After sitting vacant since February with little more than a flock of non-rent-paying origami birds hanging from the ceiling to keep it occupied, the space that once housed Anzu, that hip, cutting-edge (at the time) Japanese/Pacific Rim exploit that shuttered after a bankruptcy filing, has been taken over. The prime…
It’s not unusual for men to hit on Missy Kutzor. But when a guy walked up to her during lunch at The Olive Garden, it caught her off guard. “He looked me up and down and said hi,” Kutzor recalls. “I just ignored him.” The strikeout artist remains unknown (and…
Americans consume too much fat. Or so we’re told. Yet no less an authority than The Joy of Cooking contends that “avoiding it altogether is neither beneficial nor desirable.” Each gram of fat contains about nine love-handle-enhancing calories. But each gram of fat also offers such necessities as vitamin K,…
Ron Ferguson wrestles with the hard realities of economics every day. The general manager of the Coppertank Brewing Company in Dallas needs three or four wait staff and a few other people. “It’s pretty tough to hire right now,” Ferguson says. “There are a lot more restaurants and clubs than…
The restaurant’s press kit says that when you discover Jimmy Lu’s, there’s no turning back. Apparently, that’s not exactly true. Jimmy Lu’s Chairman and CEO Chris Harrison has sold out of the roughly 4-month-old North Dallas restaurant serving Asian collision cuisine, leaving the reins in President Jimmy Lu’s hands. Harrison…
Great questions confound the greatest of minds, forcing even legendary figures to shrivel up and crawl away in pure defeat. How do you untie the Gordian knot? That one frustrated Alexander the Great so much that he hacked at the thing with a sword. What is the meaning of life?…
The interesting thing about Baja California Grill is that it was never meant to be named after that tendril of Mexican desert jutting out of the end of California. It was supposed to be called Hotel California Grill. But this got the panties of the band The Eagles in an…
We guess there’s more than one way to get burned in the restaurant business–even if you’re a nameplate that’s been floating around the Dallas digestive tract since 1948. But somehow, this one just seems a bit more, how shall we say, tear-provoking than the typical scorch, even for our cynical…
One day this summer, a thief walked off with a giant plastic sculpture from a restaurant in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The sculpture weighed 300 pounds and resembled a large rock formation–rather useless to the outside world, in other words. No one in the restaurant industry was surprised. “If it’s not…
At some point in time, humans discovered sugar, salt, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, high-fructose corn syrup, and all of the other ingredients that make those hours between meals worthwhile. Only a few infallible individuals–the pope, Al Gore–or those of exquisite taste can ever hope to avoid the millions of empty…
What’s most surprising about Thai Tango is not the food, or the décor, or how snazzy the logo looks in lights illuminating its own little corner of a strip mall still under construction. It’s how far the place is from Dallas. Compost heaps and dung berms aside, when I think…
Sugarcane is rampant in Cuba. The primary agricultural commodity in that country has, over the years, pushed other vegetation out of existence. Land once covered with palm and banana trees is devoted to the succulent grass. Sugarcane is the basis of that most Caribbean of spirits, rum, which in turn…
Lombardi Mare, Alberto Lombardi’s seafood extravaganza, has had a shift in the head. Executive chef Tony Knight has departed, or is departing, or might not completely depart, or something. “I’m just looking for other avenues, going a different route,” he says. Knight adds he’s been doing some consulting for Lombardi…
Roasted crickets taste a bit like popcorn. Really. Mealworm-infested pizza isn’t bad, either–according to a Texas A & M entomology class in which students undergo a bug-tasting lesson every semester in a safe and scientific environment. Professor Roger Gold insists that certain critters provide vitamins, protein, and flavor. When Micah…
Sometimes Jeremy Parker slides behind the wheel of a Lamborghini Diablo. More often he drives a Mercedes. But in rare moments of juvenile flair he bops around in a bright yellow 1968 VW Bug. Valet parking is ubiquitous in Dallas. According to David Hamilton, president of Jack Boles Parking Service,…
Though he won’t reveal–on the record at least–the reasons for the fracture, Peter Tarantino has severed his ties with Anthony Bermea’s Caribbean Red, where Tarantino was general manager, after just a few weeks. “I did my job. We did our stunt. And now I’m gone,” he says with uncharacteristic succinctness…
We might as well blame President Clinton for this. After all, the man who personally started all of those forest fires this summer and raised the price of gasoline just to spite American consumers is (listen up, Rush) certainly capable of introducing fake wasabi into the market. However, we’ll skip,…
A piece inserted into the trifold menu at The Prison in McKinney says that the circa-1880, three-story building was designed by architect F.E. Ruffini, crafter of numerous late 19th century public buildings in Texas. The blurb describes the Collin County prison as a “high Victorian Italianate structure with bracketed cornices…
Those who lived through the anti-nuke rallies may think all other socio-political battlegrounds easy. Think again. A mere mention of the phrase “genetic engineering” causes all kinds of intemperate behavior: setting fire to Michigan State University labs, forcing the recall of taco shells, hordes of French men and women storming…
Things evolve. Well, everywhere outside of Kansas and a few pockets in the Deep South, things evolve. Consider for a moment the evolution of sports bars. Once a neighborhood dive with peanut shells, disturbing stains, unknown dark corners, and a color television, the sports bar emerged from the 1980s as…
The rumors aren’t true, she says. There is no impending Rooster ruckus. Rooster owners Todd and Amanda Tracy have not put their roughly 4-year-old restaurant on the block, which for a Rooster is a very serious matter. Instead, Amanda Tracy says they’re just a week or so shy of breaking…
You have to travel to see a Babe Ruth-autographed baseball. Most people fly to Syracuse, New York, rent a car, drive southeast for an hour or so, and buy a ticket to the baseball hall of fame. Others just pop in for lunch at Balls Hamburgers on Northwest Highway. Yep…
