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Good News For Healthy Diners: UFood Grill and Urban Taco in Dallas

From the copy and paste good news press release department:

Gina Puente-Brancato, Chief Executive Officer of Puente-Brancato Enterprises, announced today that her company will open UFood Grill and Urban Taco restaurants in Dallas County’s Parkland Memorial Hospital. Currently PBE owns and operates UFood Grill and Urban Taco locations, and 20 other businesses, in Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW).

UFood Grill, which serves no fried food, is a natural for hospitals looking to provide diners with a quick-service restaurant offering “better-for-you” versions of traditional favorites, such as chicken wraps, whole grain rice bowls and specialty salads. Urban Taco, a modern Mexican taqueria, has been enhanced to serve authentic Mexican favorites with more nutritional balance.

Using all fresh ingredients, the menu includes items such as salads, urban tacos, and Mexico City tortas. PBE is hiring more than 100 positions for the two restaurants before their December 1st, 2009 openings. PBE is continually searching for “difference makers” who enjoy a smaller, fast-paced organization that recognizes individual contributions and fresh, new ideas. The company is hiring everything from cooks to cashiers, food preps, administrative, utility and management personnel. Interested applicants should call 972-574-6227 or email jobs@pbedfw.com.

Quick Lunch Review: The Chocolate Angel In Dallas

Watch your back, Celebrity Bakery. Here comes The Chocolate Angel. Two sisters, Sherrie McCall and Marcia Clingon, have turned their wholesale fudge operation into four locations of The Chocolate Angel, a bakery, café, and tearoom.

I was shocked to open the door of the location in Preston Forest–the room was full of women. The only men in the space were behind the counter. The menu consists of soups, salads, sandwiches, a quiche of the day, and baked goods. (The Richardson location serves afternoon tea from 3:30-5:30 p.m.) The Chocolate Angel feels a lot like Celebrity Bakery except when you are stand over the cookie case waiting to order, you don’t faint from sticker shock: lemon bars are $1.00, Neiman-Marcus recipe chocolate chip cookies are 85 cents, and cupcakes are $2.75.

JC and I were jonsing for cheese and cheese we did find. She went for the four-cheese sandwich sprinkled with garlic salt and grilled between two thin slices of sourdough. We were so hungry we forgot to ask which four cheeses were melted together. (more…)

Someone Help This Poor Girl: Vegan Lunch In Plano

Nancy received this SOS late last night:

My friend Stacey has a friend from college coming to Plano this week on business for a short stay.  Although we are both close to being vegetarians, we are lost on this one.  My first suggestion was Dallas, but when I found out she only had time for lunch…I was lost!

IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE???  Please Help!!!

Dotty Griffith: Get Well Soon

Former DMN dining critic, Dotty Griffith who now lives in Austin, had hip replacement surgery yesterday. She will be in the hospital until Thursday. If you’d like to leave her a note, please do so below. if you live in Austin and would like to volunteer a meal or a bottle off wine, drop me an e-mail and I’ll give you details.

Can Blueprint Cleanse Satisfy a Foodie?

I have a friend in New York who told me about Blueprint Cleanse, which is being called “the cleanse for foodies.” There’s nothing new about the concept of cleansing, but this company has made it more flexible and accessible to the masses with its raw food juices–and they deliver. They use organic ingredients wherever possible, and the juices are more than just water, lemon, and cayenne pepper. We’re talking pineapple, apple, and mint; raw cashews, vanilla bean, and cinammon; and what I like to call the lawn in a blender–romaine, celery, cucumber, kale, parsley, green apple, spinach, and lemon. Anyway, I did the cleanse for three days this week. I admit that some of the juices even excited my palate. Today is my first day back on solid foods. Am I excited? You bet. But I’m also inspired to fill my body with good foods and perhaps stay away from those combination plates at Ojeda’s. At least for a while.