Articles for March 14th, 2011

Upcoming Opportunities to Sip Great Wine with Tasty Pairings

posted by Hayley Hamilton | March 14th, 2011 12:38pm | filed under Chef's tasting, Chefs, Events, food pairings, menus, Savor dallas, Wine & Spirits |

With the 7th annual Savor Dallas celebration this weekend there are lot of opportunities to taste great wine around town, with the largest being the International Grand Tasting for Savor Dallas Saturday night at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel where hundreds of wine makers, spirit producers and brew masters will join some of the best chefs in the city for a walk around tasting. 

Continue reading "Upcoming Opportunities to Sip Great Wine with Tasty Pairings"

Teresa Gubbins Makes a Great Point: Throwing Away Food at Fundraisers is Politically Incorrect

posted by Nancy Nichols | March 14th, 2011 12:08pm | filed under Bad critters, Events, Food Crime, Hippie revolutions, Hot Links!, Murmur, Overprivileged chimps, Politics of Food, Skinny bitches | 28 Comments »

Gross. Photo by Marc Lee.

Last night the Chefs for Farmers dinner at the Highland Park Cafeteria was the talk of the town. Over 250 folks showed up to support farmers, raise money, and bow to local producers and everything organic. All the current politically correct buzzwords were in place until reporter Teresa Gubbins noticed the huge number of half-eaten plates left on the tables. She writes:

I didn’t eat. I was too stunned by the rampant waste. Given the nature of the crowd — one that seemed heavy on foodies — I was flabbergasted to see how much food got thrown away, and how little respect it seemed to show for the work the chefs did, and the very nature of the event itself, with its emphasis on farmers and reverence for food.

I thought the idea of holding the event in a cafeteria was a great idea–it could have been a teaching experience. Instead of piling on globs of food, the chefs should have dished out smaller tasting portions. One diner quipped: “I paid $92 and I’m going to get my money’s worth.” Dude, it’s a fundraiser. You aren’t supposed to get your money’s worth. Stay true to the movement, chefs. Gubbins, you rule #WINNING.

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Dough Pizzeria Napoletana Debuts on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives

posted by Nancy Nichols | March 14th, 2011 10:41am | filed under Bad critters, Celebrity Diners, Food On TV, Foodie People, Openings/Closings, Overprivileged chimps, Restaurant News | 1 Comment »

Dough Pizzeria Napoletana, a popular San Antonio pizza joint, is getting ready to move into the Chocolate Angel Too space at Preston Forest in May (move in date is tentative). They will be a shoo-in for a mob scene looking for some Guy Fevah. On April 11 the San Antonio restaurant will star on Diner drive-ins and Dives.

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Taco Cabana Introduces Seasonal Shrimp Tampicos

posted by Andrew Chalk | March 14th, 2011 10:05am | filed under Andrew Chalk, Tacos, Tex-Mex | 1 Comment »

Taco Cabana's Shrimp Tampico Quesadilla

Taco Cabana just reintroduced a seasonal favorite, Shrimp Tampico. The recipe involves marinating shrimp with chipotle and ancho spices and then grilling it with garlic lime and cilantro. They serve it three ways: as the filling of a quesadilla, as one of the ingredients in their cabana bowls, and in enchiladas. They plied me with some and this is what I found.

Here is the Shrimp Tampico Quesadilla ($7.29). The Shrimp Tampico is combined with cheese, tomato and TC’s pineapple salsa. Having tried a couple now I can confirm that these are addictive, and an A-category narcotic if you goose the pineapple with extra salsa from the TC salsa bar. This was my favorite dish out of the three. It also travels. They package it in a pizza box, which means you can take it home, even on City of Dallas streets, and it arrives in pretty much the same shape it started. In fact, I am writing to NASA to suggest that the next time they put together one of those lists of things to put in the hold of a space probe, they leave out the Natalie Imbruglia single (you know the one. There is only one) and replace it with one of these. Won’t the Martians be surprised? Continue reading "Taco Cabana Introduces Seasonal Shrimp Tampicos"

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The Vineyard at Florence. A New Winery Starts With Years of Experience

posted by Andrew Chalk | March 14th, 2011 9:32am | filed under Andrew Chalk, Texas Wine, Wine & Spirits | 1 Comment »

Vines at The Vineyard at Florence

The Vineyard at Florence isn’t a familiar name to Texas wine drinkers. This is a new vineyard just a 2 1/2 hours drive south of Dallas down I-35. It is part of a luxury home development of the same name serving second home owners and executives who work in Georgetown and Round Rock. You might think that with such a real estate focus the vineyard would just be eye candy to complete the pastoral scenery. However, that is not the case. The developers searched the globe, literally, for a winemaker who could make the best wine from the grapes on the estate. They interviewed an Italian, a Californian, and an Australian before deciding that Texas challenges required Texas know how and appointing one of the state’s most experienced winemakers, Dan Gatlin of Inwood Estates Vineyards, to take charge of the wine making process.
jump for the whole story. Continue reading "The Vineyard at Florence. A New Winery Starts With Years of Experience"

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Report: Chefs For Farmers Event in Dallas

posted by Andrew Chalk | March 14th, 2011 8:30am | filed under Andrew Chalk, Celebrity Chefs, Farmers Markets, Texas Wine, Wine & Spirits | 1 Comment »

Chefs work the line serving hundreds of diners.

Highland Park Cafeteria was packed late Sunday afternoon when Chefs for Farmers held its “cafeteria style” fundraiser to raise funds for The Family Place and raise awareness of the importance of local farmers. Farmers in attendance included JuHa Ranch, The Mozzarella Company and Texas Honeybee Guild and Savoy Sorbet. Wines were donated by Inwood Estates Vineyards, Hall Vineyards, Duchman Family Winery and Vodka by Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka. The locally sourced ingredients were served into culinary creations by some of the best chefs in the area: Brian Luscher (The Grape), Dan Landsberg (Hotel ZaZa), J. Chastain (Second Floor Bistro), Jack Perkins (Maple and Motor), Janice Provost and Chad Houser (Parigi Restaurant), Jill Bates (Fearings), John Tesar (The Cedars Social, The Commissary), Justin and Diane Fourton (Pecan Lodge), Kelly Hightower (Nova), Matt McCallister (no fixed abode), Randall Copeland and Nathan Tate (Restaurant Ava), Rick Griggs (Collage Bakery & Bar), Scott Romano (Charlie Palmer) and Tim Byers (Smoke). DJs Jennifer Miller and Paul Paredes provided the sounds. Sponsors were Central Market, Fresh Point, Artizone, Hotel ZaZa and Range.

This is one of those events best shown in pictures (some moving): Continue reading "Report: Chefs For Farmers Event in Dallas"

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