Kevin Marple | SideDish

Articles about Kevin Marple

People We Love: Chef and Restaurateur Kenny Bowers

posted by Jacie Scott | February 21st, 2013 11:55am | filed under BBQ, Celebrity Chefs, Kevin Marple, People we love | 4 Comments »

Kenny Bowers (photo by Kevin Hunter Marple)

The idea of wearing a suit everyday, making a ton of money, and exerting minimal energy sounds pretty appealing to most. Then there’s chef/restaurateur Kenny Bowers. He preferred to trade in that lifestyle for a chance to play with his food without judgment and a minivan with his face on the side.

Bowers is proving that stepping over the edge to do what you love combined with a little quirkiness creates a recipe for success. The native New Englander, who brought us Kenny’s Wood Fired Grill, Kenny’s Burger Joint, and Kenny’s Italian Kitchen, recently tacked on Kenny’s Smoke House to his empire. I met with him at the restaurant to pick his brain a little.

Jacie Scott: How did Kenny’s Smoke House come about?

Kenny Bowers: For the last 25 years, I did a lot of seafood. I did new American stuff at the Wood Grill and Italian. In New England and Boston, there’s no barbeque. So, when I came down here, I was fascinated with it because I didn’t know anything about it. I really became kind of obsessed with it.

Continue reading "People We Love: Chef and Restaurateur Kenny Bowers"

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Bon Appétit Features Two DFW Eateries in its “Top 50 Best New Restaurants of 2012″

posted by Carol Shih | August 9th, 2012 10:50am | filed under cake, Desiree Espada, GO TEXAN, Kevin Marple | 2 Comments »

by Desiree Espada

Holy cow, Bon Appétit just named Oak and Woodshed Smokehouse as two of its Top 50 Best New Restaurants of 2012. Oak comes in at #29, and this is what the magazine has to say about it:

This swanky Design District spot is home to what might be Big D’s most talented restaurant trio: chef Jason Maddy, pastry chef Sarah Green, and bartender Abraham Bedell. Expect global flavors with definite Germanic leanings—think schnitzel, strudel, and spaetzle.

LOOK FOR

Grilled Bandera quail; quark spaetzle; Gianduja chocolate panna cotta

WE LOVE

A huge oak tree outside the restaurant inspired the name and decor, including wallpaper and a projected tree image that changes with the seasons.

by Kevin Marple

Woodshed Smokehouse, which TG reviewed for this month’s issue, was #46. Bon Appétit completely forgot to mention the ramen that TG so loves. How could they?

You’ll know chef Tim Love’s latest spot by the dozens of picnic tables fronting on Fort Worth’s beautiful Trinity River trails. The open-air, waterfront restaurant does Texas ‘cue two ways: “Traditional Q” and “New Q”, with nods to Mexico. The food is monumental; bring a small village to help you out.

LOOK FOR

16-hour smoked beef shin; chicken skin tacos

WE LOVE

Curious about what’s in the smoker? Just check the flag flying at the entrance.

Congrats to our two photographers, Desiree Espada and Kevin Hunter Marple, for their featured photos in the article! SideDish+ Desiree + Kevin = 4eva.

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Restaurant Review: Woodshed Smokehouse in Fort Worth

posted by Nancy Nichols | July 24th, 2012 1:29pm | filed under 'Burbalicious, appetizers, BBQ, beer, I'm a sucker for a man in flannel, Kevin Marple, Restaurant News, Reviews, Skinny bitches | 3 Comments »

(clockwise from top left) Chef/owner Tim Love; beef ribs; smoked cauliflower photography by Kevin Marple.

This month, Teresa Gubbins reviews Tim Love’s newest restaurant, Woodshed Smokehouse.

Lulled by the scent of smoke, a circle of people huddles around a hunk of charred meat, agog. It’s a mighty beef shin, the bone jutting up amid blackened chunks of flesh, a carnivore’s feast heaped on a slab of wood. A maiden steps into the circle. Her name is Tiffany, and she wants to know if you need an extra napkin. At Woodshed Smokehouse, the new restaurant on the banks of the Trinity River in Fort Worth, celebrity chef Tim Love drags us back to our caveman days, invoking our primordial fascination with burning things. Everything is cooked via fire or smoke—no electricity, no stove-top braising—and the menu includes an “animal of the day.” It even goes so far as to identify menu items by the kind of wood used in their cooking: mesquite, hickory, oak, or pecan. Jump for goodness.

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Restaurant Review: Amici Signature Italian in Carrollton

posted by Nancy Nichols | June 26th, 2012 9:43am | filed under Dallas Italian, Kevin Marple, Reviews | 2 Comments »

Amici’s pork porterhouse and Bartolino Cocuzza. (Photography by Kevin Marple)

Don’t drive across town if you are jonesing for “authentic” Italian fare. Owner and chef Bartolino Cocuzza has Americanized his Italian food to fit his loyal customers. Cocuzza’s cooking is solid. The massive pork porterhouse, covered with a pile of mushrooms and onions, rises 3 inches from the plate. The perfectly pink center is moist, and firm mushrooms sautéed in port add an earthy essence. Country of origin be damned, I easily finished this formidable dish. We didn’t order the eclectic roast poblano pepper filled with shallots, garlic, shrimp, and Brie cheese in a red pepper coulis, but the couple sitting next to us told us it was their favorite dish. “I ate it yesterday for lunch,” he said. “I was sitting in your seat.”

Stay with me and then tell us if you’ve tried the rebuilt Amici…

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How To Avoid The Lines At In-N-Out Burger in Dallas

posted by Andrew Chalk | March 13th, 2012 10:18am | filed under Andrew Chalk, Burgers, Kevin Marple, Nutjobs | 9 Comments »

In-N-Out Burger, Pinole, California

I got sick of the long lines at the Frisco’s In-N-Out Burger location. It has become the only fast food place where I lose weight because of the time I spent queuing. I decided it would be quicker to fly to California, the ancestral home of In-N-Out, and eat at one in the land where residents consider it another fast food chain, not a place to worship an animal-style burger like a bunch of dazed zombies.

This is my new branch of In-N-Out. It is at the Pinole exit of I-80 (ICBM coordinates: 37.9894758, -122.3098301). For my In-N-Out induction I ordered a “double-double animal-style” ($3.25) along with fries animal style ($3.30) and a chocolate shake ($1.99). Let’s go through each: Continue reading "How To Avoid The Lines At In-N-Out Burger in Dallas"

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Dallas Food Porn: Malai Thai-Vietnamese Kitchen

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

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.

Dallas Food Porn: Lucia by Kevin Marple

posted by Nancy Nichols | November 23rd, 2011 10:32am | filed under Food Porn, Kevin Marple | 6 Comments »

: Lucia’s Buttermilk Panna Cotta with fig sorbetto photography by Kevin Marple.

6 Comments »

Restaurant Review: New Herrera’s Café on Maple Avenue

posted by Nancy Nichols | September 27th, 2011 12:00pm | filed under Kevin Marple, Mistakes I made, Nostalgia, Not-so-skinny bitches, questionable judgment, Restaurant News, Reviews, Tex-Mex | 3 Comments »

New Herrera's on Maple. (photo by Kevin Marple)

In 1971, I spent most of my Sunday mornings in a line around the original Herrera’s on Maple Avenue. My friends and I would sit under a dripping window AC unit for hours, waiting for our turn at one of the nine tables inside the tiny, lard-based Tex-Mex restaurant. Once seated, you popped open the six-pack of Coors you brought with you and watched founder Amelia Herrera hand-pat flour tortillas by the front door. The food was such a religious experience for me that, 17 years later, I got married at Herrera’s, which by then had moved into a bigger building across the street and expanded into more locations all over Dallas. Recently, they moved into a newer building down Maple.

Jump for more.

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Where to Get Your Pho Fix in Dallas

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

(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.

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Restaurant Review: Komali in Dallas

posted by Nancy Nichols | June 24th, 2011 11:30am | filed under Kevin Marple, Regional Mexican Cuisine, Restaurant News, Reviews | 5 Comments »

The best sapper ceviche; the best smile in Dallas. Both by chef Abraham Salum. Photography by Kevin Marple.

Dallas, it’s time to wake up and taste the mole. For too many years, you’ve treated any dish served with a mole as if it were an infectious disease. Perhaps poor misunderstood mole needs a Facebook page to get you to like it. Once you’re friends, you can dig deeper into its profile and get familiar with not just mole’s complex personality but some of Mexico’s other spirited ingredients.

You will learn the word “mole” is simply a Spanish term for sauce. Almost every city, town, or street vendor on the plaza of a village has its own variety of mole rooted in the local culture. There are red, yellow, green, rusty brown, and black moles, each a unique concoction started with rehydrated chiles (traditionally a combination of pasilla, ancho, and cascabel) that are thickened with ground nuts, seeds, corn, or bread and seasoned with dozens of herbs. Some moles are based on sweet-and-tangy tomatoes or poblano peppers; others are invigorated by raisins or plums. The dark, dense, and intense mole negro from Oaxaca leaves a mysterious hint of unsweetened chocolate on the palate.

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