The first thing that will strike you about P.F. Chang’s China Bistro is the interior. Unlike most Chinese restaurants, with standard-issue food service furnishings and dim lighting, this one is bright, crisply contemporary, and bristling with energy. There’s even an open kitchen with a demonstration cooking wok in full view…
The first thing you notice about Rockfish is the tin washtub of peanuts near the entrance with a sign inviting diners to grab a tin bucket and fill up. The second thing you’ll notice is that the floor crunches as you walk to your table–if there is one. Most likely…
d5 McKintyre chef at Popolos Britton McKintyre, former chef at Sipango, will head-up the kitchen at Popolos, according to David Holben, executive vice president and executive chef of Foodstar Restaurant Group Inc., the company that purchased the restaurant in December. McKintyre takes over for Chef Los Akins, who is in…
One of the things I love most about dining out is excellent service. I prize that coddled, back-to-the-womb feeling of knowing that someone cares enough to strive for that 20 percent gratuity by brushing the bread crumbs from my wingtips or wiping the burgundy dribbles from my chin. Service: It’s…
Fog City Diner closes Though the purchase has yet to be consummated, Fog City Diner shut down this past Sunday because of mass staff resignations in anticipation of a takeover by Truluck’s Steak and Stone Crab in Addison. A spokesman for Truluck’s says that the deal has closed and that…
Americus defines its cuisine as “regional American with a Southern twist,” which is something I’m not sure I get. How could something be regional with a regional twist? And does a double regional cancel itself out and leave us with nothing to eat but a press release? Geography’s a bitch,…
Is the fog out yet? A rumor erupted earlier this week that Truluck’s co-owner Steve Fields announced at a luncheon that the restaurant completed a deal May 8 to acquire Fog City Diner and that the McKinney Avenue restaurant would be Truluck’s by the end of June. But Fog City…
Is Laurels history? A lot of rumors have been hovering around Dallas lately that the highly acclaimed restaurant Laurels will be axed in the wake of Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ $14.6 billion acquisition last February of ITT Corporation, Sheraton’s parent. “We’re at a place where anything could happen,” says Laurels’…
Servers possess a sort of innocence when it’s clear they’re not in love with the profession, but are shoveling grub and sloshing grog at diners as a means to something else. This was one week where that innocence was on display. On our initial visit to Vitto, the Oak Lawn…
One of the best things about dining at Pearl Street Bistro is the surrounding scenery. Tucked downtown in the Plaza of the Americas and occupying the space that was once home to Trattoria Amore, Pearl Street is within shouting distance of the plaza’s ice rink. Ice rinks are standard equipment…
The one that got away A deal that would have duplicated Dallas’ acclaimed restaurant Fish across the country went belly-up at the last minute. Fish Executive Chef Chris Svalesen and his partner Steven Upright had been in talks with Starwood Hotels and Restorts, parent of Westin Hotels, to place Fish…
Strip malls are excellent places to get microwave burritos, spandex fashions, lessons in ballroom dancing, and salon-caliber hair gels and foams by the barrel. But this kind of excellence is not the sort one generally associates with fine dining. Plus, being in a strip mall can make restaurateurs–shooting for elegant…
Fog rolling out? Thick rumors have been rolling in Dallas that Truluck’s Steak and Stone Crab in Addison has acquired Fog City Diner. Not true, says Fog City’s managing partner Jay Schimmel. At least not yet. “According to whoever runs their mouth up there…they’ve owned this restaurant since January,” he…
A recent Wall Street Journal article explored the debauchery throbbing through New Orleans, a phenomenon illustrated by the Mardi Gras Marathon. Before the race, runners carbo-load on deep-fried globs of sugary dough. They then smoke and drink over the entire 26-mile course. No one runs races in New Orleans for…
Traveling man Highly mobile Dallas chef Avner Samuel has a new restaurant scheduled to open this week. Called Bistro A, his new venture in Snider Plaza will feature a broad range of Mediterranean fare. He says the menu will be unlike anything he has ever done in Dallas and is…
Extreme risk-takers are oddballs. They’re the ones that ride rhinos at rodeos, skydive out of Lear jets, shoot dice with the agents during IRS audits, and talk about the president’s seduction techniques on national television. But extreme cookery is a hard thing to define. What does a daredevil chef do,…
At-risk child Joey Vallone, the young scion of Houston’s Vallone family, which owns nine restaurants including the famed Tony’s, officially denies everything. But his self-named Oak Lawn eatery figures prominently in a series of dueling rumors–including speculation that it’s for sale. Joey’s, which opened two and a half years ago…
In the wake of the pomp and ceremony of the Academy Awards, it’s certain we’ll be seeing many more Titanic tie-ins, at least until the James Cameron flick hits the previously viewed bin at Blockbuster. Perhaps we’ll get a concert from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra showcasing the last pieces played…
What happened to Harper’s? When this Charlotte, North Carolina-based chain of six casual restaurants opened an outlet in North Dallas in January 1997, the crowds were so thick that getting through the door was almost impossible. By year’s end, it was closed. Clyde Gilfillan, Harper’s director of operations, says the…
Dining in the raw while landlocked can be a risky proposition, a deed best performed with a well-trained gag reflex and plenty of health insurance. Most of the time the raw sea flesh isn’t bad, just a little lame, blanched, or propped on little soggy wads of rice hemmed in…
The eruption of diner fascination with Cool River Cafe is one of those cultural tremors that I just don’t get. I don’t understand how this concept was made flesh–or at least river stone and kitschy cowboy mural–and how it got to be the size of the south flank of a…
There’s this odd little smell that thrives in cottages and cabins. It’s not a bad smell, really–although I’m sure that if we could figure out how to eradicate it easily, we’d send it packing with a cloying spritz of floral-scented Glade air freshener. The first time I was introduced to…
