Chestnuts aren’t the only food worth roasting over an open fire: An increasing number of home owners are starting to treat their fireplaces as cooking implements. The trend, chronicled in the Wall Street Journal this week, wouldn’t stun anyone who ate cooked food sometime before the rise of the cast…
Restaurant gift cards are slipping in popularity, according to a recent report by MainStreet. The financial blog quotes Kwame Kuadey, chief executive officer of GiftCardResue — a company that buys unwanted gift cards at up to 90 percent of face value — as saying restaurant cards are among the cards…
While mezcal’s been hailed as the “next big thing,” it hasn’t yet caught on in Dallas. But Jason Kosmas yesterday advised the city’s leading bartenders not to shy away from creating drinks made with the agave spirit and its more dapper cousin, tequila. “I think what’s important is where we…
A question I’m often asked is, “Where is the best dim sum in Dallas?” When it comes to this city, however, the question seems rather rhetorical, does it not? The common answer is always either Kirin Court or Maxim’s, and not necessarily because of the quality of the restaurants. Both…
Don’t have plans tonight? Well, now you do. Treat yourself to a five course dinner at Woodfire Kirby’s that features wines from Frog’s Leap Winery. The menu includes diver scallops with a Chardonnay smoked corn salsa, duck confit with a balsamic reduction and beef tenderloin with truffle mash. Finish it…
Dallas’ love affair with cupcakes continues. The force is strong in those miniature desserts, and a new aspirant has thrown its hat into the oven. And after having met the queen bee of the newest addition to the cupcake craze, I’m not so unsure that I didn’t just shake hands…
From classic institutions like Burger House, which has been serving paper-thin patties since 1951, and The Grape’s version, named the best example of the food by Texas Monthly in 2009, to the Dallas Burger Tour, burgers are big business in Big D. It’s no wonder, then, that mere months after…
Sausage balls are charming. I find something delightfully underdog-ish about a pan loaded with tasty snacks that bake up to smell so good but look like clumps of dirt. There’s nothing particularly Christmas-y about these little nuggets, but I associate their savory, peppery, sausage-stuffed and cheese-loaded flavor with the season…
It’s the holidays. A time filled with magic and wonder — a time when wishes are granted. A time when getting completely blackout drunk is socially acceptable and everyone’s nice to grocery store cashiers. Any other time of year, people would call you creepy if you waited in line for…
Lest we forget our fellow man in the flurry of cookie baking and online shopping, here are a few goings-on in Dallas to tickle your good-will lobe. The Thing: Deep Ellum Outdoor Market The Cause: Local artists, crafters and businesses The Deep Ellum Outdoor Market is setting up shop this…
Dallas is a taco wonderland. When questions of the best local culinary offerings are raised, the taco is among the first victuals mentioned by the celebrity chef and vagrant alike. That being so, on Saturday, December 11, three friends and I, including tour leader and former City of Ate blogger…
Food can be an inspired holiday present, but gourmet retailers say it sometimes takes a bit of razzle-dazzle packaging to make edibles seem more like a gift than groceries. Rather than stick a lonely hunk of parmesan under the Christmas tree, staffers at Central Market suggest using the cheese -…
To be honest with you, if I’d known before we sat down at the Lakewood Penne Pomodoro on Sunday morning that they’re a beer- and wine-only joint, I’d never have gone. No liquor means no Bloody Mary, and no Bloody Mary is a crappy way to spend Sunday morning. But…
Urbano Café on Fitzhugh Avenue is a great place for dates and day drinking, especially on a lazy Saturday. Before Thanksgiving, I met a date there for lunch. I drove around the East Dallas restaurant awhile before I found parking on a side street. Cars occupied all of the parking…
In part one of last week’s Three Course Meal, we gave you a look at Julia Lopez, corporate chef at La Duni. In part two, we asked Lopez to complete our thoughts for us. In today’s final installment — delayed by an editor’s glitch — she shares a recipe for…
This week, Dallas food blogs are tittering about what’s new and exciting. We have equal rights for cookies, a new gadget for barbecue, more angles on the possibility of food trucks and (predictably) a new list of places of restaurants willing to work on Christmas Day. And that’s just the…
You’re probably going to a few holiday parties this year that you’d rather skip. We’re trying to come up with an excuse to skip the tacky Christmas sweater party our family has every year, but unfortunately mom’s giving us a guilt trip. Go to a party tomorrow night you actually…
Researching this week’s feature story on the Dallas dining scene gave me the chance to visit the archives of the Dallas Public Library, where I spent hours immersed in dozens of old community cookbooks uncovered by Texas/Dallas History Department manager Carol Roark – who would qualify for a dedication if…
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is giving North Texas smoked meat aficionados a sneak preview of its first new meat product in 58 years. The Dallas-based chain, which now has 134 locations across the country, is testing its spicy cheddar sausage at its newest store in McKinney. The sausage will be released…
Oh, the infamous holiday office party. Every year, the members of our editorial staff put down their Blackberrys and log off their computers to join together at a nearby restaurant for our holiday lunch party. Even Schutze stops griping about the jackasses at City Hall long enough to enjoy a…
We all know those fast food ad wizards have their tricks — fake water droplets on the fresh red tomatoes, onions peeking just so out from under a perfectly thick sesame bun. Of course, nothing’s going to look delicious oozing out of a greasy wrapper in a blurry cell phone…
Rachael Ray’s new program, Week in a Day, on the equally fresh Cooking Channel, makes for surprisingly pleasant — and informative — viewing. Confession: Despite Ray’s vaunted status as one of the original founding chefs, along with Emeril, of the original Food Network, I’ve always found her to be a…
