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Sigel’s In Addison Is Having A Sale To Celebrate The New Old Sign

If you care about the vintage Sigel’s sign you may want to head to Addison at 9:30a.m. on Friday. That’s when Joe Chow, Mayor of Addison, and a host of other Addison dignitaries will be on hand to christen the newly installed sign with a very special bottle of wine (negotiations are underway now to determine exactly which one will be used).

However, if you are a member of the Screw The Sign Club, you will want to know this:
When the store opens at 10am, the sale begins:
Wine Super Specials – 30%-75% Off
All Other Wines in the Store – 20% Off
Allen Brothers USDA Prime Steaks – 10% Off
All Domestic & Imported Cheeses – 20% Off
Spirits Super Specials – 30-70% Off
Over 200 Spirits Items on Sale
All Cigars – 20% Off
Deli Super Specials
All Other Deli Items – 20% Off

Cheap Eats: Bastille Day Special at Toulouse Cafe

Granted, it’s a bit toasty outside. (Oh really. You haven’t heard? Yeah. It’s summertime.) But if you’re going to do patio dining, Toulouse’s patio at least has misters plus a great view of all the hot joggers on the Katy Trail. Here’s more good news: Now through Sunday, enjoy a Bastille Day summer picnic plate at the Knox Street bistro. $30 gets you a bottle of house wine, half of a warm baguette, radishes, prosciutto and melon charantais, a trio of salads and crudites, marinated olives, and spiced nuts. It’s enough for two. Plus, Toulouse is also serving watermelon gazpacho. Refreshing!

Spanish Cheese In Dallas: More Than Manchego

Torta del Casar is Sara’s favorite Spanish cheese.

Sara the intern just returned from a hunt for Spanish cheese at Scardello. She files this report: (Sara, put on your helmet, here come the blue meanies.)

With the rise in popularity of Spanish wines, foodies (sorry, Nancy) will naturally turn to that most perfect of accompaniments, cheese. Manchego is available at most stores these days, but there are tons of other flavorful, artisan Spanish cheeses with interesting flavors, shapes, and back stories.

In Spain, cheese plates typically come with whatever is regional and available, but Dallas some great sources for cheese from all over the world. I just checked out Scardello on Oak Lawn where owner Rich Rogers walked me through a free Spanish cheese lesson. (They’ve got wine too.) Here are the notes from my “tour.”

“I think Spanish cheeses are a good value, and the tough part is finding cheeses that aren’t factory-produced,” said Rogers. “The good news is, with a bunch of these, there is only one producer, like Monte Enebro.”

Here are just a few of the Spanish cheeses at Scardello:

Leonora: a fluffy, lemony goat cheese that goes perfectly with sweeter white wines. I had never tried this one, and Rich cut me a nice hunk (Cheese shops really are the best thing in the world.)

Monte Enebro: technically a blue goat, because of the Roquefort mold covering, with a creamy, snow-white middle and strong flavor. Made by one man and his daughter in Avila, it’s expensive but worth it if you can find it.

Zamorano: “I try to steer people who come in asking for Manchego towards Zamorano,” said Rogers. “It’s a bit more flavorful and complex.” This sheep’s cheese has been made for centuries and goes well with Zinfandels.

Cabrales: “This is a really big blue,” said Rogers. “I wouldn’t eat it alone, but put it with a grilled steak and it goes perfectly.” This is my personal favorite blue; it’s ashy and grayish-purple and cave-aged. In Asturias, where it’s made, sidra is a popular match—it’s an alcoholic apple cider served in sidrerias (cider houses), and the acidity and sweetness of the fruit cuts the strong flavor perfectly.

Torta del Casar: I was surprised to see this at Scardello, and will have to go back and buy a chunk before it’s gone. This is a great sheep cheese for a party, because of the way it’s typically served; it’s a small round cake, and when it’s ripe you slice off the top and can eat it almost like a dip, because the inside is creamy and runny. Toast some baguettes or slice up veggies and you’ve got a five-minute app. Scardello will cut you a piece to order, but I would get the whole thing. Trust me, it’s worth it.

Tetilla: Didn’t see this at Scardello, but I have seen it recently at Whole Foods. The name basically refers to its shape: it means “from the tit of the cow.” It’s creamy and buttery and melts really well; make a grilled Serrano ham sandwich with this.

Wine Dinner Wednesday

This week’s list has a little bit of everything. Choose from events at Cibus and La Duni (tonight), Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek (tomorrow), Dali Wine Bar, Victory Tavern City Grille (tomorrow), Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, Sevy’s Grill, and Cru Wine Bar. (more…)

Prime Steakhouse Meat Now Available At Retail Markets In Dallas

There is an interesting article in today’s Wall Street Journal about USDA Prime beef. Costco and Wal-Mart shoppers are finding USDA Prime cuts of tenderloin, porterhouse, and rib-eyes in the meat department. Also, prices for Prime at high-end stores such as Whole Foods are dropping. Why? Business is down in big dollar steak restaurants? Sure, business is down in almost every restaurant. I can’t help but wonder if perhaps some big name steak joints have lowered the quality of what they are selling as USDA Prime. It happens. Why do you think many top steak houses lock their dumpsters? Competitors have been known to dumpster dive and expose the “choice” evidence.

But I’m off task. The WSJ author, Katy McLaughlin, interviewed Steven Raichlen, host of public television’s Primal Grill and author of The Barbecue Bible. Raichlen talks about grass-fed beef and why it is rarely (sorry) graded Prime.

By contrast, grass-fed meat, which comes from cattle that haven’t been fattened on grain towards the end of their lives, rarely earns the prime grade because it tends to be less marbled. But it can have a more complex flavor, with herbal notes that reflect the grass diet, and it is also healthier than corn-fed beef, with more omega-3 fatty acids and less saturated fat. This meat benefits from a sprinkling of melted butter or olive oil. For the ultimate garnish, Mr. Raichlen recommends making a cup of aluminum foil, filling it with a piece of beef fat, and placing it over a cooler part of the grill until it melts. Pour a little liquid fat over a cooked steak for a beefy enhancement, he recommends.

In case you don’t read the whole article or the link doesn’t work, here is the money quote: “Man, oh man, it couldn’t be any tenderer” he says. “You chew it with your tongue.” Yummers, that could be a big seller at the Cheesecake Factory.

Watch This Video If You Hate Your Eyes

Headline and story by Tim Rogers on FrontBurner. I just watched it for the first time. Yummers? That is another word that HAS GOT TO GO.

The Cheesecake Factory in Dallas: Love It Or Hate It

Wick sent me a link to a blog post written by Erza Klein of the Washington Post. The main spin of the story is that writer Michael Ruhlman challenged New Republic food writer Kelly Alexander to a “eat off” after reading Alexander’s glowing review of The Cheesecake Factory. He could not believe she loved the food.

Spoiler alert: Ruhlman, with a video crew, filmed his review of the Cheesecake Factory. At the end, he admits the food is good and a great value.

Klein doesn’t stop at the question of whether the food is good or bad, he writes about the calorie count of a meal at the Cheesecake Factory. I like this thought:

Calories are delicious. The Cheesecake Factory isn’t doing anything wrong, either ethically or culinarily. Human beings are wired to prefer abundance, salt, fat, sugar, and value. The Cheesecake Factory is giving people the whole package.

Read the story. The calorie counts he reveals are horrifying. There is a lot of food for thought. (Sorry about that.) Discuss below.

Restaurant Review: Firefly in Addison

Duck Happy Buns at Firefly in Addison.

There has been a long low buzz on Firefly in Addison. A old (and old) friend of mine has eaten there many times. He, we’ll call him Beric, and his lovely wife love the spicy edamame, Shaking Beef, and Lemongrass Chicken. So last night I grabbed Beric and a couple of other regular review buddies, including Evan Grant, and headed up to Firefly.

Monday night at 6:45p.m.: There was one table with two ladies enjoying a bottle of wine with their dinner and our four top. Perhaps most “normal” people were home in front of their TVs watching the Home Run Derby from the baseball All-Star activities in St. Louis. Beric and Evan are into baseball and they were way too happy to find a huge screen TV over the top of my head. Let’s just say that the dinner conversation that  night was, well, stunted. (Why TVs in restaurants?)

California, shrimp tempura, and tuna rolls at Firefly.

First platter up: Neon-colored plate of rolls, including spicy tuna, California, and shrimp tempura. Not a very adventurous order, I know, so it is no surprise that the rolls were nothing special. The spicy tuna was not spicy and was covered in a thick blob of red roe.

Second platters up: Spicy edamame and Duck Happy Buns.  The edamame was spicy—the pods glistened with a glow of red hot Asian oil. As we slipped them through our teeth, the outer layer split into two mushy layers and jammed the soybeans and bean strings against the back of our teeth. Over boiled? Not sure, but not a pleasant experience. We had better luck with the happy buns, one of my favorite Chinese dishes. Sadly, they were cold, but the duck was warm and moist and the green onion was crunchy. (I haven’t found anyone in Dallas who can beat Yao Fuzi’s buns.) (more…)