Category Archives: Andrew Chalk

Join Parallel Restaurant Week Now

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by Andrew Chalk

Diners love the low price of the all-inclusive menus of restaurant week ($35 or $45) but hate the crowded dining rooms leading to slammed kitchens and fatigued serving staff. What if you could have all the pluses of restaurant week (RW) without the negatives?

One restaurant is offering pretty much that, as it opened too late to be included in the RW program. In fact, their special restaurant week menu (available through August 24th) is less than the price of  the official menu! Cucina Neighborhood Italian restaurant in Preston center (in the old Ocho/ Mi Piaci space) is offering three courses for just $25 – and that includes a glass of house wine! I attended a media event last week and can confirm it is a real bargain. The helpings were large enough that I took food home for lunch the next day. The appetizers were good. The main courses excellent. The desserts less memorable. The menu is available every evening right now. Overall, it was an excellent value and the experience comes Crave Recommended.    Continue reading

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Hendricks Search of the Perfect Botanical

View of areaby Andrew Chalk

If you have a successful and distinctive gin on the market, do you rest on your laurels? Is the recipe put to bed? Not if you are Hendrick’s, the family-owned distiller of the cucumber-rich spirit that is always the first to be recognized in blind tastings. They explore for new botanicals that stretch the limits of the definition of gin.   Continue reading

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A Stellar Italian Wine That Isn’t Made from the Grape You Might Expect

chalk by Andrew Chalk

Most of the top wines from the Tuscany region of Italy are made wholly or mainly from the Sangiovese grape. However there is another indigenous red Tuscan grape that I recommend you check out. 2011 Corte alla Flora Pugnitello is made from the Pugnitello grape, sometimes called Tuscany’s forgotten grape. Pugnitello means ‘little fist’ and refers to the grape’s tight bunches on the vines. It lost favor in the mid 20th century to Sangiovese partly because of its low yields. A research project by the University of Florence, in 1960, is believed to have pretty much saved it from oblivion.   Continue reading

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The Hundred-Foot Journey: Part Year In Provence, Part My Fat Greek Wedding – India Collides With Southwest France!

Movieby Andrew Chalk

The plot of The Hundred-Foot Journey is fairly straightforward. Displaced from his home in India and finding England too cold, ‘Papa’ Kadam (Om Puri) takes his family on an odyssey across Europe. An auto accident lands them in southwest France in the unbelievably picturesque village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val where he is enamored with the architecture of a derelict château and resolves it to be the site of his new restaurant, Maison Mumbai.

The problem is that it is right across the road (just 100 feet) from the distinguished restaurant Le Saule Pleureur, owned by the formidable Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren). A widow who, we learn, runs her restaurant solely for a coveted second Michelin star. Her protests against the interloper lead to an escalating (but comical) war between the establishments.    Continue reading

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New LYFE Comes To Uptown

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by Andrew Chalk

LYFE (Love Your Food Everyday) is a concept in a growing segment: healthy, tasty food with a conscious nod towards localism, environmentalism and some notion of social responsibility. After establishing 10 locations in California, Nevada, Colorado and Illinois they have finally arrived in Texas, and are hitting the Dallas area first. There will initially be locations in Plano (at Preston and Park), Preston Center and Uptown (West Village). Last night they held the grand opening of the Uptown location to a packed crowd of foodies, friends, family, media and local dignitaries. Poor Mi Cocina next door looked rather lonely by comparison.

Although we sampled only a small subset of the menu, the boisterous event gave me an idea of what makes LYFE tick. Think of True Food Kitchen and Seasons 52 as similar in concept and also in menu construction. LYFE is more casual and at a lower price point than Seasons and stresses that it is open breakfast (unlike the others), lunch and dinner. In Uptown’s densely populated area the breakfast option is likely to prove popular.   Continue reading

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Bob Pepi – Multi-Continent Winemaker

Robert Pepi Photo at Wineryby Andrew Chalk

A big drawback of winemaking is that it is totally in the hands of nature. A great advantage of winemaking is that it is totally in the hands of nature. It depends what nature does that leads you to the first conclusion or the second. In the case of consulting winemaker Bob Pepi, it is the foundation for a lifestyle that sees him commuting quarterly to the southern hemisphere from his California base to make wine at Bodegas Valentin Bianchi in Mendoza, Argentina’s largest wine region. When home he consults with numerous domestic clients in California and Colorado (even in Texas at one point in the past). Plus he has founded his own label, Eponymous.   Continue reading

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Texas To Get a Winery Incubator

IMG_4440by Andrew Chalk

Readers in the tech. sector will be familiar with the concept of an incubator. It is a physical facility with the infrastructure and mentorship to enable nascent companies to grow. For example, it might provide legal, accounting, Internet hosting and marketing assistance. Incubators emerged  during the iTulip boom of the late 1990s but the concept has endured.

Now comes news of one Texas wine entrepreneur’s plans to open an incubator for incipient Texas wineries. Mike McHenry is managing partner of Wedding Oak Winery in San Saba, on the northwest border of the Texas Hill Country American Viticultural Area (AVA). Despite its short life, the winery opened in June 2012, it has already established a reputation for soundly made, award winning wines under winemaker Penny Adams.   Continue reading

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Do The Generous Pour Now. It is a Great Summer Meal Idea

IMG_4454by Andrew Chalk

It is the middle of summer and people are away on vacation. If you are a Dallas steakhouse, how do you fill the tables? Answer, do a promotional special. Several Dallas restaurants have taken up the challenge (this is actually a great time of year to eat steak!) but one of the best is The Generous Pour currently taking place at all locations of The Capital Grille every evening of the week through August 31st. I was a guest at a recent media event at The Capital Grille where they explained it.   Continue reading

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