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…
Noodles are invading Dallas. Finally. Sort of. Since Liberty opened a couple of years ago, those in the know were expecting noodle houses–spots plying hybrid noodle dishes from all over Asia–to limply blanket the city with their tasty, cheap, and allegedly healthy culinary fibers. It didn’t happen. Perhaps it’s because…
Nightlife whiz Richard Fiaschetti says he distorted the spelling of his new restaurant and bar moniker because he didn’t like the way the correct spelling looked on paper. But he likes how the logo looks painted on the dining room windows. Kaoss Restaurant and Bar at Main and Murray is…
The story of Fort Worth’s Reata restaurant, rescued from the wreckage of a late spring tornado through sheer force of will and owner Al Micaleff’s deep pockets, has as many knots and snarls as an unkempt lariat. Like the twister that started the trouble, its ultimate path is unpredictable; its…
Every once in a while, controversy seethes beneath the otherwise placid surface of American culture, waiting only for some incident to unleash its brutally divisive force. For instance, recall the time the elder George Bush pronounced his distaste for broccoli, causing an uproar that threatened to tear children from families…
t’s hard to know what to make of Jimmy Lu’s, so shrouded are its subtleties, so disguised are its flavors. Maybe disguised isn’t the right word, but I’m at a loss. I consulted the press kit, a stylish collection of tightly focused propaganda slipped into the sleeves of a glossy…
Thai Bistro’s maxim is “a true dining experience”; at least that’s what’s italicized on the front of the menu. I’m not sure what a true dining experience is, or even a false one. Perhaps the latter would include wax fruit, Velveeta, and veggie venison served in a karaoke bistro on…
It seems like the departure rumors have been around longer than she has. But after more than four accolade-studded years as executive chef and general manager at Laurels atop the Westin Park Central, Daniel Custer is pulling out of Dallas. She had always planned on leaving here, she says, because…
Sure, Texas leads the nation in alcohol-related traffic deaths–1,734 in 1999–and the state’s leniency toward drunk drivers costs it close to $100 million in highway funding. But when it comes to drinking, nothing arouses the ire of North Texas like a harmless blue-and-white card. Just ask. “The Unicard is a…
