Category Archives: Adam Sachs

by | November 14, 2011 · 12:41 pm

Investigating the Con Artists

by Adam Sachs

I arrived at this year’s Art Conspiracy 7 not knowing what to expect, my experiences with the Dallas art scene mostly associated with visits to Deep Ellum and Design District galleries while living with an art-collecting roommate years ago.

The lively and freewheeling spirit echoing through the South Dallas warehouse was a vast departure from the more quiet and intimate exhibitions of my previous outings.  This energy has been characteristic of the event since its first year in 2005; “the auctions were done by bullhorn the first year,” said Executive Team Member Erica Felicella.   Continue reading →

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Filed under Adam Sachs, Art Conspiricy, Arts, Dallas

by | October 25, 2011 · 11:07 am

Hidden Gems: Bottle Shop

by Adam Sachs      photos by Suzi Migdol

Construction on Lowest Greenville has no doubt created obstacles for us to visit some of the neighborhood’s most beloved staple institutions, so it seemed curious that a new business would open in what seemed like a precarious state of affairs in the area.  World Beer Company Bottle Shop has been open in its current location since May of this year, and was a perfect place to visit on a whim.       Continue reading →

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Filed under Adam Sachs, beer, Drink Dallas, Greenville Avenue, Hidden Gems

by | September 23, 2011 · 8:54 am

Hidden Gems: Garden Café, Beyond the Booze Bills

by Adam Sachs    photos by Suzi Migdol

Crave reported last week about the vote that prohibited Garden Café from serving alcohol. In light of all the recent press on this issue, I thought it time to focus on Garden Café on its own terms. They have been around nearly nine years, and established themselves as a neighborhood institution with an identity that goes much deeper than the ability to serve beer and wine. I sat down with owner Dale Wootton and his son Mark to learn about the past, present, and future of Garden Café.

Dale Wootton purchased the building in 1991, thinking it was a “diamond in the rough” with an area that looked conducive to his favorite pastime of gardening. “I had all these plans [with the building] for what real estate appraisers call the highest and best use for land,” he said, “but I decided that I wanted to do what I wanted to do and not the highest invest use. So that’s why we came up with the idea of a garden, a peaceful relaxing place, where if you need some basil, you run out here and pick it.”   Continue reading →

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Filed under Adam Sachs, Crave, Local gardens, Local Produce, Susan Migdol

by | August 25, 2011 · 10:51 am

“To Life” with Charles Smith

by Adam Sachs   

It was the first time I had seen my friend Kevin since April, when we were at a house party hosted by Pioneer Wine Company and Charles Smith Wines. This time we found each other at the same house for a an after-party for Pioneer’s portfolio tasting. I reminded him about the night before I flew to Walla Walla, Washington and saw Charles Smith’s newly opened downtown tasting room.     Continue reading →

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Filed under Adam Sachs, Nightlife, Party!, Wine

by | August 18, 2011 · 8:19 am

Chateau Musar, Tasting What is True at TexSom 2011

by Adam Sachs

When you are a winemaker you have the luck to work with something that is alive and you should never kill it.”   -Serge Hochar

The final seminar of this year’s Texas Sommelier conference was “A Vertical Tasting of Chateau Musar,” a Lebanese producer I had tasted a few years ago during a D Magazine Supper Club event at Samar by Stephan Pyles. I remembered it tasting like a straightforward and refined Bordeaux blend, and was about to discover much more.

Master Sommelier James Tidwell explained the special significance Cheateau Musar held for him and Drew Hendricks, MS, and why they chose it as their first seminar focused on one producer. He then introduced the presenters of this seminar, Chateau Musar’s owner and winemaker Serge Hochar, and Paul Grieco, owner of Manhattan’s Hearth and Terroir.   Continue reading →

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Filed under Adam Sachs, TexSom, Wine

by | August 5, 2011 · 9:11 am

Gilt City Launches, Fosters More Cravings with Foster the People

by Adam Sachs      photos courtesy of Rebecca Lorrine Photography

A large city such as Dallas inevitably carries the clichéd paradox of letting me feel lost amongst a crowd of people when I go out. It was thus with definite curiosity that I accepted an invitation to check out the Gilt City Dallas Launch Party at House of Blues on Wednesday evening, featuring a live performance by Los Angeles’ Foster the People.

It was an exclusive party for members of Gilt City, not to mention that Foster the People have already played a few sold-out shows in Dallas. The scene was predictable at the House of Blues, a venue that cannot seem to recover from its poor acoustics, but nonetheless an iconic staple that can solidify any band’s reputation in this city.     Continue reading →

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Filed under Adam Sachs, beer, Gilt City, Nightlife, Party!

by | July 11, 2011 · 12:00 pm

Pamplona’s San Fermin, An Unlikely Undiscovered Gem

by Adam Sachs

“At noon of Sunday, the 6th of July, the fiesta exploded.  There is no other way to describe it…It kept up day and night for seven days.  The dancing kept up, the drinking kept up, the noise went on.  The things that happened could only have happened during a fiesta.  Everything became quite unreal finally and it seemed as though nothing could have any consequences.”

-Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

Little seems to have changed since Ernest Hemingway’s observations of San Fermín in early 1900s Pamplona, one of Spain’s oldest cities that boasts colorful winding stone streets and strings of bars that serve cheap local wine and delicious pintxos (tapas) displayed on the bar top.  San Fermín gets much attention from its annual rituals of precarious bull runs, and the festivities evoke comparisons to Mardi Gras and St. Patrick’s Day.   Continue reading →

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Filed under Adam Sachs, beer, Nightlife, Party!, Travel

by | May 9, 2011 · 1:13 pm

Cinco de Dude Sweet

by Adam Sachs

A little over two years ago, I received a phone call at work while my bosses were at the Dallas Market Center.  I was in charge of sales for a tea, coffee, and chocolate shop, and a woman was interested in showing us some chocolates she had made.  Her name was Katherine Clapner, former Pastry Chef of Stephan Pyles who was starting a business called Dude, Sweet Chocolate, for which she was making chocolates out of the kitchen at Empire Bakery.  When she brought samples about an hour later, my taste for chocolate became eternally altered.  She played with flavors like Roast Beet, inspired by the original devil’s food chocolate cake, and Oaxacan dark chocolate mixed with paprika and cocoa nibs.  These were the greatest chocolates I had tasted.

On Thursday evening, Clapner and her crew combined the shop’s one year birthday with the Bishop Arts District’s Cinco de Mayo Wine Walk festivities.  Her staff was decked out in sombreros and matador garb, while she sported a costume that made her the splitting image of Selena.  Buckets of Hornitos mixed with tamarind and infused with cinnamon sticks were available as DJ EZ Eddie spun everything from Curtis Mayfield’s “Superfly” to Porno for Pyros’ “Pets.”  Continue reading →

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Filed under Adam Sachs, Bishop Arts District, chefs, Events, fun with food, Oak Cliff