Articles about Trending

Where Do You Go for Ramen in Dallas?

posted by Carol Shih | May 17th, 2013 10:02am | filed under Ethnic Food, ramen, Trending | 13 Comments »

Word comes that Justin Holt isn’t done with his ramen pop-up shops. He’s doing another one this Saturday at Ten Bells Tavern. Just a little over a week ago, Teresa Gubbins posted on CultureMap that the Lucia-turned-Driftwood chef decided he would take a break from mass-producing his noodles in disposable bowls. But the ambitious man hasn’t slowed down, and he told Steven Doyle he’s gonna stick to his “road to ramageddon.”

I have to admit I wasn’t too sad when Holt said he was done with midnight ramen for good. I know a lot of people have given Holt’s handmade noodles positive reviews, so maybe I had a weird batch at Ten Bells that February night he opened his pop-up shop, right after a successful run at Tradewinds. But I also can’t help wondering if maybe – just maybe – people in Dallas are so overhyped about ramen (Ten Bells was scarily packed that day. It felt like Shanghai.) they think anything that resembles ramen tastes like the stars and planets aligning. That Saturday, I overheard several people say Holt’s ramen was fantastic – and the pork belly definitely was – even though the broth tasted overwhelmingly like soy sauce. It was so salty I could feel the insides of my cheeks swell up. It was like getting my wisdom teeth pulled all over again. But, like I said, it could have just been an off day for Holt. I’d be happy to try his ramen again at a sit-down place where hungry masses aren’t going haywire.

Jump for more.

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Updates on Lower Greenville: Trader Joe’s, HG Sply Co., and Dallas Beer Kitchen

posted by Carol Shih | May 14th, 2013 12:30pm | filed under Bring it!, Groceries, Openings/Closings, Restaurant News, Trending | 4 Comments »
The shell of TJ's coming to life.

The shell of TJ’s coming to life.

Lots of changes are underfoot in Lower Greenville. Yesterday I was walking along the street – just minding my own beeswax – when I noticed all these new places pop up. Lower Greenville is in the midst of a Restaurant Renaissance.

Though I haven’t seen any movement on chef Jason Boso’s food truck park, I’m guessing it’s waiting for Trader Joe’s to finish up construction work because the two areas will be sharing a common parking lot. Carnival Barker’s will open its ice cream shop in the truck park, and kids will be running around Lower Greenville like the crazies they are. Goodfriend Beer Garden and Burger House owners are fixing to move into 1919 Greenville Ave. for their new restaurant, The Blind Butcher, pretty soon. They still haven’t said when it’s opening yet. Mums the word.

So here’s what we do know, for sure: Trader Joe’s is making progress. Look! (See above photo.) The exterior is almost done. Cookie butter will soon be closer than ever.

Continue reading "Updates on Lower Greenville: Trader Joe’s, HG Sply Co., and Dallas Beer Kitchen"

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Eat This Now: Geoduck at Spoon Bar & Kitchen in Dallas

posted by Nancy Nichols | March 4th, 2013 11:47am | filed under Celebrity Chefs, Cult Cuisine, Food, Restaurant News, that really isn't me, Trending | 4 Comments »

notnancygeoduckSorry, I don’t have a picture of the gorgeous plate of geoduck served at Spoon Bar & Kitchen in Dallas. I only have this picture of me harvesting the wild beast near Puget Sound. Kidding aside, my first encounter with a geoduck clam was visual: Anthony Bourdain, when he was still hot, shot an episode of No Reservations, when it was hot, somewhere in the Northwest. I watched in horror as Tony and his crew stuck their heads deep in wet sand and pulled these ugly suckers out.

They certainly look different on a white Bernardaud china platter at Spoon. Chef John Tesar allows the ugly clam to shine with just a touch of chili oil and Himalayan sea salt. Truly delicious.

UPPITY DATE: Alan Russell sends a photo of Spoon’s crudo plate (geoduck front left).

crudo

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Cooking with Dog: Katsudon

posted by Carol Shih | January 29th, 2013 10:13am | filed under Trending, who'd a thought? | 2 Comments »

 
This morning I woke up, drank a glass of water, and immediately began craving katsudon (a dish of steamed rice covered with a fried pork cutlet and egg). どのようにおいしい !! This is what always happens as soon as you try being healthy. You start itching for donuts, fried chicken, and chocolate cake. Since I will probably not make katsudon anytime soon, you guys go ahead and watch “Cooking with Dog.” Feast with your eyes. And, yes, the dog talks. I know it’s a little weird, but you get used to it. Francis is pretty kawaii, don’t you think?

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Tesaring Tumblr Goes Live

posted by Carol Shih | December 7th, 2012 2:32pm | filed under Top Chef Season 10, Trending | 4 Comments »

from tvgasm.com

If you were ever dreaming of a place to submit photos of yourself with glasses perched on your forehead, well, here you go. There’s a whole Tumblr dedicated to it.

And since no one has taken the liberty to define what “Tesaring” means, I’ll do it.

Tesaring \ tee-zar-ing\ , verb;

  1. to wear your glasses everywhere else except the proper place: over your eyes.
  2. to make it look like you have protrusions coming out of your forehead.
  3. to prepare for the possibility of growing a second pair of eyes just below your hairline.
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Marc Cassel Readies to Open 20 Feet Seafood Joint in East Dallas

posted by Nancy Nichols | December 5th, 2012 11:42am | filed under 'Burbalicious, Openings/Closings, Restaurant News, seafood, Take That CultureMap, Trending | 7 Comments »

Timmy was wandering around East Dallas last night and spied Chef Marc Cassel tinkering around in his soon-to-open restaurant, 20 Feet Seafood Joint. Cassel is waiting for his final CO which he expects soon. The 50-seat seafood joint, in a defunct hair salon at 1160 Peavy Road, will feature lobster rolls, oysters (hot trend), and clams and I only know that from the picture. Timmy said Marc really wasn’t ready to spill details. The name? Does it refer to the perfect depth to harvest oysters? No, Cassel owns five dogs and that’s the total number of dog feet in his house. Details coming.

 

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My Five Cents: Social Media, Chef Matt McCallister, and FT-33

posted by Nancy Nichols | October 12th, 2012 1:03pm | filed under Celebrity Chefs, Celebrity Diners, Openings/Closings, restaurant business news, Restaurant News, Trending | 35 Comments »

Matt McCallister readies for his close-up. (Photography by Kevin Marple)

I read Facebook and pay attention to Twitter. Because of this, I know Rick Bayless, the famous chef behind Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, XOCO and other successful Chicago food businesses, is happy it’s fall and his “calamundins [sic] are turning orange and just about ready to pick.”

Facebook has allowed me to follow Matt McCallister on his journey to open FT-33. Along the way, I have gotten to “know” his wife, Iris, and daughter, Ella, and many of their close “real” friends. I am familiar with how Iris likes her coffee and how many miles Matt runs. McCallister’s restaurant, FT-33, is opening tomorrow. If you read food blogs, Facebook, and Twitter you already know this. But I have to ask: Outside of this relatively small circle, how many Dallas and Fort Worth diners are speed dialing for reservations?

Let me be clear: There is no disrespect for Chef McCallister hidden behind my words. I find it fascinating that he has gained much of his fame—some would say hype–through social media. When you look at his bio, it doesn’t appear he’s done as much “gutter time” as other local talents. I’m not saying the man isn’t talented, I’m just saying he is the first Dallas chef to open his first restaurant and potentially benefit from the power of local food blogs and social media.

Stay with me here.

Continue reading "My Five Cents: Social Media, Chef Matt McCallister, and FT-33"

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Teiichi Sakurai Will Open a Fresh Fish Market at Sylvan | Thirty

posted by Carol Shih | August 1st, 2012 8:27am | filed under fish, game, Goats!, Good Deeds, Good Morning, Good Service, Needs Fine Tuning, Openings/Closings, restaurant business news, Restaurant News, Sylvan|Thirty, Trending | 17 Comments »

Teiichi Sakurai (photo by Kevin Hunter Marple)

Nancy’s about to quit SideDish. She just wrote me an email that’s too funny not to post. “HOLY S@#$. HOLY S@#$  Save me a space I’m coming to work at S30 HOLY S@#$.”

It’s true. I’m fixin’ to move to West Dallas too. Teiichi “Teach” Sakurai is not only about to celebrate the four-year anniversary of Tei-An in One Arts Plaza, he also just signed on as the sixth and newest tenant at Sylvan | Thirty, the mixed-use development scheduled to open in Spring 2013. Teiichi’s yet-to-be-named fresh fish market will be in the corner building at the intersection of Sylvan and Fort Worth Avenues, and customers can directly walk from there to the other building that houses Cox Farms Market and Matador Meat & Wine.

Teiichi’s fish market is joining Cox Farms Market, Matador Meat & Wine, Pearl Cup Coffee, Sync Yoga & Wellness and a culinary incubator (overseen by Sharon Hage) at Sylvan | Thirty, which is set to become the culinary hotspot of 2013.

Wait, before all that happens, Teiichi still needs to come up with a name! SideDishers, y’all are good at this! Let’s help a brother out. What should Teiichi call his new fish market?

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Roots Juices’ is Freshly Pressed, Delivers to Dallas

posted by Andrew Chalk | July 19th, 2012 10:15am | filed under Andrew Chalk, Beverages, Health Food, Juice is the word, Trending | 1 Comment »

Roots juices (courtesy of Roots)

Former stock broker Brent Rodgers and his company Roots Juices are ideally poised to cash in on the mainstream craze that is known as vegetable juicing. After leaving finance, Rodgers went on a year-long sabbatical travelling the world from South America to Australia. He discovered that people all over the world had discoverecd juicing. “I discovered juicing early on in my journey while in Peru. It was when I was on the Syria-Israel border that I had a light-bulb moment. There was this long line, which I thought was to get across the border. But it was actually for fresh celery and carrot juice. It was then that I realized this was a way of life and not just a trend,” he says.

Now he has a juicing plant in the Walnut Hill area of Dallas from which he and his employees turn out 10 flavors of juices that are, by almost any metric, exotic. Here are the flavors: Continue reading "Roots Juices’ is Freshly Pressed, Delivers to Dallas"

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Weed Dating is the New Speed Dating

posted by Carol Shih | July 18th, 2012 12:52pm | filed under Dog Friendly, Hippie revolutions, How About This Weather?, Making Up Is Hard To Do, Trending | 1 Comment »

Image source/Getty images

In the mornings I listen to WRR Classical 101.1 FM on the way to work because I’m a nerd, so imagine my surprise when they followed Dvorak’s New World Symphony with a commercial interruption about – get this – dating. Apparently, there are pheromone parties where people grab t-shirts from a pile and date the person whose scent smells best. You think I’m joking? I’m completely serious. The real kicker was when the commercial guy started talking about weed dating. WEED DATING. For one night a year, Earthly Delights farm in Boise, Idaho opens its grounds to participants who haven’t been so lucky in love. This year 40 people showed up to pluck weeds from rows of tomatoes, zucchinis, and lettuce. Women stayed put while the men rotated like crops.

Sounds like it’s time to start flocking to farms instead of bars, all you single ladies. Right? Nothing is sexier than a 21st century man pulling weeds and sweating his glands out. Mmm. Those pheromones sure do smell good.

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The Bacon Trend is Here to Stay

posted by Carol Shih | June 14th, 2012 12:05pm | filed under Bacon, Trending | 7 Comments »

Noel Barnhurst/AP

I think it’s safe to say that the whole bacon craze is going to stick around whether you like it or not. Five years ago, GrubStreet was one of the first (at the time) to complain about the whole bacon madness. Here we are, years later, still moaning and groaning about our favorite breakfast meat when it shows up in on a plate with scallops or something. It’s time to accept the fact that bacon isn’t just bacon anymore. It’s bacon with _____.  If that concept is hard to grasp, think about people who get hitched. A married woman isn’t just Sally anymore. She becomes a “we.” A pair. A unit.

This has all just been a long introduction to say that the rumors are true. Burger King has added a new bacon sundae to its summer-special menu, and it’s only a whopping 510-calories, which is really nothing compared to those bacon milkshakes from Jack in the Box. The sundae comes with a bacon slice with bacon crumbles on top of fudge, caramel, and vanilla ice cream. People who call themselves foodies might be tempted to stick their noses up in the air at this announcement, but NPR published a really intelligent piece on how the Internet buzz over this trendy meat is shaping the bacon narrative.

“I come not to praise the Burger King bacon sundae, nor to bury it. I come merely to point out that sometimes, the particular flavor of contempt with which you choose to address something is as important as the contempt itself,” writes Linda Holmes.

She makes a good point. Who cares whether the bacon trend is so 2007 or not? What matters is whether or not food tastes good. Trends be darned.

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The Gem Juice Bar to Open Inside DUO in Dallas

posted by Nancy Nichols | January 27th, 2012 11:51am | filed under Juice is the word, Openings/Closings, Restaurant News, Trending | 2 Comments »

DUO, the all-things-culinary store owned and operated by Shinsei owners Tracy Rathbun and Lynae Fearing, will soon feature a juice bar. The Gem, owned by Leslie Needleman and Mary Kathryn Bass, will open inside DUO on February 6. They will feature fresh squeezed juices, juice detox plans, and smoothies plus house made cashew milk. They will offer fresh sandwiches, soups, and various grab and go options.

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Desiree + Camera: Photo Essay of Hypnotic Donuts in East Dallas

posted by Nancy Nichols | January 27th, 2012 10:34am | filed under Bacon, Baking, Breakfast, Cult Cuisine, Desiree Espada, Diets are stupid, donuts, food art, Food Porn, Hippie revolutions, hostess gifts, Is Eat Dallas Groovier Than Oak Cliff?, Local/Slow Food, Openings/Closings, Restaurant News, Sexy food, Silly Reasons to Celebrate, Take-out, Trending, youthful spontaneous restaurants | 12 Comments »

Hippie donuts will be served in a groovy setting.Photography by Desiree Espada.

SideDish photographer Desiree Espada roams the roads with her camera looking for good things to eat and shoot. Check out her photo essay of Bolsa Mercado. Then feast your eyes on what to expect when the Jerry Garcia of donut making, James St. Peter, opens Hypnotic Donuts on Sunday, January 29.

Glory be to the donut. Continue reading "Desiree + Camera: Photo Essay of Hypnotic Donuts in East Dallas"

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The Perfect Procrastination: How To Boil an Egg

posted by Nancy Nichols | January 10th, 2012 2:21pm | filed under Chick Chefs Rule!, Cooking, Cooking Classes, Cult Cuisine, game, Good Deeds, I Went to College for This?, I'm about to get fired, Mistakes I made, Not-so-skinny bitches, Nutjobs, PR People, Recipes, Special Report, Steven Doyle, Trending | 11 Comments »

My perfectly boiled egg.

As you can tell from the headline, I am deep in the process of procrastinating. While my real job calls for thousands of words about dining, I am convinced it is far more important that I drop what I am supposed to be doing and answer a question sent to me by PR boy toy Jef Tingley. Yes, he spells his name with one “f,” but I will save that analysis for a later procrastination post.

“Jef with one f” asked me how to boil an egg. Don’t laugh. How many times have you had tiny shards of shell pierce the delicate skin beneath your fingernail? I shared my secret with “Jef with one f” by private message on Facebook which made several people curious enough to email and ask (BEG!) for my secret.

You are going to have to jump hard. Continue reading "The Perfect Procrastination: How To Boil an Egg"

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Chicken Scratch and The Foundry to Open in Oak Cliff

posted by Nancy Nichols | December 14th, 2011 9:47am | filed under Bad Names For Restaurants List, beer, Bring it!, chickens, cocktails, Cult Cuisine, Hippie revolutions, I'm a sucker for a man in flannel, Local/Slow Food, Mixology is fancy for bartender, oak cliff, Openings/Closings, Restaurant News, Rewritten Press Releases, Trending, youthful spontaneous restaurants | 12 Comments »

How long before Oak Cliff secedes from Dallas county to form their own little republic? Think how cool that would be for the business folk: the restaurateurs and funky food shops could make their own rules, they could charge a toll to enter and exit, and fine customers not wearing flannel.

Obviously either Tim Byres, Christopher Jeffers, or Chris Zielke (or all three!) would rule the roost. Today the triumvirate announced two more projects. The owners of Smoke and Bar Belmont took over the 3-acre plot of land that used to be Jack’s Backyard. (Fort Worth Avenue and Pittman St.) First up: Chicken Scratch, a family-friendly restaurant serving—wait for it—“cast-iron fried and wood-fired rotisserie chicken with wholesome handmade sides.” It’s “slow fast food.” (Wouldn’t it be fast slow food? I’ll leave that one for someone else like Jack Perkins.)

Next door to The Scratching Chicken, I mean Chicken Scratch, will be The Foundry. Sounds serious, right? Nope. The Foundry will be a bar offering simple drinks. (Drama! Do I sense a struggle between mixolgists v bartenders?) The drinks with be simple and strong. (I could say something about my ex-husband here but I’ll let it pass.) There will be beer—lots of drafts and bottles and microbrews plus “usual suspects.” Affordable! Live music! And, if they can swing it: the property will be able to “host food and merchandise trucks, drive-in movies, and other community themed events.”

The Foundry is scheduled in early January 2012 and Chicken Scratch “soon after.” (I still think they should have named it Petticoat Junction. Wouldn’t you eat chicken at the Shady Rest? Such a duh.)

Trending: “Scratch” in a restaurant name, fried chicken, and regular bartenders without pork pie hands and mutton chops.” Somebody get me a Realtor.

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