Everybody has a burger they measure all other burgers against. Most people can tell you exactly where they ate it and roughly what year. Mine was at a counter in Chicago that doesn’t exist anymore. It was nothing special to look at — wax paper, a paper boat of fries, a cup of water nobody asked for. But I thought about that burger for three days after I left town and I have been chasing it ever since. That’s the thing about a great burger. It doesn’t announce itself. It just stays with you.
Filed under Steven Doyle
You know a brunch spot is working when the valet is full, the front patio is full, and nobody at any of the tables seems in a hurry to leave. That is Beverley’s Bistro & Bar on a Saturday around noon. The food is the reason, but the mood is why people stay. A couple at the bar splitting a plate of caviar latkes and not saying much because they do not need to. A family of six crammed into a corner booth with three kinds of eggs between them. Somebody at the next table ordering a second glass of prosecco before their plates have been cleared. You walk in and you feel like you just showed up at a party that was already going.
Continue readingFiled under Steven Doyle
by Steven Doyle
Not long ago we ran into chef Jill Bates, the recently former pastry chef at Dean Fearings eponymous restaurant located in the beautiful Dallas Ritz-Carlton. We asked about her departure and she made it very clear the move was bitter-sweet, not too unlike the chocolate she uses with some of her marvelous pastries.
“We are still family, great friends. In fact we will see each other next week”, Bates told us during a phone conversation. Continue reading
Filed under Crave, Steven Doyle
