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Il Frateli v City of Coppell

From the copy and paste press release department:

Huge Fine for Holding a Sign? Coppell Official’s Harassment Causes Layoffs.

i Fratelli Pizza feels “chilling effect” through unprovoked vendetta

COPPELL, TX   Did a Coppell City official lean on a code enforcement officer to fine the manager of a locally owned i Fratelli Pizza $2,000.00 because there was a lone employee holding a sign in front of the store? (more…)

The State of Food Journalism and Print Media: Hold on to Your Effin Hat

Technically I am on vacation this week, but I cannot relax. The demise of Gourmet coupled with Robb Walsh’s recent reveal that he will no longer remain anonymous makes me sad and nervous. Sure, they are two separate issues, but combined they illustrate that the business of writing about food and reviewing restaurants is changing. Fast.

This morning, Russ Parsons of the Los Angeles Times has an interesting story: Apres Gourmet: Food magazines find their niches. Parsons interviews Robert Boynton, director of the literary reportage program at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University. Boynton says:

“I think of Gourmet closing as part of the bigger story of the demise of the general interest magazine. It was the closest thing the food world had to a Life or Saturday Evening Post. But in publishing today, it has become easier and more profitable to disaggregate or divide up readership into small groups.”

Jump from the ledge with me, please.

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Dining Critics and Anonymity: Does it Really Matter Anymore?

Sometimes you feel like a duck. Sometimes you don’t.

I find it interesting that two high-profile dining critics are changing their tune about the importance of remaining anonymous. Maybe it’s because they are no longer high-profile dining critics. Former New York Times dining critics Ruth Reichl and Frank Bruni have been giving interviews with quotes such as these:

“Dining companions are not good covert operations agents,” Bruni says. It’s one of the many reasons Bruni no longer feels restaurant critics can remain anonymous.

Is Bruni paving the way for his successor Sam Sifton? Before Sifton took over as the Times critic, he was the cultural news editor and deputy dining editor. His head shot was plastered all over the paper and the web. Sifton was forced into wearing disguises before he wrote his first lead review.

I believe anonymity is important—I have a closet full of clothes, glasses, and wigs to prove it. As a magazine editor, I have interviewed a lot of chefs in Dallas. I have even traveled with a few to do feature stories. As a dining critic, I have managed to slip past them in their restaurants and review them. (Hi Avner! Hi Dean!) That said, even when I am recognized (Hi, Kent!), which is not very often, it doesn’t always guarantee the restaurant will provide a perfect dining experience. Just because there is a dining critic in a restaurant doesn’t make the chef a better chef or the menu a better menu. Service might step up a notch, but it has been my experience that servers overcompensate and make more mistakes when they know they are serving a critic.

Most restaurant critics don’t get busted by personal appearance, they are outed by their behavior. Asking too many questions upfront and ordering too much food are dead giveaways to perceptive servers. A critic also has to be careful what they say at the table. You never know who is sitting next to you or what they will say to the manager, chef, or owner.

Servers, what do you think? Chefs? Fire away. Dishers, take your best shot.

(BTW, love this.)

What The Grape’s Brian Luscher Thinks About Dining Critics

Bend over and click here. Luscher, I thought you’d hit harder than that. You take your strongest stance on cell phone cameras? You say, “Taking scalps just because you have a hatchet isn’t the same as writing a fair review.” Are you talking about bloggers or paid dining critics? Come on, let’s rumble. Get Faries (”State” Fairies), Brenner, and Teegster over here.

Conde Nast to Close Gourmet Magazine

Read all about it here. I cannot believe this decision. Apparently they had to choose either Gourmet or Bon Appetit, so most people thought it would be Bon Ap, considering, oh, Gourmet has been around for 68 years, and Ruth Reichl is food world royalty (waiting to hear what she has to say on twitter). This is a sad day.

UPDATE: I just read this on Twitter: ruthreichl Thank you all SO much for this outpouring of support. It means a lot. Sorry not to be posting now, but I’m packing. We’re all stunned, sad.16 minutes ago . (NN)

Is the City of Dallas Health Department Shutting Down Local Farmers Markets?

I’ve been hearing rumors for weeks that city officials were making the rounds and visiting the small farmers markets that have cropped up in spots such as Celebration, Bolsa, and North Haven Gardens. Now comes official word from Ed Lowe of Celebration. They have shut him down and he’s going to the Dallas City Council.

The City of Dallas Health Department has decided that the Celebration Farmers Market is in violation of certain codes. Celebration was told on 2 previous occasions that we could operate a Farmers Market in our parking lot under our existing permits. We strongly believe that all food handling practices and food products at the Farmers Market were perfectly safe. We have complied strictly with all Health Department codes for 38 years and take our responsibility to public health VERY SERIOUSLY.

We appreciate the warm welcome and support that you’ve provided our Saturday Farmers Market. We believe that what we along with our wonderful vendors are offering is a safe, fun and convenient setting for you to purchase healthy, delicious, local produce and other products.

We are going to approach the Dallas City Council to explore how the code can be modified to allow the Celebration Farmers Markets and others like us to provide a valuable service to the citizens of Dallas while protecting the public health.

I have contacted Ed and asked him for instructions on how you can sign the petition he plans to take to the Dallas City Council. Stay tuned. (OMG, I can hear Amy Severson already.)

Re: Greek Food Festival in Dallas Starts on Friday

Once again, SideDishers have proved to be a tough—and, dare I say, slightly over-critical—crowd. I read the comments about the Greek Food Festival. I mean, it’s not like Holy Trinity is a restaurant, people! It’s a church! The food and pastry is made by volunteers who toil away for weeks in preparation for this, the biggest church fundraiser of the year. I suggest that you try to feed thousands of people at a time, and see how well you do. IJS. The festival is meant to be a celebration of Greek culture and food–not the most amazing culinary experience of your life. Is the fenekia as good as my my nouna’s? No. Is the baklava as good as mine? Of course not. (Then again, neither my nouna nor I has attempted to make thousands of pastries. I bet even ours would suffer in those kinds of quantities.) But will you have a good time–either on a date, with friends, or with your kids? Most certainly. Perhaps your “reviews” are best reserved for a real dining establishment.

P.S. Yes, I’ve been known to attend Holy Trinity from time to time. But I’m not coming to the defense of my people for personal reasons. I’m defending the hundreds of volunteers who are just trying to serve their community and do a good thing for the church. How can you find fault with that?

Does Dallas Need Another $16 Burger?

Smoke's $16 burger

Full disclosure: I’m a Cliffdweller and love/hate that the 75225 crowd have discovered how cool life south of the Trinity can be. (Overheard one night at Bolsa: “Oh my gawd! Look at that taco hut across the street, y’all. Have you ever seen so many in your life?” So many what? You figure it out.) That said, I was stoked that the Bolsa owners and chef/co-owner Tim Byres took over Cliff Cafe — a decent hotel restaurant at The Belmont — and reimagined it as a frou frou smokehouse. So, far I’ve been loving the meats (sweet paprika and fennel seed sausage = savory goodness) and breakfast (my new favorite home for biscuits and gravy) at Smoke. But the EB&D Loaded Up and Truckin’ burger is almost as ridiculous as its name: Burgundy beef (so far, so good) topped with bacon, a farm egg fritter, sharp cheddar, onion, tomato, and lettuce all on a griddled honey bun. Two bites into it, my hands were dripping with meat juices and egg yolk, my jaw hurt, and I admitted defeat. It was simply too much of everything. Dissecting the burger, I appreciated the well seasoned beef patty cooked a perfect medium as well as the lightly fried poached egg. But bacon on a burger needs to be crisp. This was thick cut and, alas, flabby. For $16, it was an orgy of competing tastes and textures my mouth couldn’t appreciate. Nor do I appreciate this burger trend of piling everything between two buns, charging almost $20 for it, and declaring it “gourmet.” No. Gourmet is a burger where I can actually taste and savor the beef. So far, I really like Smoke. But this burger bugged me. Am I alone on this issue, SideDishers?

Federal Government Wants You to Lose Weight and They Want to Control Your Calorie Intake

How many of you are aware of Bill 2726, a federal act aimed at chain restaurants with “at least 20” outlets to post calorie facts in plain view on their menus? If they don’t they get fined up to $1,000 per offense. The bill has already passed in California and Oregon and is currently before Congress.
Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that Dallas-based Romano’s Macaroni Grill CEO Brad Blum is trying to get ahead of the game by reworking the calorie content of the chain’s food. Last January their 1,630-calorie dessert ravioli was rated “worst dessert in America” by Men’s Health magazine. The call out has nothing to do with how the dessert tastes, just that it has so many calories.
So, what does this all mean to you dear Dishers? It means you get to share your opinion on whether or not this is a good thing. Is it fair that the chain restaurants have to cut calories while the independents don’t? In the WSJ article one Chicago restaurant consult blames the downward trend in casual dining sales on consumers who choose to eat healthier food at home. Ah, I don’t agree with that. What is to keep people from ordering two?

Restaurant Reviews: When is it “Legal” to Review a New Restaurant?

“Talking to myself and feeling old/Sometimes I’d like to quit/Nothing ever seems to fit/Hangin’ around, nothing to do but frown/Rainy days and Mondays always get me down”—The Carpenters

I am feeling so Karen Carpenter today. Not skinny, just beat down. It all started on Saturday when I ended up in lengthy conversation with a veteran Dallas restaurateur on the “rules” surrounding a restaurant review. He/She shall remain nameless.

Anywhoo, He/She had a (loud) question for me: “Hey, since when did it become okay for a restaurant critic to review a restaurant during the first week of operation?” I had no idea what He/She was talking about so I asked, “What do you mean.” He/She raged on incredulously: “Well Leslie Brenner went to Park the first week it opened and based a lot of her review on what happened during the first week.”

“Whoa, hold on,” I said. “I have not read Brenner’s review because I have not written mine. Until I do, I’m not comfortable talking about it.”

“Well, then let’s make this a hypothetical case,” He/She said. “When do you consider it fair to go into a new restaurant and judge it?” My first reaction was to say as long as a restaurant charges a full price, they are fair game. However, I knew that I was dealing with a seasoned restaurateur who was ready to shoot down that standard line so I said boldly, “Whenever the restaurant charges a customer a full price, they are fair game.” (Jump here.) (more…)

Is there a Decent Gai in Dallas?

Nancy is away and so like a fat little gnome, I’m seizing her keyboard, making stupid puns and trying to quench my own food cravings.

About a year ago, I started to read the book, the United States of Arugula, the first sentence of which included a reference to author David Kamp having a “rapturous food memory” of some “Cantonese lobster dish unveiled from beneath a dome in some dimly lit place with a name like Jade Pagoda.”

I never made it all the way through the book, but the sentence stays with me to this day. It has conjured a craving that I can’t seem to quence in Dallas. Mainly it is this: I want to revisit the ’70s and relive a “rapturous food memory,” by having a waiter in some dimly lit place with a name like Won Ton, Lotus Garden or Lai Lai (actual names of Chinese restaurants from my youth in Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale) unveil a plate of Wor Su Gai.

Or, as you may know it: Almond Fried Chicken.

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Deadline Procrastination Brain Game: Itemize Your Last Supper

Last July, I wrote a post and asked you to itemize your last supper. (I’ll wait here while you read the link.) Okay, so you got the idea, right. What I loved about that post was that our old buddy, Bill “Freckle Face” Addison, chimed in with this:

•  Bill Addison @ July 11th, 2008 at 4:54 pm _

Darn you, N2. This is a question I’ve been meaning to post on our blog. Love this subject. Just for today, here’s my answer:
– Maryland jumbo lump crab salad with blood orange and avocado
– A thali of South Indian curries, mostly vegetables and seafood, like served here.
– A modest plate of Ed Mitchell’s barbecue. A plate of barbecue from City Market in Luling would substitute nicely.
– A small dish of blood orange sorbet
–    A big bowl of peach crisp (with vanilla-bean brown butter poured over the fruit) with vanilla-bourbon ice cream melting atop. Then, curtains.

Sadly, not long after I listed my extensive and expensive requests, my relationship with Bill went, well, curtains. In honor of Bill, who I miss dearly, let us relive the idea of ordering your last meal on earth. What would be on your list? Who would be with you? How do I make my voice do this? (Obviously, I am on deadline and need a distraction.)

GO TEXAN Drinklocalwine.com Conference in Dallas: When is Texas Wine Really Texas Wine?

Andrew Chalk is with me at Drinklocalwine.com. Below is his first report from the conference that took place on Saturday. It’s an interesting topic that needs to be simplified not only for consumers but for “professionals” in the wine business. Let’s rumble.

The web site www.DrinkLocalWine.org exhorts consumers to drink local wine. This weekend the organization held its first annual conference and it happened to be here in Dallas with an emphasis on Texas wine.

However, it can be hard to recognize local wine. If you are at the liquor store and pick up a bottle of wine with the name of a Texas winery on the label the connection with Texas may be almost non-existent. It may actually come from grapes that were not grown in Texas. It may be fermented outside Texas. It may be aged outside Texas. In fact it may even have been labeled outside Texas. In other words, a completely finished wine is imported into Texas and the label says the name of a Texas winery. But none of the viticulture or viniculture had anything to do with Texas. How is the consumer to know where the grapes came from and where the wine was made? (more…)

KRLD Restaurant Week In Dallas: SideDish Coverage

Yesterday’s post about KRLD Restaurant Week stirred up some interesting conversation in the comments section. Great stuff. Whether you love it or hate it, KRLD Restaurant Week is a rapidly approaching reality and SideDish would like to hear all about your experiences. Each morning we will post this icon. Click on the comments button and post your dining reports. We will start next Monday.

KRLD Restaurant Week In Dallas: Love It? Like It? Hate It?

Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators.

I realize a lot of you love to dine out during KRLD Restaurant Week/Month. You get a three-course meal at these restaurants for $35 and some “proceeds” go to the North Texas Food Bank. Win-win, right?

Over the years, I’ve talked to a many restaurant owners, chefs, and servers who aren’t crazy about the promotion. Perhaps given the current state of business they’ve changed their tune. I’d like to know.

Anywhooo, last year, the finest ferret at PegNews, Teresa “Vicky Christina” Gubbins, wrote the piece I wish I’d written about Restaurant Week. Here is the hot link to her story which officially makes this “Link To Teresa Gubbins Week.”  (Group hug.)

At the risk of going all Eatsblog on you, I would like to know: Why do you like restaurant week? Why do you hate restaurant week?  I will tell you this: it is the worst month of the year to be a dining critic. Okay, let’s rumble like we’re on Las Ramblas.

SideDish, an equal opportunity hot link provider.

Evan Grant Is A Slacker: I Have To Do His Work. Again.

What you guys don’t know is that I was the one that broke Josh Hamilton’s Photo-Gate on InsideCorner last weekend while Evan Grant was face down in a hotel room in Anaheim. So you won’t be surprised when I have to make you aware of Evan’s next promotional gig: Tomorrow,  Pappasito’s Cantina (located at 10433 Lombardy Lane in Dallas) will host a game-watching party featuring former Texas Ranger players. (The current players are in Cleveland.) RUSTY GREER will be there! Fajitas for two will only be $16.25! Evan will be there! It all starts at 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. For additional information call 214-350-1970.

Bonathon Responds To Challenge By Fake Bonathon

Did you miss the high drama from last Friday? Josh Storie, an intern at Levenson & Brinker PR, challenged our intern, Bonathon, to a duel.  This is all still sooo Facebook. Bonathon fires back:

To the fake Bonathan or as henceforth shall be known as: Fonathan,

You’re clever, I’ll give you that. Quick with your words and clearly eager to prove your mettle as you found it within yourself to actually challenge the original. But let it be known, no one challenges me and gets away with it. Unless you are bigger than me, which in that case, by all means “no I was not looking at your girl funny.” That said, I am Steve Perry, and you are that guy from the Philippines. You might sound like me, and carry the same swagger but I was here first and I rocked harder than Nic Cage on Alcatraz. AMERICA. (more…)

A Blog Post To Julie & Julia Author Julie Powell

Julie Powell last night at the DMA.

Tomorrow morning when the New York Times best seller list is released, Julie Powell’s book, Julie & Julia, will be in the number two position. Not bad for a former underpaid secretary-turned-blogger-turned-book author- turned-guest lecturer at last night’s Arts & Letters Live program and the Dallas Museum of Art.

Before last night, I made my feelings about the movie and Ms. Powell pretty clear—I didn’t particularly care for either one of them. The movie was nice, but I don’t like nice overly sweet movies. I can’t comment on Julie Powell’s book or blog because I haven’t read them.  I admitted that, right or wrong, I am extremely jealous of her rags-to-riches-by-blogging success.

Last night, Ms. Powell appeared at the DMA to speak and answer questions. The main hall was filled to capacity and another crowded room watched via closed circuit. SHE IS A FOOD BLOGGER. She does not have the cure for AIDS.

The good news is that I had a chance to tell Julie Powell, in front of a live audience, that I didn’t like her. I told her I was an insanely jealous food blogger and I wanted to know how in the hell she scammed this whole movie deal. You know what she said to me? “Yes, the bloggyness now is so different. I would want to throw me under a bus, too.”

I love her.

And I’m sending her a love letter.

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Watch This Video If You Hate Your Eyes

Headline and story by Tim Rogers on FrontBurner. I just watched it for the first time. Yummers? That is another word that HAS GOT TO GO.

Good Doggie Bag Gone Bad

Last night, I invited three friends to eat at Firefly in North Dallas. We ordered a lot of food. We asked them to pack the leftovers. This is a picture of one of the bags after I picked it up from the stained carpet on the floor of the car. Mind you this was only ONE of the FIVE containers that leaked. My question is simple: Why do restaurants package their sauce-laden dishes in Styrofoam containers with flimsy tab locks?

Nothing To Do With Dallas Food Except I Don’t Want To Eat Any Of It

My body crashed at noon today. One minute I was in a meeting; the next hour I was home in bed. WTF? Body and headaches. Lethargic. Tight throat. I panicked.

Then I checked the Dallas pollen count: Mold Spore High.  I am sorry people, but the high pollen counts and the air quality we breathe in Dallas every day are ridiculous. I just canceled my plans for dinner. The thought of a glass of wine makes my stomach churn.

Channeling my best frustrated Susan Hayward: “I WANT TO LIVE! AND WEAR BLACK LACE SLIPS!”

Wednesday Rant: Fixing the Star Rating System. Is it Possible? I Think So and I Have the Solution.

Oh, Leslie “Catch a Falling Star” Brenner, you are a troublemaker. Just when Bill Addison sorta got a handle on his stars, he split the scene and left you with a spectacular mess to clean up. You’ve done a good job, and I’m with you on the baked potato—it’s a super dish to judge a restaurant by, but I’m off task.

However, I disagree with something you wrote a couple of weeks ago about the DMN star system. June 19 on Eatsblog.:

“If a restaurant is serving brilliant main courses and charging $50 for them, that’s far less impressive to me than if it’s serving brilliant main courses and charging $22 for them, and I definitely consider than when assigning a rating. If you charge $50 per entree you can afford much more help in the kitchen. It’s a lot of money to charge, and my expectation is that the dish will be stellar. And if you’re asking a diner to pay that kind of money, the whole experience, including service and ambience, had better be stellar too. At the lower end of the financial scale, if I find a restaurant with good, honest cooking, where you pay, say $10 for an amazing chile relleno stuffed with brisket, that’s definitely appreciated and it’ll be rewarded.

First of all, I don’t see a direct relationship between a $50 entrée and the number of folks in the kitchen. There are too many other variables, like food costs, to factor in, but I’m losing myself. I would move forward to the remark you made in the comment section under the post above.

“It’s hard to imagine giving a five-star rating to a great $10 chile relleno place. Service and ambience are also considered when assigning a star rating, and while it wouldn’t be impossible to imagine service and ambience at that level someplace selling $10 chile relleno, it would be very unusual.”

Let me say this about that. You are wrong. And because I’m on deadline, I’m going to make this long and drawn out. And then I’m going to propose a peaceful solution.

I like fancy food but I love down, dirty, and dive-y too. If I search my taste memories, the ones that rise to the top fastest are generally a great chile relleno or a cheeseburger with green chiles. I ate at Alain Ducasse last year. Besides the 10,000 Swarovski crystals hanging from the ceiling and the cheese trolley, nothing else I was served knocked my chaussures off. The meal was $3,500 for five people with two bottles of wine (at $250 per).

So here is the deal. Use any symbol you want: Stars, Stripes, or Dollar Signs. I’m partial to Hearts. Then pick three colors and assign a price point to each color. For the sake of argument:

♥♥♥♥♥= entrees above $20

♥♥♥♥♥= entrees between $10 and $20

♥♥♥♥♥=entrees below $10

It’s even pretty. Now I will use a couple of my recent dining experiences and demonstrate.

♥♥♥♥ Five Sixty

♥♥ Rathbun’s Blue Plate

♥♥♥♥♥ Breakfast at El Jordan

♥♥ Alain Ducasse

This peaceful and pretty guide is not only reader friendly, it is critic friendly—you can let your freak flag (heart) fly and love Wolfgang and chiles rellenos the same amount. It’s about food and the passion we all attack it with. And for the record, if ANYONE out there steals this idea, you will have to deal with my lawyer—and he makes rattlesnakes look like newborn kitties.

Monday Morning Rant: “Fake” Tomatoes in East Texas Broke My Heart

Tomatoes should be fun, not depressing.

Buy local. Eat seasonal. Hug a farmer. Kiss a chef. When the economy gets tough, we love our neighbors, right? As mighty “Agent Orange” Monsanto poisons our bodies with abused cattle, chickens, and ugly carpet, we turn to each other and clasp hands in unity. WE SHALL FIGHT YOU WITH OUR ORGANIC GARDENS! THE CHICKEN WE PUT IN OUR POT WILL LIVE IN OUR BACKYARDS! BASIL IS THE NEW PARSLEY!

It’s all a lovely idea and great mantra to live by. Facing shrinking 401-ks would be easier if people could be nicer to each other, right? Put on your best John Belushi: But, nooooooooo.

This morning, I am disillusioned. The older I get, the more I want to get in a red time machine and go back to the peace-love-and-Woodstock of the ‘70s. I know I can’t and I know I have to put yesterday behind me. I need to get on down the road.

Oh, yesterday? Let me back up. (more…)