Food For Thought: 3.18.09

“Our average check is lower, but transactions are up 10 to 15 percent.” (John Hurley, owner of Garibaldi’s Restaurant in Oakland, CA, on the value of a prix-fixe menu. According to Nation’s Restaurant News, fine dining restaurants are increasingly turning to multi-course, set price dinners to combat the recession…a trend…

This St. Patrick’s Day, A Competition for the Perfect Pint

Bartenders from around the Dallas area faced off at Trinity Hall last Wednesday night, to see who has the skills to pour the best pint of Guinness.The Irish icon’s master brewer Fergal Murray was in town to lead the team of judges. Trinity Hall’s website had first announced that none…

Veggie Girl: Kalachandji’s

Our new feature searching for vegan and vegetarian dining options in Dallas–both at restaurants committed to the cause and regular, meat eating places. Being vegan is supposed to do lots of lovely spiritual and gastrointestinal things to you. You’re supposed to feel lighter and healthier, for one. And your bowels…

Dude Food: Kong China Super Buffet

Kong China Super Buffet 1150 W. Kiest Blvd. Sute 325, Kiest-Polk VillageDude Factor: 2, or Congo (the movie version), on a scale of 1 (Conga lines at weddings) to 10 (Donkey Kong)When a Chinese restaurant can’t even get steamed rice right, something is wrong.Very wrong. You know, Chinese buffets have…

Richardson Is A Little Twisted

Are you dying for a Twisted Root Burger Co. fix but not sure if Deep Ellum is worth the drive…or even still there? No problem. There’s always Richardson. And things are bigger in the northern ‘burbs, after all. The second location of Twisted Root–all 3,000 square feet–just opened at the…

10 Questions: Lidia Bastianich

She arrived in New York at the age of 12 in 1958. Half a century later, she’s a cooking icon with five cookbooks, four television series and six restaurants to her name.Bastianich’s most recent PBS cooking show, Lidia’s Italy, is such a hit in Dallas that she’s frequently asked to…

Food For Thought 3.17.09

“The Irish pubs in Dallas are full of Americans who think they’re Irish.” (Barry Tate, quoted in a 2001 Observer piece. The then owner of The Londoner in Addison and now of the new place in the State-Thomas area was explaining the difference between British pubs and Irish pubs. Clearly…

Chewing The Fat: Pour Technology

It’s St. Patrick’s Day…or soon will be, anyway. Or, wait–we just had it on Saturday, right? So by now you’ve read a dozen stories about the mythologized “perfect pour” of Guinness . To hear someone going on about it at the bar sounds anal retentive at best (and pretentious at…

Short Orders: Reikyu Sushi

Reikyu Sushi5321 E. Mockingbird Lane214-823-3772Has there ever been a craze as pervasive as sushi? America’s passion for raw fish began to build sometime in the very early 80s, which means it’s closing in on 40 years. That tops disco fever by 34 years. Our bitterness toward Japan for that faux…

How ‘Bout Them Knockers: i Fratelli Pizza

i Fratelli Pizza 6109A Greenville Ave. 214-891-0600 Promised delivery time: 45 minutes Actual delivery time: 40 minutes The ScoreSincere and easy ordering process uncharacteristic of most pizza joints in my neck of the woods: 15 Altering their flagship menu item’s ingredients without question because my wife doesn’t like bell-peppers and…

Asphalt Barriers

Recently there appeared on the pages of dallasfood.org a discussion of the city’s confined culinary geography. Some people, as you all know, rarely deign to travel outside the loop because enough exists within the circular strip of asphalt to satisfy their needs. Quite a few, however, go a little further,…

Irish Spring Flings

As with other holidays, local restaurants are going all out with special St. Patrick’s Day offerings for their customers on Tuesday. Urban Taco may not be the obvious choice for St. Patrick’s Day revelry, but it’s throwing its hat into the green ring for its lucky customers, serving a special…

10 Questions: Tyler Florence

After 14 years on the Food Network and a small shelf full of cookbooks bearing his name, Florence is a true celebrity chef. But now he makes baby food. Yes, the man People called the “sexiest chef alive,” host of Food 911, How to Boil Water and now Tyler’s Ultimate…

Food For Thought 3.16.09

“It’s a for-profit business, not a community event. It’s a bar mitzvah out of control.” (Neighborhood activist/curmudgeon Avi Adelman complaining before Saturday’s St. Patrick’s Day parade down Greenville Avenue. Not sure what part of “saint” he misunderstood…although he is right, the party can get a little on the fun side…

Chewing the Fat: Five … Five Dolla … Five Dolla Foie Gras

When times get tough, people need comfort food. But with BPA in soda cans, blood thickening energy drinks and stroke-inducing alcohol, what can we safely eat to feel guilty and gluttonous at the same time? Answer: Foie gras. Nothing says “comfort” like an overfed liver. The downside? It’s damn expensive…

Review and Gallery: Marlo’s House

For his review this week, Dave went old-school with a visit to Marlo’s House, where they do a fine job with poutine, pierogies, and other Pennsylvania Dutch favorites. Owner Mark Petryk’s nonstop puns, well, they’re a little less expert.To really get a feel for the atmosphere at Marlo’s House, it’s…

Burning Question: Is Dallas Becoming More Casual?

Last evening we ended up at Nick & Sam’s Grill for happy hour, largely because we heard a certain prominent DWI lawyer would be there and, well, we need friends in that particular occupation.Just a precaution, mind you–but a wise one.As a new place, the junior Nick & Sam’s can…

A Cold Day In He…nderson Avenue

We’re not sure what we did before Natsumi. One of the first responders to Dallas’ need for fancy yet natural fro-yo has kept us in “healthi” cold treats for one year now. And we couldn’t be more grateful. It even earned our “Best Ice Cream” designation in the 2008 Best…

10 Questions: Rich Rogers

The owner of Scardello Artisan Cheese on Oak Lawn used to be just your average film and video production person.In fact, he spent 15 years shooting and editing corporate video. But the Dalhart native always loved good food and–in particular–good cheese. In between projects he studied the history of cheese,…

Food For Thought 3.13.09

“What I’m trying to get across is that chocolate is sneaking under the radar of unhealthy foods.” (David Walker, a British doctor, explaining his motion asking Parliament to introduce a tax on chocolate and products containing chocolate as a way to curb obesity. His proposal would have funneled revenue from…