In cities with significant Polish populations, Shrove Tuesday is commonly known as Paczki Day in honor of the pastry made with all the lard, eggs and sugar that had to be used up before the traditional Lenten fast began. But Dallasites without deep-fryers may have trouble participating in the festivities…
It’s a good thing Ash Wednesday is next week, because you’re going to need to do a lot of repenting after this weekend. You’ve got an excuse to indulge in gumbo, King Cake and plenty of beer because it’s Mardi Gras, so go ahead and sin a little. You can…
Beer is lovely, in many ways because of its very simplicity. In its purest form, it’s just four ingredients. And all you have to do is open a bottle or can and drink it — pouring it into a glass first, if you’re really trying to savor it.So why is…
The State Fair of Texas last week announced its theme for 2011, but the real start of Fair-anticipation season might come next week when representatives head down to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo to scout out concession ideas. Concession area director Carey Risinger and Kelly Pound, producer of the…
A year-old project to encourage workers to “commit to a lunch hour of renewal” has found a new fan base in restaurant owners, who are enthusiastically backing The Energy Project’s call for people to leave their offices at lunchtime. Tony Schwartz, founder of The Energy Project and author of The…
I am left hungry, and I’m pissed off about it, not because the tacos at Flash Mart are regrettable examples of overcooked, drier than Death Valley meat wrapped in flaccid, oily white corn tortillas. It’s the opposite. The tacos prepared and served inside the gas station at the corner of…
The attempted iguana meat caper that unfolded yesterday at the Laredo border posed a pressing question for food enthusiasts: Just what did those confiscated iguana tamales taste like? U.S. Customs and Border Patrol seized 58 pounds of alleged iguana meat mixed with masa, citing restrictions on wild animal importation. The…
Each week, Happy Eating highlights a restaurant happy hour menu. This week, surrounded by a flank of waitresses dressed in spandex and short-shorts, we try out some wings at Honey Shack. Where: Honey Shack 4218 Lemmon Ave. When: 2-7 p.m. Monday-Friday and 5 p.m.-close Sunday. The Scene: Hooters without all…
Based on the constantly buzzing (ha!) parking lot, and the word of mouth (some call it buzz) about BEE: Best Enchiladas Ever, it’s become clear that the Oak Cliff counter-service enchiladeria is a neighborhood and willing-commuter favorite. People dig the options, the service, the people behind it and, as we’ve…
The folks at Chick-fil-A (multiple locations) are giving away free food, and you don’t have to dress like a cow or make online reservations, though you do have to jump through one hoop to score this deal. Head to any location tomorrow from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and request…
Last night, Top Chef began with chefs still in shock that stoner food icon Dale had been sent packing…oh, and with Tiffany declaring that she simply cannot be sent home on the same challenge she was sent home on last season (the final one before heading abroad). A jinx? Perhaps,…
Dallas chef Tiffany Derry this week dove into the maelstrom surrounding financial assistance at for-profit colleges, arguing in an essay for The Hill that the government is threatening the culinary arts by withholding loans from students enrolled in career schools. The Department of Education is attempting to issue new rules…
Mexico City: The Gourmet Taco offers a variety of Mexican food plus mini gas station taquería-y tacos and “gourmet tacos.” For those of you who don’t know, in Spanish “gourmet tacos” means “same as the mini tacos but in a larger tortilla and topped with veggies ‘n’ shit.” I was…
The way the kitchen had envisioned it, a roundup of chocolate that followed a recent multi-course meal at Decanter was supposed to double as a dashing centerpiece. In a stroke of Cubist inspiration, the pastry chef had plated a thick slice of sweet potato chocolate terrine abutting a parfait glass…
As far as beer drinking goes, Saint Patrick’s Day is generally known more for quantity than quality. And if it’s not cheap, domestic and dyed green, chances are it’s Guinness, as the historic Dublin brewery makes a huge marketing push each year to capitalize on the holiday.But Thursday, March 17,…
The catfish industry is targeting Texas as the next state to adopt country-of-origin labeling legislation. The Catfish Institute’s president Robert Barlow is now in Texas, rallying support for a bill introduced by state Senator Glenn Hegar. The proposed law, modeled after similar legislation already on the books in five Southeastern…
The tired, lame joke used to pop about annually this time of year among the lapsed Catholics in my family. “I’m giving up watermelon for Lent,” assorted uncles would say with a grin. Har-har. Get it? Watermelon isn’t in season during Lent, so as sacrifices go… Yeah, those old boys…
Garden & Gun magazine yesterday stirred up the soda world with news that Cheerwine can now be ordered online, a development that should excite the drink’s many fans in Dallas. “Every single day we have someone asking about Cheerwine,” says Scott Causey, who staffs The Soda Gallery in the Bishop…
Deep Ellum Brewing Company and Peticolas Brewing Company are both making progress toward opening and making their wares available to the general public, with DEBC completing the hire of Saint Louis’ Andrew Huerter as brewmaster and making inroads with distributor Ben E. Keith, while Michael Peticolas’ one-man operation (using equipment…
The first observances of Texas Independence Day were relatively sedate affairs: The semi-centennial in 1886 was marked by readings of the Declaration and a sprucing-up of Sam Houston’s grave. In Brenham, a congressman gave a speech that the local press deemed “eloquent and appropriate.” Many Texans didn’t bother with the…
One hundred seventy-five years ago today, a convention of elected delegates meeting at Washington-on-the-Brazos and adopted the Texas Declaration of Independence, officially establishing the Republic of Texas. Sure, we’re no longer an independent nation, but being a kick-ass state is just as cool. Celebrate Texas Independence Day at both Norma’s…
On one of my trips to Vietnam years ago, my mother and I traveled to the seaside town of Danang. During morning jogs on the beach, I’d run through hot spots of a familiar scent lingering in the air. It was the very distinct odor of fish sauce. Until now,…
