Sweet Face: Chef Mansour Gorji.

I’ll be quick and to the point: Canary By Gorji is the most underrated restaurant in Dallas. Every time I eat there I am seduced by the creative cooking and I fall in love with Chef Mansour Gorji.

I took my family to Canary By Gorji  for dinner last night and we had a comfortable, laid-back dining experience. (I don’t have pictures because I didn’t use my cell phone.) The music, service, food, and atmosphere all work together to produce a calm atmosphere. We left happy and I didn’t feel like I’d just worked a review.

If you’ve eaten at this small, mostly Mediterranean-inspired restaurant, you have met Gorji. When he isn’t at a market buying fresh ingredients, he is in his kitchen creating unique dishes or visiting with customers. He was the first chef to champion the pomegranate, which he still uses as a garnish on steaks and in sauces. Last night, I devoured a celery root (trending!) and carrot salad that was so fresh it tasted like it was just plucked from the garden. The filleted trout served with a just a touch of white wine and lemon sauce is topped with tart barberries and capers. His food is so clean; so delicious. My mother claimed the pork chop as “the best she’s ever eaten.”

Gorji is a hard working chef. Not only does he cook every night, he supports local charities and produces a line of products which are sold online and in local stores. I’ve never seen him without a smile and a good-natured laugh. Go visit him. He will dazzle your taste buds and your heart.

Anybody have some suggestions for the former employees when it comes tax time? We never received check stubs or info on the taxes taken out of them, that is when we did get them and they didn’t bounce.

I contacted Gregory P. Williams, a CPA with Restaurant CFO Partners in Plano. He has a lot of answers. They are below. I’ve also included his contact information if you have more questions.

Here’s Greg:

Good question!  Below are the official IRS procedures to follow in this situation.  Even in bankruptcy, employers generally send out W-2’s.  If this is not the case in this situation, then I anticipate that the employee will have to follow procedures 2 & 3 and estimate their earnings.

If you haven’t received your W-2, follow these four steps:

1. Contact your employer -If you have not received your W-2, contact your employer to inquire if and when the W-2 was mailed. If it was mailed, it may have been returned to the employer because of an incorrect or incomplete address. After contacting the employer, allow a reasonable amount of time for them to resend or to issue the W-2.

2. Contact the IRS –  If you do not receive your W-2 by February 14th, contact the IRS for assistance at 800-829-1040. When you call, you must provide your name, address, city and state, including zip code, Social Security number, phone number and have the following information:

• Employer’s name, address, city and state, including zip code and phone number

• Dates of employment

• An estimate of the wages you earned, the federal income tax withheld, and when you worked for that employer during 2010. The estimate should be based on year-to-date information from your final pay stub or leave-and-earnings statement, if possible.

3. File your return – You still must file your tax return or request an extension to file April 16, 2012, even if you do not receive your Form W-2. If you have not received your Form W-2 by the due date, and have completed steps 1 and 2, you may use Form 4852, Substitute for Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. Attach Form 4852 to the return, estimating income and withholding taxes as accurately as possible.  There may be a delay in any refund due while the information is verified.

4. File a Form 1040X – On occasion, you may receive your missing W-2 after you filed your return using Form 4852, and the information may be different from what you reported on your return. If this happens, you must amend your return by filing a Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.

Gregory P. Williams

Restaurant CFO Partners

701 E. 15th Street

Suite 201

Plano, TX 75074

Tel: 972-633-8999

Tall toques and toddlers: good or bad idea?

Lots of chinwagging taking place in the webosphere. Fine dining restaurants, such as this place in Pennsylvania, are banning children under six years of age. I tend to dine early and have witnessed children who squeal and squirm while their parents sip wine and attempt to enjoy a fine meal. I believe it is a good practice to take children into fine dining restaurant. It’s important to learn manners at an early age. The only time it chaps my sass is when the parents don’t reprimand their misbehaving offspring or take charge of the situation. Take this recent example from a loyal Disher.

Jump for the shrilling report.

So I went to a restaurant because it is intimate, romantic, and adult. So why were there two tables with three year old (or younger) kids? One table was dining early – and they only had one child which was very, very well behaved. But about halfway through our meal (7:30ish) two couples came in with their two toddlers and were seated in the dining room. One mom whips out a bag of cooked, plain spaghetti and plops some on each kid’s bread plate, then another bag appears with sliced fruit. One kid won’t share the apple, the moms are trying to work it out, the dad’s are oblivious, or ignorant, continuing their conversation with their heads bent down, One kid wants out of her high chair, badly, and mom’s trying to coax her to stay, in the meantime sticky spaghetti is falling from the plate onto the floor. Every mom’s nightmare – it doesn’t work – and the kid erupts with about 6 shrill LOUD screams.

The dining room stops. The older couple seated to our left have sunk about a foot lower in their chairs, grasping their wines glasses with whitened knuckles. The parents glance over and with embarrassed shrugs kind of throw out an I’m sorry in the general direction of everyone else. The dads just smile, nod, and continue their discussion, going back to ignoring the moms and kids.

Yow. Zah. What is the solution? I think it should be left up to the parents. If I were one, I wouldn’t be happy if my kids were banned from restaurants. I’m still waiting to be able to take my dog to the French Room.

I’ve been traveling for work quite a bit lately, and I want to take my wife to dinner on Saturday night.  I’d like for it to be nice, but more importantly it needs to be intimate.  We need to be able to have a quiet conversation and enjoy each other’s company.  Any suggestions?