What is Hibiscus, anyway? Why is this restaurant so marinated in hype? Is it the special effects? Partly. In the beginning there were those black headbands with the bright red hibiscus blooms in the center that were worn by the kitchen crew. They were a chic trademark. They created buzz…
Jaden’s, the upscale restaurant and bar/lounge at the Knox Promenade Center off Central Expressway, was just pronounced dead. The restaurant went first, done in a couple of months ago by dining ennui. The owners kept the bar open, but everyone thought it was dead, too. So they killed it in…
If there’s one thing Asian Mint, Asian Fusion Café does, it is this: It takes its name seriously. You wouldn’t think this, judging from the exterior, a simple metal and glass strip mall storefront. Yet there are telltale signs, even here. Example: The word “mint” is tattooed across the glass…
McKinney Avenue isn’t dead anymore; or even undead. Here’s proof: There’s a mini-scramble under way. This fall, Uptown Bar & Grill, which has been sitting off McKinney on Fairmount Street for roughly 10 years, is slipping into Severine’s Bar, the spot Jean-Michel Sakouhi opened next to his defunct Paris Bistrot…
You’ve heard this one before: There are two kinds of people in this world… Of course, the second half of that statement differs depending on the situation. For example, John Adams divided people into “those with the commitment and those requiring the commitment of others,” whatever that means. Hell, we’re…
In last week’s column we alluded to a drink recipe handed to us by Indy Racing League chef Eddie Wilson. Well, the Burning Question crew mixed up a few batches of the stuff, a harmless blend of apple cider, cinnamon candy, blackberry brandy and Everclear. It’s almost the perfect summer…
The past? Americans just can’t handle the past. Pop culture informs our understanding of the world. The family values myth, much of that stuff about the founding fathers and Christian faith, our hyped-up vision of the greatest generation–all manufactured by the various brokers of mass consumption. Just think how gullible…
By the time you read this, a deal most likely will have been struck to drop a Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House into the former Star Canyon space in the Centrum Building, which has been vacant since Carlson Restaurants yanked its plug in mid-2003. Del Frisco’s co-founder and vice…
Why should we pay for home cooking? Hell, it’s the same stuff Mom whipped up free of charge for decades. It’s always a bit perturbing to see people shell out good money for something they could prepare in their own kitchens for quite a bit less. Besides, most places never…
OK, so we succumbed to Danica-mania. Sue us. Or rather, sue our editor. You wouldn’t get much from the Burning Question crew, anyway–‘cept a beat-up Le Car and our treasured photo of Booker Noe, Jim Beam’s great-grandson, bearing his signature and a bit of bourbonly advice: “Stay on the beam.”…
Here, the bartender is savvy. Sit down at the bar and prod him into talking about vodka. Ketel One is good; Skyy is hype. Of course, this could have been concluded without coaching. Note the extra “y.” Glare at the cobalt blue bottle. This is amusing: The Skyy Web site…
For all the big talk about swagger and oversized steaks and all things big in Texas, our city still suffers from an inferiority complex. For example, we swoon over even the most ordinary pop culture figures, such as Colby Donaldson or Kato Kaelin. The presence of a has-been draws hordes…
“At Pandora, a spirit of modernity gives new life to the elemental purity of Japanese tradition. Inside, find the décor is minimal, but spectacular where the emphasis is on fresh taste and artistic presentation of Pandora’s menu. Pandora offers three distinctly different dining experiences–sushi bar, robata grill, and sinfully good…
There’s something fundamentally wrong with the South. Yeah, yeah, we know the obvious stuff. But there’s so much more. Waffle House comes to mind, long-winded authors, too. And sheriffs named Rufus, dry counties, fried okra–that sort of thing. Even worse, good old boys suck down mojitos…no, that’s a lie. They…
Size matters. We all know that by now. In this case, however, even the traditional version of that axiom is irrelevant. Aside from the catchy sophomoric name adopted by the subject of our Burning Question for the week (and we refuse to research the matter further), the guys who founded…
Ron Guest has cut and polished his teeth designing restaurants; swank, sharp–even garish–things from Mediterraneo in the Quadrangle and Taverna Pizzeria and Risottoria, to Aurora and the new Mariano’s Hacienda. Now Guest wants to be commander. So he’s formed Grupo San Miguel, a partnership that includes Jesús Carmona (formerly of…
There was one peculiar thing about Kathleen’s Art Café, the Plano outpost of the original Lovers Lane installment. It wasn’t the legendary desserts. It wasn’t the famous grilled meat loaf sandwich. It wasn’t the art, framed and dangling from straps, prices neatly posted in lower corners. It was on the…
Eating is a form of transport. Think about it. Close your eyes with a piece of cheeseburger from McDonald’s dollar menu skidding on your tongue, and you’re in one zone. Roll a piece of gopchang jeongol (spicy beef intestine casserole) against your inner cheek walls, and you’re on a completely…
As we exited The Cosmopolitan Bistro one Saturday evening, a manager chased us out to the curb and stuffed our fists with a stack of bright gold $5 gift certificates. He apologized because the band that was supposed to play that night stood him up for a higher-paying gig elsewhere…
Tom DeLay recently set a precedent the Burning Question crew is happy to exploit. We figure if the speaker of the House can liken a bit of GOP drivel–1994’s Contract with America–to such history-shattering documents as the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and Magna Carta, we could follow suit…
“Join the revolution,” the Web site implores. The capstone of this movement is a 10,000-square-foot nightclub, lounge and restaurant where Costa Rican lush gardens and a dining room serving Latin cuisine pay homage to “Che,” the cultic Argentinean communist revolutionary and grist for the film The Motorcycle Diaries. Che opens…
The olive dominates. It’s a persistent cartoon, a huge green oval impaled by a skewer, slipping through the orifice in the red “O” in Dolce Oliva’s name as if it were a martini glass rim. You can see it above the faux granite bar, where plaques flaunting the words juicy,…
