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Farmers Market Report: July 4th Weekend

Look for these markers and buy.

Glorious produce this weekend at the market. Below is the official list from the market Last week I couldn’t find Heather Duncan, I really wanted to get the Lavender Lemonade recipe.Also, try the cookies at Wackym’s Kitchen. Go early, the grass-fed beef sells out fast.

Angela’s Farm – lots of onions – red, yellow and white! Yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, okra, peas are starting to come in

Berry Best Farm – Organic Blueberries

Birch Creek Farms – acorn and yellow squash, cucumbers, zucchini, new potato’s - Yukon gold and red Pontiac potato’s, purple top turnips, – THEY are selling out fast every weekend so be here early!

Comeback Creek – blueberries, onions, garlic, peppers, cucumbers, and squash

Coopers Organic Farm with certified organic onions

Dan Massey – Cream red new potato’s, yellow straight neck squash, green zucchini, Blue Lake green beans, Japanese cantaloupe, Crimson Sweet watermelons, seedless watermelons, Small Jubilee watermelons, Black Diamond watermelons, blackberries and jalapeño peppers, Black-eyes and Purple Hull peas (weather pending), tomato’s

Dis-n-Dat - eggs

Fred’s Alaska Seafood – salmon and crab legs

Fretwell Produce – okra, yellow crook neck squash, patty pan squash, 8-ball squash, gold and green zucchini, cucumbers, eggplant, red new potato’s, pablano peppers, jalapeño peppers, sweet banana, Marconi pepper, green bell peppers, white 1015’s and purple sweet onions

Haney Farm – eggs

Harmony Harvest – eggs and veggies- also has CSA group

Heather Duncan – cut flower bouquets out of her garden, she also has a recipe for Lavender Lemonade made from her own lavender!

Heddin Family Farm – Texas Cream peas, Purple Hulls and Black eye peas, green beans, green tomato’s, Cayenne Peppers, Jalapeño Peppers, squash, red new potato’s, zucchini, pickling cucumbers

J.T. Lemley – yellow squash, 8-ball squash, tomato’s, onions, peaches, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, plums, blackberries, cucumbers, new potato’s, sweet yellow onions

Joe Smith Farms – hanging baskets of flowers and annuals/perennials to plant – really great deals and good for garden pots

John Lucido – still has some herb plants and of course his herb pasta and canned goodies

JuHa – Pork and Goat meat, eggs

JZJ Beef – Beefmaster beef, beef jerky, and beef sticks!

Kitchen Pride – Mushrooms – Oyster, Portabella, Baby Bells, and White Button

La Esperanza Farm – variety of spring vegetables – can’t even list them all!

Lightsey Farm – peaches, onions, potato’s, plums, blackberries, green beans, zucchini, apricots

Mill Creek Farms is also bringing in squash, potato’s and peas

Northstar Ranch – Beef and pork

Orchid Garden with specialty plants and beautiful orchids

Savoy Sorbet – Sundays – herbal infused sorbet from her herb garden

TxHoneybee Guild – local honey and zip code honey

TxLonghorn Cooperative – Saturday’s and Sunday’s with certified Longhorn Beef

Southwest Food Expo: Celebrity Chef Smack-down

Chef Tre Wilcox and Chef Rory Schepisi

Yesterday, Tre “Top Chef” Wilcox faced Rory “Next Food Network Star” Schepisi in a cooking contest at the Southwest Food Expo. InsideCorner’s Evan Grant was a celebrity judge. The video is here. I will tell the story in pictures. (Click on Evan’s badge below.)

Southwest Foodservice Expo Celebrity Chef Smack-down

Wine Walking and Shopping at Bishop Arts

This Thursday, July 2, Bishop Arts District merchants are hosting their First Thursday Wine Walk. Donate $5, get a glass with the BA logo on it, and sample wine at 18 different shops as you stroll the popular Oak Cliff hotspot.

Where’s the Beef? Flavors From Afar This Saturday

Rusty Roth of East Texas’ Rusty’s Grass Finished Foods visits Flavors From Afar this Saturday 10am-3pm to tout the benefits of grass-finished beef. The handsome cowpoke will offer cooking tips and plenty of samples of his steak, burgers, and various sausages (chorizo, Polish, Italian, and more).

DallasChocolate.org Announces Chocolate Events in Dallas

On August 22nd, Alan McClure of Patric Chocolate and  Steve DeVries of DeVries Chocolate will be in Dallas for several chocolate-related soirees. DallasChocolate.org is bringing two of the country’s most respected bean-to-bar chocolate makers here for a weekend of delicious and informative events. Full details after the jump. In addition, pastry chef Rhonda Ruckman (Doughmonkey) will craft desserts featuring Patric and DeVries chocolates. (more…)

Where To Take Dear Old Dad for Father’s Day

Nancy started the brunch discussion a few days back. Sarah Eveans took that ball and ran with it. Here are her suggestions for what to do in Dallas for Father’s Day.

P.S. Speaking of Father’s Day brunch, just got a message in my in box from Go Fish and Dallas Fish Market. Both restaurants are offering 25% off brunch this Sunday. Dallas Fish Market is $35 per person; Go Fish’s brunch menu is à la carte. Both have kids’ menus.

Historic Sigel’s Sign is Going Up in Addison

That’s the inside story on the historic sign that was taken down on May 13th. According  to Sigel’s rep, Jasper Russo, the sign will be placed on its new pole in Addison tomorrow. Sigel’s is planning a dedication ceremony and wine sale some time after July 4th. Stay tuned. (I hear some high profile wines and spirits will be 50% off.)

UPDATE: False start. Japser jumped the gun. The sign will go up  next week.

Cheese Course Primer at Molto Formaggio

Don’t know your gouda from your double gloucester? Not sure what to pair with it? The friendly fromage experts at Molto Formaggio are teaching two composed cheese courses (Wed., June 24 at Highland Park Village and Thurs., June 25 at Preston Royal Shopping Center). Chef Craig Murphy will share different cheese courses, treating them like a main dish and building a plate of complementing flavors to show off the cheese. You’ll also get to sample wines that complement the cheeses and taste MF’s new cheesecakes by pastry chef Kate Graver. But wait. There’s more. You’ll also get a gift bag stuffed with chesses, confit, and recipe cards. The HPV bags will contain a bottle of wine. All this knowledge for $75 per couple at HPV or $45 at Preston Royal.

SideDish Tasters Choice: Southwest Foodservice Expo

Here is the list of Dishers who have applied to attend the Southwest Foodservice Expo at the end of the month. I’m trying to confirm how many  I can take each day. Remember this is a to-the-trade-only show–you must be on your best behavior and file a report on SideDish. If your “name” is on the list below, send me an e-mail with the day you desire plus a second choice. No guarantees, but we’ll do our best.
Dates and times:
Sunday, June 28 ~ 10:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Monday, June 29 ~ 10:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, June 30 ~ 10:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Eligible Dishers:
foodczar, Shane, DallasDeliFan, webra, JJFoodie, TM, Brandy, Lori, Andrew, Robin, Rob, Lori, S, Margie, Lindsay. (May have to draw winners.)

Bijoux Chef Scott Gottlich Invited to Cakebread’s Annual American Harvest Workshop

The 23rd Annual American Harvest Workshop will take place September 12-16 at Cakebread Cellars in Rutherford, CA.  Five celebrated chefs from around the world will met with top artisan food producers, select media, and consumers to learn about and celebrate the bounty of America’s food and wine producers. One of the five chefs picked is Dallas’ Scott Gottlich (Bijoux, The Second Floor). The four-day affair will culminate in two harvest dinners where participants can unwind and toast to their labors.

To get ready for his California close-up, will host a series of Cakebread wine pairing dinners in July (9th, 21st, and 30th.) These four-course dinners will be a celebration of the summer’s harvest with each dish paired with five Cakebread wines. Cost of dinners is $110 per person. Deets below. (more…)

Jacksonville Tomato Festival: Tomato Eating Contest, Kids Division

No words needed.

Dallas Farmers Market This Weekend: June 13 & 14

Following the jump is a list of produce and products scheduled to be available at the Dallas Farmers Market on June 13 and 14th. Of course, it’s all, like life, subject to change without notice. Thanks to Susan Zidlicky for the report.  Mark your calendars: next weekend (June 20) Parigi chefs Janice Provost and Chad Houser will do two cooking demos (10:oo a.m & 11:30:a.m. with available ingredients.

UPDATE: The new Dallas Farmers Market website is now live.

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Dallas Restaurant News and Notes

Canary Café Mediterranean Steak & Seafood chef-owner Mansour Gorji, will participate in the sixth annual CityArts Celebration  www.dallascityarts.com in the downtown Dallas Arts District.  His cooking demonstration (Sunday, June 14 at 1p.m) will include cioppino made of shrimp, calamari, scallops, mussels and salmon using Gorji Gourmet puttanesca along with a verde salad of field greens, fresh pomegranates, parmesan cheese with Gorji Gourmet pomegranate champagne vinaigrette.

Panera Bread will host the Panera Bread Cereal Drive to Help Fight Hunger this Friday, June 12 from 6:30 a.m. until 9 p.m. at all 15 bakery-cafes in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Customers are asked to donate a box of cereal at their local Panera Bread, and each person donating will receive a coupon for a free grilled breakfast sandwich. The boxes of cereal will be donated to Panera’s Operation Dough-Nation® recipients, North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) and Tarrant Area Food Bank (TAFB). Click here for all locations.

Eddie V’s Prime Seafood at Museum Place in Fort Worth will offer three-course summer picnic dinners starting on Friday, June 12 through Sunday, July 5, to coincide with Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s Concerts in the Garden Summer Music Festival at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. Pricing for a picnic dinner is $25. Orders are customizable from a set of savory options. To order an Eddie V’s Moveable Feast, call 817-336-8000 or email EVMuseumplace@eddiev.com by 2:00 p.m. day of show.  Guests may pick up order between 5:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on the performance evening.

McCormick & Schmick’s in Dallas is offering 10 menu items for $10 or less, for a tasty and wallet-friendly lunch.  The executive chef in Dallas will feature local ingredients and regionally inspired dishes, including: sandwiches, wraps, pastas, entrée salads and a few soup/salad and soup/sandwich combos. And busy lunch-time diners can request their lunch be served in 45 minutes or less. The 10 for $10 or less menu is available daily, excluding holidays. All you need to know is here.

EatGreen.com and Food Roots Team Up for Local Farm Tour

The folks at EatGreenDFW.com have teamed up with Food Roots to create a one-day tour on July 11 that showcase three farmers who are dedicated to bringing  sustainably grown produce, meat and dairy products to the community using organic and natural methods.

The trip, a bargain at $89, includes lunch and visits to three family-owned and operated farms south of Dallas–JuHa Ranch, Oak Grove Farms and Garden Harvests. At each stop tour participants will spend an hour or more on an interactive tour with the owner of the farm and have an opportunity to buy directly from them. Jump for joy and more information.

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Wine Dinner Wednesday

Here are this week’s wine tastings and dinners from Sigels, Parigi, Taverna, Victory Tavern (FW), Hotel St. Germain, and Sevy’s Grill.

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Love For Sale: Single Gourmet DFW Launches Summer Membership Special

This just in from Single Gourmet’s head Sig-O finder, Ed Bamberger:

Single Gourmet DFW, a social club offering fine dining, cooking classes and special events for single professionals in their 30s through 60s, has made some changes in fitting with the present economy.  Now through August 31, 2009, annual membership (runs for 12 months) is $100 (regularly $195) and event prices have been reduced, too.  For more information, go here.

Sixth Annual Garland Asian American Festival June 20th at the Saigon Mall

Mark your calendars: June 20th is the date for the Garland Asian American Festival at the Saigon Mall. It promises to be a fun day of food and culture. Here are some of the activities:

* Lion Dance
* Cultural and Musical Entertainment Showcase
* Exhibitors
* Food Booths
* Public Services Booths
* Local, City and nationally elected officials
* Non-profit organizations
* Government agencies, City of Garland, Garland Police Department

Last year around 15,000 participated in the event that takes place from 10:00am to 5:00pm. More info here or call 214-244-9144.

SideDish Tasters Choice: Zinsky’s Deli Tasting Group Announced

Calling all kvetchers!

Liz Baron, co-owner of Zinsky’s Deli, has read all of the comments and made the selections for the Zinsky’s Deli Friends and Family Tasting from 5:00-8:00pm next Sunday at Bengal Coast. The list is below. Please e-mail your stage name and your real name to me (nancyn@dmagazine.com). Your name must  be on the list to get in. If you are one of the “winners” below and you can’t make it, please let me know so we can substitute. Remember, you must agree to file a report on SideDish next Monday. Congrats to:

1)    elena34
2)    Lisa Petty
3)    Margie
4)    borntorhone
5)    Michael
6)    Bob
7)    Dallas Deli
8)    Dubious Brother
9)    TLS
10)  Scagnetti

2009 Southwest Foodservice Expo is Coming to Dallas and You Are Invited!

Dishers, remember this post?  Long story short:  I asked the nice folks at the Texas Restaurant Association (Hi, Wendy!) to let me take some “real people” into the to-the-trade-only show when it comes to Dallas at the end of June and they called this morning and said yes. How great is that? Let’s all peruse the calendar of events and come up with a plan. They said I could bring one per day, but what if I asked for a group pass? Could they say no? Hang on, we’re working on it.

Vino100 Presents “Night of the Italian Collection”

He is not as geeky as he looks here.

On Wednesday, June 3, Vino100 will present “Night of the Italian Collection”, a “night celebrating cultural influences that have helped shaped lifestyles of those with impeccable taste around the world.” The special guest for the evening is Alfonso Cevola, the significant Italian wine specialist at Glazer’s Distributors and writer of On the Wine Trail in Italy. Jump for joy and the details. (more…)

Check Out the Pictures From Last Night’s D Art Slam VIP Preview Party

They’re here.

Wine Tastings at Crush This Weekend

Crush Wine Shop on Knox Street pours some nice fruit of the vine this weekend. On Friday, sip some bubbly from Champagne Ayala 6:30-8:30 pm. The only French champagne house with Latin roots, Ayala’s Cuvée Rosé Nature was named Wine of the Year in 2008 by Champagne expert Ed McCarthy. On Saturday, Crush samples the big Zins from Cline Cellars. I’ve always been a fan of these affordable fruit bombs. In addition to two Zins, Crush will pour Cline’s Viognier, Mourvedre (another fave), and Cashmere blend. The Cline tasting is $15. Ayala’s is free.

Jammin’ With Wild Salmon Blind Tasting: A Report

The salmon taste committee was blindfolded. Dumb idea.

Last night twelve diligent Dishers showed up at TJ’s Seafood Market to learn about and taste different types of salmon. The event was sparked by a debate last week on whether Copper River salmon is more flavorful than other wild salmon or if it is just  marketed more effectively. One seafood industry insider said, “We in the fish business call Copper River Salmon, Stupid River Salmon. Way over priced.”

Copper River salmon was the winner.

We set out to see if this was true. The goal was to taste test three wild salmon samples in a blind test. The first “problem” was, due to the Memorial Day weekend, the supplier couldn’t secure three wild varieties so we had to substitute an Atlantic farm raised salmon from the Bay of Fundy at the last minute.

The second mishap was my fault–I insisted the tasters wear blindfolds. I thought they would be influenced by the color of the fish. It worked–they couldn’t see the differences in color, but they also couldn’t see their evaluation sheets. Then, halfway through the program, I learned from a chef at the table that Copper River isn’t necessarily redder than other salmon and that some vendors  “dye the fish to [a restaurant’s] order.”

That was just one of the eye opening lessons we  learned last night. TJ’s marketing director Jon Alexis gave a nice Salmon 101 class and his mother, owner Caren, enlightened the group with stories from her years of experience as a fishmonger. Jump for the full report.

UPDATE: Click here for Worzel’s report.

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D Art Slam Starts Tonight

Our first-ever D Art Slam, presented by D Magazine and f.i.g., starts tonight with a VIP (read: you) party from 7-9 pm. The event runs from May 29 through May 31 at f.i.g. (1807 Ross Ave.). More than 150 local artists–Rees Bowen, Glenn Comtois, Frankie Garcia III, Michael Ledoux, Michael Longhofer, Shane Pennington, George Tobolowsky, and our award-winning staff photographer Elizabeth Lavin–exhibit and sell their works at this three-day juried show in the Dallas Arts District. At the VIP preview party, attendees can mix and mingle with the artists and be the first to purchase their favorite works. Tickets for the preview party are $100. To see a full list of participating artists, or to purchase tickets, visit the website.  Our marketing director Mary Poe says, “Culinary Art Catering is serving some yummy arty food.”

Bocce Ball and Cibus at CenterPark

Now this sounds like a lot of fun: the Italian Club of Dallas is offering bocce ball lessons June 7, 11am-4pm at NorthPark’s CenterPark gardens. The lessons are free and Cibus Ristorante is creating a special menu for dining in the garden during the event. If you haven’t dined on Cibus’s patio overlooking NP’s art-filled grounds then you’ve missed out. It’s a great scene.