Um, this @#$% is good. Alarmingly good.
I’m trying to write up an intro for this recipe and all I can think of are interjections and superlatives (where are you when I need you, other parts of speech?), so a few quick thoughts, then on to the recipe…
Continue reading "Look What I Made: Vegan Pistachio Ice Cream"
Remember when Teresa Gubbins broke the story on CultureMap about Lower Greenville’s new food truck park? Chef Jason Boso of Twisted Root is in charge of turning the vacant lot sitting across the street from a future Trader Joe’s into a buzzing new hotspot for truck foods. Not only is he opening his own Philly cheesesteak restaurant inside the lot, but he also invited Aaron Barker and Sarah Miller of Carnival Barker’s Ice Creams to open a tiny, tiny little store right next to it.
Carnival Barker, a two-person operation that started almost exactly a year ago, sells its dreamy flavors (like Munchies, a peanut butter-based ice cream with chocolate-covered potato chips) inside stores like Bolsa Mercado for five to six dollars per pint. It’s finally getting its own space in Lower Greenville late May 2013. Halle-ice-cream-lujah! Barker says that the store will be similar to the way Amy’s Ice Cream on South Congress (in Austin) is run. ”I think we’re going to have a space there with a walk up, but you can’t sit inside and eat.”
(Unlike South Congress Amy’s, families will have a place to eat outside. Plenty of picnic tables inside the food truck park will be there for maximum ice cream enjoyment.)
I’m pretty excited. Barker and Miller are working on ice cream sandwiches as we speak. A nutella cookie filled with nutella ice cream is in the works, and it should be ready for post-winter feasting. Barker told me to “eat in moderation,” but there’s no way I’m listening. I have four pints of Carnival Barker’s Ice Creams sitting in my freezer, and I fully intend to finish them off by the end of this week.
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Raspberry chia mousse, blueberry pecan date tart, fudgilicious brownie, and Gina’s healthy rice krispies (photo by Carol Shih)
Last week, at a come-and-go tasting lunch hosted by the recently launched Gina’s Organic Kitchen, I fell head-over-heels in love with this raspberry chia mousse. One bite and I was a goner. Gina Villalobos, the Organic Health Queen, whipped together this dessert made from chia seeds, coconut milk, raspberries, and dark agave nectar. It’s dairy-free, amazingly light and airy, and satisfies that sweet tooth without being too sugary. I told Gina that I could eat her raspberry chia mousse every day, and I mean it. I would do anything to get my hands on one right now…
Gina sells each raspberry chia mousse for $6.95. You can either visit Gina’s commissary kitchen for eat-in or pick-up, or order for delivery from the food truck. If you want some of this ch-ch-ch-chia mousse, pick up your phone and dial 214-702-5685.
2 Comments »The only thing that’s wrong with Dallas is the brevity of fall. It lasts all of three weeks. Maybe four, if we’re lucky. But whatever God-sent perfect weather we have now is making want to devour everything that’s remotely pumpkin-related. If you’re crazy about pumpkins, too, jump here for the list of pumpkin favorites. Feast your eyes on these food beauties.
Continue reading "Four Fall Favorites: The Pumpkin Roundup"
It’s Texas-OU weekend. I hope you didn’t need to use I-35E anytime soon. The Red River Shootout is the biggest game of the year and college football’s greatest rivalry, and it’s all happening right here in our own backyard. (And probably your front yard if you live off Lower Greenville.)
For me, personally, attending college football games is a bit much. I can stand and yell for three hours or I can start drinking at ten in the morning, but I’m too old to do both at the same time. I tip my cap to those willing to brave the elements at the game – the hordes of frat kids and fair-goers, the 11am kickoff, the Cotton Bowl itself – but come Saturday I’ll be comfortably indoors at a watching party, stuffing myself (spoiler alert: with pie), having a beverage or two, and hopefully cheering Texas to a one-sided victory.
Jump for some sexy pie-making action.
Continue reading "Look What I Made: TX-OU Edition!"
3 Comments »All of your senses should be aroused when a plate of food is set in front of you. Before you take one bite, you’ve already eaten the dish with your eyes. The presentation of a dish is important. My eyes shut, my shoulders slump, and I breathe a heavy sigh each time I spy a dessert, entrée, or appetizer that has been assaulted with squiggles, swirls, dots, and curly cues of sauces, frostings, or oils forced through a squeeze bottle. Chefs, a little goes a long way. Not only is it outdated, it makes me think you are trying too hard to sell what is underneath. What started with the Hostess Cupcake (Halloween costume idea!), should stop now.
What presentation style turns you off?
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Eddie Eakin is waiting to pour you a shot of Fernet Branca after you finish your bone marrow (left); roasted bone marrow (right) photos by Desiree Espada
I’m late jumping onto the Boulevardier-love bandwagon, but we all know Oak Cliff’s new French bistro is bound to stick around for a long, long time. So, no rush, right? When the boys from Ava (Randall Copeland and Nathan Tate) and Veritas (Brooks and Bradley Anderson) announced they were moving into Bishop Arts District together, the neighborhood could hardly wait. Half of Oak Cliff has probably visited Boulevardier already and seen what everyone’s been making a fuss about, but I thought it’d be nice to make the other half jealous with Desiree Espada’s handsome photos.
Jump. I command you. These photos are fabulous.
Continue reading "First Take Restaurant Review: Boulevardier in Oak Cliff"
How long before extreme eating is an Olympic sport? Or synchronized slugging? Or…well I could go on and create a slew of categories for the Eating Olympics because I am on deadline, but instead, I will regurgitate a press release. Here goes:
Hypnotic Donuts [ed note; gorgeous donut pics on that link] is putting on their inaugural “Beat the Heat – World’s Spiciest Donut” eating contest.The contest is designed around the hot Dallas temperatures in August and the numerous people that eat or buy Hypnotic Donuts various spicy donuts- Mexico, Hell Fire and Devil’s Death Dance (World’s Spiciest Donut). The contest will start with a regular donut and as each donut is eaten the donut progressively becomes spicier.
Jump for more. (What about dirty forking, dumpster diving, or the back strap?
Continue reading "Hypnotic Donuts Hosts “Beat the Heat – World’s Spiciest Donut” Eating Contest"
1 Comment »I’ve been eyeing Epic Cones’ pizzas-that-come-in-cones ever since Scott Reitz gushed about them last month, but the thought of potential heartburn kept me from ever ordering them. The Epic Cones website finally convinced me. Any home page with a wall of CAPITALIZED TEXT and two or three exclamations after every sentence (!!!) tends to do the opposite of scaring me away.
Plus, there was the enticing fact that Epic Cones also makes dessert in a cone.
The author of those homepage words is owner Chris Martinez, a very enthusiastic cone-ist (if there is such a thing) who started his small business in April 2012. Ever since then, Martinez has been working tirelessly in his Deep Ellum kitchen as the chef, owner, and delivery guy. His mother helps him make the dessert cones and curry chicken salad, but the dough is his baby and he makes it from scratch. “Everything’s from my head,” he says. “I don’t get the recipes anywhere else. I just try to make a good product that’s affordable and fresh.”
Jump if you want to get coned. Continue reading "Epic Cones Makes Chocolate Chip Dessert Cones That’ll Knock You Out"
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Earlier this week, I was minding my own business and munching on a purple yam (skin intact, baked in the oven – just the way I like it) when my co-worker asked me, “What’s that purple thing?” I looked down at the purple yam I was snacking on, and it suddenly dawned on me that purple yams are like gold kiwifruits. Not everybody knows that they exist.
Now it is time for me to interrupt your usual morning program with (what I like to call) Friday Fun Fact Time. Purple yams are available. You can buy them in Asian markets. More specifically, you can find them at the H Mart in Carrollton where I do all my purple yam shopping.
I find them much sweeter than the regular sweet potatoes you find at grocery stores. The flesh melts into a gooey, sticky consistency after you wash the skin thoroughly, pop them into the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and leave them in there for a good 40 to 60 minutes. Don’t forget to line your baking pan with aluminum foil so they don’t stick, either.
“I’ve always wanted to move back to Dallas ever since (going to) SMU,” says Tully Lewis, owner of Tu-Lu’s Gluten-Free Bakery. Today, Lewis opens her first store in Dallas after enjoying success in New York City for the last two years. (For instance, the ladies and gents of Vogue loved her sweets so much, they admitted their latest obsession with gluten-free goods in this February article.)
Jump for eye candy.
Continue reading "Tu-Lu’s Gluten-Free Bakery Opens in Dallas"
It’s been eleven days, twenty-three hours, and forty-seven minutes since I tasted my first black sesame flan at Masami, a charming Japanese restaurant with traditional touches, and I’ve been going a little bit crazy in the head ever since.
Jump if you’ve never had this before. Continue reading "Good Asian Grub: Black Sesame Flan at Masami"
This past weekend may have been rainy and overcast, but a beacon of sunshine poured down upon the Bishop Arts District, resting on a quaint little renovated house painted brightly with hues of violet and blue. Within these walls rested Dallas’ first “pop-up” pie shop, brought to us by the wonderful women at Emporium Pies, partners and co-owners, Mary Gauntt and Megan Wilkes. Wanting to test the waters a bit and see what kind of response the Dallas diners would have to a dedicated pie shop, they moved into the space at 314 N. Bishop Ave. over the weekend to provide this city with some of the finest pies it will ever see.
Walking inside, the space is small but cozy, with no more than a few chairs, a sales counter, a couple tiny tables with three stands displaying the day’s pie options. On one rests a French silk chocolate pie with a crunchy pretzel crust, another holds a bourbon pecan pie with shortbread crust, the last displaying a streusel topped banana pie. I ordered a slice of each, which were then all neatly packaged in small wicker baskets with a wooden fork and tied up with string (these are a few of my favorite things). The entire presentation is so insanely cute, it makes fluffy baby bunnies look like swamp trolls. I took a seat on the porch and dug in.
Jump for a whole lotta pie porn…
Continue reading "Emporium Pies “popped up” in the Bishop Arts District last weekend"
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"
Good luck to you, dear sir or madam, if you haven’t already made your Valentine’s Day reservation. Life might really suck tomorrow. Luckily, I’ve updated this fabulous list of 65+ restaurants for procrastinators like yourself who are the future leaders of tomorrow. Check out this complete listing with phone numbers, addresses, and menus all included.
Click here for the list that will save your relationship.
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As you’ve probably figured out from this month’s cover, we love chocolate. And we love our local chocolatiers. From shoes of chocolate to hand-painted pieces, it’s all beautiful and delicious. Before diving into the world of chocolate, I gave a call to DallasChocolate.org founder Sander Wolf. I asked him about the state of chocolate in Dallas, and he told me that “it’s emerging. We’re not San Francisco or New York, but there’s a lot of people doing a lot of good stuff.” One great thing about chocolatiers in Dallas is that everybody has his/her own specialty. “When they get together, there’s virtually no overlap,” Wolf says. “Even if you gave them all the same ingredients, they would turn out completely different.”
To see the result of their work, check out these gorgeous photos by Manny Rodriguez.
And, if you’d like to find out where you can taste some of this chocolate, jump. I’ve included information from DallasChocolate.org about what our favorite chocolatiers are up to this month.
Continue reading "We Love Chocolate"
Hey folks, in case you didn’t know, it’s National Cupcake Day! And I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been this excited since National Bacon Day. If you actually need a reason to go out and stuff yourself full of cake and frosting, now you have one. And it’s totally un-American to ignore your national holidays. Buy some cupcakes, you owe it to your country.
Jumpers. Continue reading "What’s Making My Season Bright…"
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Intern Jessica visited La Madeleine’s the newest concept:
After a year and a half of gathering customer feedback La Madeleine has updated their style. This morning the La Madeleine at Northpark invited the media to come see the first newly designed restaurant and to sample their holiday dessert menu.
jump for more… Continue reading "La Madeleine at Northpark Tries Out a New Style"
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