Category Archives: Andrew Chalk

by | June 27, 2014 · 9:00 am

Ladies of Cattle Baron’s Ball Hold Girl Power Announcement Party

Cattle Baron Girl Packageby Andrew Chalk

The Cattle Baron’s Ball is a high point of the Dallas charity social season, raising over $3.5m last year for the American Cancer Society. This year’s event will have a twist. At the live auction, bidders will be able to bid not only for a meal cooked in their home by gentlemen chefs, but now one cooked by lady chefs. This week, the ladies of Cattle Baron’s ball had what they billed as their Girl Power Group announcement party at Parigi in Dallas and CraveDFW was there.  Continue reading →

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by | June 25, 2014 · 9:33 am

A Winos Guide To The U.S. 290 Wine Road – Caveat Emptor

wine1by Andrew Chalk

You have toured Napa’s famed Highway 29, right? The wine trail where it takes 45 minutes to cross the road in the summer (such is the traffic)? Well, an attraction billing itself as the “#2 Wine Destination in America” is taking shape just south of Dallas. It is the “290 wine trail” or “Wine Road 290”.

The term “290 wine trail” is my own. The name refers to the stretch of U.S. 290 between Fredericksburg and Johnson City.

The term “Wine Road 290” is copyrighted and owned by a corporation with the following details:   Continue reading →

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by | June 24, 2014 · 9:20 am

Report: Grace and Möet Hennessy Team Up To Vex Diners with a Blind Tasting

Grace_Outsideby Andrew Chalk

It was a packed room at Grace on Wednesday night as the restaurant teamed with Möet Hennessy to do a sumptuous wine and food dinner. After a pre-prandial glass of Möet Hennessy’s most famous wine, Möet & Chandon’s Brut Champagne we sat down to a wine dinner with a difference. The guests did not know what the wines were! At least, when it came to the reds they did not know which wine was which.  Continue reading →

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by | June 23, 2014 · 9:07 am

Psst… Wanna Buy a Texas Winery?

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by Andrew Chalk

Did you wake up this morning and say “I should buy a winery”? Well, you are in luck because I have found one for sale! And this is not an anonymous micro-producer but a major name in the Hill Country, less than a mile from the start of the U.S.290 wine trail in Johnson City.

It is Texas Hills Vineyard and it can be yours for $5,370,000 including (per the real estate agent’s flyer which can’t spell the frustrating word “acre” correctly):   Continue reading →

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by | June 19, 2014 · 9:33 am

A Chop Off The Old Block

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by Andrew Chalk

In early May I reported on a steakhouse in downtown Dallas that flew under the radar in terms of its innovative approach to the toughest restaurant genre in Dallas — the steakhouse. Recall, we sent out-of-towners Smith & Wollensky, Flemings and BLT Steak packing. Even the spellingly challenged were not saved. N9Ne showed that it had exactly one, and not n9ne lives, in Dallas’s ghost town, Victory Park. My find, Dallas Chop House had innovative steak cuts, sides that deserved first-tier status, and preparation that was skillful and consistent. The Dallas Chop House gang, DRG concepts, spun off a baby brother in the form of Chop House Burger (CHB), which quickly gained a following of its own in its Main Street location near the mother ship. DRGs plan was always to go multi-site (although not through franchising, which, says manager Nafees Alam, is where concepts ‘go to die’).   Continue reading →

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by | June 18, 2014 · 11:25 am

Dallas’ Best New Restaurant May Be An Old Restaurant

IMG_4168Hibiscus’ Crispy Lamb Ribs. One of the best dishes I have had this year

by Andrew Chalk

With interesting restaurants opening at a pell-mell pace in Dallas over the last year or two it is a halcyon time for media types without any better ideas to put together “best-of” lists, usually over a couple of drinks. They may want to ponder that the active ingredient in “new”, insofar as restaurants is concerned, is the identity of the chef in charge of the kitchen. By that measure, Graham Dodds accession to the execuchef position at venerable Hibiscus has created a restaurant that is ‘new’ in the operative sense of the word. His task was complicated in following in the path of very capable predecessors.      Continue reading →

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by | June 12, 2014 · 2:34 pm

Texas Department of Agriculture Proposes 75% Texas Grapes Requirement in GO TEXAN Wine

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by Andrew Chalk

June 12th, 2014: In a major rules announcement the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) today proposed that future use of the GO TEXAN mark on wine packaging will require that 75% of the grapes used to make the wine be from Texas. This replaces the existing rule under which 0-% of the grapes must be from Texas and makes GO TEXAN labeling consistent with Federal appellation labeling.

This change is a huge win for three groups, and a huge loss for one.    Continue reading →

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by | June 10, 2014 · 10:05 am

The Road To Quality Is Israel’s Route Out of The Wine Desert

Carmel Image 9Vineyards at Carmel Winery

by Andrew Chalk

I was interested when the Israel Wine Producers Association (IWPA) came to town recently to publicize new developments in Israeli wine. Although, Israeli wine has been around retail stores here since the 1980s, it has been characterized by products targeted at the niche market of observant jews seeking a kosher product. If you wanted good wine, you looked elsewhere.

Things are different this time around. Israeli produces are pitching their wines based on the quality of their product. Essentially saying that they are able to compete successfully in the U.S. market (their number one export market) against wines from anywhere in a given price category. The reasons for this change of focus are several fold. First, Israel has seen a boom in the number of wineries in the country (there were 70 in 2000, there are almost 300 now). Second, a rapidly developing economy means that Israel cannot expect to be the lowest-cost producer. Third, the domestic market is tiny (population 8m people) and they don’t drink much wine.   Continue reading →

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