Social’s Gone a Little Square

No, not like that. The mixologists at the chic spot Social have concocted a new cocktail to help their guests beat the summer heat. The square watermelon is made with Square One vodka, Midori, fresh watermelon juice and lime, poured over frozen watermelon ice cubes and served with a salted rim. It’s going to be insanely hot this weekend, but this drink sounds refreshing enough to cool us down, that is until we walk outside and begin to melt.

The Art of Gastronomy

Every year, the McKinney Avenue Contemporary hosts its annual membership show where members are invited to submit art that speaks to them about a given topic. This year, the theme is gastronomia: erotica y estimulante. Members were asked what foods stimulate them and the submissions ranged from sexy citrus to seductive sweets. The exhibit runs through August, but if you’re on McKinney this weekend stop by the opening reception on Saturday at 5:30 pm. Go before dinner, it just might stimulate your appetite….or more.

I believe this Annual Membership Exhibition has the possibility of being one of the most stimulating Membership Exhibitions to date. Food has been the subtext for love and war throughout recorded history. Are we the masters of the table or is food seducing us? Undoubtedly the artist view will be very diverse! -Liliana Bloch, MAC director

Home Cooking: The Cause of Bennigan’s Demise?

D CEO writer, Dave Moore,  who sits about 10 feet from me, posted an interesting power point presentation of a study on casual restaurants. Very interesting stuff.

Jasper’s News

So it turns out you learn a little something when you go to a wine dinner at Abacus–and I’m not just talking about which Wisconsin cheese pairs well with which Deerfield wine. Jasper’s is set to open a restaurant in San Antonio in spring 2009, and the restaurant has also won a coveted Hot Concept Award from Nation’s Restaurant News.

Pretty in Pink: Riedel CrescendO

Prepare yourselves for the onslaught of products that will help raise money for breast cancer awareness and research. Among them are these pretty, pink-bottomed stemless Riedel CrescendO wine glasses (also good for something as simple as juice or soda). A set of four is $70, and 15% of each sale goes to Living Beyond Breast Cancer. They’re not available in a brick-and-mortar store, but you can buy them at the Riedel online store.

Chicken Salad Sammich at Salum: A Winner

Just had lunch at Salum, and as an unofficial connoisseur of chicken salad (it’s all I seem to want to eat for lunch these days), I wanted to share that the curried chicken salad studded with red grapes on multi-seed bread is a winner–and not horribly priced at $8.50. I chose a side of vegetable fries (crunchy, coated veggies like sweet potato and portobello mushroom), and I still have half to eat later. Yum.

Footnote: also delish was the chicken salad sandwich on nine-grain bread at Neuhaus Cafe, which I had for lunch on Monday, with a side of homemade potato chips and a pretty decent Caesar. I’d love to know your favorite, too.

Celebrating with Cheesecake

I’m certain some Dishers will want to crucify me for thinking anyone would care to know this, but I’ll take my chances and report it anyway.  The Cheesecake Factory is celebrating it’s 30th anniversary and, for today only, all of their cheesecakes are $1.50 per slice for dine-in guests. So, if you fancy the factory, head over. If not, just ignore this.  And did you know July 30 is National Cheesecake Day? I’m sure Nancy will love that.

Donut-Free Options Coming Soon to Dunkin Donuts

We are all sad about our beloved Balls turning into a Dunkin Donuts. That goes without saying. But there is good news here: Dunkin reveals today they are coming out with a few healthier menu items. In August, the DDSmart menu will include food and drinks that have 25% less calories, 25% less fat, sugar, sodium, and saturated fat than comparable fare. (No, they don’t say what the comparable fare is.)

Anyway, they’ve got Egg White Flatbread sandwiches that sound pretty tasty: Turkey Sausage and Veggie, with low-fat cheese, veggies, etc., served on whole-grain flatbread. These have nine grams of fat or less and around 300 cals. So, there’s that.

Dishers, Check Out ShopTalk

In shameless bit of cross promotion, I wanted to announce to the SideDish nation that we at D Magazine Partners have added another blog to our lineup—ShopTalk, the inside scoop on the Dallas fashion and beauty scene. So tell all the fashionistas and beauty product junkies in your life to tune in to the chatter. We’d love for you to join the discussion.

XVII Annual Caesar Salad Competition Coming This Weekend

Lord have mercy, where is my head. (Don’t answer that.) I almost forgot about Sunday’s AIWF Caesar Salad Competition. Thanks to the good folks at Canary Cafe for reminding me that their chef Mansour Gorji will face off against most of the biggest restaurants in town: including Charlie Palmer, Mansion, and Shinsei. The full list of participants is here (Hi, Buzzy!). I’ll be eating Atlanta this weekend, but you all buy a ticket and vote. The event is one of the best of the year. Tickets.

Restaurant 101: Investing in a Restaurant

Looks like Mike Modano and Brett Hull are about to invest in the restaurant business. Why not? Lots of athletes do it, especially in the twilight years of their careers. Good idea or bad? Usually not unless they have trusted their money to a professional restaurateur. I asked Miss Amy, our Restaurant 101 professor, to send some light. She replied with a beacon of knowledge:

If you are thinking about investing in a restaurant, the first thing you should do is schedule an MRI of your brain. Just kidding. Actually, my husband, Sevy, and I were discussing the rash of restaurant closings and the opportunities it could provide with the right formula. All over town commercial brokers are making cold calls for finished-out restaurant spaces “going cheap” and equipment is being auctioned for below cost. It brought back so many memories of opening our own place in 1997 in a space formerly occupied by Loma Luna which had gone out of business. So I asked him, if approached by some young and eager entrepreneur, what would we require before handing over our hard-earned savings?

Here is our check list for investing in a restaurant, whether it’s your own or someone else’s: Continue reading "Restaurant 101: Investing in a Restaurant"