Just a guess, but I suppose Daddy Jack isn’t planning on moving after all. The last time I talked with Jack Chaplin at any length, he was considering pulling up stakes and going back East where he came from, instead of swimming upstream (so to speak), making a living as…
French food is the mother of all Western cuisines; the whole vocabulary of Western cuisine is French. The French fries (pommes frites) at Chez Gerard remind you that even the ubiquitous French-fried potato is something to take seriously, if you want to be rewarded. Greaseless but buttery, colored a pure…
“When a vegetable is as beautiful as this asparagus, you’ve just got to take it seriously.” I can’t remember now whether Julia (Child, of course) said that in a magazine interview or during an episode of The French Chef. I’m not really even sure whether it was asparagus or artichokes…
In the corner of Preston Royal Shopping Center, back behind the post office, is tiny Best Thai, a pocket restaurant with only a few tables inside and a few on the adjoining sidewalk. You can’t even see it from the parking lot–just trust me that it’s there and in that…
Sometimes it’s hard to find the Texas in Dallas, Texas. We’ve paved it with parking lots and covered it up with malls and mirrored skyscrapers till there’s very little landscape and no history apparent; what you see instead is our own invention. For instance, the infamous herd of steers at…
There is no worse kitchen job than grating citrus zest. It’s such a thin line between the peel and the pith and it would be a Shylock’s deal to promise you could get all the zest without losing some of your skin. Fortunately, if you just want a dash of…
My nomination for best rotisserie chicken in town–in a culture crawling with rotisserie-cooked chickens–is the herb-rubbed, tender-fleshed, crisp-skinned one now available from Ziziki’s new Mediterranean Market, right across from the same-named, sort-of-Greek restaurant in the courtyard in Travis Walk. Now that Costa Arrabatzis and Mary Cloutier have built the restaurant…
Location, location, location. I think I may have opened a review with that phrase before, but since at least half the restaurant business is actually the real-estate business, the maxim can’t be repeated too often. In Dallas, the restaurant real estate is clearly staked out; until Oak Cliff votes itself…
OK, everybody, raise your hand if you think that what Dallas really needs is one more brewpub. And, for those of you who raised your hand, I’ve got a deal on some really great lake property near Alice. Somewhere in Colorado, it seems, some scam salesman has put out the…
This could be the hottest dish you’ll ever read. The 1996 “Marilyn Merlot” has just been released, with the dishy blond on the label. A different picture from the star’s estate adorns the bottle every year, and there are actually oenophiles who refuse to buy the wine because of the…
I am skeptical of any commercial food establishment that uses the word “home” in its description. “Home” cooking, “home”-baked, “home”made–they’re all obvious lies. But it’s not just the obvious untruth–that this food is actually restaurant cooking, professionally baked, and commercially made–that bothers me; it’s the increasing sense of confusion about…
Speaking from several experiences, I know that marriage has its ups and downs. You have to judge it by the long haul, because it can be miserable in the short run; a bad week out of a lifetime relationship is not very long, and yet it can end a marriage…
Holy Ravioli! Sounds like something Batman would say, but take it literally this time. This new pasta shop is set up like a Baskin-Robbins store, only the freezer containers are filled with ravioli instead of ice cream. There aren’t 31 flavors, but you can choose pasta pockets filled with black…
Jack Nicholson’s famous sandwich tantrum in Five Easy Pieces has been referenced so often, it’s become a bit of folklore that exists apart from the movie. His point, made so vehemently about the toast, was: Restaurants are supposed to serve you first, food second. If someone walks into Deep Ellum’s…
There are as many Starbucks on our city’s streets as stars you can see in the Dallas sky. A more frightening surmise: There are almost as many Starbucks as there are Gap’s. Tell us, Faith Popcorn, how much coffee can we drink?! Wonder no more. Starbucks, ever ahead of the…
“Must have a good lunch crowd,” was my first impression of this little restaurant, tucked down in a strip center off Greenville and Park. The dining room was empty when we arrived (though it was Thursday at the dinner hour) except for a reviewer from another publication and her party,…
It’s an official prediction. After a decade or so of putting the world on a plate, so-called “fusion” cuisine is on its way “out,” according to a recent article in Nation’s Restaurant News. Fusion evolved from New American chefs’ idea of cooking regional ingredients with French techniques. Then American chefs,…
Style is as important in dining as it is in dressing. We humans define ourselves in subtle ways, believing you can judge a person not just by the company he keeps and the clothes he wears, but by the food he eats and the places he goes. Certainly, restaurateurs believe…
Nothing is more important to food than the fat with which it’s made. Whole cuisines can be categorized by the oils–or butter–upon which they’re based. As this country, originally settled by butter-eaters, is learning, all oils are not created equal. Olive oils, for instance, vary incredibly in taste–fruitiness, acidity, bitterness–as…
If you’ve got a Tolltag, you know where Tupy’s is. Along with Horchow Finale–the discount store of catalogue leftovers–Tupinamba (called Tupy’s by regulars) anchors a shopping center whose feature attractions are a pet-grooming shop, a nail salon, and the Tolltag store. It’s on Inwood Road just off Forest Lane–Dallas’ ancient,…
It’s often considered the most romantic restaurant in the city, and when I go there, I realize all over again how far I am from understanding romance. In my experience, love means never having to have the munchies again–or, at least, not for the duration of the infatuation. Love makes…
When my sister the chef used to visit New Orleans, the first thing she’d do after checking into a hotel was head for a convenience store and buy a couple of bags of Zapp’s potato chips. After all, a trip to New Orleans is a culinary expedition, Zapp’s are top-drawer…
