Category Archives: Cocktails

by Steven Doyle | March 9, 2012 · 9:49 am

First Look: Mad Tavern

by Steven Doyle

Mad Tavern opened a few short weeks ago in the former Sam’s Burger House location at 18101 Preston Road, the same shopping center where Cadot and Chaat Café are located. The new gastro-pub is operated by Sanjeeva Balachandra and Chance Harper formerly of Sherlock’s.

The pub has hit and miss items on the menu such as Gougers which are fried Gruyere cheese puffs (miss) and fish and chips made with Murphy’s Stout (hit). The menu also sports a shepherd’s pie and scotch eggs which were admirable. Mad Tavern makes much of their fare in house including a quite tasty corned beef for their Reuben. The fries are hand cut and are some of the best around. Continue reading →

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Filed under beer, Brunch, Burgers, Cocktails, Crave, Dallas, First Look, North Dallas, restaurant news, Restaurant Opening, Steven Doyle

by Steven Doyle | March 7, 2012 · 10:13 am

Drink Of The Week: Asador Bar

by Steven Doyle

We keep finding these amazing places to have a great cocktail across the city and today we found a superb spot that perhaps was off your radar. We were in Asador, which is located in the Dallas Renaissance Hotel. The restaurant is known for their incredible nod to all things local, and chef Max has this kicked up menu that shouldn’t be missed.

But this day we were in search of the drink and we found more than a few selections in the lobby restaurant. Enter Tyler Lott. At first glance she didn’t appear to be old enough to have the chops to create fine cocktails, but after watching her wield a muddler for a few minutes you could get this sense that she knew her way around the bar. That, and she has six years experience. Continue reading →

Assimilation: A Dallas Pub Crawl Story

by Jayne M. Chobot

There was a pub crawl, and there was a birthday boy and there was a street called McKinney in a neighborhood called Uptown. It was the end of the world… and I was dancing with Sally Bowles and we were both asleep…

To the two people who got that reference: Facebook me because we will be the best of friends. Translation: I wore my new cowboy boots, spent most of the day drinking domestic beer, I rode a mechanical bull, and we ended up… well, you guess.

What more is there to say, really? For all participants it was a blast. For a new Texan it was quite the experience. That I wasn’t bundled in three layers with snow boots spending my Saturday afternoon at a Laundromat in Queens was a plus. Continue reading →

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Filed under Cocktails, Crave, Dallas, Jayne Chobot, Liquor, Uptown

by Steven Doyle | March 5, 2012 · 10:24 am

Rockwall’s Ava Adds A Ten Course Chef’s Tasting

by Steven Doyle

We recently had a chance to check out the new ten course tasting menu at Restaurant Ava, the Rockwall wunderkind restaurant run by Nathan Tate and Randall Copeland. As the two prepare for their next venture in the Bishop Arts District, which will be called Boulevardier, they added a new chef in the Rockwall kitchen, Taylor Kearney. You may recall Kearney from his previous post as sous at Charlie Palmer under Scott Romano. Kearney is now chef de cuisine.

The new tasting menu opens up the chef’s bar where a small handful of guests enjoy special off-menu items while deep up in the middle of the kitchen action. The night we were at Ava Kearney was cheffing, Tate was in the expo position and Copeland ran the front of the house. It was interesting to have a first hand look at this smooth combination as orders were processed in a fast steady pace. Continue reading →

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Filed under Bacon, Beef, chefs, Cocktails, Crave, restaurant news, Rockwall, Steven Doyle

by Steven Doyle | March 1, 2012 · 12:05 pm

Check Out The Line Up For Next Chefs For Farmers

by Steven Doyle

If you haven’t purchased your tickets yet for the upcoming Chefs for Farmers event May 6, 2012, you best skedaddle. This will be one of the hottest events of the year with an amazing amount of chefs hosted by Dallas legend Stephan Pyles who is the head chair for the outdoor event. Dean Fearing and Kent Rathbun are also being honored. Continue reading →

Rare Red Wattle Hog Dinner at CampO

by Steven Doyle

The Red Wattle hog is a large, red and has a fleshy decorative wattle on each side of its neck. The breed was thought to arrived on American soil by way of French colonists in the 1700’s who were thought to bring them from Australia. The hog is know for their hardiness and exceptionally lean and juicy beef-like taste and texture.

Last year there were only 200 registered Red Wattle hogs in the United States, making them a particularly rare breed, and you will not typically find the meat on local menus. That is until last night when CampO Modern Country Bistro executive chef Josh Black set out to create one of his monthly special dinners. You will recall last month consulting chef Matt McCallister spearheaded his Total Catch dinner, and he collaborated with Black to create the menu for the dinner last night. Continue reading →

Win a Ketel One Glass-Blowing Experience

by Steven Doyle

Yesterday I received an interesting invitation to a cocktail event that put me in a roomful of some of the areas best bartenders. The event was hosted by Ketel One Vodka and the objective was to learn more about glassware and how they might affect a particular drink.

Ketel One selected Michael Martensen of Cedars Social to lead the day, make one cocktail and serving it in a variety of glasses to prove the point that the glass is a major influence on the over all experience. Continue reading →

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Filed under Arts, Cocktails, Crave, Dallas, Party!, Steven Doyle

by Steven Doyle | February 16, 2012 · 12:47 pm

Win The Giant Box From Ruth’s Chris

by Jerry Stewert

I think it is fair to say we really enjoy a good cocktail at craveDFW. Probably more so than the average human should. Imagine how we felt after receiving this huge box from Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

The staff wandered around the giant box with aplomb gazing at its wonderment, then we ravished the package like it was our first Christmas. We were hoping it was a giant haunch of beef, but to our amazement it was a set of cocktail tools. Continue reading →

23 Comments

Filed under Cocktails, Contest, Drink Dallas, Free is Fabulous, fun with food, Jerry Stewert