Articles for September 13th, 2010

Avner Samuel’s Nosh Euro Bistro in Dallas is Open

posted by Kellyn Curtis | September 13th, 2010 2:00pm | filed under Chefs, Openings/Closings, Restaurant News |

Chef Avner Samuel and his team.

It’s been about a month since Avner and Celeste Samuel pulled the plug on Aurora. As promised, the duo is back with a new concept: Nosh Euro Bistro. The causal eatery officially opens tonight but I got a preview this weekend at the opening reception. Jump to see what they’ve come up with.
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Smoking Grass in Oak Cliff at the Blues, Bandits & BBQ Festival

posted by Tim Rogers | September 13th, 2010 1:16pm | filed under Awards, BBQ, Uncategorized | 15 Comments »

The first question one needs to ask oneself when one has volunteered to serve as a judge in a barbecue contest is: what am I going to eat for breakfast? I went with watermelon, hoping that the fiber would ameliorate the deleterious effects of gorging myself on meat for three hours. More on the success of my plan in due time. But you need to know right away that if you missed the first annual Blues, Bandits & BBQ festival thrown by the community-minded folks from Go Oak Cliff, you missed a hell of an event. You also missed a chance to sweat off about 5 pounds of water weight. It was hot and humid yesterday.

Rob Shearer, who organized the event, estimates that about 2,500 people turned out. Of those, 750 bought special wristbands that entitled them to serve as peoples’ choice judges. But, despite the whole populist vibe that they foster in the OC, who cares what the hoi polloi think, right? You want to know what we trained judges thought.

The judges were divided into two panels. At my table sat the unfortunately bearded and pushing-40 Jeff Whittington (KERA), the Saint Tropez-born Melissa Boon (Edible Dallas & Fort Worth), the delightfully randy Andrea Grimes (Dallas Observer), the very knowledgeable Daniel Vaughn (Full Custom Gospel BBQ), and yours truly, with a solid base coat of watermelon lining his gut. We started at noon with sausage and progressed through three more flights of barbecue, tackling chicken and pork ribs before wrapping it up with brisket. I felt full after the first course of sausage. By my count, we ate 36 samples of meat.

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Whole Foods Market Adds Color-Coded Sustainability Rating Program to Seafood Department

posted by Nancy Nichols | September 13th, 2010 11:59am | filed under AgriBusiness, Celebrity Diners, Groceries, seafood | 13 Comments »

This morning comes a press release from Whole Foods announcing their partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Blue Ocean Institute and the creation of a “science-based wild-caught seafood rating program.” I’ve posted the full release below the jump and embedded a video explaining details of the ratings system: Green (best choice), Yellow (good alternative), and Red (avoid). The long-term plan calls for: “All swordfish and tuna from red-rated fisheries will be eliminated from seafood counters by Earth Day 2011. By Earth Day 2012, all other seafood from red-rated fisheries will be discontinued with the exception of Atlantic cod and sole, which will be sold through Earth Day 2013.”

I’ve read the material and watched the video and I have a couple of questions. Who is going to stand in front of a seafood case and point to the red dot over tuna steaks priced at $23.99 and say, “Hey, I’d like five pounds of that over-fished tuna whose presence in this case caused the death of 100 sea turtles, please?” Why wait until Earth Day 2013? Just asking. Read, watch, and decide for yourself.

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Single Gourmet in Dallas Closes

posted by Nancy Nichols | September 13th, 2010 9:37am | filed under Events, Foodie People | 7 Comments »

Eight years ago,  Ed Bamberger thought it would be fun to organize events where single people could mingle over dinner. Once you joined the group, there wasn’t any “first date” awkwardness or pressure to impress the man or woman sitting next to you. Everyone who attended Ed’s Single Gourmet events already had two things in common: they were single and they loved food.

Over the years, Ed has organized dinner parties, cooking classes, cocktail parties, and travel excursions. “It gave me great pleasure to organize over 500 events,” says Bamberger. “I’m happy that many friendships and relationships developed.”

With a heavy heart, Ed (ed.bamberger@att.net)  has closed Single Gourmet.

Well, dang. What is going to happen to all of us who are single and like gourmets? Where shall we play? Hey, I’ve got a great idea. Meet me here. I guarantee there will be love.

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Best Wine of the 2010 Dallas Wine Trail

posted by Andrew Chalk | September 13th, 2010 9:12am | filed under Andrew Chalk, best of big d, North Texas Wine, Texas Wine, Uncategorized, Wine & Spirits | 1 Comment »

It was fun, although too many wines were from California in ambiguously-labeled bottles at this weekend’s Dallas Wine Trail. The highlight for me was:

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