Articles for December 8th, 2011

Top Chef: Texas, Episode 6 Recap

posted by Liz Johnstone | December 8th, 2011 6:40pm | filed under Celebrity Chefs, Food Fight!, Food On TV | 10 Comments »

D Magazine’s Loren Means loves to watch Top Chef: Texas. Therefore, she volunteered to watch all of the episodes this season and write a recap. She’s reviewed episode one, two, three, four, and five. Today she reports on episode six which takes place in Dallas. Go, Loren.

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Lisa Garza Names Jeffery Hobbs “Leader of the Kitchen” at Sissy’s Fried Chicken

posted by Nancy Nichols | December 8th, 2011 11:45am | filed under Celebrity Chefs, Cult Cuisine, Food On TV, History of Dallas Food, hostess gifts, How to Open a Restaurant 101, I Went to College for This?, make mine a double, Nostalgia, Openings/Closings, Restaurant News, sassy pants, Second coming, youthful spontaneous restaurants | 8 Comments »

Lisa Garza juggles relationships to get Sissy's Fried Chicken open.

At this moment, Lisa Garza is doing a walk through of her new space on Henderson Ave. The former Hector’s on Henderson will soon be transformed into Sissy’s Fried Chicken. La Garza’s idea is to serve “low-country” food in honor of her Southern roots in a “Billy Reid” dining room. Tea-infused vodkas (trending!) and specialty cocktails (a must have) will be featured.

Although La Garza is all about sisterhood (“I am Sissy,” Garza says. “Sissy is southern slang for “sister” and I am developing every aspect.”) there will be no sissy in the kitchen. La G has plucked Jeffery Hobbs and named him “leader of the kitchen.”

Oh, it’s a tangled tale—an episode of As the Restaurant Turns. Here’s the synopsis: Lisa was married to Chef Gilbert Garza. Together they operated Suze Restaurant, the cozy spot on Midway and NW Highway. At some point, Jeffery Hobbs joined the happy couple to work on the kitchen team as chef and partner. Hobbs and Gilbert ran a great restaurant. Lisa concentrated on catering. Lisa was picked as a contestant on Next Food Network Star. The experience was devastating, as most former TV reality participants will admit is generally the case. The Garzas divorced and Lisa retreated for a couple of years. She emerged as a fancy caterer. Found a new guy. Got re-married and is now pregnant with new restaurant.

After eight years at Suze, Hobbs splits to partner with burgeoning bully restaurateur, Jack “Maple & Motor” Perkins. They’re consulting on taco joints. Then La G calls Hobbs and asks him to be the “leader of her kitchen.” According to La G, Gilbert has given his blessing to the deal. See, there can be happy endings. Or beginnings. Stay tuned.

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Food Truck Winter Festivals in Dallas

posted by George Lewis | December 8th, 2011 11:03am | filed under Events, Festivals, Food Trucks | 1 Comment »

Randy Wolken and Dain Pool, the operators behind Gandolfo’s NY Deli and The Butcher’s Son, have engineered a coalition of Food Trucks called “DFW Street Foods.” Their intent is to be able to provide a more unifying voice among the many new business owners. Besides advancing their political agenda in order to make it easier for food trucks to operate, they have put together several food truck events in Dallas.

Truckin’ Through The Holidays Food Truck Rally

The first coming up is “Truckin Through The Holidays Food Truck Rally” at 3309 McKinney in Uptown Dallas on Saturday, December 10.  That’s the parking lot across from Primo’s.  They’ll start at 4pm and trucks include Ruthie’s Rolling Cafe, The Butcher’s Son, and Gandolfo’s NY Deli, and The CupCakin Machine.

Big D NYE at Victory Park

Multiple food trucks, including City Street Grille, Nammi, Ssahm, Gandolfo’s, and The Butcher’s Son will be in attendance directly in the venue for Big D NYE.  Multiple bands, fireworks, and the food trucks will entertain and feed the thousands of party-goers. The food trucks will be serving from about 6pm until well after midnight.  In the past, there has been only one vendor, but now the 5 trucks will provide a nice variety for those out on the streets.

More Events, More Venues

Going forward, the DFW Street Foods coalition will be organizing more events at the Primo’s parking lot location.  They’ve also secured use of the old Hard Rock Cafe location for events over the next few months.  Stay tuned for more details.

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Lange Twins Wine Tasting at Dragonfly in Dallas

posted by Andrew Chalk | December 8th, 2011 10:30am | filed under Andrew Chalk, Wine & Spirits | 3 Comments »
Lange Twins Family Winery and Vineyards was in town this week to present their wines to the general public and the trade at Dragonfly at Hotel Zaza. I was an invited guest at the event. Lange Twins has an interesting history. They started out as grape growers and continued as such for five generations. During that time, they were the unheralded suppliers of grapes for some of the best known wineries in California. In 2006, they decided to branch into winemaking as well. As a result, they now have a full range of wines from big-hit grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, through to specialties such as Tannat. Their push towards premium wine is somewhat brave considering that their winery, and most of their vineyards, are located in Lodi, the high-volume wine capital of California. When you pick up a Texas wine in a liquor store and find the grapes come from California, Lodi is probably where they came from. There’s a move afoot to elevate the quality of the region’s grapes and wines, and wineries like Lange Twins are in the forefront of that movement. Hence, the promotional tours outside their home area and the tasting events for potential customers.

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Restaurant Update: Off-Site Kitchen by Nick Badovinus

posted by Nancy Nichols | December 8th, 2011 9:00am | filed under Bring it!, Burgers, Hot Links!, Merguez Sausage Hunt, Openings/Closings, Restaurant News, Sandwiches, youthful spontaneous restaurants | 6 Comments »

Off-Site Kitchen: These goodies will be available for consumption by "the end of this year."

Well folks, it has been a year since Nick Badovinus leased the former Danny’s Chicken spot at Wycliff and Irving Blvd. for Off-Site Kitchen, a mostly take-out spot featuring “light industrial food” inspired by “what line cooks eat.” Basically the menu is simple sandwiches, breakfast burritos, quality roasted meats by the pound.

Badovinus went silent for a long time. In September I dropped by Off-Site Kitchen to see WTF was up. Badovinus is a tough dude to find when he doesn’t want to be found. But there he was, deep in R&D, curing sausage, flipping burgers, trying out different meat combinations for sandwiches.

This morning, I called Badovinus for an update. As Badovinus talked about the opening date, menu, and concept, I enjoyed listening to him spin off on how the dynamic of opening this restaurant changed as it came to life. It’s almost trite to say that many entrepreneurs start with a grand design and find that once their plan goes from paper to brick and mortar, some details have to change. However, one thing I’ve learned over the years is this: those who allow the on-the-fly changes to overwhelm their original vision rarely succeed. Staying the course can be the difference between success and failure. And what Badovinus has already discovered about his little soon-to-open Off-Site Kitchen is unique and could prove to be a model for others.

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