Food For Thought 2.13.09

“We’ve heard stories from moms coming in saying their child was pulled out of the lunch line and given a cheese sandwich. … One woman said her daughter never wants to go back to school.” (Nancy Pope, director of the New Mexico Collaborative to End Hunger, relaying complaints that Albuquerque…

Review and Gallery: Coast Global Seafood

There must be something in the water here this week, because everywhere you look in our food coverage, there’s more seafood. This week’s Dish column sees Dave Faries visiting Plano’s Coast Global Seafood.For a more colorful look at their digs, and a few of their dishes, check out our web-only…

Chewing The Fat: Drink To Your Health

Lately I’ve been worried that the olives in my martini just aren’t enough. They’re kinda old-fashioned, after all, and the jar says nothing about polyphenols or flavonoids. So where am I supposed to get the essentials, like antioxidants and anthocyanins, without sacrificing alcohol content? Acai berries to the rescue, distilled…

Web Extra: Oyster Shucking 101

Robb Walsh’s cover story in this week’s Observer is a loving tribute to that celebrated bivalve of love, the oyster — and while some may like their features served up raw, we’re betting online readers wouldn’t mind a little web-only multimedia for a little extra kick.With that in mind, then,…

Girl Drink Drunk: Lakewood Landing

When faced with a drinking column that pops up every other week, what does one do when the infamous flu rears its ugly head? In my case, I made the required couch bed and slept for approximately three days. I also watched two unfortunate episodes of WifeSwap in there somewhere…which…

Short Orders: Big Shucks

Big Shucks6232 E. Mockingbird214-887-6353Hush puppies shouldn’t be that difficult. They just consist of corn meal dough, after all–generally spiked with chopped onion or shallot, rolled into shape and fried.Nothing to them, really. But many professional kitchens seem unable to cope with the homespun Southern recipe, substituting commercial mix dialed toward…

Singin’ The Blue Plate

They tried to make us work for the details by sending us on repeated trips to KentRathbun.com, which slowly leaked information over the course of a few weeks. Clever. Of course, Robert Wilonsky cracked the case some time ago on Unfair Park, but…But now, Kent Rathbun is spilling lots of…

Appetite For Instruction: Spicy Chocolate Chile Truffles

Demonstrated by Chef Rhonda Ruckman Listen up, guys–this one’s for you. Any muscle-shirted mini-millionaire can make a fancy reservation, but the man who gets his hands dirty (kinda meant figuratively) will really score points on Valentine’s Day. A handmade gift featuring a certain melting mood enhancer will put her in…

10 Questions: Dan Tullio

He serves as director of Canadian Club’s brand heritage, which is as worthy a cause as any.And who better to promote the brand? He’s been with the whisky distillery for a quarter of a century, played a prominent role in their advertising campaigns and still travels the world spreading news…

Food For Thought 2.12.09

“In the end, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the rules being drawn around food receive some force from the fact that people are uncomfortable with how far the sexual revolution has gone–and not knowing what to do about it, they turn for increasing consolation to mining morality…

Coast Global Seafood

This is the tale of two restaurants. Not one of those Dickensian best of- worst of- dichotomies, mind you. No, this is a story about strange but not completely off-putting flaws on one hand and a playful sophistication that turns out extraordinarily well on the other. Just what the hell…

Oyster Lovers Unite

Nearly 4 inches long, the “Sand Dune” oyster from Prince Edward Island was so plump, it was bulging out of its shell “like a large breast in a small brassiere,” as Rodney Clark, the owner of Rodney’s Oyster House in Toronto, put it. Intensely briny and wonderfully sweet, the big,…

Oyster Species Guide

OysterSpecies Guide There are five species of oysters eaten in the Western world. Crassostrea virginica (C. virginica) Common names: Eastern oyster, Atlantic oyster, Gulf oyster, Blue Point, Malpeque This is the great American oyster, the species that occurs naturally from Canada down the East Coast to New York and Chesapeake…

Zoe’s Kitchen: It’s a Mom’s World

Stroller count: 3 Dude count: 1 I heard that the chicken salad at Zoe’s Kitchen was The Shit, so I stopped by the Lovers Lane location to check it out. And when I got there, it was clear to me that I hadn’t been fully briefed on the dress code…

Chewing The Fat: Wednesday Ground ‘Round

Here are some of the leftover bits from the past few days. Officials in Marin County, Calif., are considering the potential benefits of turning food waste into an energy source. The city already does something similar with sewage, but adding food apparently assists the process, according to Stephanie Lovette, San…

Pairing Off: Bratwurst and Sauerkraut

When Charles de Gaulle famously moaned “how can anyone govern a nation that has 246 different kinds of cheese,” the Frenchman who best defined national vainglory hoped to excuse political chaos in his country.Geez, the Germans manage orderly governance (and the occasional foray into France) with more than 1,200 different…

On The Range: West Texas Enchiladas

The first of a series documenting Chris Meesey’s personal quest for authentic Tex-Mex. But we’ll let him tell you more… I’m a genu-wine Texan, born and bred. In fact, I began life at Nix Hospital, San Antonio–less than one mile from The Alamo, the acknowledged epicenter of the Texas Universe…

Heart Like A Deal

Scrambling to find a romantic, yet hip and unique option for Valentine’s Day? Lucky for you, many local restaurants have special menus, special dishes or just special prices to choose from on this, er, special day. Here are some options: Cupid would be proud of Central 214’s naughty new chef,…

10 Questions: Wolfgang Puck

Just about everyone with an abiding interest in food knows the name Wolfgang Puck.The Austrian born superstar helped to usher in the era of celebrity chefs after he opened the Beverly Hills destination Spago in 1982. What followed was a series of media raves, television appearances and the creation of…

Food For Thought 2.11.09

“The real danger to our bodies and our planet, in terms of poisoning the earth and global warming, is the industrial raising of meat and fish. Do I think eating a bowl of pasta is a crime against humanity? No. Do I think eating half a pound of meat is?…

Chewing the Fat: TCC Presents Valentine’s Show & Smell

Jerry Seinfeld once joked that strip clubs are like restaurants where they let you smell the food, then take it away before you can try a bite. So what would he make of the Turtle Creek Chorale and its Valentine’s Day presentation, “Music Be the Food of Love”? This Saturday…

Dude Food: Eatzi’s

Eatzi’s3403 Oak Lawn Ave.214-526-1515Dude Factor: 5, or Thurston Howell, III, on a scale of 1 (“Carlton Banks”) to 10 (“Jed Clampett”)  From the moment the Observer first moved to Maple and Oak Lawn in 2005, lunch runs to Eatzi’s became a frequent occurrence around here, but honestly, this dude never…