One Beer Island: Festina Peche

by Jeff Fryman

It’s July, I live in Texas, and it’s hot. And I don’t mean ‘let’s throw the frisbee on the beach’ hot or ‘picking apples in Washington State and having so much fun’ hot. I mean dumb hot, like ‘I walked to my car and I am already sweating’ hot.

I heard someone refer to it as ‘hotter than a pair of sweat pants full of barbecue sauce.’ And although this makes absolutely no sense at all, it makes sense in Texas especially with the random bbq mention.

In summary, this time of year in Texas, it’s hot as hell. Now, imagine you’ve been taken to a fake island that is just as hot, but your somewhat evil captors are forcing you to drink a single type of beer. With it being so ridiculously hot and all, what could possibly be refreshing enough?

If stranded on an island with only one beer to drink, this week I would pick: Dogfish Head’s Festina Peche.   Continue reading

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Filed under beer, Cicerone, Crave, Jeff Fryman, Party!

Wine Dinner at Canary Benefits Cancer Research

by Crave Staff

We just caught wind of a great wine dinner in North Dallas tomorrow night.  There are still a few seats available at Canary, located in Addison, and they will be Fall Creek Vineyards from the Texas Hill Country. The dinner will be appropriately paired with Canary’s Texas-themed menu with ingredients from the Lone Star State.

Canary is a huge supporter of breast cancer research and will be donating 25% of proceeds to Susan G. Komen.

Date: Wednesday, July 20, 2011

 Time: 7 p.m.

Cost: $125 (includes tax and gratuity) four-course dinner, including wine. 25% of proceeds benefits breast cancer research.

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Filed under Addison, restaurant news, Wine

Nosh Heats Up Last Night For Hell’s Kitchen Watching Party

by Steven Doyle    photos by Steven Doyle

Last night I was invited by a few friends to join them at Nosh Euro Bistro to view the season premier of Hell’s Kitchen, the Gordon Ramsey bitch-fest extravaganza that involves 18 chefs from across the country that were selected to compete for the ultimate chef-prize of working as head chef in one of the best restaurants in the United States.

Locally we are excited for the bright and beautiful Carrie Keep, a pantry chef who works at the Highland Park kitchen of Nosh under the long-time Dallas chef and restaurateur Avner Samuel and his exec chef Jon Stevens.

Running a bit late for the viewing I approached the restaurant at about 7:40pm only to find the building being evacuated. Apparently a fire broke out in the kitchen due to a malfunction of an oven causing flames to jet out uncontrollably.  Owner Samuel was on hand and attempted to squelch the flames to no avail.  Continue reading

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Filed under BBQ, chefs, Crave Girl, Nosh Euro Bistro, Party!, restaurant news, Steven Doyle, Wine

North Haven Garden Tour Yields Fruit

by Steven Doyle

Last Saturday morning as we reported last week, North Haven Gardens invited us along with the chefs from Parigi and a lucky patron of North Haven in to judge their annual pesto making contest.  The thrill of the event was to hopefully use up some of the flourishing basil from the entrants garden and win a gift certificate to not only North Haven, but to Parigi as well.

Fun day, and we found about a dozen entries in the contest, each with their own distinct recipes and flavors. One entry was from a ten year old patron that used all the right ingredients and managed a second place win.  Continue reading

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Filed under Local gardens, North Dallas, Steven Doyle

Twitter Your Way To Free La Duni Dinner

by Crave Staff

This just crossed our desk from one of the lovlier PR people in Big D. La Duni is opening a new location and they want you to try it out.  We also like any excuse to post a photo of Dunia.  Jump for hot details… Continue reading

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Filed under Almost in Oklahoma, Pastry Chef, restaurant news, Restaurant Opening

Grace Wins With Christmas In July

by David Donalson

Last Thursday, I had the privilege of attending Grace’s Christmas in July celebration benefiting the American Heart Association in Fort Worth. For three glorious hours, I was able to taste some outstanding seafood appetizers while tasting many different forms of bubbly. I would be lying if I did not say that I was looking forward to this for a week. I never miss an opportunity to drink good bubbles and man there were some good bubbles here.

When I see an event that claims to be “Champagne” like a Champagne brunch, I get a little worried. Too often people assume that bubbles equals Champagne and as much as I like Cava from Spain and Prosecco from Italy, they just never stand up to the purity of flavor as true Champagne. With a $50 cover charge, one should expect true Champagne and Grace did not disappoint. There were three tables lined by buckets of ice and lots of bubbly.  Continue reading

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Filed under Crave, David Donalson, Events, Fort Worth, Grace, Wine

Something Smells Fishy On Aisle Five

by Steven Doyle

A new trend in supermarket super marketing?  We hope not.  A New York purveyor, NetCost Market, recently installed the grocer’s version of Smell-O-Vision that reminds us of the 1981 John Waters film, Polyester (filmed in Odorama), that provided tiny scratch and sniff cards and prompted the viewer to scratch at appropriate moments.  Continue reading

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Filed under Market Report, Steven Doyle

A First Look at Taco Ocho

by Steven Doyle

This weekend marked another collection of days mired with fantastic tastes and culinary experiences, starting off boldly with a visit to the new Taco Ocho located in Richardson.  Although we do not normally discuss fast food restaurants on craveDFW (remember how nearly silent we stood with the recent In-N-Out brouhaha?), Taco Ocho is a new generation taqueria that lifts itself deftly above the rest. Ocho offers a unique perspective on the entire taco genre and although quick to serve, hardly qualifies as fast food.  Continue reading

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Filed under beer, Food, restaurant news, Restaurant Opening, Steven Doyle, Tacos, Weekend Fun