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Restaurant Review: Bliss Raw Café and Elixir Bar in Dallas

Strawberry cream pie. (photo by Kevin Hunter Marple)

Teresa Gubbins has something to say about everything. Today she has something to say about Bliss Raw Café and Elixir Bar in Dallas. I have not been to Bliss, well the restaurant anyway, but I hear that the regulars are, well, quite regular.

Will Central 214 Top Chef Blythe Beck Bottom Out on TV?

Is reality TV good for the career of a chef? I don’t watch enough to have an educated opinion but, from where I sit, it looks like more top chefs bottom out after their 15 minutes, or months, of fame. Casey who? Tre what? Lisa Garza is where? Dig what I’m shooting at you?

Next girl up is Central 214’s Blythe Beck. She will star in The Naughty Kitchen With Chef Blythe Beck on Oxygen. I’ve never really understood the naughty kitchen concept. So I checked the shows website. It says:

Blythe Beck, the fiery young chef and star of Oxygen’s upcoming series The Naughty Kitchen With Chef Blythe Beck, shows off her distinctive sexy American cuisine, her cutting edge Dallas restaurant, Central 214, and her loud and flamboyant staff. The Naughty Kitchen With Chef Blythe Beck is certain to cook up the drama both in and out of the kitchen. Oxygen follows executive chef Blythe Beck, a 29-year old Texas native, who is plus-sized in stature and personality, and her colorful crew at Central 214, inside and outside the kitchen as they interact with the Dallas elite and the local university students.

Monday night I went to Central 214 to check it out and write a mini-review. Sadly, I didn’t see waitresses in garter belts or waiters wearing thongs, but I did find the Door Whores. And calories. Lots of calories. What is sexy about calories? I guess we will find out when the show starts on September 22nd. Somebody tell me this is a good thing.

Someone Help This Poor Girl: Vegan Lunch In Plano

Nancy received this SOS late last night:

My friend Stacey has a friend from college coming to Plano this week on business for a short stay.  Although we are both close to being vegetarians, we are lost on this one.  My first suggestion was Dallas, but when I found out she only had time for lunch…I was lost!

IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE???  Please Help!!!

Can Somebody Help This Poor Girl: Restaurant Week Vegetarian Edition

Shirt available at zazzle.com.

Restaurant folks, get to typin’:

My husband and I have been vegetarian now for about 9 months and enjoy every minute of it. But, we’ve always enjoyed restaurant week too and are thinking it will probably be out of the question for us this year. Do we know if any of the participating restaurants will be doing anything vegetarian this year??

My first thought when I saw this email was, “well, of course they are,” but really, I don’t know that for a fact. I always assume that restaurants will accommodate vegetarians but since I’m not one, I should just shut up already. Let’s hear it in the comments.

Can Someone Help This Poor Man: Veggie Burger Edition

You might not know this, but our co-worker Zac Crain is a vegetarian. He is craving a veggie burger. Read on:

What places in town offer house-made veggie burgers?
Or, at least, non-Boca or Gardenburger or Morningstar Farms veggie burgers?
Essentially, burgers I can’t make at home.

My favorite used to be at the Stoneleigh P, but they discontinued it. I know
the Monk and Capitol Pub both have house-made veggie burgers. Looking for
some others.

Help? Anyone? (And for those who remember, we did post something about this about a year ago. However, most of the commenters spent more time debating the merits of a meat-free burger than giving helpful suggestions. Here’s hoping the pattern doesn’t repeat itself.)

Bliss Raw Café & Elixir Bar Opens Today

Here’s a restaurant that claims you will be sexier, more vibrant, and energetic if you eat there!  Why? Because the food is vegan and raw and all that jazz. They’re opening at 3:00 this afternoon. Corner of Park & Greenville.  Details.

Finding Raw Food in Dallas

A mother who loves her son who is in Dallas today is looking for a raw/vegan restaurant in town. She is waiting. Y’all go.

Plenty to Eat for Vegetarians and Vegans at Nana

Chef Anthony Bombaci at the Hilton Anatole’s Nana has created a vegan tasting menu and an lacto-ovo vegetarian tasting menu (a vegetarian who still eats dairy and eggs). Seven or ten course tastings are available. Read below:

Selections from both menus feature Deconstructed Green Bean Casserole with Honshimeji mushrooms, fried onion praline, and tempura green beans. The tantalizing Liquid Baked Potato is highlighted with potato chip “salt” and chive oil, while the Grilled Leeks are accented with glazed Cipollini onions and Romesco sauce.

Specific dishes to the Vegan menu include the Carrot Marmalade served with an unlikely combination of passion fruit granite and peanuts that leap off the plate to dazzle your taste buds, and the Cucumber Spaghetti, with pistachio gravel, scallions, premium pistachios and sesame seeds. Heavenly desserts include Vinegar Marinated Strawberries and the Caramel Banana laced in cocoa nibs, pecans, Valrhona Araguani chocolate and mango granité.

The Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian menu, a delectable array of vegetarian items using fresh vegetables as well as dairy products and eggs, includes a selection of Manchego and Idiazabal Cheese served with a carrot-mandarin marmalade and arugula selvetta, and Cucumber Spaghetti with yogurt, pistachio oil pebbles, scallions and sesame tuiles. Mal Fatti, the light and airy cousin to the pappardelle, is hand rolled and sauced with ricotta, basil, pine nuts and Parmigiano Reggiano. Desserts are a grand finale, such as The Ruby Red Grapefruit with cashews, white chocolate, coconut and cilantro, and Valrhona Manjari Coulant with curry crema montada and peanut butter ice cream.

Why Are You a Vegetarian?

From time to time, I have spirited conversations with foodies about eating animals. Some are vegetarians. They eat nothing with a “soul” (although if a carrot doesn’t have a soul, why do they refer to them as a baby? Yuck. IJS.).

So they go one step further — they don’t eat anything with eyes. (Don’t potatoes have eyes? I can’t remember.) Then there is the clan of the royal “I only eat seafood.” No Bambi or Thumper for them, no, sirree. (Although one might argue that if you are referring to soul (sole?), there is a rock fish, a fish roll up, and a blue(s) fish. But I’m stretching my point.)

My favorite snooty (misinformed?) eater is the “I don’t eat red meat” variety of diner. What. Ever. Have you ever been to a commercial chicken farm? If you had, you wouldn’t eat anything for a week. What are your reasons for not eating red meat? Cruelty? Fat content? Self-flagellation? I can pop all of those arguments in a jiffy. Just put down that bowl of Jell-O, get off your leather couch, slip on your leather shoes, and get back to me.

There is also a subclass of finicky eaters who ask waiters about the living conditions of the pork, cow, or wayward salmon they are about to order. Free-range? Ritz-Carlton-raised? Was the hill-hopping bunny reared by both (heterosexual) parents? It happens.

Last October, I was (snob alert) dining in Italy, and a handsome waiter placed a plate of rabbit terrine with a thinly sliced Granny Smith (Ruling: are relatives considered pets or fruits?) apple between me and a dear friend of mine. When she found out the beautiful dish was rabbit, she scrunched up her face and pushed it away. “I don’t eat anything I would keep as a pet,” she said. Hmm, I admit I was caught a little flatfooted. Now we were talking about what constitutes a suitable pet. I would love to have a goat (she wouldn’t). I also wouldn’t mind milking a few cows with funky names like Moo and How Now every morning before I drive in for an edit meeting. Hell, I spend a zillion dollars a month on bird seed, and most of the wild birds in my backyard have names: Sid & Nancy, George & Martha — you get my drift.

Pigeon? Yum. (I miss Mr. Chow.)

So, let’s discuss. It’s a new year. Perhaps we are entering a new age, and perhaps vegetables will have to at least be classified as a teenager before they are steamed.

The Mysterious Case of the Vanishing Veggie Burgers

Went to lunch at Jake’s today, and, much to the dismay of a vegetarian companion, they were out of veggie burgers. The kind waitress explained that the manufacturer they use is no longer making them. Once our herbivore friend had ordered a grilled cheese instead, he said that this is the third time he’s encountered the dearth of veggie burgers in Dallas. Someone else in our party pointed out that Kellogg recently purchased Gardenburger, which could have created distribution issues for restaurants and stores using their products (or, yikes, this). What gives? Anyone know where to find a good sans-meat burger?

My Vegetarian Ploughman’s Lunch

I just ran into Whole Paycheck Foods to fill up on D Magazine edit staff gas (daytime version)–fat-free ginger cookies and electrolyte-enhanced water–and I got snagged by a couple of cheese sample stations. I decided to make a post-wine-bar-pre-gastro-pub- PETA-inspired ploughman’s lunch of my purchases on a platter sent to me by PP. I admit it isn’t very colorful, but boy it was good: Seaside rugged mature English cheddar, Campo de Montalban from Spain, spicy jalapeño pimento cheese, delicious store-made dill pickles, flatbread from heaven, and, in the forefront, the aforementioned ginger cookies. I barely got this picture taken because the blog hogs from FrontBurner descended on my photo shoot like drug-crazed grackles to a suet feeder full of crack. Boys! Yuck.

Kavala=Best Hummus

I ordered to-go from Kavala–one of my favorite restaurants in Oak Cliff–last night. The chicken souvlaki was Greek greatness as always. But the roasted garlic hummus was perfect: light, flavorful, almost ethereal. Not gummy or pasty like most inferior chickpea spreads I’ve tried in Dallas. Therefore, I declare Kavala’s the best hummus in Dallas. Dare to debate? Jump and enter the fray.

Bill “Freckle Face” Addison is a Weiner

Whoopsie-doodle, I mean winner. (What would I do without Spell Check?) Anywhoo, I just intercepted a secret DMN company memo announcing:

“Bill Addison will receive a national Association of Food Journalists award for restaurant criticism. The other finalists are: Will Ferrell for Talladega Dinner Nights and M.F.K. Fisher’s Recipes from the Grave. The ranking of the three awards will be announced at a conference in October.”

Kidding, so, so, so kidding. Way to go, Freckle Face, I hope you beat the pants off of your true rivals Lee Klein of Miami New Times and Tom Sietsema of The Washington Post-it.

Cosmic Cafe Reopens

Word comes from the Eats blog that Cosmic Cafe is open once again. A call confirms it’s their first day back. (They’ve been closed for months due to a fire.) I’ve called the restaurant a handful of times since February hoping to hear this news.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m no vegetarian, but I really enjoy this place. So go today and have a cup of their Chai Tea and forget about the weather. Then go back on Friday (when it’s sunny) and enjoy lunch on the porch.

Lets just hope they took the time to improve their parking lot…

Spiral Diner: Now in Oak Cliff

I just got around to visiting the new Spiral Diner in Oak Cliff. If you’re not familiar, it’s a diner done vegan style. You can get all the basics: burgers, sammiches, breakfast, except all the animal products are replaced with plant substitutes. I’m no vegan, but I can still appreciate the fare. (One of my favorite Chinese joints is all vegan. No worrying about “mystery meat” and it feels healthy, even if it’s a huge plate of Kung Pao.)

The original location is still in Ft. Worth and has quite a following. This location is at Beckley Ave & Zang, which is only about 5-6 miles from Oak Lawn.

I’ll be back to try breakfast before I put my $0.02 in (I had lunch this time.) But if you go, be sure to try the Agave Limeade.

(Jamaican Jerk BBQ San’ich pictured)