Articles about Game 6 Almost Killed Me

The Texas Rangers Will Win the World Series and The James Beard Award for Best New Restaurants

posted by Nancy Nichols | April 3rd, 2012 12:59pm | filed under AgriBusiness, Bars, BBQ, beer, Cult Cuisine, Game 6 Almost Killed Me, Go Rangers!, I Went to College for This?, Openings/Closings, restaurant business news, Restaurant News, Tex-Mex | 5 Comments »

Executive Chef Cris "No H" Vasquez holds a Champion Dog. D.J. Pridemore eats the whole thing. (Photography by Micah Nunley)

Perhaps my headline is a tad overzealous, but boy I got so wound up yesterday at the press conference announcing the new line-up of food items to be served this season at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington I could barely drive home. I wanted to stay, slip on a toga, and feast like a hedonistic Roman tart. But I digress.

I’ve already outlined how the Rangers will win the World Series. I’m now prepared to tell you how to plan your caloric intake when you attend a game. The Yu-Darvish moment of late yesterday took place as the Rangers food service management team—Shawn Mattox, Casey Rapp, Philip Wheatley, execuchef Cris Vazquez—revealed their heavy hitter: The Champion Dog ($26.00 with fries). It’s a 2-foot-long-all-beef hot dog topped with shredded cheese, sauteed onions, and chili. The Champion Dog, also sold as the Boomstick (Hi! Nellie!) in the general concessions area, is meant to satisfy four people. However, I watched an eating competition where D.J. Pridemore, a producer for 105.3-FM The Fan, ate a whole one all by himself. He smoked his opponent, the DMN’s Brandon Formby, who never saw the bun (made by Empire Baking Company) coming. Mr. Formby learned that baseball food, like baseball, is a now game of inches.

So Ranger food fans, here’s is news: Vandergriff Plaza (behind centerfield) has been renovated into a food court with FOUR new restaurants, Ryan’s Express 34, Smokehouse 557, Taqueria, and American Dog. They surround the bronze statute of Nolan Ryan. They’ve also added two smoking hot lounges, the Captain Morgan Club and the Batter’s Eye Club). The Kid’s Zone has been moved indoors (thank you) to the south end of the first floor. And the press box will feature sushi for the Japanese media.

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Men Will Be Boys: Finalists Announced for “Name a Pizza for Mike Napoli” Contest at Cane Rosso

posted by Nancy Nichols | February 6th, 2012 11:20am | filed under Celebrity Diners, Chef groupies, Cooking, Cult Cuisine, Delusional behavior, Diets are stupid, freebies, Game 6 Almost Killed Me, Go Rangers!, I Went to College for This?, I'm about to get fired, Keep Dallas Douchey!, Overprivileged chimps, party, pizza, Poor World Series Performance Cost CJ Wilson $25 Million!, Pre World Series Depression, questionable behavior, Restaurant News | 2 Comments »

It was bound to happen: pizza lover and baseball writer, Evan Grant, finally met pizza maker and baseball lover, Jay Jerrier. The twosome came up with a publicity stunt. (SHOCKER) They invented “Name a Pizza for Mike Napoli” contest. (If you don’t know who Napoli is, you can go back to work.) If you love the catcher-first-baseman-DH lovingly referred to as “Dirtbag,” you will love this: Today, Grant and Jerrier announced four finalists plus Grant’s unofficial “look-how-funny-I-am”entry, “The (he wishes) Grand Salami.” Hear him brag:

After much consideration, pizza-maker extraordinaire Jay Jerrier and pizza-eater extraordinaire Evan Grant (that’s me), have come up with four finalists for our Name a Napoli Pizza contest.Tuesday (Feb. 7 or tomorrow to most of you), we will roll out some samples of these fine entries for you to taste and, as always, the full Cane Rosso menu will be available. One of these fine recipes will end up as a special pie on the Cane Rosso menu for the next month and one of these neophyte pizza creators will walk away with a nice little prize package. Maybe we can come up with some other surprises, too. So, if you are free come on down. We’d love your input here and at the restaurant. Here are the finalists. Be there at 7PM.

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Eric Nadel Reviews Sundown at the Granada

posted by Nancy Nichols | January 11th, 2012 1:13pm | filed under Foodie Video, Game 6 Almost Killed Me, Go Rangers!, Pre World Series Depression, Restaurant News, Reviews, Vegetarian/Vegan | 4 Comments »

Mark Abuzzahab and Eric Nadel at Sundown at the Granada. Photography by Jason Acton.

Most of you know Eric Nadel as the voice of the Texas Rangers. This year, Eric begins his 34th year as a Rangers broadcaster in 2012, his 18th as the lead radio voice. The other day, he picked up his seventh 2011 Texas Sportscaster of the Year Award from the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. When he’s off the air, he practices his new hobby as a concert promoter. He’s helping a few female singers  get gigs. His current hot property is Daphne Willis. 

Nadel loves to eat. He leans towards vegetarian food most of the time, but he can be seduced by a bitchin’ burger every once in a while. When he travels, he sends reports of restaurants he discovers in American league cities. Last night he was invited to a “friends and family” preview dinner at Sundown at the Granada. He was so excited when he finished he dashed off this quick review and sent it to me at 11:41PM.

Most people were eating burgers and sliders but we found a very wide range of vegetarian options and we tried four of them, all of which were great. We had stuffed avocados (you get three different kinds on a plate), a chopped salad (with kale, sweet potato, avocado and all the normal veggies too), homemade veggie burger, and a succulent quinoa-black bean-sweet potato dish with avocado sauce. Unfortunately I totally forgot to take pictures. If tonight was any indication, you will really like this place. They are buying locally produced ingredients such as grass fed beef and free range chicken whenever possible, avoiding the Sysco type distributors whenever they can. The owner and his wife are vegan primarily for health reasons, but he says he has no trouble giving the public whatever they want to eat. He has come up with a big vegetarian selection with lots of taste, great seasoning. It’s the best tasting vegetarian food I have had in Dallas. And the other people were raving about the burgers. The chef is the guy who has been catering for the bands at the Granada.

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It Is Wild Game Week at Mignon in Plano

posted by Andrew Chalk | October 31st, 2011 10:00am | filed under Andrew Chalk, game, Game 6 Almost Killed Me, Wine & Spirits |

Mignon's Braised Wild Boar (potato gnocchi, grilled fresh figs, shaved truffle cheese and aged balsamic)

When a restaurant has something worth shouting about it hosts a dinner for the media. Mignon realized that they had something worth screaming to the ceiling about when they announced Chef James Sleeth’s new Game Week Menu. The press dinner took place last week. I was fortunate enough to be invited and I came away impressed. We started with an appetizer of Braised Wild Boar (potato gnocchi, grilled fresh figs, shaved truffle cheese and aged balsamic), $13, which expertly long-cooked those fruit and meat contrasts into a compote that was simply ideal for the upcoming cold weather. It seemed to be a dish that would be difficult to top were it not for the Elk Tenderloin (pommes Anna, caramelized pearl onion, candied pecans, rosemary oil and demi-glace), $49. Elk is one of the treats of Colorado ski country but a rarity around Dallas.

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Event Report: Texas Cheesemakers Appreciation Party at Celebration Restaurant

posted by Nancy Nichols | October 28th, 2011 1:37pm | filed under Awards, Bring it!, Celebrity Diners, Cheese, Free Stuff!, Game 6 Almost Killed Me, Go Rangers!, GO TEXAN, Local/Slow Food, Pre World Series Depression |

Last evening, the Texas winners of the recent American Cheese Society Competition 2011 displayed their award-winning cheeses at Celebration Restaurant. What a great turnout! The room was SRO with cheese lovers. It was so crowded I could barely get around the space to sample all of the cheeses and during my attempt to do so, I dropped my camera and the last hundred I shot are out of focus. However, I was thrilled to taste Pure Luck Farm and Dairy’s Hopelessly Blue goat cheese, Mozzarella Company’s Hoja Santa goat cheese, and Brazos Valley’s creamy cheddar. All of the cheesemakers and cheeses in attendance are listed below, along with the photos I salvaged. These people work their butts off to produce some fine cheese. Buy it. In quantities. Go Texas cheese! (And Rangers!)

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Anthony Bourdain Kicks Some Serious Sass in Dallas

posted by Nancy Nichols | October 28th, 2011 1:21pm | filed under beer, Bring it!, Celebrity Chefs, celebrity sightings, Chef groupies, Cult Cuisine, Events, Foodie People, Game 6 Almost Killed Me, Go Rangers!, hold on to your effin hat, Hot Links!, I Went to College for This?, Keep Dallas Douchey!, mob scenes, Nutjobs, Overprivileged chimps, sassy pants, Second coming, What The Pho? | 13 Comments »

Anthony Bourdain on stage at the Majestic Theater in Dallas. (photo by Elizabeth Lavin)

Last night, Anthony Bourdain fans packed the Majestic Theater. Baseball be damned, the worshipers of All-Things-Anthony showed up to lay themselves at the cowboy-booted feet of their hero.

Tony walked onto the stage at 8:10 and greeted the audience: “I am a whore. I am in every way compromised, jaded, bought and paid for, including my nice f—ing jacket.”

For the next hour and 45 minutes, the crowd hung on his every word. He was loose, casual, at ease, good-natured, straight forward, no bull. He was exactly the guy you see on TV, except, in person, you could see just how fine he wears boot-cut jeans.

After the show, we got to hang out with Tony and watch him sign books and greet his fans. Hundreds of folks bought books and stood in line to get his autograph. He walked into the VIP room and he very calmly said, “Look, I’m here and I’m not leaving until every book is signed, every picture is taken. I’m not in a hurry, so grab some food, have a drink, relax.”

I plan to write a longer report, but my day job calls. In the meantime, I’ll post the pictures that Tony most graciously allowed our photographer, Elizabeth Lavin, to shoot. Oh, and John “Jimmy Sears” Tesar was there. I mean everywhere. If you notice him in every shot, it is because he tried to get in every shot. At one point I thought he was going to start signing copies of Bourdain’s Medium Raw. He could have. That’s how he serves his burgers.

On to the show.

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