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Il Cane Rosso’s Jay Jerrier Is Totally ’80s On ShopTalk

Eric Stoltz in Some Kind of Wonderful: just one of my '80s crushes.

Yesterday, over on ShopTalk (our sister blog about shopping, fashion, beauty, and other fun stuff), Rhonda Reinhart asked people to submit photos of themselves from the 1980’s. There might even be a prize for the best (worst?) photo. The example she used is of Eric Celeste, and it is pretty amazing. Okay, okay, what does this have to do with food? Jay Jerrier of Il Cane Rosso submitted his photo this morning. It.Is.Awesome. And there’s even some Ratt involved. Is it better than Eric’s? Discuss. And please, submit your own, if you dare.

Comfort Food In Dallas: What Comforts You

I am getting a little uncomfortable with the direction comfort food is taking. Can I blame it on the Gen Y population? Sure, why not. They don’t read SideDish. Gen Y’ers are more Britney than Julia.

While the overall trend in dining today is to eat sloooowly, the Gen Y’ers I know are more content to snack quickly. What happened to the good old days of turning on The Thorn Birds (before you knew Richard Chamberlain was gay), grabbing a spoon and a half gallon of ice cream, and eating the whole thing? Once, after I got turned down for what I thought was my dream job, I went back to my apartment, made a three-layer German chocolate cake, and ate every last crumb. Did I feel better? You betcha.

What is comfort food? At home it is one thing, but now restaurants are trying to comfort us in public. Take Kent Rathbun. (beat, beat…) He has gourmet comfort food. He isn’t alone; there are lots of folks making their mortgage payments by selling upscale mac and cheese. Isn’t gourmet comfort food an oxymoron? If you agree, then WTF is healthy comfort food? A lie? You betcha.

I was curious to see if there were any distinctive differences between generations when it came to constant cravings. I didn’t have to Google far to find this little salty tidbit. Jump with me. (more…)

SideDish Movie Screening In Dallas: Julie & Julia

Last night, the Dallas Museum of Art and Arts & Letters Live hosted a private screening of Julie & Julia. If I have to write even one sentence to describe what this movie is about, you might as well skip this post and go here.

Several Dishers attended, and I await their reviews below. I am not a movie reviewer, but the following is my Sybil-esque recap. (I say Sybil-esque because I had two strong and separate reactions to the film.)

Full disclosure: I have not read Julie Powell’s book or blog. I am extremely jealous of her rags-to-riches-by-blogging success. Also, other than Lions for Lambs, the movie she did with Tom Cruise, I have enjoyed watching every film Meryl Streep has ever made. (“I haaad a faaaarm in Aaaafricaaa…..” slays me every time.) Okay, here goes: (more…)

Olivella’s Pizza to D Magazine: “Hey, we’re still here!”

Olivella's margarita and truffle pizzas

Here is today’s Magazine 101 for all restaurateurs: we rotate our dining listings in D Magazine. We have to do it. The length of our dining master is too proud and great, and we can only publish so many pages per month. That means some issues you’ll see your humble cafe listed and others — poof! — gone like a cheap magic trick. I explain this because, without warning, the wonderful people at Olivella’s showed up today with pies in tow. They were worried that we thought they were closed. Not so, we assured them. This was just their month off. Their listing would be back next issue. We patted them on their backs, wished them a safe, dry day. And then we ate. Oh how we ate — ate with a hunger not seen since… well… the last time free food showed up in the office kitchen. If you saw our 401(k)s, you’d understand.

I Heart Pizza By Marco In Dallas

Thin crust pizza at Marco’s.

The other night I was invited over to my friend Beric’s house to watch the baseball All-Star Game. I must tell you that Beric is quite a food and baseball expert. He travels all of the time and is always sending out mass e-mails about a great meal he had in Seattle or a fabulous pizza place he discovered in Chicago. (He prefers to dine in American League cities.)

So, I was not surprised to find pizza on the menu for the baseball game watching festivities at Beric’s house. His wife, Jean, made a great spinach salad. They offered two thin crust pizzas from Marco’s in Preston Royal
plus a frozen Chicago-style deep dish mail pizza Beric had ordered from Lou Malnati’s, a place he loves in Chicago.

Mail order pizza from Lou Malnati’s in Chicago.

Pizza by Marco or Marco’s Pizza, whatever you call it, has been around since 1956. For years it was run by a group of nice Hispanic ladies with a huge collection of elephant statues. There were no places to sit—it was take-out and cash only. Now, according to Jean, you will find “just some kids” working the window and there are tables and chairs. Marco’s also has three other locations and a website.

But the thin crust pizza with green olives, mushrooms, onions, and jalapenos is still my go-to pie. And the frozen pizza, that had been in Beric’s freezer for six months, was pretty dang good—the thick crust is flaky and buttery like a sweet pie crust and the tomato sauce was heavy on the garlic. It was all gone before the first pitch. Luscher? Jerrier? Batter up.

Dear Alan Richman: Dallas Has Good Pizza

Okay, it’s no shocker that GQ’s list of the 25 best pizzas in America — it’s in the latest issue featuring cover boy Christian “I’m gonna kick your @#!#in’ arse!” Bale — is heavy on pies from New York. Chicago’s Great Lake takes the top spot. Detroit scored twice. Even Phoenix came in at No. 4. (Really? Phoenix?) And I’m not going to get all huffy, wailing toward the Conde Nast Building, “What about Dallas?!? Where’s the love?!?” Because lets be honest: we shouldn’t be on the list, should we? I mean, I love CoalVines bolognese pie, Eno’s cracker thin crusts, and anything from Campania. But I’ve never thought of Dallas as a pizza powerhouse. But I could be convinced otherwise. So, let’s hear it: Who has the best pizza in Dallas and should we contend for a spot on GQ’s Northeast heavy list? Comment away and may the best pie win.

Last Night at Times Ten Cellars: Pizza

It’s clear I’m no Chininis when it comes to food photography, but I took this one for you anyway at last night’s Il Cane Rosso/Times Ten Cellars mashup at Times Ten. This is a piece of the Special K, which is cherry tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella di bufala. The pizza was simple and delicious, the crust chewy and a bit sweet. Delish. Jay Jerrier had his oven set up outside Times Ten, and the waitresses run back and forth. This was not what I was expecting in my mind. I pictured Jay and crew making pizzas and serving them to guests…free…why did I think that? Anyway, it was still good fun, and it was so packed we waited about 30 minutes to get a table on the patio. It’s a fun scene, especially combined with plenty of wine. If you want to go, Il Cane Rosso will be there next Wednesday at 5:30, so you can get your fill. Next time I’m trying the fungi.

Disher TV Report: Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives: Louie’s in Dallas

Thanks to another eagle-eyed Disher for his report.

I wanted to make sure you knew that the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives” program aired an episode last night titled “Family Favorites” that included local watering hole/good food paradise Louie’s. The show Web site doesn’t mention Louie’s,  but instead includes a Fort Worth restaurant that I don’t think was included in the program that aired last night (I only caught the Louie’s segment).

The piece on Louie’s, which was the final segment in the show, focused on their pizzas, the “Don” sandwich (homemade steak burger smothered in onions and jalapenos with a slice of cheese and one piece of bacon sandwiched between rye bread), and the soon-to-be-famous mulligatawny soup, an Indian dish, heavy on the lamb, that the crew at Louie’s was inspired to make after the infamous “Soup Nazi” episode of Seinfeld. Louie Canalakes and his brother Chris, the head chef, were featured prominently in interviews with the show’s host, Guy Fieri.

I wasn’t at the bar last night, but I know they were watching, apparently along with everyone else since I couldn’t get through on the phone last night and got a call from my mom in Kentucky this morning who said she saw the show and is packing her bags for a trip to Dallas so she can try the food at Louie’s for herself.

And that’s the name of that tune.

UPDATE: PegNews reports Watauga’s Chef Point Cafe will appear on April 6th episode of DDD.

Monday Morning Lasagna

Look at that lasagna to the left. Don’t you just want to go face down in that pan? The picture was taken by David Brawley, a well-know Dallas baker and pastry instructor at Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts. (I can still taste the bread he made at Salve. R.I.P.) Anywhoo, Mr. Brawley, who also created the dough for pizza at Fireside Pies, trained at Antica Pizzeria in SoCal and the Associazone Verace Pizza Napoletana certified him as a maker of true Neapolitan pizza. Antica Pizzeria was the first restaurant in the US to bear the seal of approval of Verace Pizza Napoletana Association. Campania Pizza in Southlake and Cavalli Pizza in Irving are the only local spots with this distinction. Anywhoo, David Brawley sends us some food porn. And we love food porn. Perfect way to start any day.

Jay Jerrier’s Il Cane Rosso Comes to Times Ten Cellars

You know Jay Jerrier. He’s one of the dudes behind Campania Pizza, and he’s the one who is certified by the Associazone Verace Pizza Napoletana to make authentic Neapolitan pizza. Jay’s latest project is called Il Cane Rosso, and it’s coming to Lakewood’s Times Ten Cellars on March 4. Il Cane Rosso is an Italian, wood-fired oven that Jay put on a trailer so he can bring it to your party or event. He’ll make his awesome pizzas right on the spot for you and your guests, complete with 00 flour, San Marzano tomatoes, and house-made Fior de Latte. He’ll also be making foccacia and desserts. Come try it out at 5:30pm next Wednesday, or the one after that. He’ll be at Times Ten every Wednesday in March, “until the dough runs out,” as he says. Click here for the menu.

Can Somebody Help This Poor Guy: Deep Dish Pizza

A Denton-livin’ Dude left a message on my voice mail:

Hey, I used to love a place in Denton called The Flying Tomato. They made pizza I swear was almost 4 inches thick. There was a thin crust on the bottom and a thin crust on the top with all the goodies cooked inside. They closed two years ago. Is there anyplace in the area that serves a similar pie?

Hit it, pizza pros.