Articles for August 9th, 2011

Warwick Melrose Dallas Hotel Announces New Chef: Mike Pacheco

posted by Nancy Nichols | August 9th, 2011 3:07pm | filed under Restaurant News |

Thank goodness there has been some life blown into this lovely dining room. From the copy and paste press release department.

Chef Mike Pacheco has been named Executive Chef at the Warwick Melrose Dallas Hotel, overseeing the culinary team of the famed Landmark Restaurant and The Library bar, along with all banquet and catering services.“We have a history of cultivating breakout chefs, especially for a city like Dallas known for its many great restaurants,” said Larry McAfee, General Manager at Warwick Melrose Dallas Hotel. “We are very excited to we Pacheco attended Texas Culinary Academy in Austin, Texas, graduating in 2003. He went on to work at the Westin Riverwalk, and came to the Warwick Melrose in 2006 as the sous chef. Continue reading "Warwick Melrose Dallas Hotel Announces New Chef: Mike Pacheco"

AIWF Launches the Mother of All Caesar Salad Competitions

posted by Andrew Chalk | August 9th, 2011 2:16pm | filed under Andrew Chalk, Celebrity Chefs, celebrity sightings, Dallas Must-Do List |

Emcee Scott Murray Tells The Chefs About The 50LB Anchovy He Landed. Sleeping peacefully in the background (L to R) are David C. Smith, John Tesar, Janice Provost, Brian Luscher, Samir Dhurandhar and Jim Severson. Those with X-Ray vision will be able to see James Neel behind Scott Murray.

Holy Anchovy! The AIWF Caesar Salad Competition may be an annual event in its 20th year but the organizers behind the event have no intention of letting the format get stale. So this year, the organization that brought you the competition that often leads to a winner who wins for an ingredient that is far removed from any ingredient in the traditional Caesar salad is mixing it up. The competitors will all be previous winners of the competition. The winner will a kind of Grand Fromage of Dallas Caesar Salad Competitions.

Of the 19, 12 are still in town and this week the AIWF introduced them at the Westin Galleria Hotel, which is where the competition will be held. Without further delay, the role of honor.. Continue reading "AIWF Launches the Mother of All Caesar Salad Competitions"

From All-Stars to Lone-Stars—Top Chef Season Nine Heads to Texas

posted by Sarah Reiss | August 9th, 2011 1:22pm | filed under Food On TV | 4 Comments »

This just in from the press-release mill:

Fans hungering for a taste of Season 9 have some new information to satiate them until Top Chef returns—the ninth season of the Emmy-Award winning (and recently nominated once again) show will head south, to the great state of Texas.

Whether Padma Lakshmi will be donning a cowboy hat remains to be seen, but we know she’ll be saddling up with the regular judges chef Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and new two new faces—famed chef and restaurateur Emeril Lagasse and critically acclaimed chef Hugh Acheson. Emeril is known for bringing the heat, and Hugh’s certainly not known for holding back (just relive some of his best zings from his run on Top Chef Masters for a refresh), so it seems like they’ll fit right in.

And since everything’s bigger and such the competition will be in not one, but three cities—Austin, Dallas and San Antonio. We hope the cheftestants cowboy boots are made for walking (sorry, had to!)

What other Texas-style beans are there to spill? Season 9 also promises many surprising twists and turns and never-before-seen challenges and events when it returns in the fall.

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Chef Chris Ward Supports Greyhounds With Afternoon of Foodie Fun At The Mercury

posted by Sarah Reiss | August 9th, 2011 12:49pm | filed under fundraiser, Uncategorized |

Mercury chef Chris Ward loves the greyhounds.

Dog days of summer got you down? Prepare to perk up on from 2 to 5 pm on Saturday, September 10 when Mercury chef Chris Ward will host an afternoon of food & fun and a silent auction at The Mercury benefiting The Greyhound Adoption League of Texas (GALT).

Tickets run $65 and include one drink ticket (additional beverages at cash bar), cooking demonstration and tastings with Chris Ward, souvenir recipe book of demonstrated recipes, and a doggy bag of special canine treats for your pampered pooch. VIP seats (only 7 available) go for $125 and get you a front row seat at Chef Ward’s cooking bar.

“We are so excited to have Chef Ward with us again this year,” say John and Susie McQuade, GALT co-founders. “The proceeds from the cooking demonstration will help provide for the growing needs of GALT and the growing number of greyhounds we currently have in foster care.”

Seating is limited. To purchase tickets online www.galtx.org or 972-503-GALT.

Primebar Plans to Open in Uptown in September

posted by Sarah Reiss | August 9th, 2011 12:24pm | filed under Openings/Closings | 1 Comment »

Keep an eye out for Primebar, a contemporary American restaurant and ale house, set to open at 2520 Cedar Springs Road in Uptown. The chain currently has four locations (Wesley Chapel, Florida; Hallandale Beach, Florida; Chicago, Illinois; and Scottsdale, Arizona). The Dallas location’s interior makes use of hardwood floors, mosaic tiling, and oversized leather booths. The kitchen plans to utilize local organic products and make everything in-house from small plates, salads, and sandwiches, to specialty entrées along. Look for yellowfin tuna sashimi (jalapeno, cilantro and a yuzu-ponzu sauce), shrimp and scallop ceviche, daily Bento Boxes, horseradish crusted salmon (with roasted asparagus, tomatoes, and potatoes), and Kurobuta pork chops (Cajun seasoned in a garlic white wine sauce and served with peppadew polenta).

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The Best Donuts in Dallas

posted by Daniel Walker | August 9th, 2011 10:00am | filed under Awards, best of big d, Breakfast, Diets are stupid, Eat This Now!, Good Morning | 21 Comments »

The donut is America’s unsung hero.

For decades these delicacies have been fueling this nation’s finest law enforcement officers, and without them your streets would be overrun with all kinds of riffraff. Countless early morning board meetings have been brightened by the magical combination of sugar and fried dough. And where would Homer Simpson be without his signature pink icing with sprinkles? Not season 587, I assure you!

Despite their iconic nature, frankly speaking, truly exceptional donuts are not easy to find in Dallas.  I don’t think I am alone in my sentiments towards the Dallas donut scene.  While this city is surely not lacking in the sheer number of independent donut shops, it is eerie how incredibly similar and mundane most neighborhood shops have become.

But for the valiant donuteer, all hope is not lost.  I have scoured this land for three years searching for something extraordinary.  Of course, it would be unrealistic for a person to try every donut shop in this city (and still live to tell about it).  So I’ve hunted for suggestions from every corner I could think of (blogs, Chowhound, Yelp, Urban Spoon, magazines, newspapers, Twitter, Facebook, the cops at Waffle House) and ate my way through enough donut shops to personally ensure the future of Lipitor. Luckily, fantastic donuts do exist in this city.

Here I present to you, in no particular order, the five best places for donuts in and around Dallas.

Continue reading "The Best Donuts in Dallas"

21 Comments »

Want More Pizza Napoletana? Dough Pizzeria Set to Open at Preston Forest

posted by Sarah Reiss | August 9th, 2011 9:28am | filed under pizza | 15 Comments »

photo courtesy of Dough's Michael Giordano.

Claire St. Amant staff writer at our sistah pub, Preston Hollow People, was able to squeak out this tidbit of information from Lori & Doug Horn, the tight-lipped owners of Dough Pizzeria. Here it is: they will open one week from today.

jump for more deets: Continue reading "Want More Pizza Napoletana? Dough Pizzeria Set to Open at Preston Forest"

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Café Momentum Version 3: Sharon Hage at Garden Cafe

posted by Sarah Reiss | August 9th, 2011 8:45am | filed under Chef's tasting, fundraiser | 4 Comments »

First course: Chilled pecos melon soup with serrano chile and marigold mint. (Photos by Julissa Treviño)

On Sunday night, ace contributor Julissa Treviño attended the third Café Momentum dinner and sends this report…

On Sunday night, Chad Houser and Janice Provost held their third pop-up dinner under the Café Momentum umbrella at Garden Café in Dallas. If any restaurant has been getting hype in the city, it’s this duo’s project. Café Momentum is a non-profit restaurant serving exquisite, monthly pop-up dinners. Each dinner is steered by a guest chef and functions as a way to help at-risk youth from Dallas County Youth Village learn basic culinary skills which could ultimately lead to a paid position in a kitchen.

Funds raised from Sunday’s sold out dinner last night with Guest Chef Sharon Hage (of the now-shuttered award-winning York Street) bring Houser and Provost one step closer to being able to open up a permanent Café Momentum location. “Café Momentum will be fully operational, ultimately, when we have all of our financing,” said Houser, who works at Parigi with Provost. “We are hoping to achieve this goal by Spring 2012.”

jump for the rest… Continue reading "Café Momentum Version 3: Sharon Hage at Garden Cafe"

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Two New In-N-Outs To Open in 48 Hours

posted by Sarah Reiss | August 9th, 2011 8:27am | filed under Burgers, I Went to College for This?, It's just lunch | 8 Comments »

Pony-up North Dallas; Gird your loins Fort Worth. In-N-Out is poised to open its next two locations this Thursday. The first, near the corner of Coit and 635, sits on the access road to 635 westbound. The second, in Fort Worth, is near the intersection of West Seventh and University Drive.

After the much more sedate opening of the Caruth Haven-adjacent location, I wouldn’t expect the mob scene of early summer. But I’d still choose an alternate route to work.

Locations:
2900 West 7th Street in Fort Worth
7909 LBJ Freeway in Dallas

8 Comments »