Coffee bars, sports bars, home meal replacements, steak houses, bagel shops, and specialty theme restaurants–these were the hottest concepts in the food business in 1996, and it looks like 1997 will serve up some more of the same. Places like Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock Cafe, and Margaritaville (a parrothead’s paradise)…
Flan, like tiramisu, is one of the constants on the modern dessert menu. Usually it’s a bland option–turgid milk in a thin pseudo-caramelized syrup, faintly sweet, food suitable for convalescents. At its rare best, it’s a transcendent jelling of cream into a texture as luxurious as the taste of caviar…
The American Institute of Wine and Food, which loves to dine and dither about such things, focused on fusion food at its big deal Conference on Gastronomy last October in Seattle. Teapot tempests are nothing new to foodies, who characteristically delight in discussing the merits and demerits of what they’re…
Thank God the holidays are over and we can all recover, not just from overindulgence, cold-weather flus, colds, and the other deleterious effects of close contact with too much family, but from related holiday maladies like homesickness. Holidays hearken to home in the most primitive way, and even when we…
Ham I Am! is a little Dallas company which sells smoked hams, smoked peppered hams, smoked chickens, smoked brisket, smoked bacon, and, slightly incongruously, Brie. All these products are delicious and delivered to your door, but the product to put at the top of your list is the Ozark Trails…
“She was a good cook, as cooks go, and as cooks go, she went.” Occasionally a cliche loses all relevance–this line (supposedly of S. J. Perelman’s) makes absolutely no sense at all now that nobody has a personal cook and there’s only one place that even claims to want to…
When I was a student, to use the term loosely, at the University of Texas in Austin, the well-respected classics professor Dr. Douglass Parker taught a (very popular) course called “Parageography.” The point of the class was, believe it or not, to explore “the geography of imaginary countries.” That’s what…
Navigation may confound you at Tarazza, but at some places, you know exactly where you stand. Natalie’s, the little cafe with the heart-warming story behind it (it was started by a school principal and dietitian) has flourished by doing precisely what everyone would expect. Natalie’s is open for dinner, but…
Mandibles across Dallas should thank Natalie’s for their homemade cinnamon rolls, a welcome break from the bagel workout most of us call breakfast. Of course, they have more sugar and more fat than a bagel–they also have more flavor. Soft as a pillow, sweet as a dream, drizzled with sticky…
It’s been 15 years years since Alberto Lombardi, the man who invented Italian food in Dallas, opened a restaurant here. After his trattoria “concept” hit pay dirt, he took the show on the road, and in the past 20 years, he has opened restaurants in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Miami,…
Kazy’s may be called a “food mart,” but it’s really a center of local Japanese culture, with a supply of magazines, videos, Japanese-style chopsticks, and toys, all for much less than they cost in Tokyo. Kazy’s has been Dallas’ premier Japanese grocery store for years, supplying culinary essentials like nori,…
The hostess headed the parade of women through the restaurant to the corner table, a string of groomed, polished (need I say blonde?) trophies trying to preserve their prize, their cheekbones high, their skin tanned and tight, their outfits as unnaturally stylized and contrived as only couture can be. One’s…
There’s a natural relation between spirits, fine food, and fine wine. Every diet expert will tell you that the first leads to the second and every gourmet will tell you that the second calls for the third. Unfortunately, there have been few places in Dallas where you can purchase a…
Preparation: To season two cups of cooked and finely shredded fish, take one small chile ancho, remove its seeds and veins, put it in a pot with some water, and simmer it gently for five minutes. In a molcajete, grind together 12 peppercorns, some cumin seeds, and a piece of…
Everyone knows The Gingerman is the epicenter of Dallas’ brew culture: It’s not anywhere near as big as a brewpub, but what these people know about beer and are dying to tell you is everything–they’ve been drinking beer a long time. The beer, cigar, and wine tastings at The Gingerman…
I was invited to a “cutting of the cheese” party last weekend. Obviously, the teenager inside my friend Mickey named the event, but Mickey the man was grown-up enough to realize that he’d spent hundreds of dollars a year (in $16 dollar-a-pound or so increments) on imported Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese and…
The thing is, it doesn’t have to be this good. Casa Rosa owns its neighborhood; it has its niche clearly carved. Trapped between Highland Park Village (Mi Cocina’s territory), Preston Center (Mi Casa’s stake) and Snider Plaza (Los Vaqueros’ land), the Miracle Mile’s Tex-Mex category clearly belongs to Casa Rosa…
There’s a reason Piggie Pies specializes in delivered pizza. You get a substantial discount if you dare to pick up your pie, but honest, Piggie Pies only looks like it’s being run by a bunch of bikers who turned in their hogs for Piggie. The truth is that Jesse, pizza…
In the voice Vivian Leigh was going for when she played Blanche Dubois, Kay Agnew tells the tale of opening the latest edition of her Creole-Cajun restaurant, Margaux, and the story is one that Tennessee could have written if he had a sense of humor and had been crazy enough…
Aren’t holidays all about food? It’s difficult to celebrate anything without good food and drink, but that’s the hard part of giving a party. This season, Arcodoro/Pomodoro can help you out. Lasagna, cannelloni, and tiramisu are among the menu items available for takeout from one of Dallas’ best Italian restaurants…
“The red and green peppers on the side of your plate are called habaneros,” our young and overly earnest waiter told us. “If you like your food spicier than it is, just chop up the habanero to add a little heat.” Excuse me? Some chefs don’t even allow salt cellars…
Loyd Paxton, the ultra-exclusive art and antiques gallery, has just made its luxurious Maple Avenue facilities available for private parties in collaboration with Food Company, a low-profile, upscale catering firm headquartered in Deep Ellum. You may not be able to afford the posh tablesettings, glamorous seating, and museum-quality accessories that…
