Red Dog Right Sports Bar & Grill is offering a free $10 gas card for the first 100 customers through the door on Tuesday, March 22. Jimmy Fell, “head coach” (i.e. general manager) of Red Dog Right explains why they chose to run this unusual promotion: “This past week being…

Hamantaschen Aren’t the Only Purim Pastries

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…

Right This Way for Bourbon Porn

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…

Chopped All-Stars: A Cut Above the Rest

I’ve watched enough of the regular episodes of Food Network’s Chopped to see through its paint-by-numbers plotting. Within the first couple of minutes of an average episode, I can all but predict which aspiring chef, caterer or cooking instructor, wrestling with that mystery basket of ingredients to fashion an appetizer,…

It’s Never Too Late for Another Mardi Gras Party

Sure, Mardi Gras was almost two weeks ago, but we never miss a chance to don masquerade masks and boas. The MADI Art Museum and Gallery (3109 Carlisle St.) apparently shares our affinity for king cake and booze and is hosting MADI Gras, a daylong celebration of art, food and…

Chef Tell: It Just Conch Be True

I’ll be kind to you people who will see this pop up but who haven’t yet watched last night’s episode of Top Chef All Stars, the conch-ed up episode resting listlessly in your DVR. I won’t give anything away in this first paragraph where your eyes will involuntarily dart around…

Fearing’s To Donate Portion of Profits to Japan Relief

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…