Al Biernat is a lot like Coca Cola, Disney, or General Electric. He’s a rock-solid stock, the kind you might sink cash into if you had any hope of realizing a clean return on the financial grease trap that is the restaurant business. Just walk into his place some evening…
Champagne shutters In the wake of collapsing food quality and a largely absentee chef, Champagne restaurant shut down its lunch and dinner service in mid-July. Opening chef Bruno Mella, who had been shuttling between the Firehouse and Champagne, will no longer have an active role in the restaurant. Sources say…
Papercity won’t hurl barbs Targeting residents of Dallas’ high-income ‘hoods, Papercity, a clone of a slick rag spawned in Houston, will spare Dallas restaurants blood-letting criticism in its dining coverage, according to editor and former Dallas Observer reporter Rebecca Sherman. Instead, the bimonthly urban-lifestyle mag, with an expected circulation of…
There’s one thing you can say about Big Fish Little Fish, the new seafood boathouse on Henderson: It’s got a great hook. It’s cluttered with lots of kitschy seaside props such as a patio fashioned like a boat dock with a thick rope railing, a deck made with wide planks,…
Clive and Stuart’s closes After weeks of rumors that its demise was coming, Clive & Stuart’s Island Cuisine on McKinney Avenue gave up the ghost, closing down July 12. One inside source says trucks pulled up to the restaurant at 2 a.m. following dinner Saturday night to load supplies and…
A column appeared recently in The Wall Street Journal about the increasing tendency among writers and journalists to make full disclosures about themselves. These disclosures, which often appear parenthetically, are ostensibly made so readers won’t think the writer has a hidden agenda. The interesting thing is that they invariably confess…
Ocean Grill chef squeezed out Ocean Grill Executive Chef Willem De Froy, a founding chef of Sambuca, was forced out of the Plano seafood restaurant by owner Anson Chan after De Froy and his wife Amy’s attempt to take it over crumbled, says Chan, who founded Yoli’s Seafood Restaurants and…
Chef William Guthrie likes cookbooks. He maintains a hardcover collection with volumes dating back as far as 1796. Selected outcasts from his compilation can be found on a wooden bookshelf in the rear of his new “historical” downtown diner, Guthrie’s. Each volume has a price penciled in the upper corner…
We’ve been infiltrated by lifestyle Nazis who want nothing but the best for us. They’re everywhere, scrutinizing every cranny of our lives, browbeating us to be socially responsible and globally aware. These goose-steppers specialize in making mindless fun taboo. Look at how stupid they have made life. We need lawyers…
Cafe space resurrected After lying vacant for several months, the building that was once home to Coco Pazzo Cafe in Addison will open as a restaurant featuring South American cuisine September 1. The venue, tentatively named South Forks Grill, is undergoing some light reconstruction. “Sfuzzi’s had a beautiful restaurant. Then…
Pyramid Room chef dies Acclaimed Dallas chef John Edwards died early Friday in what police describe as an apparent suicide. A Dallas native and the father of two children, the 37-year-old Edwards joined the Fairmont Hotel in 1980 as sous chef in the Pyramid Room restaurant and was appointed executive…
“Tapas” is a term casually tossed around by restaurateurs these days. Servings of everything from grilled sweetbreads with lemon to greasy buffalo wings to bowls of Wheat Chex mixer snacks are dubbed tapas in an effort to give the most lowly tavern mouth-parchers international flair. But what the heck are…
Luscher to exit Routh Street Prominent chef Brian C. Luscher will depart Routh Street Brewery July 15 to join Mike McMahan of Mac’s Bar & Grill as corporate executive chef. Through his company Mariah Corp., McMahan will upgrade Mac’s Bar & Grill restaurants in Plano, Arlington, and Midland as well…
Funny things happen when people get on in years all flush and seasoned with life experience. Frivolous amusements lose their luster, and things like regularity and mutual-fund yields get our hearts pumping harder than Victoria’s Secret catalogs or Marky Mark underwear ads did before 401K became more meaningful than K-Y…
Rigatoni is one of those diamonds in the strip-mall rough–or at least a three-quarter carat zircon in a sea of mood rings. It’s clean, crisp, and a little staged in the way restaurants get when things start to resemble a sub sandwich emporium or a Motel 6 lobby. This immaculate…
Pay up Just two days after New York-based Toscorp closed Coco Pazzo on McKinney Avenue on May 29, a creditor asked a U.S. bankruptcy court to force New C.P. Inc., the corporation formed to purchase the assets of the defunct Sfuzzi restaurant chain, into bankruptcy. Toscorp formed New C.P. Inc…
McKinney upheaval It’s hard to tell whether the turmoil surrounding three well-known restaurants on or near McKinney Avenue that have either shut down or swapped owners is due to poor execution or shifting fortunes. And rumors are swirling that at least one more demise is possible. The most high-profile closing…
Maybe beauty is only skin deep, but it sure makes everything taste better. Yes, many Dallas venues serve food good enough to make your taste buds do a Rockettes line dance. But far too many of them are lodged in strip malls. These locations often suffuse me with this overwhelming…
Champagne cuts back dinner After opening with nightly dinner service on May 7, Champagne, the nouveau-French restaurant linked with the Gold Bar in the building that once held the Titche-Goettinger department store on Elm Street, has temporarily scaled back its evening dining to Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Spokeswoman Norma Tamez…
The first thing that will strike you about P.F. Chang’s China Bistro is the interior. Unlike most Chinese restaurants, with standard-issue food service furnishings and dim lighting, this one is bright, crisply contemporary, and bristling with energy. There’s even an open kitchen with a demonstration cooking wok in full view…
The first thing you notice about Rockfish is the tin washtub of peanuts near the entrance with a sign inviting diners to grab a tin bucket and fill up. The second thing you’ll notice is that the floor crunches as you walk to your table–if there is one. Most likely…
d5 McKintyre chef at Popolos Britton McKintyre, former chef at Sipango, will head-up the kitchen at Popolos, according to David Holben, executive vice president and executive chef of Foodstar Restaurant Group Inc., the company that purchased the restaurant in December. McKintyre takes over for Chef Los Akins, who is in…
