Martini Question For The Masses

Good people, this poor man needs your help:

My wife drinks dirty martinis, just vodka and olive juice. Most bars just pour the juice off the olives. We do the same thing at home, but end up with a jar of dry olives. At the Mansion last week, the bartender had a bottle of olive juice. It makes so much sense. Any idea where we can get it?

I’ve bought it here. Any local suggestions.

Rouge Is Closed

Rouge, that darling little tapas place on Lovers near Inwood is gone. And Spike in Mockingbird Station? Nobody answers the phone and the website is down.

Not Even a Mini-Review: Gui

I went to Gui a couple of weeks ago for lunch, and while I can’t vouch for much beyond the Bento Box special, I can report that the food is better than the restaurant’s name would imply. (Really? Gui? As in, “gooey”?) I has the “pot of fire” or whatever it was called. Tender short-rib meat in a do-not-touch-hot-hot mini-cauldron of rice and green onions and more. The Bento Box special (about $15, if I recall correctly) included some sushi rolls. Delivery of said rolls lagged, which was fine since the pot o’ fire was too filling on its own. In short, worth going back, but not worthy of inclusion in my lunchtime rotation.

Also, Has Anyone Been to Gui?

I’ve been anti-Gui without trying it for a few weeks now based solely on its cursed location (Yellow, Tutto, Temptations, etc. have died within months at the same locale). The second warning sign came when my friend ate there and proclaimed the sushi “amazing.” Wait–I thought Gui was supposed to be Korean? Anyway, Chowhounds are saying it’s filled to the brim with SMU kids eating edamame and California rolls, which isn’t a surprise given the location. Apparently they do serve kalbi with kimchi, which they refer to as “spicy cabbage,” for us Texan folk.

I can’t find a menu online and I’m wondering if any SideDishers have been there. Let me know if I should stop being such a hater.

Report from the Field: La Cubanita

Just drove down McKinney Ave and passed Alberto Lombardi’s newest spot, La Cubanita. I’ve been looking forward to this opening because a) I like the atmosphere at Lombardi’s other restos Toulouse, Taverna, and Sangria, and b) as far as I know (which is NOT far), there isn’t another Cuban restaurant in town. I love the Cuban sandwich at Jimmy’s, but I’m looking for more (ropa vieja, plantains, yellow rice, beans, etc.)

The good news is there are tables, chairs in the dining room and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. I haven’t gotten any info on when they are supposed to open, but I know it’s been pushed back a few times. If anyone has info on the menu, or the opening date, please pass it along.

What’s Up with Cafe R&D?

Part of the Houston’s family (darn fine veggie burger, by the way), Cafe R&D in Preston Center is receiving conflicting reports. Over on Pegasus News, BillUSA99 gives the food a 4 out of 5. A Side Dish friend likes the food but found the wait staff rather “Stepford wife-ish.” Then a FrontBurnervian didn’t like the concept restaurant’s no baseball cap/no service policy. I haven’t been, but I really want to go (wearing a baseball cap of course) to see what all the hubbub is about. Any other comments?

Rockwall Restaurant Update, 12:30-1:00PM

I feel a little like Jack Bauer today. This Rockwall thing needs a full-time surveillance team. This just in: Celebrity Café & Bakery will also be in the Harbor development at Lake Ray Hubbard. Yes, we like the iced, albeit expensive, cookies, but Celebrity will serve “Traditional Afternoon Tea” everyday at 2 p.m. Help me here. Catfish canapés? OK, I’m being silly but if you’d have told me in 1985 that I’d be having high tea in Rockwall, I would have told you to go jump in a lake. Now you can do both. Gotta go triangulate something. Over.

Looking For A Cheesy Christmas Present?

According to cheese whiz Paula Lambert, she’s got plenty of options and she will deliver it all pretty and nice.

Rockwall Restaurant Update

Is reporting on Rockwall going to be an hourly thing? Suddenly my inbox is all-Rockwall. Here comes another—Blue Canyon Kitchen, Tavern, and Wine Bar which will open in “early 2008” at the The Harbor development at Lake Ray Hubbard. Exec chef Brandt Evans, who delights in playing bongos during his on-stage food demos, is the force behind the “Creative American Cooking” concept which comes to Rockwall from Ohio. The menu is…drum roll please…upscale comfort foods with twists and turns like braised beef short ribs with a smoked Gouda soft polenta and cowboy beef rib-eye with smoked blue cheese maple butter. Yikes, look out Mr. Fearing, Evans, former Charlie Palmer sous chef, is coming at you with his own version of lobster nachos. (Is it just me or should lobster nachos go into the bad food cross dressing category?) Anywhoo, at least the food will have a view of something other than a parking lot. Evans must be doing something good, he’s partnered the salutatorian of his own class at the Culinary Institute of America Bob Voelker and Gateway Hospitality Group, which in addition to the original location in Ohio, has locations in Kalispell and Missoula, Montana. Rockwall on.

It’s Raining Romaine

A tip of the fork to DT who sends this link to a Dallas Business Journal story about Salad Creations, a new concept with a bad name set to hit Dallas and, of course, Rockwall. According to the DBJ, it’s like a Subway for salads. You walk down the line and make your own. Hmm. Doesn’t sound that revolutionary to me but somebody must see something greener than lettuce in the idea. First “store” will be appropriately located in the Village on the Green near the Galleria. Next will be Knox/Henderson. Then Mid-Town, whoops, I mean Rockwall by mid-February.