Articles for June 26th, 2012

Food Truck Update: TX Delizioso is No Longer

posted by George Lewis | June 26th, 2012 5:08pm | filed under Food Trucks | 3 Comments »

Sydney Brown and Lauren Noblet, the owner/operators of Enticed and TX Delizioso have made a tough decision. After the mild Dallas winter passed, they expanded their fleet and debuted TX Delizioso,a food truck featuring Italian food (mainly pizza) with a Texas twist. They used a lot of local products and it was the only truck with GoTexan certification.

I generally give food trucks 6-8 weeks to established their truck groove, and sure enough, after about 8 weeks, I loved TXD’s pizza. It was a great artisanal pizza at a pretty good price ($7.50) with as many toppings as you wanted on it.

TX Delizioso

However, like the cold weather took Enticed off the road, the sweltering summer temperatures have taught Sydney and Lauren new lessons: prep times turned out to be longer than they’d planner for and it was difficult to find workers who could juggle cooking and the eccentricities, such as truck temperature in excess of 140 degrees, of managing a truck. Sydney and Lauren have taken TX Delizioso off the road and they are currently reevaluating their plans. They plan on refocusing on Enticed Shaved Ice and adding a second truck to that concept. That’s a net gain for DFW.

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Get Fuel City Tacos for $1. Offer Lasts Until Midnight

posted by Carol Shih | June 26th, 2012 2:01pm | filed under Free Stuff!, freebies, Tacos |

This one’s pretty straightforward. Fuel City is offering $1 tacos until midnight today to celebrate its recent partnership with Gulf Oil.

Dallas/Fort Worth Food Truck News and Events for June 25

posted by George Lewis | June 26th, 2012 12:51pm | filed under Food Truck Schedule, Food Trucks |

Yowza.  I’m really late this week.

Same Wednesdays and Thursdays as prior weeks with Wednesday’s “Food Truck Experience” at Sigel’s Greenville and the competing “Street Food Wednesdays” behind Crate &Barrel on Knox Henderson and Thursday’s Bite Nights in Addison.

If you are in Colleyville, you get your first food truck event this week, when your City brings you “Red, White, and Sousa“.  They’ve managed to sign up 6 out of my Top 10 food trucks: Good Karma Kitchen, Nammi, The Butcher’s Son, Trailercakes, CoolHaus DFW, and So-Cal Tacos.

We’ve heard glowing reports from both food trucks and bricks ‘n’ mortar restaurants about last weeks food truck rally in Deep Ellum.  Buzzbrews wrote us: “just keep the communication coming.  Communication is key.”  So what was a piss-match last month is now a lovefest this month with everyone happy about new economic development for everybody.  I say let’s send ‘em to Congress.

The food trucks report that business is slowing a bit, as outside temperatures reach 100 degrees.  One truck reported an inside temperature of 140.

This week, we introduce the Free Wheelin’ Cafe Food Truck to the schedule, bringing “chef-inspired burgers and Philly Cheesesteaks”.  He’s been rolling for a couple of months now.  I have not tried them yet, but at least one of the more trusted of his competitors gave me a flowing report.  Let me know what you think.

Here’s your schedule for the week.  And yes, I’m working on the process for automatically including those Twitter and Facebook links.  Just not yet. Continue reading "Dallas/Fort Worth Food Truck News and Events for June 25"

Southwest Foodservice Expo: Women Leaders Provide Inspiration to Next Generation

posted by Caitlin Giddens | June 26th, 2012 12:15pm | filed under Events, women leaders | 1 Comment »

Sharon Van Meter, Robin Lee Allen, Estella Martinez, and Gina Puente. (photo by Caitlin Giddens)

Robin Lee Allen (Nation’s Restaurant News), Estella Martinez (Matt’s Rancho Martinez), Sharon Van Meter (SVM Productions), and Gina Puente (La Bodega Winery) prove that the restaurant industry is no longer just a man’s world. It’s theirs, too.

As part of the Southwest Foodservice Expo at the Dallas Convention Center yesterday, these four prominent women in the food and hospitality industry hosted “Providing Leadership and Inspiration to the Next Convention.” As monitor Robin Lee Allen of Nation’s Restaurant News clarified, this session was not a man bashing. Rather, the workshop served to educate women how to lead in the industry.

Today, 58% of first-line supervisors and managers are women. But this was not always the case, as Sharon Van Meter of SVM Productions lived first hand.

“Back in 1974 when I started at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris, I was blown away because I didn’t speak English, being 16 years old and dumb, and there were no girls.” Van Meter said. “There were 573 students and I was the only girl.”

Continue reading "Southwest Foodservice Expo: Women Leaders Provide Inspiration to Next Generation"

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Chalk Talk: Hourglass Wines Tasting at Private Social

posted by Andrew Chalk | June 26th, 2012 10:51am | filed under Andrew Chalk, Wine Pairing |

Jeff Smith, the owner of California wine producer Hourglass, knows how to play a room. He was in town to lead a tasting of his wines at Private Social in Uptown. The audience was, for the most part, wine customers on his list. His casual but expert public speaking manner comes from years of  marketing in the liquor industry, much of it spent establishing the Skyy vodka brand. That is where he would have likely stayed had his mother not called him one day in the early 1990s to announce that she had decided to sell the family vineyard. The death of her husband had made the work necessary to replant it too strenuous.

Continue reading "Chalk Talk: Hourglass Wines Tasting at Private Social"

Southwest Foodservice Expo Holds Ultimate Barista Frappe Challenge

posted by Erin Ahlfinger | June 26th, 2012 10:45am | filed under Beverages, Coffee, Contests, frozen treats |

Duncan's strawberry chocolate frappe

Any Barista will tell you that there’s more to creating delicious frozen coffee than pouring your leftover morning joe and milk into the blender, but no barista in town knows it better than Mike Mettendorf, General Manager of The Pearl Cup. Yesterday Mettendorf packed up his portafilters and headed to the Ultimate Barista Challenge at the Southwest Foodservice Expo for the Frappe Challenges.

The Competition: The Ultimate Barista Challenge is a travelling competition locals can enter for a chance to unseat the current title-holder, Ultimate Barista James Duncan. Duncan has been a barista for four years, and has held on to his title for the last three. He has faced challengers across the country, and as far away as Shanghai. Duncan and Mettendorf had two chances to wow the esteemed panel of judges, who would evaluate each beverage on technique, presentation, and taste. The panel of judges included Chef Heather Karima of The Culinary School of Fort Worth, Chef Kevin Kelly of Kevin’s Travel, former barista Jae Duncan, and Danny Johns of WholeCup Coffee Consulting, who also emceed the competition. The only recipe requirement was that each frappe incorporate at least 1.5 ounces of freshly brewed espresso.

Jump if you like frappes.

Continue reading "Southwest Foodservice Expo Holds Ultimate Barista Frappe Challenge"

What To Drink Now: A Few Of My Favorite White Wines

posted by Hayley Hamilton | June 26th, 2012 10:16am | filed under Wine & Spirits | 1 Comment »

I am often asked what my favorite bottle of wine is or which varietal do I prefer most, and honestly it is like if I asked a mother of four which child was her favorite, it is just impossible to have one favorite.  But, like anyone, there are a few in the many bottles I enjoy that do stand out and that I will seek out on a wine list.  This is by no means an entire list, but a few suggestions if you are looking for a great bottle of white to enjoy this summer. A few selections have been sent for editorial consideration in the past.

Yes, this is on every list of white wine or Chardonnay I put together, I love Miner Chardonnay, specifically the Wild Yeast from Dave Miner and his Miner Family Vineyards.  It was one of the first wineries I visited in Napa and year after year Dave and his wonderful winemaker Gary Brookman continue to produce a stellar wine made from native yeast strains, undergoing 100% malolactic fermentation and aged for 14 months in 70% new French oak. Continue reading "What To Drink Now: A Few Of My Favorite White Wines"

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Restaurant News: Bits and Bites

posted by Nancy Nichols | June 26th, 2012 10:15am | filed under Charity events, cocktails, Deals, fundraiser, Restaurant News, seafood | 2 Comments »

Pearl Cup Coffee will open a new location in Richardson in late August or early September. The shop will be in the II Creeks shopping center at 2701 Custer Pkwy near the Richardson Community Theater. Besides coffee creations, they will sell beer and wine.

The North Texas Food Bank has formed The Round Table, a group of philanthropic young professionals looking to fight hunger in North Texas. And what better way to raise money than to host a regular happy hour. Tonight, The Round Table will meet from from 5:30-7:30 at The Owner’s Box in the Omni Dallas. Orange is the color of hunger and The Owner’s box will donate $1 to NTFB for every Mandarin Orange Martini sold from June 26 through July 26 to NTFB.

Deep Ellum Brewing Company has invited musical guest Boys Named Sue to play in their beer garden on Thursday night June 28 from 6PM – 10PM. For $10 you’ll get a tour of the brewery, hot dogs from Rudolph’s Meat Market, DEBC pint glass to keep, beer samples, and live music.

The Cultured Cup is hosting an iced tea contest and tasting on Saturday, July 28. James Tidwell, Sharon Hage, and the employees of The Cultured Cup will each submit their own iced tea blend, and it will be up to our customers to vote for the winner. It all happens from 11AM to 4PM at 13714 Gamma Rd., Ste. 104. All tea will be 15% off (even online and phone orders) and you’ll receive a free ounce of tea. Admission is $5. RSVP here.

TJs Seafood Market is having a lobster sale. The price, usually $17.99lb will drop to $14.99 from today until July 4.

Eden Restaurant is offering a special Cajun Night menu in addition to their regular items on Saturday, June 30 and Sunday, July 1. The $60, seven-course menu is posted below. It’s BYOB. Owner/chef Karen Kahn suggests a Beaujolais. 972-267-3336.

Continue reading "Restaurant News: Bits and Bites"

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Restaurant Review: Amici Signature Italian in Carrollton

posted by Nancy Nichols | June 26th, 2012 9:43am | filed under Dallas Italian, Kevin Marple, Reviews | 2 Comments »

Amici’s pork porterhouse and Bartolino Cocuzza. (Photography by Kevin Marple)

Don’t drive across town if you are jonesing for “authentic” Italian fare. Owner and chef Bartolino Cocuzza has Americanized his Italian food to fit his loyal customers. Cocuzza’s cooking is solid. The massive pork porterhouse, covered with a pile of mushrooms and onions, rises 3 inches from the plate. The perfectly pink center is moist, and firm mushrooms sautéed in port add an earthy essence. Country of origin be damned, I easily finished this formidable dish. We didn’t order the eclectic roast poblano pepper filled with shallots, garlic, shrimp, and Brie cheese in a red pepper coulis, but the couple sitting next to us told us it was their favorite dish. “I ate it yesterday for lunch,” he said. “I was sitting in your seat.”

Stay with me and then tell us if you’ve tried the rebuilt Amici…

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