Articles about Procrastination is part of the creative process
Let’s Play: Three Degrees of Dean Fearing
Last night, Amy Severson couldn’t sleep. She turned on the light, grabbed a pen and paper, and started doodling.
First, a few things to disclose. I talked to Dean Fearing’s about this endeavor because my memory isn’t what it used to be. Second, when you see “Sfuzzi,” it refers to the original, not the current (for the youngsters in the audience). Third, I know there are bound to be errors, too bad. This was the best I could do at 3:30 in the morning. Fourth, I have tried to update locations, but some are questionable, thus the “?”
Remember this chart is the first draft of a larger project. Looking forward to adding more names and connections.
Get Ready for New Groovy Swag at the State Fair of Texas
Get it? Corn dog. Hah!
Here is a preview of some of the hip new t-shirts carnival workers will be wearing when the Texas State Fair opens on Friday. They were designed by the Belmont Icehouse in Deep Ellum. They will be available for purchase.
Continue reading "Get Ready for New Groovy Swag at the State Fair of Texas"
4 Comments »Chew on This: Seating, or Not Seating, Incomplete Parties
I understand why some restaurants are reluctant to seat incomplete parties. Sometimes the rest of the party doesn’t show up and the restaurant is left with a deuce at a four-top during the dinner rush. Lost revenue on valuable real estate. Allowing two people to sit while they wait for another couple can also throw the pace of service off: two separate drink orders and/or two different water pours. If a restaurant is busy, they have to remain firm on this policy. I get it.
However, a few weeks ago my mother and I showed up at a small restaurant for a 5:30PM reservation. We were on time, but our other two friends had called to say they would be 15 minutes late. I told the hostess our situation. She told us she would seat us when our party was complete. The restaurant was empty. Oh, sorry, there was one two-top in the back. The hostess handed us menus and walked away. A few minutes later, I broke up a conversation between said hostess and a server and asked if we could order a glass of wine. She brought us the wine. We stood for 18 minutes with a menu in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. No other diners entered the restaurant. When our tardy party arrived, we were escorted four steps to our table.
Restaurateurs, tell us why this is right or wrong.
Dishers, tell me some similar stories.
21 Comments »The Cedars Social Hosts Battle of French 75
WTF is a Battle of French 75 you ask? Good question. Hark, here’s a press release to answer the burning question.
The Cedars Social is competing in a hand selected state-wide cocktail competition to see which cocktail bar can sell the most French 75’s, using either Citadelle Gin or Pierre Ferrand Cognac. Created in 1915 at the Paris landmark, Harry’s New York Bar by barman Harry MacElhone, the classic cocktail of champagne, lemon juice, and gin (or cognac) was said to have such a kick that it felt like being shelled with the powerful French 75mm howitzer artillery. The Lone Star State’s four largest cities are being represented by a cocktail bar: Anvil Bar & Refuge in Houston, Esquire Tavern in San Antonio, Second Bar + Kitchen in Austin and our very own Cedars Social in Dallas.
Really? People pay to feel like they’ve been shelled with powerful French 75mm howitzer artillery? That’s awesome cuz right about now, I would pay to shoot a French 75mm howitzer at a few things. (I said things.) If you want to watch, the contest is tonight at The Cedars Social from 3PM to 2AM. $5 for French 75 cocktails. I call that a bargain. 214 928.7700.
Former Dallas Observer Dining Critic Hanna Raskin is Off Her Rocker
Earlier this morning, I received a link to a Seattle Weekly blog post written by former Dallas Observer “critic” Hanna “Sudafed” Raskin and planned to write a rebuttal. Eater “Up at Dawn” Dallas beat me to the punch. However, I would like to throw a few more. Her post– “Professional Food Critics Not Needed in Portland”– is embarrassingly amateur. Read it, I’ll wait.
This quick assessment from a professional food critic who reviewed Dallas restaurants while taking copious amounts of sinus medication? After my ENT doctor read about Raskin’s sinus problems, he called me and said: “She had no business reviewing restaurants. Her palate was dead.” If I were a restaurateur who was reviewed during her reign, I’d be demanding a redo. No wonder she called Dallas a “dining nowhereville.” She wasn’t able to taste anything. She blathers on:
I shouldn’t be surprised that the imagined relationship between rigorous professional criticism and good food doesn’t hold up. I moved here from Dallas, a city that’s covered ruthlessly by established food critics, including the Dallas Morning News‘ Leslie Brenner, D Magazine‘s Nancy Nichols, and Texas Monthly‘s Pat Sharpe. The food there isn’t any better for it.
Hanna, you take one trip to Portland and declare “Portland appears to have entered the post-professional critic era, and the food scene hasn’t suffered.” Oh my. I need a Xanax. Writers in Portland were sadly laid off by print publications. Raskin should be next.
21 Comments »Things I’m Finally Getting Around To: The Egyptian
You know those people who have done (and are experts in) everything, eaten at every restaurant (both when it was new and recently), and knew all about every local political scandal (before it happened)? I’m not one of those people. In fact, I’m totally fine with admitting that there are more than a few local institutions that I just haven’t gotten around to visiting yet.
I was thinking about this today at lunch when I was seated in one of the squeaky, red booths at Campisi’s: The Egyptian, chowing down on a combo plate of spaghetti & meatballs, ravioli, and manicotti. Surely, I’m not the only one. Even the most native among us has some Dallas standby that they’ve never gotten around to visiting—like the Christmas windows at Neiman’s downtown—or maybe you finally got around to having a sandwich at Jimmy’s and can’t believe it took you so long. No judgment.
It’s Friday afternoon. Let’s procrastinate together in the comments section…
7-Eleven Stores Celebrate Their only 7-11-11 Birthday this Century with Free Slurpee
Get your Slurpees for nothing. Free chicks not included.
Who likes free? Who likes Slurpees? Who likes free Slurpees? If you answered yes to any of the questions above, I’ve got a deal for you. Actually, 7-Eleven does. Take it away corporate office:
7-Eleven Inc.’s 84th birthday on July 11th, aka 7-Eleven Day, participating 7-Eleven® stores across the nation will celebrate by giving customers a free 7.11-oz size Slurpee® beverage. As a special birthday treat, a select 7-Eleven store in Dallas also will hold a series of competitions, including timed Slurpee-drinking contests, one-minute 7-Eleven-themed challenges and a Twitter popularity contest. Winners will be rewarded with exclusive 7-Eleven prizes.
More surprises below! Go. Continue reading "7-Eleven Stores Celebrate Their only 7-11-11 Birthday this Century with Free Slurpee"
2 Comments »Quick Rant: Worst Name for a Restaurant in Dallas
So I’m reading through a zillion press releases and I come across an older one from the new restaurant in Renaissance Hotel, the building near the Dallas Market Center that, to me, resembles an aerosol air freshner. It’s swanky looking place, and its “farm to fire” cuisine may be the best farm to fire cuisine ever trucked from a farm to a fire, the name of the place does not make me hungry.
Asador.
I know, now, it’s Spanish for grill but still, come on. Really? Anybody else unhappy with the name of a restaurant?
29 Comments »Something’s Brewing: I’m Talking to You Stephan Pyles
Pyles does the TwitterBug in Buffalo Gap earlier this spring.
I spent the whole weekend in front of my computer. That doesn’t mean I was working the whole time—I should have been—but a lot of the time I performed many other important tasks such as checking updates on TMZ, Facebook, and “the fightin’ SideDish followers” on Twitter.
Anywhoo, two names kept popping up in my Twitter @box: @chefpyles (as in Stephan) and @beyondthekit (chef David Gilbert. Remember him!). They were in Santa Fe together and eating all over town. Now, I wasn’t born yesterday, I was born 21,389 days ago, so I have a little experience in predicting what the mischievous behavior of these two chefs means. I’m feeling bold enough to predict Pyles has a new restaurant in the works and he’s grooming David Gilbert to be his chef. Perhaps the Southwestern will rise again! But that’s just me. I could be wrong. It’s happened.
4 Comments »Reader With Many Questions: In-N-Out, Dough, Italian Restaurant in Preston Royal
I’m on deadline today so I thought it would be the perfect time to spend an hour researching the questions sent in by a semi-loyal SideDish reader. She asks:
Nancy — could you please clarify the In-n-Out locations coming to Dallas?? There have been reports that one is going up on Midway and LBJ (mainly from the Preston Hollow blog) but that wouldn’t make sense if there is one going up at LBJ and Coit too — can you clarify on sidedish? Also- any update on Dough or the restaurant going up on the Popolos space?
I’m on it. I know Dough is delayed. I’ve seen In-N-Out signs at Beltline @Tollroad and Montfort @LBJ. Popolos space will be Italian. Be back soon with more. If you’ve seen In-N-Out signs, report below. If you have other questions, feel free to send them to me. (My editor, Timmy, will love reading this.)
UPITTY DATE: Well, welcome to the real-time world of restaurant reporting. I contacted every entity above more than 24 hours ago. After another round of calls, here is what I’ve got.
This note from In-N-Out:
Hi Nancy,
Thank you for your email. Here are the sites that are currently under construction:
7940 N. Central Expressway.Dallas, TX 75206; 7909 LBJ Freeway Dallas, TX 75251; 2900 West 7th Street Fort Worth, TX 76107; 1075 West I-20 Arlington, TX 76017; 6501 North MacArthur Blvd. Irving, TX 75039. Thanks again for your interest in In-N-Out Burger.
She wouldn’t confirm sites with signs, only those under construction. Whatevs, growing weary of chasing burger joints.
Old Popolos Space: Rustic Italian with chef Kevin Ascolese to open the 3rd week of August. NO NAME YET. It will not be Ferre.
Dough Pizzeria Napoletana: Will open in Preston Forest mid-July.
19 Comments »Over It: Cute Food Trend Needs to Disappear
Humiliating Presentation: This poor little lamb flew all the way from New Zealand to have a stick shoved in its leg?
I hate rain-delayed baseball games. Especially those with 11:20PM starting times, torrential rain and hail, and tornado warnings. I like my sleep and I like the Rangers to win.
With a crabby demeanor, I begin today by tossing a rock at what I call “cute food.” I’m talking sliders, $5 cupcakes, cupcakes in a jar, mac and cheese in little iron skillets, cake balls (pops), lamb called lollipops, pickles on top of gourmet burgers, ad nauseum. These are a few of my least favorite things. Oh, and I’ll add chicken wings because they have no purpose on this earth. Your turn. Go.
39 Comments »Chef John Tesar to Appear on Extreme Chef
We’ve followed chef John Tesar from the refined confines of the Rosewood Mansion to a cocktail den in South Side to upscale burger joint in One Arts Plaza. It only seems logical go travel along with him to a mountain in the wilderness. Huh? Ever the clever chef, Tesar is, once again, letting his freak flag fly. How high? Tesar is not spilling details other than he will be competing on a new Food Network show called Extreme Chef. He could be killing a live rattlesnake for breakfast or cooking a rabbit on a car engine, both of which I would pay to see live (especially the visual of this nerdy black glasses steaming up over a steaming radiator). But we’ll all have to wait until the show debuts on June 30.
The premise: “Each episode pushes three chefs to their physical and mental limits as they must adjust to extreme conditions and unpredictable curveballs such as swimming across a lake for ingredients and using a car engine as a makeshift stove.” The victorious chef pockets $10 grand which, after taxes, might be $5,000. Whatever, soon we have yet another Dallas chef on TV. I hope Tesar wins. He could flaunt his victory over Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern.
The first time I watched the trailer below, I thought it was a joke. It’s not. It’s reality. Excuse me while I open a can of Sterno for lunch.
FOOD NETWORK’S EXTREME CHEF SIZZLE by multivu
Random Act on SideDish: You Want to be a Food Blogger?
I was having dinner with some friends the other night who write a blog. They don’t do it because they want to, they do it because their company makes them. That usually isn’t the case with people who blog about food. Chances are people are motivated to blog about food because they are passionate about food and the cooking, baking, or eating of said food. Most food bloggers start out all warm and fuzzy and write until their fingers are done to a crisp. Slowly, they lose momentum. Why? Because it’s hard. Not just the writing, it’s tough to come up with fresh ideas and new words to describe fish without using succulent forty ways to Sunday. Once you write a blog, learn how to take pictures, and conquer whatever program you are attempting to post from, you’d probably like to get someone outside of your immediate circle of friends and family to read it. Or maybe you’d like to make some money or get a book deal. If you figure any of that, please feel free to pass it along in the comments section.
Anywhoo, this morning I came across an interesting post on Sarah Henry’s Bay Area Bites blog. She offers advice for struggling (succulent) food bloggers. Henry maintains “talent and ideas count, so does experience, connections, timing, and, frankly, a bit of luck.”
To that I would add: have an opinion, get a good therapist, and find someone to sell you wine wholesale. Questions?
6 Comments »Mexican Bologna Smuggler Busted at the Border
I know, this little story I am about to tell you has nothing to do with Dallas other than the fact that I read DMN editor Bruce Tomaso’s post on Scoop.
According to Tomaso, whose witty reporting on the opening of In-N-Out Burger gave us the phrase “hot on fries,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized 385 pounds of contraband bologna. (Which is a good name for a band.) Tomaso infers implies “some people who come to the United States from Mexico prefer the flavor of their native bologna to the comparatively bland varieties found in American supermarkets.”
Which begs the question: Do Mexican bologna manufacturers have a secret ingredient we need to know about? Maybe Maple & Motor needs to get the word out on their stellar baloney sandwich. Oh, I have a joke on the edge of my tongue but I can’t type it. Feel free to fill in the blank.
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What Would Happen if Women Opened Restaurants With Male Body Parts as Themes
‘Scuse me while I saddle up my high horse. Am I the only woman who is concerned about the sudden surge in Breastaurants. I mean really 35 additional Twin Peaks? A bar opening in downtown called The Spread Eagle? Seriously boys? How would you like to take your daughter into one of the restaurant’s the gals in our office just conceptualized. We call them Peteries.
Ladies, the floor is open.
53 Comments »