The hostess headed the parade of women through the restaurant to the corner table, a string of groomed, polished (need I say blonde?) trophies trying to preserve their prize, their cheekbones high, their skin tanned and tight, their outfits as unnaturally stylized and contrived as only couture can be. One’s…
There’s a natural relation between spirits, fine food, and fine wine. Every diet expert will tell you that the first leads to the second and every gourmet will tell you that the second calls for the third. Unfortunately, there have been few places in Dallas where you can purchase a…
Preparation: To season two cups of cooked and finely shredded fish, take one small chile ancho, remove its seeds and veins, put it in a pot with some water, and simmer it gently for five minutes. In a molcajete, grind together 12 peppercorns, some cumin seeds, and a piece of…
Everyone knows The Gingerman is the epicenter of Dallas’ brew culture: It’s not anywhere near as big as a brewpub, but what these people know about beer and are dying to tell you is everything–they’ve been drinking beer a long time. The beer, cigar, and wine tastings at The Gingerman…
I was invited to a “cutting of the cheese” party last weekend. Obviously, the teenager inside my friend Mickey named the event, but Mickey the man was grown-up enough to realize that he’d spent hundreds of dollars a year (in $16 dollar-a-pound or so increments) on imported Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese and…
The thing is, it doesn’t have to be this good. Casa Rosa owns its neighborhood; it has its niche clearly carved. Trapped between Highland Park Village (Mi Cocina’s territory), Preston Center (Mi Casa’s stake) and Snider Plaza (Los Vaqueros’ land), the Miracle Mile’s Tex-Mex category clearly belongs to Casa Rosa…
There’s a reason Piggie Pies specializes in delivered pizza. You get a substantial discount if you dare to pick up your pie, but honest, Piggie Pies only looks like it’s being run by a bunch of bikers who turned in their hogs for Piggie. The truth is that Jesse, pizza…
In the voice Vivian Leigh was going for when she played Blanche Dubois, Kay Agnew tells the tale of opening the latest edition of her Creole-Cajun restaurant, Margaux, and the story is one that Tennessee could have written if he had a sense of humor and had been crazy enough…
Aren’t holidays all about food? It’s difficult to celebrate anything without good food and drink, but that’s the hard part of giving a party. This season, Arcodoro/Pomodoro can help you out. Lasagna, cannelloni, and tiramisu are among the menu items available for takeout from one of Dallas’ best Italian restaurants…
“The red and green peppers on the side of your plate are called habaneros,” our young and overly earnest waiter told us. “If you like your food spicier than it is, just chop up the habanero to add a little heat.” Excuse me? Some chefs don’t even allow salt cellars…
Loyd Paxton, the ultra-exclusive art and antiques gallery, has just made its luxurious Maple Avenue facilities available for private parties in collaboration with Food Company, a low-profile, upscale catering firm headquartered in Deep Ellum. You may not be able to afford the posh tablesettings, glamorous seating, and museum-quality accessories that…
Story problem: If you added up all the square footage of all the restaurants in Deep Ellum, would the total space fit into Moon Under Water? Okay, try this one: Add up all the square footage of all the restaurants in Deep Ellum and then add up all the square…
So the kid wrecked his car. First son, first wreck–a noteworthy day, a family milestone, an occasion that calls for (after calling for the wrecker, the body shop, the insurance company, the ex-husband, and biological father) comfort food. It’s one of those times when it’s very difficult being the modern…
Cafe 450 has had a long life measured in restaurant years; the restaurant is a bit of vestigial bohemianism dating from the days when Lower Greenville was to Dallas what Deep Ellum is now. Basically a concrete box hung with bad art and populated with young, black-clad young waitresses and…
Texans tend to think they own Mexican food, but the truth is, they could learn a thing or two from the Windy City, where the enchilada has gained some real respect. Rick Bayless, chef-owner of the upscale Frontera Grill and Topolobampo in Chicago, is one of this country’s primary pepper…
I’m a member of the marginal luck club. That is, luck shows itself in my life so mysteriously and obscurely–you might say, in fact, so obliquely–that it may not be discernible as good fortune to those to whom more obvious blessings are distributed by Whoever Dispenses Such Things. I’ve never…
The dry, sweet fragrance from the sheaves of dried lavender and the long bowl of lavender buds in the entry are your first impression of Lavendou, the charming Provencal bistro that recently opened out north. The owners have gone to considerable trouble to re-create in the restaurant the sights and…
All day, plaza shoppers and shop proprietors had been asking Don Lindsley and Angus MacKay, “What time are you going to open?” All day, 6 o’clock was the answer given, but at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday two weeks ago, Angus quietly unlocked the door and flipped the “open” sign on for…
It’s only natural, in a time and a city where our main entertainment is eating, that novelty should be the primary appeal of a restaurant. In any discussion of his business, you’ll hear a local restaurateur complain about the famous “fickleness” of Dallas diners, who are said to be on…
The number of bagel stores in Dallas is mind-boggling. In the past few years, the bagel has burst out of its East Coast boundaries and overrun the restaurant landscape like kudzu. Pizza-flavored bagels, chocolate chip bagels, bagel pizzas, bagel sandwiches, bagel chips–you name it, it has been bageled. There are…
Monica is a Deep Ellum woman. She lives in Deep Ellum, she works in Deep Ellum, she hangs in Deep Ellum, and when she wants to buy a bottle of wine, some ham and cheese, or a box of tissue, she doesn’t want to drive all the way to McKinney…
Where do chefs get those baby greens and weird mushrooms? You always assume they have access to sources that the ordinary mortal cook can’t get to, and, funny thing is, you’re mostly right. Because you want half a pound of weird mushrooms, and the pros purchase a case at a…
