Articles for September 19th, 2012

SlushWorks + Good Karma Kitchen = Mega Truck at the State Fair

The Good Karma Kitchen food truck is hooking up with the SlushWorks team to become a “Mega Truck” in the Food and Fiber pavilion at the State Fair.  They will be the “Go Texan” booth inside of the pavilion.  While there, for safety, the truck motor will be incapacitated and the gas tank drained.  The Good Karma girls(Christina MacMicken and Megan Topham) worked closely with the SlushWorks boys (Rob Vassilakos and Eric Foster) when they were both at the Fort Worth Food Park.  At that time though, Rob and Eric were running The Munch Box.

Carol Shih had good things to say about Good Karma last March, when they were mostly limited to Ft. Worth.  They are now in Dallas quite a bit.  I’ve been to Good Karma several times since and Carol was spot on.  While the Mega Truck is at the State Fair, Good Karma will continue to run, albeit a lighter schedule.

SlushWorks is a new concept, formed when The Munch Box had a sugar fire and had to be shipped down to Cruisin’ Kitchens for a refurb.

Top Chef Season 10 Features Three Dallas Chefs: John Tesar, Danyele McPherson, and Joshua Valentine

John Tesar's going to crush the competition in Seattle like he's crushing these tomatoes. (photo by Maxine Helfman)

Holy crow’s nest, have you guys heard yet?! Everyone who guessed John “The Most Hated Chef in Dallas” Tesar was off filming for Top Chef: Seattle turns out to be right. He was. But he’s not the only Dallas chef to make it into the top 21 contestants. Danyele McPherson, The Grape’s sous chef, and Joshua Valentine, pastry chef of Matt McCallister’s FT33, have also made the cut.

Tesar, 54, may be the oldest in this bunch of Top Chef contestants, but you can bet your left leg he’ll be fearless in the kitchen; considering, you know, that he milked a cow and won ten grand on Extreme Chef last year.

Gotta love how much Dallas is representing on Bravo. Tesar, McPherson, and Valentine join Top Chef alumnus T. Derry and Tre Wilcox. These guys need to start a club.

Top Chef: Seattle premieres on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 9 p.m. CST on Bravo.

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Q&A With Top Chef Contestant and Giving Through Growing Ambassador Candice Kumai

Candice Kumai serving serving "Sexy Swiss Chard," a tantalizing dish jazzed up with pumpkin seeds and lemon juice. (photos by Kate Herman)

Eight years ago, Candice Kumai was a contestant on the premiere season of Bravo’s Top Chef. Today, she’s the author of two books, “Pretty Delicious: Lean and Lovely Recipes for a Healthy, Happy New You” and “Cook Yourself Sexy: Easy Delicious Recipes for the Hottest, Most Confident You,” which is coming out next month. She’s been featured in countless magazines and TV spots, but now her latest gig is traveling as the Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi as the National Ambassador for the “Giving Through Growing” project. In partnership with American Community Gardening Association, the project grants $8,000 to five community gardens across the country to supply local food banks with fresh produce. Lucky for us, one of the selected is the Live Oak Community Garden, right in East Dallas.

Last night, at DUO All Things Culinary, Kumai celebrated the newly created Woodbridge Giving Garden in Dallas and made a swiss chard dish using produce straight from the Live Oak Community Garden. I sat down with her to discuss why Giving Through Growing is so important to her.

Jump.

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Jack’s Southern Comfort Food is Opening October 1 on Lower Greenville

A pal and I were pining over biscuits the other day, wondering where all the good biscuits have gone. Ever since I watched a North Carolina woman named April McGregor smush homemade biscuit dough using her forearm as a rolling pin, I haven’t tasted biscuits better than hers ever since. That was two years ago.

Lucky for all of us, Scott Jones, the man behind Screen Door and Cowtown Diner, is opening a new restaurant in Lower Greenville that’s named after his father. Jack’s Southern Comfort Food, opening October 1, is offering exactly what it sounds like: food you’d find in your Southern momma’s kitchen. Jones describes it as “Texas twang with a Louisiana drawl,” because his family-friendly restaurant goes back to his Texas and Cajun roots.

On the menu, you’ll find everything from biscuit sandwiches (crawfish salad, biscuit burger, and chicken fried steak) to cinnamon biscuits (“buttery buttermilk biscuits rolled with cinnamon, brown sugar, toasted walnuts and pecans, baked to perfection and slathered with a buttermilk glaze”) to biscuit everything. The world is Jones’ biscuit oyster. Take a good, hard look at the menu right here and start singing this song with me.

Biscuits in the mornin’, biscuits in the evenin’… tra la la la la….

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Good vs. Evil: An Evening with Anthony Bourdain & Eric Ripert at Bass Hall in Fort Worth

The Tony. The Tesar. The Brad.

Last October, Anthony “Tony” Bourdain graced Dallas with his presence when he appeared before a sellout crowd at The Majestic Theater. (Check out the pictures we snapped here.

“T” also spent a few weeks hanging out at SXSW in Austin this spring where he filmed a episode on Texas barbecue with local BBQ Snob, Daniel Vaughn. Bourdain will be back in November for a show with his super chef pal, Eric Ripert at Bass Hall on November 9.

Have you had your fill of Bourdain or are you headed west with The Brad?

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Don’t Eat This Now: Drunk Bread at Max’s Wine Dive

Triple major gross misconduct penalty for this dish.

I was excited to try Max’s Wine Dine. I love Champagne and fried chicken. Been pairing them together since college. Monday night I unofficially dined at Max’s with some dear friends. Good News: The Henri Billiot Brut Rose Champagne was a lovely way to end a day. Bad News: The pan borracho (“drunk bread) is a disgusting mess of torn sourdough bread, prosciutto, and thyme soaked in a savory white wine custard and baked with Gruyere, provolone, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. It, unlike the fried chicken, is not meant to be paired with Champagne. This dish is a culinary crime and felony charges ought to be filed. Can I get a witness.

Hey, wanna play a guessing game? Go below.

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