Food & Drink

A new spice shop opening this weekend in West Village stocks sugars, salts and 150 types of spices, but a company spokesman says most customers come for their blends. The top 10 sellers at The Spice & Tea Exchange, which has 14 locations nationwide, include “Tuscany Blend,” “Signature Blend” and…

Balcones Distilling’s True Blue corn whiskey, which City of Ate told you about yesterday, is not bourbon. “I accept that criticism,” says head distiller Chip Tate, who’s proud that he uses copious amounts of blue corn in his mash bill and uncharred oak barrels for aging. Bourbon, of course, sloshes…

Ms. Magazine took on food politics this month, arguing in a cover story that women aren’t getting enough credit for their contributions to the changing culinary landscape. Author Jennifer Cognard-Black fingers a “fantastic foodie four,” an all-white, all-male group of food thinkers she claims are “eclipsing the many women in…

Discovering a collection of old recipe booklets my late grandmother saved and used for decades has inspired me. Can I replicate some of those now-forgotten dishes the way they used to make them? First up: Prune Whip. It’s a chilled dessert, or at fancier tables way back when a palate…

​Josh Ozersky, not so long ago the subject of this open rant from a sister paper, has a new crush: Dean Fearing. The author of The Hambuger: The History visited Fearing’s Ritz-Carlton namesake for Time and decided it’s the bestest restaurant in all the land when it comes to haute-cuisine…

Balcones Distilling has released the blue corn whiskey it’s always intended to make, but head distiller Chip Tate’s been too busy fixing broken equipment to tell too many folks about it. Asked whether the cask strength spirit has been well-received, Tate says: “It has, and it hasn’t. Every person who’s…

Although the staff at Abacus doesn’t consider the restaurant’s lobster scallion shooters a beverage, the Food Network this week featured the liquid dish on its drink edition of The Best Thing I Ever Ate. “It’s not actually a drink,” Kent Rathbun’s assistant Abir Sower said. “I don’t know why they’d…

An upcoming dessert promotion is a good deal for diners, but may be an even better deal for the pastry chefs responsible for the free sweets. Bravo has partnered with OpenTable to offer free desserts at restaurants in 10metro areas — Dallas included — on September 15, the night its…

Just because summer is over doesn’t mean barbecues and cookouts are no more until next summer. We mean, come on, this is Texas, any time is barbecue time. On October 2, The Dave Kenoly Show on CNN Radio 1190 AM, will be host its First Annual Military Appreciation Cook-Off to…

Waterfront dining is one of the great mysteries of the universe. For reasons unknown to us mortals, the Great and Powerful Spiritual Being of Oneness and Things of the Like has decreed that all restaurants within 20 feet of a body of water will serve mediocre food at ridiculous prices…

Once known for making inconsistent, if not downright weedy wines, Texas winemakers have been slowly but surely improving quality as the vineyards become established, the vines get older, and the winemakers themselves receive better education, training, and practice in their craft. Also, learning to plant the proper grapes for the…

One of Santa Fe’s most highly rated restaurants is readying to open in Dallas. Chef Eric DiStefano, co-owner of Geronimo, confirmed two versions of the 18-year-old restaurant — which touts itself as “New Mexico’s only Mobil four-star, AAA four-diamond restaurant” – are Dallas-bound. Geronimo’s will open later this year in…

“You can’t go wrong with chocolate!,” a satisfied volunteer crowed upon exiting the Big Tex Choice Awards. Except, it seems, at the State Fair of Texas, where savory resoundingly trumped sweet at this morning’s awards ceremony. Fried beer claimed the “most creative” prize, while Texas fried Frito pie won the…

We love Angry Dog for the burgers, the nachos, the dogs and much more, and now have yet another reason to frequent the Deep Ellum greasy spoon and bar. For the entire month of September, Angry Dog will donate 50 cents to local charities each time it sells one of…

Williams-Sonoma doesn’t want me to tell you this. But having recently sorted through 4-year-old wedding gifts that were still unopened, I feel compelled to point out you really don’t need all the kitchen gadgets bridal magazines and store consultants insist you add to your registry. Honestly, leaving a gift off…

Many of us are familiar with the lowly and inexpensive appetizer. These easy to eat prequels to dinner are the tiny bites that often consist of finger food and little dips, and can foreshadow the quality of food to come. In the fine dining set, they might be called an…

Thanks to Instructables (via BoingBoing) any apartment-livers out there, or people of a future, Road-esque apocalypse, may be able to grill for Labor Day. Sure it probably does one slider, or one hot dog round at a time, but it’s portable. Any ensuing fire can most likely be put out…

In part three of our series with chef Richard Chamberlain, owner of Chamberlain’s Steak and Chop House and Chamberlain’s Fish Market Grill, the chef demonstrates how to make a smoky, simple and tasty side dish. For parts one and two of our visit Chamberlain, go here and here. Chamberlain’s Creamed…

Among the veggies in season right now at the downtown Dallas Farmers Market (1010 S. Pearl St.) are the adorable 8 Ball zucchini squash. About the size of a baseball, in yellow flecked with green or solid green like the typical zukes, 8 Ball squash are a new hybrid developed…