Chili Cook-Off To Spice Up Cliff Fest Sunday

Does this sound familiar? There’s going to be a street festival this weekend in the Bishop Arts District featuring a cooking contest and blues covers played by middle-aged white guys! This one’s called Cliff Fest, though, and unlike Blues, Bandits & BBQ, it features a more widely varied music lineup…

Library of Meat: Dude Food Goes Churrasco

Fogo de Chao4300 Belt Line Road972-503-7300Dude Factor: 9, or Seu Jorge, on a scale of 1 (Anderson Varejao) to 10 (Pele).Last week we celebrated — or more accurately, mourned — our 30th birthday. And because she’s such a sweetie, the old ball-and-chain decided to take us out for a fancy…

Liquered-up: Holiday Treats for the Non-Frat-House Set

Sigel’s in Addison is putting together a line-up of liqueurs for its upcoming Holiday LiqueurFest that’s rarely seen outside frat houses. The store’s serving Baileys, Kahlua, Jagermeister and three kinds of Southern Comfort at its tasting event, which will also feature dozens of flavored drinks with more savory reputations. According…

Chains Serve Up Free Food for Vets

Locally owned restaurants are typically hip to holidays. Any sort of celebration is an excuse for a scrappy restaurant to promote a thematic tie-in, as the Rangers’ run for a World Series ring proved. But on Veterans’ Day, the major chains have the mom-and-pops beat. The only local restaurants that…

Texas Oyster Season is Here. Time to be Greedy.

Texas oyster season is under way, and you might as well be greedy. The oysters emerging from the Gulf this year are plump and sweet, and they’ll probably be gone by Christmas. While the recent BP oil spill didn’t taint Texan waters, oyster eaters in Louisiana weren’t so lucky. To…

Sfuzzi Is Sfrikkin’ Douchey but Delicious.

Sfuzzi (Don’t try to pronounce it sober. It’s a drunk word.) is now open at the location that used to be Split Peas Soup Cafe. (I know, you’re thinking, “You mean that didn’t last?? I can’t believe all those drunk, single teenagers and sleazy, married-but-not-wearing-the-ring dongs decided not to spend…

How Should Restaurants Note Diners Birthdays

I once spent an entire birthday in the company of a friend who thought embarrassment was the greatest gift: Everywhere we ate, she recruited servers to clap, sing and flip light switches — ostensibly in my honor. I’m not eager to repeat that experience. But a birthday lunch today left…

Texas Winemaker Puts the Mad in Madeira

Wine experts have pretty much given up the annual tradition of naming the perfect wine for Thanksgiving, acknowledging the array of flavors on the table — and diverse palates assembled around it — mean a good case can be made for just about any varietal. But if I was doing…

El Rincon de Villa Gives Hugs and Has Cojones

The iTunes library’s shuffling between the culturally transcendent songs of El Mariachi Bronx and Calexico did little to help the taco. The taco was filled with what appeared to be the beloved, vermillion-oozing crumbled sausage, that meat so worthy of a hug. What it was really filled with was a…

Somtimes a Pickle is More Than Just a Pickle

Taking a cue from pickle-happy high-end chefs, a few fast food chains are reassessing the role of the once-humble dill. The obligatory pickles slapped on burgers by the nation’s leading chains have long been thin, watery afterthoughts. But Wendy’s this week announced its planned line of premium burgers, now being…