
The Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek's chef Bruno Davaillon and his station, which had my favorite item, smoked hummus. Photos by David Higbee
Friday night’s soirée, TACA Lexus Party on the Green, took place on the lawn at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek. There were cars up for winning, a cork pull, fabulous trips and dinners in the silent auction, and food. Oh, so much food. More than 30 chefs gathered in the courtyard to offer up some of their best fare. And it was all going really well, too, that is until Mother Nature got involved. It was a bit muggy at first, then there were sprinkles—little ones that grew—and then it rained. Partygoers and chefs headed toward the doors of the Mansion. Within a couple minutes, Mansion employees walked around offering umbrellas to those who stayed outside. But within maybe 15 minutes, it all cleared up, people and chefs returned to their stations, and the party continued. (more…)

David Trubenbach's takes his Farm-To-Fire cuisine seriously. The shape of the hotel whips winds into a vortex.
It’s been a year since I wrote about the opening of Asador, the restaurant in the Dallas Renaissance Hotel. The report announced the arrival of chef/proprietor Dean Max and, a young, talented and energetic chef with a focus on farm-to-table (or “farm-to-fire” as Asador would rather term it) principles. Ditto for onsite chef David Trubenbach. I also noted Marriott corporation’s commitment to a destination restaurant in the Dallas Renaissance Hotel, a promise they backed up with an extensive Tequila collection. As downtown Dallas restaurants convert, seemingly like flies, to steak houses, I decided to check-in, so to speak, at Asador to see if they are staying true to their original mission. Here is what I found.
If you are looking to get a jump on some early holiday shopping, find some great wine for Thanksgiving or just enjoy an night out with friends enjoying great wine and spirits, there are plenty of opportunities to taste around town in the next few weeks. Here are a few that promise to be great.
Thursday, November 17th at 6:30 Vino 100 partners with Bottled Poetry Imports to present a tasting of stellar Argentine Malbec and Malbec blends paired with beef roasted all day on a spit, along with other tasty offerings like beef empanadas, by Chef Andrew Ormbsy of Andrew Ormsby Catering, D Magazine’s Best Caterer 2011.
Wines will include:
· Caluna 2009 (a blend of 48% Malbec, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot)
· Amauta I 2009 (a blend of 60% Malbec, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Syrah)
· Finca Gabrielli Malbec 2010 (100% Malbec)
· Huarpe 2008 Seleccíon de Bodega ( a blend of 80% Malbec and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon)
· Bressia Monteagrelo Malbec 2008 (100% Malbec)
· Las Nencias Malbec Reserva 2009 (100% Malbec)
Reservations required – 214-969-9463
The March of Dimes Signature Chefs Auction is a major fundraiser for the organization each year. The event on Saturday night was a sell out and over 800 people filled the Fairmont Hotel’s Regency Ballroom to participate in a live and silent auction and enjoy food prepared by 17 talented and generous chefs led by Kent Rathbun of Abacus (and other concepts). The money raised (watch this space for a total when announced) will fund the March of Dimes work to end birth defects. A major focus for the charity at the present time is premature birth. It is a startling fact that, despite a quarter century of rising living standards and technological progress, the national premature birth rate has increased 36 percent. Premature birth is now the number one cause of death for newborns. March of Dimes funds research, education and community programs in Dallas and operates state wide on public policy issues that impinge on this situation. November 17th is World Prematurity Day. Attendees of Saturday’s event met the Ambassador Family for the March of Dimes, the Strauss Family, who have a son born prematurely. Fox 4 weeknight sports anchor Mike Doocy emceed the event and gently cajoled the responsive crowd to give. In addition to donors on the night, a long list of local companies sponsored at various levels, making a major difference to the total funds raised.
Attendees spent most of the evening savoring food from the chefs. Not only did those chefs provide their food and staff, many also donated to the live or silent auctions. Most had created elaborate special meals for groups of between 4 to 12 people, but there were several that offered ‘additions’ to the meal.
Jump for the deals and the meals. (more…)
Wolfgang Puck will returns to Dallas on November 18 to host a reservations-only dinner at Five Sixty restaurant in Reunion Tower.
jump for the menu… (more…)
This dinner event may be too groovy for words, but I’ll give it a shot. Our favorite forager Tom “Spiceman” Spicer is teaming up with Chef David Anthony Temple (aka underground chefDAT) and Artizone.com to present “Dinner in the Garden.” The event, benefitting the Family Place, takes place on Sunday, October 30 at 5PM. The food, paired with wine, will come from Artizone supported local farms and vendors or, if you speak DATspice: “Chef DAT will compose a one of a kind dinner concerto in 5 movements, to be performed in Spiceman’s urban garden with an orchestra of wines to match.” Oh, yeah. Get down on it for $100 per person. Tickets here . Phone answered here: 214-325-4642.
Monday afternoon Plate Magazine, a chef and restaurant publication out of Chicago, brought a group of local chefs, and a few writers, together for a lunch at Lucia in Oak Cliff honoring the beloved pig and featuring products from Italy, including Speck ham, Asiago cheese and wine from Alto Aldige. (more…)
Contributor Brooklynne Peters attended chef Nick Stellino’s cooking class at Abacus yesterday and files this report:
According to chef Nick Stellino, star of Nick Stellino Cooking with Friends, Cucina Amore I, II and III, Nick Stellino’s Family Kitchen I, II, III, IV and V, and the PBS specials Nick Stellino’s Dinner Party, Nick Stellino: Food, Love & Family, and Nick Stellino Cooking With Friends, the art of cooking is likened to knowing “what it’s like to stop the hands of time the moment your lips touch hers.” Catch phrases like this, in addition to his cooking, are what captivated Stellino’s Dallas audience Saturday morning at the cooking class he hosted at Abacus.
Stellino, a native Sicilian, led the class through some of his signature recipes, including garlic and oil pasta and clams with sausage and tomatoes. When Stellino wasn’t impressing the crowd with his dishes, he was entertaining them with anecdotes, jokes, and his theories about food.
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Contributor Brooklynne Peters fills us in on what it was like to be a guest at NOSH’s Sassicaia wine dinner last night:
It was an evening of origins at NOSH Euro Bistro last night. The popular Oak Lawn restaurant hosted an exclusive five-course wine dinner, featuring Italian Sassicaia wines. Third-generation Italian family members were on hand to explain, in the charm of English spoken with a native Italian accent, the history and success of the winery.
Seats at the table went for $199; this writer (who was a guest at the event) was curious to see whether or not the evening would live up to the price tag.
Jump for pics… (more…)
This Saturday, The Mercury’s executive chef Chris Ward will fundraise for our furry friends with a Dog Days of Summer event. From 2 to 5 pm, The Mercury will transform into a venue for cooking demos, tastings, and a silent auction at benefiting The Greyhound Adoption League of Texas (GALT). The ticket price of $65 includes one drink ticket, a cooking demonstration, tastings, a souvenir recipe book of demonstrated recipes, and a doggy bag of special canine treats. VIPs (only seven slots available) get a front row seat at Chef Ward’s cooking bar are available for $125.
“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.”
The next few weeks include a handful of fantastic wine and dine events that should be marked on your calendars.
Monday, August 29th Marquee Grill will kick off their monthly supper club dinners with a tribute to the ubiquitous Hatch chile. This time of year everything seems to be about this well loved pepper and Executive Chef, Trey Wilcox and Executive Bar Manager, Mixologist Jason Kosmas have created a pairing dinner designed to excite the palate with unique combos over a four course dinner for $95 per person. Reservations required – 214-522-6035.
Here is the menu:
Hatch Chili Dinner Menu
Welcome Cocktail – Matador Dulce Vida tequila, cucumber juice, roasted mild hatch chili and pineapple purée with hot hatch chili oil.
1st Course
Compressed Melons and Poached Lobster, Hatch Chili, Avocado, Crispy Taro Root Paired with Mohua Sauvignon Blanc2nd Course
Grilled Sockeye Salmon, Hatch Chili-Jack Cheese Grits, Tequila Lime Sauce Paired with Laetitia Pinot Noir3rd Course
Kobe Beef Cheeks, Green Chili-Bacon Potatoes, Baby Beet – Hatch Chili Chimichurri Paired with Titus Cabernet Sauvignon4th Course
Hatch Chili Citrus Panna Cotta, Grilled Pineapple, Cilantro Gel, Plantains Paired with Casa Dragones-super premium sipping tequila (more…)
Even thought it’ll probably be hot until Halloween, that doesn’t mean you can’t fantasize about the fall. What better way to spend an autumn afternoon than whipping up culinary treats with sassy-pants chef Blythe Beck of Central 214? Throughout the coming year, Chef Beck will be hosting groups of 25 for instruction and collaboration on a variety of fall dishes, starting with a football-themed class on Saturday, Sept. 17 from 2 to 4 pm..
Each monthly class will feature a three-course meal and specially selected wine pairings. Chef Beck promises you’ll “leave with warm memories, a full stomach, and goodie bag of recipes and treats.”
Here’s the schedule so far:
Price is $125 per person. Complimentary valet parking provided.
Check the Central 214 website for class schedule and menus. For reservations, call 214-520-2865 or e-mail Karen.Pond@Central214.com

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… (more…)
John Tesar has decided to close The Table, the 12-seat tasting room inside The Commissary.The Table will close on August 1 but is scheduled to reopen around September 15 with a new concept. The press release says Tesar will retool The Table menu and “spend the necessary time focusing on The Commissary and getting the service and other restaurant issues up to the standards that he has was known for at Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek.” I hope so. According to two of my friends who dined at last Sunday’s the lobster bake, the service “was the worst I’ve ever had.” And that person has had a lot of bad service. Go, John. Fix it and they will come.

Officially my favorite new small plate for summer: crispy cheese-grit fritters & green tomato mostarda at Screen Door in One Arts Plaza. (Photo by Sarah Reiss)
Last evening, Chef David McMillan invited us down to One Arts Plaza to taste some of Screen Door‘s new summer dishes and cocktails. What follows is a visual journey through that tasting.
jump for a visual journey through Screen Door’s new menu items… (more…)

Picnic faves from chefs Brian Luscher (The Grape), Justin Fourton (Pecan Lodge), Randall Copeland (Restaurant AVA), Janice Provost (Parigi), Jeff Harris (RedFork), and Marc Cassel (Peavy Road). (Photo by Brooklynne Peters)
On Sunday, new SideDish contributor Brooklynne Peters attended the Chef’s’ Picnic on White Rock Lake. Read on for her report in words and pictures…
On Sunday afternoon, food lovers and chef groupies flocked to the Bath House Cultural Center at White Rock Lake for the Chefs’ Picnic on the Lake in honor of the park’s 100th birthday. The centennial event drew local chefs Brian Luscher (The Grape), Justin Fourton (Pecan Lodge), Randall Copeland (Restaurant AVA), Janice Provost (Parigi), Jeff Harris (RedFork) and Marc Cassel (Park, Peavy Road—coming soon). Proceeds from the day benefited The American Red Cross.
jump for more pics and menu highlights… (more…)
This Little Piggy Went Downtown
Oh yeah, it's for real.
We’re suckers for any press release that contains the following sentences:
It seems a couple well-intentioned entrepreneurs have teamed up with J&D’s Foods to create a little something they’re calling baconlube—the world’s first bacon-flavored, water-based, American-made, personal lubricant.
Billing itself as the “gold standard of meat-flavored massage oils” (natch) baconlube, they say, is like the McRib of sex: it’s delicious, makes men crazy, is here for a limited time, and is in short supply.
If you’re thinking “stocking stuffer!” (let’s stay on track here), we’re right behind you. But the boys only made 3,000 bottles of this pork-flavored nectar. It hit the interwebs yesterday at www.baconlube.com. How much, you ask, for a product that promises such a satisfying holiday season? Only $11.99.
you know you want more. jump for it… (more…)