As the State Fair roller coaster eases back into the station, the setting sun is casting a clichéd orange glow and Dallas bloggers are beginning to reminisce about what they wish they'd seen. Five Sixty initially wanted to see a gaggle of veterans in pressed khakis and pastel polos. The only ghosts Taylor Walker saw at Ghostbar were trapped inside ice sculptures. And I just want some pizza decked out with half a corn dog.
Read on for this week's Dallas food blog round-up.
1. Dallas Morning News
A group of WWII veterans were turned away from Wolfgang Puck's Five Sixty restaurant because their baseball caps and T-shirts didn't measure up to "business casual." A representative for the restaurant has since amended their "running shoes, T-shirt, we've got a problem" stance and even mayor Tom Leppert has weighed in. All veterans are invited back to the restaurant to try for a Round 2, regardless of their style choices.
Leslie Brenner gave Ferrari's Italian Villa one star. She found the food uninspired and not entirely tasty. She noted that the restaurant has potential ... and at least the dining room is pleasant.
3. Sidedish
Taylor Walker finds some good drinks, genius marketing and a bogus ghost tale at the launch party of Frozen Ghost Vodka at Ghostbar.
Nancy Nichols reports that several big-name chefs in Dallas will participate in Go Vegan Week in Dallas by creating vegan dishes. And fresh from reading the gruesome and almost-threatening press release, I think I might set down my raw, dripping lamb chop and check it out.
4. Pegasus News
Josie Singleton compiled a list of the best brunch places in Fort Worth. And there's a lot of them, so you'll have plenty of options when you want to get your breakfasting and lunching done in one fell swoop.
5. Chowhound
Now that the Greek Festival in Euless has come to pass, it turns out you totally should have gone. It was a mass meet-up of friendly people, delicious food, and celebration of culture.
What is the number one, hands down, and-don't-say-In-N-Out champion of all hamburgers? We still don't know.
Simple cooking, which is finally being heralded as the best kind of cooking, gets another few points this week when Fish and Veggies produces a gorgeous arugula salad out of fresh ingredients that are simply chopped, smeared, drizzled and stacked together. Done, without the 2 a.m. worry that you left the paper towel roll on top of the burner you forgot to turn off.
7. The Little Dish
Matthew Jacob realizes that the fresh air and sunshine are just better than a cubicle. He takes his friends, radio, and black forest ham with homemade mozzarella sandwich (how are you unhappy when you've got a prize like that sitting in your brown bag, no matter where you are?) and sets up afternoon camp in a Dallas park. You know what 2:30 in the afternoon feels like? Jacob doesn't.
Michelle kick-starts a Pizza Lounge boycott after learning that a Pizza Lounge employee forced a credit card-abusing customer to strip down and then beat him with a pipe. She's apparently taking more action than some, since the employee wasn't arrested. Charges may still be pending. I won't even make that into a credit card pun.
FCGBBQ gave Mama and Papa B's Bar-B-Q a way-better-than-tepid, hot but not way too hot, like just before the water boils and the pan's bottom is crowded with bubbles rating of four stars, which legally (and more concisely) means the place is "Worth Driving Over an Hour For."
9. City of Ate
Our own Nick Rallo -- who is all looks, no substance himself -- rates the top fast food items that look disgusting even when they're primped and polished. So if you get one, warm and smashed in its paper swaddling, shut your eyes.
Hanna Raskin discovered five State Fair foods we somehow don't have in Texas, among them corndog pizza and fried pumpkin pie. Minnesota even has "camel on a stick." I never thought someone would need to tell Texas to step up its game, but come on. Wisconsin deep fries cream cheese. Our fried beer is starting to look a little sloppy.
Steven Doyle interviewed Gregory True, a 17-year Fletcher's corn dog veteran and found that it takes about 50 people to run a corn dog stand. Who knows how many it takes if they need a light bulb changed.