Articles for July 21st, 2011

Eater Dallas Debuts Today

posted by Nancy Nichols | July 21st, 2011 1:59pm | filed under Blogroll, Bring it! | 1 Comment »

Sorry, I’m a little late to the welcome-Eater Dallas party, but here goes. Today Eater Dallas officially opened for business. The announcement comes from editor, and former Dallas Observer writer, Andrea Grimes:

Eater Dallas will make sure the best food and drink news—and, let’s face it, sometimes the worst of same—boils to the top. We combine original reporting with tips, rants and raves from users, and also round up what’s happening in the rest of the food media around town and nationally. Food porn, recipes and reviews aren’t our thing, but readers who come back to Eater Dallas every day will never be out of the loop when it comes to the Dallas dining and drinking scene. Eater Dallas joins a national network of Eater sites, which stretch from New York City to D.C. to Chicago to San Francisco. With the co-launch of Eater Houston this morning, Texas is the only state to boast three Eater locales: Austin, Houston and Dallas. (We shouldn’t leave out Eater Atlanta, which also launches today. Hi, Atlanta.)

Yes, hi Atlanta! Hit it, MICK!

1 Comment »

Alma on Henderson Ave. Opens for Lunch Today (And There Was Much Rejoicing)

posted by Sarah Reiss | July 21st, 2011 1:25pm | filed under lunch, Regional Mexican Cuisine |

I’ve had some pretty sweet meals at Alma—the enchiladas rojo, the cochinita pibil, the chile rellenos. So the news that, as of 11 am today, Alma will start serving lunch has literally made my week. Recently-promoted exec chef AQ (Anastacia Quiñones) has put together a lunch menu rich with regional faves.

Items she’s excited about: “Tortas! We have a puerco pibil, guajillo chicken, and braised short rib tortas. Each comes with its own dipping sauce and is served with yucca chips. We’re also offering aguas frescas. Today’s flavors are pineapple, cilantro, and watermelon mint.”

Race you there!

Eat This Now: Looking beyond the pizza at Cane Rosso in Dallas

posted by Daniel Walker | July 21st, 2011 10:30am | filed under best of big d, Brunch, Eat This Now!, pizza | 3 Comments »

I’m starting to think that Jay Jerrier is basically the culinary King Midas.  Everything the man touches is nothing less than gastronomic gold.  It’s not good enough that, essentially, the entire city of Dallas is certifiably psychotic over his pizza. (Personally, I have had at least three auditory hallucinations while eating his pizza, in which my “Paulie Gee” spoke to me, telling me to give all my money, the deed to my home, and my first-born child over to Mr. Jerrier)  Jay continues to offer this city a seemingly endless string of brilliant dishes including hot, succulent sandwiches, house-made pastas, and rich, creamy gelato.  With the addition of the burly, bearded wunderkind, Matt Reddick, to the Cane Rosso kitchen, there is no telling what adventures are in store for diners able to painfully pry themselves away from the pizza.

Matt has been charged with running “the left side of the menu,” and while he may not be the big man up front, sweating in front of the scorching pizza oven, he is no less working miracles in the back.

Read on! It only gets better from here.

Continue reading "Eat This Now: Looking beyond the pizza at Cane Rosso in Dallas"

3 Comments »

Star System Fails Again: Leslie Brenner Hands The Grape Two

posted by Nancy Nichols | July 21st, 2011 10:30am | filed under Burgers, Restaurant News, Reviews | 73 Comments »

I’m going to make this quick and clean: Dallas Morning News restaurant critic Leslie Brenner doesn’t understand Dallas. Don’t shank me, let me type. I am not being mean; I am expressing my opinion. I have no vested interest in The Grape or The Commissary, two restaurants she has reviewed recently, but in both cases I felt she wrote dismissive evaluations using a damning-with-faint-praise attitude.

I’m also picking The Grape and The Commissary as examples because they both recently received 2 stars. I agree the service at The Commissary is still laughable, but Brenner failed to mention (or count as a plus) the fact chef John Tesar charges $6 for a burger cooked sous vide before finished off on the grill.

However, that doesn’t bother me as much as her parental attitude towards The Grape. Brenner just kicked a faithful old dog that is still learning new tricks. She ends her report with “And because there’s clearly some talent in the kitchen, it shouldn’t be too hard to fix what’s wrong on the plates.” In other words, do the plates my way and you’ll be a great restaurant.

73 Comments »