Articles for February 14th, 2012

Nana Restaurant in Dallas to Close in June and Reopen as a Steakhouse in September

posted by Nancy Nichols | February 14th, 2012 8:16pm | filed under Celebrity Chefs, Closings, Food Crime, hold on to your effin hat, I Hate it When That Happens, Nostalgia, Openings/Closings, Restaurant News, Steakhouses | 30 Comments »

My Last Supper at Nana: Grilled duck with beets. Photography by Kevin Marple.

This news breaks my heart. Nana Restaurant at the Hilton Anatole, led by the talented and innovative chef Anthony Bombaci, will close on June 9. The restaurant will undergo reconstructive surgery and emerge as an upscale steak house in late September.

Here are some of the details I’ve beat out the bushes. The new name has not been selected. (We can certainly help with that. Leave your suggestion below.) The interior, designed by a California firm, will be “contemporary with an LA-inspired design.” (The skyline view will remain Dallas’!) The menu will be “all about steaks and one-of-a-kind sides and desserts.” The executive chef of the steakhouse hasn’t been confirmed, but that person will work under Anthony Bombaci who has been promoted. I don’t know his position at this point.

Oh, Nana. You have been such a blessing to this city. We loved you when Doug Brown was the chef and Jason Foss was the pastry chef. We loved you during the fancy days when David McMillan sent entrees out of Versace and Rosenthal china and general manager and wine expert Paul Pinnell roamed the room. We love you for bringing Anthony Bombaci to Dallas. This news makes me appreciate my last meal at Nana even more.

Make a final visit and pay homage to Nana. You have a little over three months to get your Bombaci fix. Make a reservation now: 214-761-7470. And name the new restaurant below!

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Good Asian Grub: Mr. Wok’s Peking Duck

posted by Carol Shih | February 14th, 2012 6:04pm | filed under beer, dessert, Ethnic Food, Good Asian Grub | 17 Comments »

Duck meat, crispy skin, green onions, hoi sun sauce, and pancake

Owner Jack Kang carves the duck tableside (left); Carved duck pieces (right)

While other children my age were perfectly satisfied with eating buttered noodles (a bland phenomenon I will never understand), I spent my summers and winters in Taipei demanding to eat Peking duck. Give me some fat, crispy-skinned duck caramelized in its own juices, and I will be the most well-behaved kid on this planet. It worked every time.

Let it be known that I hardly eat Peking duck in the States. It is always a sure disappointment that will make me start itching to buy a plane ticket to Taiwan the very second I finish my meal – money be damned. When I heard that Mr. Wok serves up a mighty duck, I decided that it was time to break my golden rule and see what all the fuss was about.

Jump or quack for more.

Continue reading "Good Asian Grub: Mr. Wok’s Peking Duck"

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What To Drink Now: Man In Black Tequila

posted by Hayley Hamilton | February 14th, 2012 2:28pm | filed under Politics of Food, Wine & Spirits | 4 Comments »

Even tequila can be political…and not because of how or where it is made, but because of the man who makes it.  Two weeks ago the latest venture from singer-song writer, performer, entrepreneur, author, and former Texas Gubernatorial candidate, Kinky Friedman, launched, Man In Black Tequila.  A tequila for every man, a tequila of independence, a tequila that actually tastes like something more than the overly processed, filtered, sanitized and homogenized products that populate the shelves of liquor stores today.

I sat down with Kinky earlier today to learn more on the product he calls the “ultimate expression of the art of distillation,” and a tribute to “men like Paladin, Zorro and Johnny Cash who had moral clarity, knew right from wrong and tried to be a man of the people, unlike many who lead our country today.  A hero or scoundrel, he was the force to be dealt with.”  Our visit also led into his former run for Governor of Texas in 2006 and his continued firm beliefs of how to improve the state.  He still believes that the state could be better run by musicians than politicians, as musicians do get up late but work late and they would be honest, and musicians understand the qualities needed to be a true artist – that you have to struggle, you have to be lonely and you have be ahead of your time and behind on your rent. Something he notes not many politicians understand. Continue reading "What To Drink Now: Man In Black Tequila"

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Easy Slider Food Truck Review: My New Go-To Food Truck in Dallas

posted by George Lewis | February 14th, 2012 12:43pm | filed under Food Trucks | 12 Comments »

I’m often asked which food truck is my personal favorite.  It’s a difficult question to answer because many of the Dallas food trucks offer great food at a terrific value.  In early 2011, the options were limited to Green House and City Street Grille.  Then, at the beginning of  Summer 2011, we got hit with a new wave of trucks such as Gandolfo’s New York Deli and Nammi Vietnamese.  I love the food at all four.  They’re easy to find as they make regular stops in the Dallas Arts District.  However, as much as I love Green House’s miso flank steak sandwich and rice bowl and Nammi’s banh mi and Gandolfo’s pastrami, the new gal on the block, Easy Slider Food Truck, is my current  go-to truck.The gal running the kitchen has some serious pedigree.

Jump for more on Easy Slider. Continue reading "Easy Slider Food Truck Review: My New Go-To Food Truck in Dallas"

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Alan “Patric” McClure is a Full-Time Chocolate Maker and Part-Time Model

posted by Carol Shih | February 14th, 2012 12:20pm | filed under Chocolate, Holidays, Sexy food, Snacks, Valentines Day | 7 Comments »

Alan "Patric" McClure stands in front of his demo table at Central Market's Chocolate Festival (photos by William Neal)

Alan “Patric” McClure, owner of Patric Chocolate, is the kind of guy who blushes when you tell him, “My editor sent me here because you’re famous.”

We’re standing in the middle of Central Market’s busiest intersection – a place where people and grocery carts collide – and it takes him a couple minutes to recover from my forward introduction. When McClure gathers his thoughts, he launches into his insane foodie-ism and then does something completely unexpected: he starts modeling with his chocolate. Tyra would be proud.

Jump for some funny photos.

Continue reading "Alan “Patric” McClure is a Full-Time Chocolate Maker and Part-Time Model"

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Happy Valentine’s Day: Off-Site Kitchen in Dallas is Open for Business

posted by Nancy Nichols | February 14th, 2012 11:28am | filed under Bring it!, Burgers, Celebrity Diners, chickens, Cult Cuisine, Hole in the wall, lunch, Meat, Merguez Sausage Hunt, mob scenes, Openings/Closings, pork, Restaurant News, Sandwiches, Scoops, Second coming, Silly Reasons to Celebrate, Take-out, Valentines Day, youthful spontaneous restaurants | 1 Comment »

Slow-cooked pork covered with caramelized onions and peppers.

Nick Badovinus and chef Dan Riley have been hunkered down for over a year developing the menu and creating all kinds of delicious roasted meats for Off-Site Kitchen. Today he is finally opening the doors!

Now, hold your horses. The dining room is tiny. Off-Site Kitchen is basically a take-out restaurant with a few stools inside and some picnic tables outside. Here are some pictures of what you can expect. The food, inspired by “what line cooks eat,” is basically simple sandwiches and breakfast burritos made from quality roasted meats. Roll the Badovinus quote of the year:

“It’s light industrial food,” he said. “It’s the kind of food you want to eat before you go solder something.”

Off-Site Kitchen will be open for lunch only from 10:30AM until 3PM for the next two weeks. Then the breakfast menu will kick in and they will begin serving at 7AM and will remain open until 7PM. “After we hit our stride, we’ll start rolling out the meat-by-the-pound program,” Badovinus said. “I’m so excited. This place is a real man cave.”

The original date for OSK’s opening was February 14, 2011. After Badovinus missed his mark, he decided to workshop the place and open on Valentine’s Day this year. “You see how many financial sacrifices I made to pay for my original vision,” Badovinus said. “I mean I’ve got a wheelbarrow of pork rinds down here. Who doesn’t love that?”

Badovinus was only half-joking about the Valentine’s Day opening. He and chef Dan Riley have used the Off-Site Kitchen space to tweak the menus of Badovinus’ other restaurants (Neighborhood Services, Neighborhood Services Tavern, and Neighborhood Services Bar & Grill). They also use the huge kitchen as a commissary for the other restaurants. The receive, portion, and distribute all of the meat and seafood at Off-Site Kitchen.

SOLDER, EAT, REPORT. No call-in orders. Plan to show up and wait.

[Also, Neighborhood Services Bar & Grill in Preston Royal will open for lunch in two weeks.]

The menu and photos are below.

Continue reading "Happy Valentine’s Day: Off-Site Kitchen in Dallas is Open for Business"

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The Emporium Pop-Up Pie Shop Opens Saturday in Oak Cliff

posted by Nancy Nichols | February 14th, 2012 9:30am | filed under Food Invasion, hostess gifts, Local/Slow Food, oak cliff, Pie, pop-up restaurant, Valentines Day |

Megan Wilkes and Mary Gauntt have a wish. They want to make Dallas a pie-friendly city. They have been testing pies, selling pies online, and creating a business plan for a real pie store called The Emporium. To get the feel for how their pies and plans will work, they to pop-up up this weekend in a century-old cottage at 314 N. Bishop. On Saturday (9AM-2PM) and Sunday (2PM-7PM), they will be selling pies: Drunken Nut (bourbon pecan with shortbread crust), Smooth Operator (French silk chocolate in a crispy pretzel crust), and a secret-ingredient Mardi Gras concoction. You can buy a whole pie or a slice and pair it with Cultivar Coffee.

Go. Eat. Report. You can find them across from Hunkys Hamburgers on Bishop Ave. at 8th St.)

Wanna see some pie porn?

Continue reading "The Emporium Pop-Up Pie Shop Opens Saturday in Oak Cliff"

Huge Restaurant and Bar Auction in Carrollton This Saturday

posted by Nancy Nichols | February 14th, 2012 9:00am | filed under restaurant business news | 2 Comments »

Ever wonder what happens to stuff when a restaurant goes out of business? Sometimes the good stuff leaves with the former owner. Sometimes the good stuff stays with the landlord. Sometimes it all mysteriously disappears.

Usually most of the kitchen equipment gets sold at auctions. I’m still kicking myself for not buying one of the purple leather booths that once furnished Liberty Noodles on Lovers Lane. It would have made a great seating arrangement in my kitchen. The whole set up—two booths and a table—sold for $50 each.

Now is your chance to get lucky. Quality Used Equipment is holding a huge auction this Saturday. They have all kinds of kitchen equipment plus pool tables, booths, bar stools, and video games. Tons of fun stuff. Check out the preview on Friday from 9AM to 5PM at 2025E Midway Road in Carrollton. The auction is Saturday at 10AM. Here’s the stuff.

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