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Articles about Ethnic Food

Vote in the 8 Great Plates Competition, Help the North Texas Food Bank Receive $10,000

Okay, Dallas. Here’s your time to rise and shine. There’s a show on Bravo I’ve never seen called “Around the World in 80 Plates” hosted by Cat Cora and Curtis Stone which follows 12 chefs globetrotting from continent to the other. This show inspired Chase Sapphire to partner with the Tasting Table for a charity they are dubbing the 8 Great Plates competition. Ten different cities were selected for this charity, and Dallas is one of them, which means Dallas foodies (that’s where you come in) can vote for their favorite international dish among eight local contenders that serve cuisines that’ve been featured on “Around the World in 80 Plates.”

Why am I typing all these details out and making you read them? For every vote, Chase Sapphire is giving $1 to Feeding America, and Feeding America will then give up to $10,000 to the North Texas Food Bank. Your votes will be providing meals for your hungry neighbors in Dallas.

It’s quite easy. I’ll even break it up into three simple steps. (more…)

posted by Carol Shih | May 18th, 2012 2:26pm | filed under Charity events, Ethnic Food | (0) Comments »

Seeds of Africa Dinner Hosted By Bolsa Mercado

Founder Atti Worku (left); Chocolate pudding cake with coffee ice cream (right) photos by Desiree Espada

Last night, Bolsa Mercado transformed into a delightful backdrop, playing host to founder Atti Worku and her non-profit, Seeds of Africa - an organization that provides a nurturing, educational community for young children and young adults in Adama, Ethiopia. Chef Jeff Harris prepared a four-course menu to approximately 60 Seeds supporters as I, an invited guest, witnessed this NYC-based non-profit introduce itself to Dallas.

Jump for more Desiree Espada photos.

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posted by Carol Shih | May 18th, 2012 12:11pm | filed under Charity events, Chocolate, Coffee, Desiree Espada, Ethiopian, Ethnic Food | 1 Comment »

Third Annual Cuba Nostalgia Celebration at International Bakery Cuban Dulceria

Our two favorite Cuban bakers, Rita and Sara Vazquez,  of International Bakery Cuban Dulceria, are hosting Cuba Nostalgia, a journey back in time “for those who remember the island’s glamorous times.” Save the dates: May 17, 18, and 19 from 9:00AM to 5:00PM. The festivities will include Cuban art exhibits, vendors, and traditional food and music. More details below.

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posted by Nancy Nichols | March 7th, 2012 2:23pm | filed under Ethnic Food |

Report From Rio: Guess the Mystery Ingredients

Yesterday, I visited a food market near the beach at Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro. I spent long time at the stall in the picture to watch the owner make his own hot sauce by mixing various peppers with vinaigrette and herbs. Besides peppers, dried herbs, and sauces, he displayed several medicinal nuts. I don’t speak Portuguese, and it was difficult to understand the passionate descriptions of the two ingredients in the picture below the jump. Do you recognize them? (more…)

posted by Nancy Nichols | February 22nd, 2012 9:47am | filed under Ethnic Food, Food is art. Art is Food., food art, game | 12 Comments »

Drink Beer, Eat Sausage at the German Fasching Fest this Sunday

SAT analogy lesson for the day:

New Orleans : Mardi Gras ::
Germany : Fasching Fest ::

If you didn’t understand that, retake the SATs and jump below. (more…)

posted by Carol Shih | February 16th, 2012 10:58am | filed under Dallas Foodie, Dallas Must-Do List, Drinking, Ethnic Food, Events, Festivals, beer, party | 1 Comment »

Good Asian Grub: Mr. Wok’s Peking Duck

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.

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

How I Celebrated Chinese New Year

Homemade pork dumplings with green onion, garlic, and ginger

My family used to have the weirdest Chinese New Year tradition. When I was a young lass, my mother would scrub seven or eight coins really well and hide them inside her homemade pork dumplings so she could watch my brother and I go cockfight crazy as we each attempted to amass the most number of coins. To our disappointment, my father would always win; his superior chopstick skills and fast-eating ways would earn him a shining victory (plus some pained teeth from biting down too hard). His winnings meant that he’d have the most prosperity for the rest of the year.

Jump for more traditions.

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posted by Carol Shih | January 24th, 2012 1:28pm | filed under Chinese New Year, Cooking, Ethnic Food, Good Asian Grub | 4 Comments »

Places to Celebrate Chinese New Year

Dragon babies, this is your lucky year.

Prepare to move halfway across the world for that dream job as a tattoo artist, meet the love of your life (potentially George Clooney, but don’t get your hopes up), and exert your independent strength in some political rally where you’ll end up smelling like those Occupy Wall Street dudes. In any case, you should probably celebrate at these places before your luck runs out.

Kirin Court is going to be a hot spot for Chinese people who like to start off their new year just like everyone else in Asia: family style. It’s going to be packed, especially on Jan 18, Jan 28 and Feb 4 when lion dancers will perform around 7pm. Sit around a circle table with 8-10 people and stuff your faces with lobster, garlic fried chicken, pig feet, and red bean soup for dessert. $278 for ten people and $208 for eight.

Never in a million years would I endorse P.F. Chang’s since I can’t stand fake Chinese food, but P.F. Chang’s will be handing out red envelopes containing unknown rewards to guests who visit between January 23 and February 6. I don’t want to be held responsible if evil spirits haunt you for not receiving a red envelope this year, so maybe you should go just to drink their specialty Dragon Punch cocktail.

Steel Restaurant and Lounge’s website mistakenly thinks it’ll be the Year of the Rabbit, but at least its dinner menu between January 23-29 has it right: three courses for $45 per person with whole fish, duck, noodles, and shrimp. Here’s the menu in case you’re not convinced yet. Traditional lion dancing by the kids from Chin Woo School will take place on January 23 at 8pm.

Reminder: Five Sixty by Wolfgang Puck is having a prix fixe menu for $125 per person like Nancy mentioned in this post. If you’d like to see him in person on February 1, reserve a spot soon.

posted by Carol Shih | January 19th, 2012 10:37am | filed under Chinese New Year, Ethnic Food, Good Asian Grub, Things To Do, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Good Asian Grub: Agha Juice in Carrollton

Fresh sugar cane juice with lemon.

D Magazine intern Carol Shih prowls Dallas for the best Asian cuisine and also writes a blog about sandwiches.

On Fridays and Saturdays after the last prayers are said in Arabic, the Ismailis of Carrollton exit the holy halls of their Jamatkhana, file into cars that’ll take them across two minutes of roads, and greet each other again inside the Al Markaz shopping complex where they fill their empty stomachs with juice and samosas.

An elevator-sized shop, squeezed between a beauty parlor and cell phone store, bears the name AGHA JUICE and a colorful neon sign that indicates it’s open until midnight.

Before Agha Juice opened its doors in 2004, Kareem Valliani, the owner, discovered that his community was missing a dessert concept. “Back home in Karachi, after dinner we would go out and have dessert. There was no place here for the dessert that we enjoyed back home.” So he bought a small space next to the George Bush Turnpike and covered the walls with bright objects he’d bought in Karachi—objects that Pakistani parents could point out to their American-born children and say, “You see that toy truck? That’s what the trucks in Karachi look like.”

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posted by Nancy Nichols | December 15th, 2011 11:00am | filed under Ethnic Food, Good Asian Grub, Restaurant News | 2 Comments »

International Holiday Festivals Taking Place in North Texas

Photo from Lightcatcher Winery's Toys for Tots Celtic Christmas.

This link will take you to the DFW International Community Alliance website. There you will find a list of international holiday celebrations taking place in the area. Choose a unique event or two and expand your horizons this season. Experience Venezuelan Christmas Carols or sample food at the Indonesian Christmas Celebration. Not Jewish? Take your family to see A Chanukah Musical Story. You can drive around and look at Christmas lights any time.

posted by Nancy Nichols | December 2nd, 2011 10:00am | filed under Boxing Day, Christmas, Ethnic Food, Events, Hanukkah, Holidays, New Year's Eve |

Dallas Food Porn: Malai Thai-Vietnamese Kitchen

Iron Pot Chicken Curry at Malai Thai-Vietnamese Restaurant. Photography by Kevin Marple.

Check out the recent write-up of Malai Thai-Vietnamese Restaurant in our Best New Restaurants 2011 story. I could eat this green curry chicken everyday.

posted by Nancy Nichols | November 28th, 2011 10:48am | filed under Ethnic Food, Kevin Marple, Restaurant News |

Good Asian Grub: Désir Bakery at 99 Ranch in Plano

Désir Bakery inside 99 Ranch Market.


D Magazine intern Carol Shih prowls Dallas in search of the best Asian cuisine. Today she reveals her favorite Asian bakery and must….refrain… from trying to keep it a secret since she knows now all of you will go and plug up the store.

Whenever I go grocery shopping in 99 Ranch Market with my mom, I consider buying one of those ridiculous child safety harnesses that some parents use to rein in their little ones. Except mine would be a reverse leash: daughter prevents mother from her crazy tendencies to buy enough pastries from a small Taiwanese bakery inside 99 Ranch Market to feed all the children in Africa.

But who can blame her? Even I can’t help swooning once I’m standing inside Désir Bakery, surrounded by the aroma of sweet and salty breads.

A young pastry chef named Jessica told me that people come again and again because “it reminds them of the bakeries in Taiwan” and they always fall in love with the generous portions for a small amount of change. How much can five dollars buy you at La Madeleine’s bakery? A barely-breakfast of drip coffee and one mini tart. At Désir, those greens can land you a paprika hot dog ($1.19), giant “cup cake” ($1.09 for a cup cake not in the traditional American sense), a Taiwanese pineapple cake ($1.49), and a cup of house coffee ($0.99). That’s what I call a breakfast of champions.

Jump for more.

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posted by Nancy Nichols | November 14th, 2011 11:50am | filed under Baking, Ethnic Food, Good Asian Grub | 2 Comments »

Charlie’s Opa! Grille in North Dallas is Closed

Bummer. I want Greek food. Not Mediterranean. Greek.

posted by Nancy Nichols | November 11th, 2011 9:41am | filed under Closings, Ethnic Food, Restaurant News | 7 Comments »

Good Asian Grub: Bon Mua in Carrollton

Combination seafood noodle soup with roasted pork, shrimp, squid, and fish cakes. (photo by Carol Shih)

D Magazine intern Carol Shih prowls Dallas in search of the best Asian cuisine. This time she bribed her Vietnamese-American friend to help her translate and teach her the art of eating.

When I took my old high school buddy Theresa to Bon Mua (“Four Seasons”), a Vietnamese restaurant in Carrollton, she laughed the minute I started draining the bowl of beef broth the owner, Din Huynh, placed in front of me. “You’re not supposed to drink it first,” she said. “You pour a little bit onto your rice to wet it, and then you finish the soup after you’re done with the meal.”

Jump. (more…)

posted by Nancy Nichols | November 2nd, 2011 9:30am | filed under Ethnic Food, Good Asian Grub | 2 Comments »

Good Asian Grub: Sushi Yokohama in Dallas

Fresh salmon placed on top of California rolls and rice.

D Magazine intern Carol Shih prowls Dallas in search of the best Asian cuisine. She’s a weird Chinese American who doesn’t like most seafood, but can’t help feeling passionate about sushi.

In my food religion, sushi is the Bread of Life and I am its most intrepid disciple. If it weren’t for this inherent desire to seem normal, I would have erected a temple of worship for this Japanese food and used a rice cooker as the altar. Instead, I named my blond Labrador “Sushi” and consider this a sign of my lasting devotion whenever she slips through the fence and I’m hollering her name down the street. My neighbors must think I’m crazy and always hungry.

Food porn and more below.

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posted by Nancy Nichols | October 27th, 2011 2:02pm | filed under Ethnic Food, Go Rangers!, Good Asian Grub, Restaurant News, Reviews | 13 Comments »

Good Asian Grub: Fish Pancakes at Toreore in Super H-Mart

Hannah with a fish cake from at Toreore in Super H Mart.

D Magazine intern Carol Shih prowls Dallas in search of the best Asian cuisine. Recently she tried using sign language to speak with a Korean woman. Didn’t work. People are suspicious of writers these days.

When my college buddy Hannah visited last weekend, she dragged me to  Super H Mart in Carrollton to find her favorite Korean snack, bungeoppang (literal translation: carp bread), a rare treat in her home state of North Carolina. It took only a couple minutes for Hannah to spot the black appliance most street vendors in South Korea use to make this toasty fish pancake filled with red bean. Our stop: a little shop on the edge of the food court that spells out “Toreore” in red letters and sells “Chicken & Joy.”

Jump for joy.

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posted by Nancy Nichols | October 18th, 2011 9:48am | filed under Ethnic Food, Go Rangers!, Good Asian Grub | 5 Comments »

Good Asian Grub: Noodle House in Plano

Wonton Soup- wontons, bokchoy, seaweed, egg, and green onion.

D Magazine intern Carol Shih prowls Dallas in search of the best Asian cuisine. She used Chinglish (half-Chinese, half-English) to interview chef and owner Sky Kuo, proving that you don’t need Google Translator for everything.

If I’m given the choice between rice or noodles, I will almost always pick noodles so I can release my inner caveman and slurp, slurp, slurp away with my mouth hovering two inches above the bowl and my chopsticks traveling rapidly in between. And there’s no better place than the Noodle House in Plano to practice your chopstick skills. This Taiwanese restaurant  is well-respected by the Asian community for its beef noodle soup.

Don’t take it as a bad sign if you walk through the door and there’s nobody else in the restaurant, the owner and his four-year-old son will charm you into playing with his plastic toys. For some reason, the Noodle House is never at full capacity, but this means that devoted customers’ orders are prepared right on the spot.

Jump for the good stuff.

Roasted Beef Noodle Soup- beef shanks, bokchoy, and pickled vegetables.

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posted by Nancy Nichols | October 10th, 2011 11:41am | filed under Ethnic Food, Good Asian Grub, Restaurant News | 4 Comments »

Flavor! Napa Valley

My first few trips to Napa Valley only had to do with the wine….it is, after all, the birthplace of the American wine movement.  Why in the world would I go to a wine mecca and waste all that time in restaurants….grab a baguette and a piece of cheese and go.

Thank goodness through the years I have been convinced to enjoy meals at places like The French Laundry, REDD, The Restaurant at Meadowood, Brix, Oenotri, La Toque, Morimoto, Bottega and even a short drive out of Napa to Chez Panisse in Berkeley opened my eyes to incredible flavors with California flair created by passionate, enthusiastic, farm-to-table chefs.  Now, the food is as much a purpose in visiting Napa as the wine.

Jump

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posted by Hayley Hamilton | October 4th, 2011 2:10pm | filed under Celebrity Chefs, Ethnic Food, Father's Day, Wine & Spirits, Wine Pairing | 1 Comment »

Good Asian Grub: Da Won in Plano

Sol Sot Bibim Bab- stone pot bibimbap at Da Won in Plano.

D Magazine intern Carol Shih prowls Dallas in search of the best Asian cuisine. She promises to try everything once, except dog meat and other animals she would like to keep as pets one day.

This week my stomach begged me for Korean food, and (being the good, kind, and wonderful person that I am) I decided to oblige. Although most people who crave this cuisine would head over to Harry Hines where all the Korean restaurants are jumbled together, I decided to go where no major food critic has gone before: a little gem-of-a-place called Da Won hidden in Plano.

Seasoned beef ribs marinated in sauce at Da Won in Plano.

When Da Won first opened its doors one-and-a-half years ago, it barely made a blip on Dallas’ food radar. That’s how obscure it was. The owner and chef, June Lee, is a soft-spoken South Korean woman who decided not to spend a penny on advertising and save all that money to buy the best beef she could lay her hands on. Her plan most definitely worked, and she drew in the most dedicated customers.

Jump for more food and photos.

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posted by Nancy Nichols | September 30th, 2011 10:54am | filed under Ethnic Food, Restaurant News, Reviews | 5 Comments »

Where to Get Your Pho Fix in Dallas

(photo by Kevin Marple, styling by Angela Yeung)

If you’ve traveled through Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam then you are familiar with this popular dish. Although pho hasn’t quite made it to the mainstream breakfast menus in Dallas, it’s the common way to start your day in many countries. Recently Sarah Reiss ate pho for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and several bowls in between and files this story on pho.

Though pho (pronounced fuh) is far from new to North Texas, the recent surge of openings has reintroduced the signature soup of Vietnam to the mainstream. For newbies, let us explain the allure. It’s a savory broth (generally beef, chicken, or pork) seasoned with coriander, basil, star anise, and green onion; ladled over flat rice noodles and paper-thin tenderloin, brisket, chicken, or pork; and garnished with fresh bean sprouts, herbs, lime quarters, and varying quantities of hot chili paste. It might not sound much different than any other soup, but it tastes like magic.

Here is a a pho primer and a list of our favorite places. Tell us yours.

posted by Nancy Nichols | September 26th, 2011 9:31am | filed under Breakfast, Ethnic Food, Good Morning, Kevin Marple, Restaurant News | 4 Comments »

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