D Magazine’s Loren Means loves to watch Top Chef. Therefore, she volunteered to watch all of the episodes this season and write a recap. She’s a Texan, and she’s on Texan stereotype alert. Go, Loren.
I, personally, could have done without the first two episodes required to wrangle out the 13 weaker chefs. It’s just too exhausting. I prefer to start off with the rock stars and get the show on the road. Alas, no one consulted me prior to filming/editing so this is how it was done, and we have had to endure it. Episode three begins and we finally have the 16 chefs who will actually be competing for the title of Top Chef. In no particular order, other than Keith, whom I will list first because he is my favorite, we have Keith, Richie, Lindsay, Edward, Heather, Ty-lor (whom I will now refer to as Ty because they do on the show and now I won’t have to figure out how to make those two dots over the O), Beverly, Chris J., Grayson, Paul (resident Texan), Sarah, Chris C., Dakota, Nyesha, Chuy, and Whitney.
Jump to see what happens.
D Magazine’s Loren Means loves to watch Top Chef. Therefore, she volunteered to watch all of the episodes this season and write a recap. She’s a Texan and she’s on Texan stereotype alert. Go, Loren.
Top Chef is back and according to Bravo’s tagline for the show, “Everything is Bigger in Texas!” Wow, I wonder where they got that idea. Note to producers: We are bigger than France. And our buildings are NOT bigger than those in New York. So there’s one strike. I suggest you change your promotion from bigger to better. On to the show.
After meeting most of the cheftestants last night–not all 29 of them, but most–I think it’s safe to say we have some very talented people on this season. Tom Colicchio appears more aggressive this season and he kicked them off Simon Cowell-style. Grrr. I like this Tom.
Oh, it gets better. (more…)
In the October issue of D Magazine, Teresa Gubbins tells us what she thinks about The Commissary.
In a profession loaded with bad boys, chef John Tesar stands out. Mercurial, dismissive, he’s a hyperactive hothead with a self-destructive streak so legendary that his old pal Anthony Bourdain has written about it. Tesar is so good at embodying the tantrum-throwing temperamental-chef stereotype that D Magazine made him the subject of the September cover story, titled “The Most Hated Chef in Dallas.”
But there is the man, and then there is what he puts on the plate. From his early days at a French restaurant called Pierre’s in Westhampton to his stint at RM Seafood in Las Vegas, he has impressed discriminating palates, including the folks who hired him in 2006 to be executive chef at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, where he took on the intimidating task of replacing longtime fixture Dean Fearing.
In a first for Dallas restaurant reviewing we present Corky the greyhound reviewing Chris Ward’s food at The Mercury.
Leave it to Teresa “Gumshoe” Gubbins to find a snitch in Trader Joe’s camp. Since the grocery chain announced they were planning locations in Dallas last May, they have been quite secretive about their locations. According to TG, you can rule out the former location on Greenville Ave. Her Deep Throat coughs up three possible locations: Walnut Hill and Central, Knox Ave., and Fort Worth. All of the details are here.
There was a time when Trader Joe’s was cool and funky and carried stuff you couldn’t find elsewhere, but I think the company is now running on a tired image. In the 70s, Two Buck Chuck played a significant role in nursing wine drinkers off the Spanada bottle but the last TBC I sampled burned the enamel off my teeth. So, Trader Joe’s? Yes or no? Why?
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.
Teresa Gubbins has a nice piece today on the history of the Hedary family and the restaurants they have opened and closed over the years. The family has created some of the most memorable Lebanese food in Dallas and Fort Worth. Click here for the whole story.
1. Ann Hathaway is going to play Ruth Reichl in Garlic and Sapphires. I would have picked Tina Fey
2. Groupon for tickets to see Stevie Nicks. I feel old.
The full press release is below the fold. I haven’t read it, I just looked at the pictures. Twin Peaks, a Dallas-based breasteraurant, that features attractive waitresses, excuse me, Twin Peak Girls. I guess they had a contest because they have picked a winner. You can read the press release below.
Here is my question: Brittany is a lovely girl but don’t you think the winner of Miss Twin Peaks would, how do I say this, have significant peaks? Okay, sorry. I’m a big fat procrastinator promoting sexism.

Assembling a mise en place for my super-secret East Texas peaches dessert. Doggie chew bone (right) not included.
Have you been eating Texas peaches? This guy has and he has a question for you.
Just finished some peaches I picked up at Dallas Farmers Market last week, and they were spectacular. Which brings to mind the question: which restaurants in town serve a great cobbler? I’m a Southern boy and really enjoy these two months of the year when you can get a good peach cobbler at its freshest. Any info would be appreciated.
I’m not giving him my address and I know Gubbins wouldn’t give out hers. So, restaurants feel free to sell your peach desserts below.
We told you chef Carrie Keep was hot. Last night her bosses at Nosh Euro Bistro, Avner and Celeste Samuel, hosted a season-premier watching party for Hell’s Kitchen. Carrie, a line cook at Nosh, is one of the contestants. The restaurant was full of loyal patrons and friends when–POOF- a knob on one of the gas valves fell off and a small fire flared in the open kitchen. Always the problem solver, Celeste Samuel picked up the phone and calmly called the Highland Park Fire Department and moved the guests outside. When the firemen arrived, they were greeted by a glamorous crowd having cocktails in parking lot. With the fire out When the danger was gone, the TV-watching party turned into a photo op. The show? Who knows what happened. The reality of the parking lot was much more fun. Jump for photos taken by Lindsey Miller.
Good morning, SideDish Nation. I’d like to begin this fine day with a rumor. True or false? Sharon Hage is going to be the new chef at the Place at Perry’s which has plans to move into new digs across the street. I’ll be back in a minute with the answer. (If you get bored, count how many times I used “at” in this post.)
UPPITY DATE: “False-ish,” Hage said. She has been asked to “explore a menu refresh.” The gig is only for a week.
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.
My mother grew up in a small town outside of Archer City, Texas. A couple of nights a week she watched her mother go out in the back yard, grab one of the many chickens running around the yard and snap its neck. A couple hours later the former “pet’ was devoured for dinner. It wasn’t a trend; it was how they lived.
Now having a groovy chicken coop in your backyard or on a patio in New York is trendy. The gals over on the D Home blog have the scoop on the “must have” coop. If you want to get your backyard bird party started, the folks at Northaven Gardens have the knowledge and supplies. I’d rather have a goat.
Teresa Gubbins has been all over this story like hot on fries (where did I just read that?). She reported Friday that the former owners of foodie favorite La Palapa Veracruzana that closed nearly two years ago, Raul and Olga Reyes, have been given a second chance to showcase their talents at Mesa. Their savior? No, not Carl Van Fleet of In-N-Out. The Reyes’, according to Gubbins, were saved by “by a support group that includes Chris Zielke, co-owner of Smoke and Bolsa, as well as Nick Zukin, the Portland blogger and restaurateur who is co-owner of Kenny & Zuke’s Delicatessen. Bolsa bartender Eddie “Lucky” Campbell consulted on the cocktail menu, which includes a luscious house-made horchata — spiked, of course.” Opening day is set for Friday, May 20. 118-A West Jefferson Blvd.
Chef John Tesar is on fire. The guy has been working non-stop since last winter. First, he kick-started the menu at The Cedars Social, where he still oversees the kitchen. Then he signed a lease on the Dali Wine Bar space and divided it into two restaurants: The Commissary and The Table.
Early returns from The Commissary are blissful. Colleagues have stopped by my cubicle and uttered “OMG” “To Die For” and “How can it be so good and so cheap?” “It blew my hair back!” Saaa-weet! The menu is centered on gourmet burgers and fine wine. It’s a burger joint with a sommelier (Scott Barber). The other portion of the space, The Table is a 12-seat tasting room where Tesar will perform the higher end dishes that brought him to the Big Show. Teasar calls it “deconstructed fine dining.” He is resurrecting canapés!
Anywhoo, last night Tesar threw a private party at The Table. The guest list included Jennifer and David Uygur (Lucia), Chef Bruno Davaillon (Mansion execuchef), Michael Flynn (Mansion sommelier), Tim Byres (Smoke), Teiichi “Teach” Sakurai (Tei-An), and The “Ubiquitous” Brad. Who was that skinny little bitch sitting next to Byres? Our own Sarah Reiss. “The food was incredible,” Reiss said. “Tesar overwhelmed us (in a good way ) with 13 courses; he wanted to try everything out on his friends. I just sat back and listened to all the great industry talk and insider raves.” The 13-course, seafood-centric marathon, that was anticipated to last 150 minutes, lasted over 4 hours. Reiss gives the best dish award to the faux cuttle fish pasta with Iberico pork and lemon fondue.
Reiss said the talk at the table revolved around the current dining culture in Dallas and how chefs are trying new things on the menu (pig’s ear and tripe), and the fact that restaurateurs are more willing to take chances. “This generation is going to forever define the dining in this city,” said Tesar.
Wonderfully pompous or prophetic? Or both? The Commissary opens for lunch today. Go. Eat. Report.
You may have seen this video before but every time I watch it makes me smile. Happy Good Friday.
This month in D Magazine, Sarah Reiss writes about three little pigs and a good burger.
In the bandwagon world of nouveau-rustic dining, one of the more damning descriptors a reviewer can ascribe to a restaurant is the word “franchiseable.” The term not only brings a curl to the lip of a certain breed of foodie, but it also puts the restaurant in the position of having to overcome typecasting.
Which brings us to Plano’s Whiskey Cake. Taking hold in the former Plano Tavern location, this neo-steampunk eatery—with its exposed brick, yellow-filament Thomas Edison bulbs, and warehouse sensibility—appears to be at war with itself. On one hand, we have the postindustrial aesthetic, on-site herb gardening, in-house curing, and advanced cocktailery—all tough to replicate. On the other, there are kitschy signs, costumed servers, familiar layouts, and an interior that feels like you have landed in Anywheresville, USA. This is not a value judgment as much as a recognition that, no matter how good the food, much of the Whiskey Cake concept screams “franchise.”
A colleague with a soul for saving dogs and a bod for sin wants advice on where she can take the two loves of her life—mother and dogs—to celebrate Mother’s Day. That would be May 8. Give it up dog-friendly restaurants.