Articles about Go Rangers!
That Sports Girl, Gina Miller, Wants SideDish on TV
Bite Me: Gina Miller, That Sports Girl Loves Food.
Gina Miller is a mom, wife, sports anchor/ reporter (CBS News and TXA 21), television host (pre-and-post Mavs, Stars, Cowboys, and Ranger games), blogger, tweeter, Facebooker, YouTubette,Dallas native, nice person, and loyal reader of SideDish. Those of us who are lucky enough to know Gina refer to her as That Sports Girl, which is also her Twitter handle.
As soon as I posted my challenge to get SideDish on TV, the lovely sports anchor whipped out her laptop and, within minutes, came up with the following ideas. Imagine locking her in a room for an hour and getting her full attention. Here’s Gina:
Saw your SideDish TV post. There are SO many segments and entire 30-minute shows you can pitch. Here are a few topics that would make for really good TV(think VISUALLY compelling):
1. Where The Locals Eat – a neighborhood focused segment that profiles where, say, the Cliff Dwellers/Lakewood peeps/Parkies/North Dallasites love and are proud to call their own.
2. Where Local “Celebs” Eat – Polticos, athletes, actors, authors, newsies, etc.
3. Dives ofDallas- profiling the taquerias, Club Schmitzs, Korean Huts, etc.
4. The Most IconicDallasDishes
5. Where You Can get a Reservation – could be tough to translate to TV but NYMag (I believe) does a great feature, calling a popular spot at 5pm on a certain day to see if a party of 4 can get a table for that night.
6. Restaurants Worth Filling Up the Tank to Visit – out of town spots worth the drive.
7. Ballpark food – the good stuff (and bad) at JerryWorld, Ballpark, AAC,PizzaHutPark, etc.
8. The Next Big Thing – what place will be dying to get into next month?
9. Cocktail Hour – capitalizing on the whole mixology trend (is it over yet) and featuring the latest and greatest cocktail to hitDallas.
Thanks, That Sports Girl. I see a some good stuff. Too bad you can’t be That Food Girl! Anybody care to chime in?
15 Comments »
Eat This Now: Peach Salad at Company Café on the Trail
Perfect lunch for tomorrow: The local peach, lettuce, and (J.T. Lemley) tomato salad with peach puree and olive oil at Company Cafe on the Trail.
Open Letter to Mark Cuban: Shark Tank for Dallas Restaurateurs? I’d Watch it!
Bring it! Let's get this city turned around! (image swiped from ABC)
Dear Mark,
I am addicted to Shark Tank. And because I am too lazy to jump through the hoops to get on the show and present my idea, I’m using the power of my pudgy fingers to reach you. Let’s pick and roll:
I walk on the set of Shark Tank. “Daymond John, you are so out,” I say. “Barbara, if I wanted to sell my cellulite-reducing sous-vide hot dog you’d be my best friend, but I’m keeping it to myself. You’re out.”
I watch the other sharks glance around, really scared at this point, and go for the kill. “Kevin, don’t even open that ugly mouth. You’re out. Robert, you can buy me dinner after the show but, for now, you are dead to me.”
Cameras swing: Close-up of Cuban. Music swells.
Mark. We live in the same city. We love the same teams. More importantly, we eat in the same restaurants. Last night, our city’s finest chef, Bruno Davaillon of the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, lost Best Chef in the Southwest at the James Beard Awards in New York City to a young chef in Austin who appeared on Top Chef. It has been 18 years since a Dallas chef won this title. We need a local version of Shark Tank geared towards Dallas restaurateurs. That way, you and I can work together to tighten up our game and turn it around. We have the talent, we need the exposure. And that exposure shouldn’t have to come from the Food Network or Bravo.
I propose we put together a panel of experts and ask restaurateurs to pitch their ideas BEFORE they decide to sink their life savings into an upscale seafood and sushi restaurant in a bad location. Let’s kick the steak house wannabes to Fort Worth. Mark, I’m asking you to invest whatever it takes to help us bring the talent of the Dallas restaurant community to the international scene. In exchange, I offer you fifty percent of my idea. Oh, and you can keep the Mavs.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Nancy
P.S. If this helps illustrate my talent: I promoted women’s basketball in Dallas before the Mavericks were a thought in your brain. Just ask Nancy Lieberman.
12 Comments »The Texas Rangers Will Win the World Series and The James Beard Award for Best New Restaurants
Executive Chef Cris "No H" Vasquez holds a Champion Dog. D.J. Pridemore eats the whole thing. (Photography by Micah Nunley)
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.
Jump for Food Facts and Fun Pictures For Rangers Fans.
5 Comments »Restaurant Review: The Best Pastrami Sandwich in Dallas at Deli-News
Pastrami sandwich at Deli-News. Photography by Kevin Marple.
As I opened the menu at Deli-News, the self-proclaimed “New York-style restaurant,” I casually asked my Brooklyn-born-and-raised Jewish friend what qualifies a delicatessen as New York style. Two hours later, I stumbled out of what could have been a long, neurotic Woody Allen movie. “It’s a Russian-Jewish thing,” he snapped. “You see this bagel. You see how this bagel shines. Now that’s a bagel.” I ate the bagel. “Now, you see this pastrami,” he snipped. “This is real pastrami. It’s got the right amount of fat and it’s steamed. It’s not too thick. It’s not too thin.”
14 Comments »Men Will Be Boys: Jason Joseph Wins the “Name a Pizza for Mike Napoli” Contest at Cane Rosso
Big Cheeses: Evan Grant, Jay Jerrier, Eric Nadel.
Tuesday night, pizza lover and baseball writer, Evan Grant, and pizza maker and baseball lover, Jay Jerrier held the finals of the “Name a Pizza for Mike Napoli” contest at Cane Rosso. Four of the five finalists showed up to sample their until-then-never-tasted pizza recipes. Jerrier went to great lengths to make the pies. “We don’t make an Alfredo sauce, so I had to create one for Jason Joseph’s “Angel Tears” entry,” Jerrier said.
I slinked in at the end of the evening to try the pies and I’ve got to hand it to all who were picked in the finals. It was a tough decision. My favorite was Doug Fusella’s “The Cane Rosso Napoli Experience” with Jimmy’s sausage, meatballs, sopressata, spinach, and jalapenos. But Grant and Jerrier picked Joseph’s “Angel Tears,” a pie of Italian sausage, salami, sweet onion, jalapenos, roasted garlic, spinach, Roma tomatoes, and mozzarella dusted with Romano. Jump for all of the recipes and the rationale behind the ingredients below. AND PHOTOS!
Men Will Be Boys: Finalists Announced for “Name a Pizza for Mike Napoli” Contest at Cane Rosso
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:
2 Comments »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.
Eric Nadel Reviews Sundown at the Granada
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.
4 Comments »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.
Event Report: Texas Cheesemakers Appreciation Party at Celebration Restaurant
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!)
Jump for the glorious cheeses.
Continue reading "Event Report: Texas Cheesemakers Appreciation Party at Celebration Restaurant"
Anthony Bourdain Kicks Some Serious Sass in Dallas
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.
Continue reading "Anthony Bourdain Kicks Some Serious Sass in Dallas"
13 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.
Continue reading "Good Asian Grub: Sushi Yokohama in Dallas"
13 Comments »Hey Dallas, What Would You Ask Anthony Bourdain?
My question: What is behind that bone? (Photo by Melanie Dunea from the book, My Last Supper)
Anthony Bourdain will be at The Majestic tonight. Tickets are still available. I understand there will be a Q&A segment in the show. Can’t go? Send me your questions. I’ll try to get them answered.
Oh, and Tony. Tonight is the sixth game of the World Series. Our Texas Rangers could be champions before your show is over. You’ve will have hard core Rangers fans in the audience with DVRs recording the game. Please do not give game updates. That goes for you fans in the audience. If I see one of you on your cell phone getting game results, I WILL CUT YOU.
8 Comments »Restaurant Review: Mesa in Oak Cliff
The Reyeses; their creamy flan de naranja. (photography by Kevin Marple)
Raul Reyes opened his first restaurant in 2008, a tiny place in Oak Cliff serving the colorful cuisine of his birthplace, the Veracruz region of Mexico. La Palapa Veracruzana was run by his family, wife Olga working as his co-chef, daughter Jaretzy taking managerial duties, and son Raul Jr. waiting tables. The seafood-centric menu snagged the palates of serious food lovers and critics in Dallas, but the kudos posted on food blogs and the glowing reviews couldn’t keep it alive. It closed after only a year.
“We never pulled an alcohol license,” Reyes says by way of explanation. “I couldn’t. My daughter was manager and she was only 17.”
Dejected, Reyes figured he would have to shed his chef whites forever and return to the construction business to support his family. Before La Palapa Veracruzana closed, Reyes had augmented his income by taking on handyman jobs. Chris Zielke, co-owner of Bolsa and Smoke, had hired Reyes to rebuild the bar at Bolsa, the popular farm-to-table restaurant in the Bishop Arts District. So Reyes showed up at Bolsa one day and told Zielke he’d closed his restaurant. Zielke encouraged Reyes to try again.
8 Comments »Celebrate Texas Cheese at Celebration Restaurant With the Winners of the American Cheese Society Competition
Don’t forget to drop by our local cheesemakers appreciation reception at Celebration Restaurant. We’ll all be at Celebration Restaurant from 5 to 6:30PM tasting Texas cheeses that recently won American Cheese Society awards. Come meet Paula Lambert (Mozzarella Co.), Rebeccah Durkin(Brazos Valley), Amelia Sweethardt (Pure Luck), Edgar Diaz (Three Happy Cows), Dave Eagle (Eagle Mountain), and Dr. Anne C. Jones (Latte Da Dairy). And as always, the affable Meaders Ozarow (Empire Bakery) will be there with the bread. Check out all of the award-winning cheeses below. See you there! Free D Magazines!
Jump for the glorious cheeses.
1 Comment »Lisa Garza is Sissy of Sissy’s Fried Chicken in Dallas
Lisa Garza and Travis Selcer. (photo courtesy of Lisa Greenwood Duffee)
We knew it all along, but were under strict orders not to publish until after her wedding. Lisa and Travis Selcer tied the knot last weekend and now she is ready to start her other new life as a restaurateur. “I am Sissy,” Garza says. “Sissy is southern slang for “sister” and I am developing every aspect.
Sissy’s Fried Chicken will open in the former Hector’s on Henderson space. Garza says it’s a “low-country” concept in honor of her Southern roots. “We will specialize in fried chicken and short ribs,” Garza says. She will also have a tea bar with tea-infused vodkas and specialty cocktails. The interior will be “very Billy Reid” and “like home.”
Garza has developed the menu and has used many of the dishes for her upscale catering business. She will not be the execuchef. “I will be the GM and run the kitchen,” Garza says. “I had a great teacher in Gilbert [Gilbert Garza of Suze] and I want to take the experience I gained owning and operating Suze. I would not be where I am without Gilbert.”
Hatsumi of Kuzu Design (Urban Taco, La Duni, Tei Tei, Brownstone) is doing the interior. Girl power!
Random Question: Anybody Out There Watch Posh Nosh
Whenever I get grumpy, I go to my DVR and watch a rerun of Posh Nosh. The show is a 2003 BBC show parodying TV chef. I think it may be ten minutes long. The program stars Arabella Weir and Richard E. Grant as the chefs Simon and Minty Marchmont and is telecast from their make believe restaurant The Quill and Tassel. One of my favorite shows is below. Search for the episodes online or KERA and us them like Xanax.
11 Comments »Bar 828–A Fleeting Speakeasy in Oak Cliff
Changing the mural at Bar 828.
Arti Sharma, D Magazine intern and a grant writer for Promise House the nonprofit that receives a portion of the proceeds from Bar 828, visited the popular pop-up bar last weekend and files this report.
Feel free to play some theme music.
Driving along the 800 block on the west side Davis Street, you may notice something particularly peculiar about the venue that sits on lot 828. At first glance, you will see a tattered building that shells what may have been a forgotten afterthought, abandoned in the midst of what perhaps was meant to be an idea. You may not further heed its quaintness, and will write it off as an empty nest. But you see, inside an oyster, sometimes there is a pearl. And inside 828, is something just as precious and rare: Bar 828.
Pretty pictures of pretty pop-up bar below.
Continue reading "Bar 828–A Fleeting Speakeasy in Oak Cliff"
11 Comments »McDonald’s Brings Back the McRib?
McRib? Wie viel würze passt in einen burger!
Huh? Hasn’t this icky boneless mystery meat sandwich already had more comebacks than Donny and Marie? According to this, they’re rolling out the old queen on November 14. One interesting note in the story is that Germany is the only place where it’s always been available. WTF? Germany? McRib? Do you people eat this stuff? Food snobs speak up!
8 Comments »Trader Joe’s a Go in Fort Worth?
According to Teresa Gubbins, the Dallas Business Journal is reporting they “unearthed a unearthed a sales tax application” for Trader Joe’s No. 404 at 2701 S. Hulen Street in Fort Worth. Whew! I bet Bud Kennedy is going nuts!
9 Comments »Somebody Help This Poor Boy: Chili in Dallas
It’s time for our yearly chili roundup. Here is a plea from a Rangers-loving Disher, the best kind!
Hi Nancy, hope this finds you doing well this morning (hey, the Rangers are up 3-2…how could you be anything but fine?). Cold weather is imminent! Would like to know your (or your readers) recommendations for who’s got the best chili in Dallas. I’ve waited about 8 months to be able to even ask this question. Many thanks in advance.
I won’t answer his question about being fine until my statement is approved by my therapist. In the meantime, tell him where to find some. GO RANGERS!
22 Comments »Subscribe
SideDish is a food-related discussion among editors at D Magazine about the Dallas-Fort Worth dining scene -- everything from good meals to bad service, kitchen gossip to restaurant news, chefs' secrets to culinary trends. Bon appetit.
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