If life hands you lemons, and we mean really big ones with rinds the size of a grapefruit, make limoncello. For anyone unfamiliar with this old Italian proverb, residents of the area around Sorrento began steeping castoff peels in alcohol centuries ago, while more modest cultures settled for lemonade. The…
When flooding of near-biblical proportions (Reader’s Digest edition) smote Dallas a couple weeks ago, it washed out the third stop of Wine Around. The unique dinner tour involves chefs from Nana, Iris, Mercy and Taste. Each scheduled event pairs a particular varietal with courses prepared by each restaurant. Good idea,…
Centuries before it was a place to down lobster shooters or short ribs ringed in heirloom red potato hash, a restaurant was a thing to sip, not a place. A restaurant was a restorative broth, a tiny cup of bouillon or, more likely, a thick meat essence of partially digested…
After just a few months in operation, Positano, the Italian restaurant in the spot once occupied by Mediterraneo, has a new owner: chef Antonio Avona, who, with Luciano Cola, created Antonio Ristorante in Addison and La Trattoria Lombardi in Dallas. Will anything change? Not much. “I love the name Positano,”…
Several times in the past we’ve alluded to urban provincialism, a mindset that narrows Dallas or other cities to a series of exclusive “neighborhoods.” People living in, say, Lakewood or Uptown rave about the virtues of their domain and refuse to explore anything beyond Interstate 635. Granted, there are a…
After evacuating the kitchen earlier this year over operations and contract disputes with Go Fish owner Mike Hoque, former Go Fish chef Chris Svalesen has already lit his burners. Svalesen has taken over the Inwood Quarter Café–which was stoppered and bolted last month–and plans to open, along with former Go…
We believe top tens or best-ever rankings act as a kind of intellectual argument in shorthand. To print a list is to engage in a discussion without presenting supporting evidence. Sound a bit far-fetched? Well, the Burning Question crew pondered the topic pretty thoroughly one afternoon while our editor droned…
McKinney’s culinary culture has had a couple of peculiarities over the recent years. Witness the Prison, circa 2000. The Prison was a New American restaurant fashioned out of the circa 1880 Collin County jail. Frank James, brother of Jesse, booked a room there, as did Raymond Hamilton, a member of…
The most significant challenge in restaurateuring has little to do with fortunes big or small, lost or stolen. That comes later, maybe after décor. Café San Miguel has a deep blue marine bar with a porthole housing a metal star. Christmas lights are strung from the ceiling. The barstools look…
Of course you remember the Seinfeld episode. We mean the episode, when Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine tested the bounds of self-denial. It resonated because, well, humans…um…not that we, um…Hell, you know what we’re saying. When provided access to things that bring pleasure, the human animal finds it difficult to…
Kenny’s Wood Fired Grill is designed to resemble a 1940s Chicago-style chophouse serving New England-style seafood, pumping Uptown’s favorite mind-numbing spirit (Grey Goose) from frozen taps in a suburban location, pouring wine with French fries, hiding elegance behind self-promoting “artwork” and 30-something patrons wiggling through the room in low-rise jeans…
The as-yet-to-be-seen-but-always-heard Moroccan concept, Tangerine, may again be making noise. If you’ll recall, Rocky Boustani took a massive financial hit when, after starting construction on the old Sipango location, the failure of all parties involved to sign on all dotted lines sent the deal careening into the hands of lawyers…
Deep Ellum in bright sunlight can be a downright alarming sight. There’s no hint of lurid, neon-streaked discord. Only silent brick structures, pitted by age, and a few lonely cars headed somewhere else. It looks like a small town in Illinois. Sitting down for lunch at Tarantino’s Deep Ellum, my…
Chef Joseph Gutierriz wants more quality Tutto time. That’s why the Tutto founder just sold his tapas restaurant Rouge to a pair of cousins with whom he once worked at the Voltaire/Bamboo Bamboo evolutionary progression before it morphed into a highly stylized bank. “The food will be the same. I…
Perhaps this is not intentional, but Cosmo Rouge Bistro & Lounge feels like The Black Lodge. You remember the Black Lodge? It was tucked in thick Pacific Northwest woods in a dream tucked in Twin Peaks. You remember Twin Peaks? Twin Peaks was the surreal David Lynch murder mystery television…
The opening act was almost comic. The setup: waiting at the sparsely attended bar for a dinner companion to arrive, ordering vodka martini up with a twist, “a martini, please.” The improv take: After searching for a couple minutes the bartender decides they’ve run out of Monopolowa. How ’bout Stoli?…
We just finished re-reading that Hemingway novel set in Spain. You know the one; there’s a river, a lot of wine and a bit of violence. OK, granted we weren’t really paying attention as we flipped through the pages, what with the playoffs and all. But we noticed something interesting…
Sitting in Steve Fields Lobster Lounge is like being in a lava lamp. Not because of blobs floating and bumping to the muffled sounds of Jefferson Airplane, The Troggs or a Floyd fugue. (Right now a bar pianist is tinkling a rendition of Coldplay’s “The Scientist”–a solid entry in the…
The loon is known for its forlorn calls and deep plunges into lake water in search of fish. The Loon is known for acrid tobacco mist, punchy drinks, pizzas and boob-tube-flicker lighting. It’s also known for Alessio Franceschetti–or will be. Franceschetti is set to scupper his lengthy The Loon Bar…
“Do you think Dallas is ready for this?” Imagine Dallas’ most successful chef–an icon firmly embedded in television, cookbookery and Dallas cultural history–mulling such a question. But Stephan Pyles looks worried. His ceviche is languishing. It’s hard to discern the reasons, except that perhaps culinary adventurism hibernates during the holidays,…
Barfly catcher Frankie Carabetta seems to have a Big Apple fetish. Sure he has Industry Bar in Addison and Knox Street Pub on Knox. But he just opened a McKinney Avenue watering venture called Tribeca, named after the famed New York neighborhood. This after his Manhattan Bar & Lounge on…
If bound to commit one of the seven deadly sins, a trespasser might as well have a bit of fun while engaged in the act. Lust should be directed at, say, the Victoria’s Secret catalog, not the Sears girdle section. Best to spend sloth in front of a TV on…
