Tag Archives: Leslie Brenner

It’s A Bad Week To Be A Reality Chef And A Critic

Pepinby Steven Doyle

This might be a bad week to be a chef, or a chef’s critic, depending on which side of the kitchen stadium you are sitting.  The week began with a column penned by Jacques Pepin where he took a major chunk of reality chefs to task. Although not mentioned directly, much of the hullabaloo seemingly took Gordon Ramsay, king of the F-Bomb, to task.

The information that Pepin laid out was lined with a heart-felt indignation over the fact that on these programs chefs demoralize their staff, something that is hardly done in reality. Pepin went on to say in his article, “For the good of his or her restaurant, the chef should be a role model, an educator who probes and advises his cooks”.    Continue reading

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Brenner Can Judge A Restaurant Just By Its Menu Alone

by Steven Doyle

Last week the Dallas Morning News food critic Leslie Brenner rolled out an article that basically explained how she could judge a restaurant with a simple visit to an establishment’s menu online. The premise was that if you noted off season ingredients, or tired dishes on the menu the restaurant might not be up to her level of cuisine.

Brenner also specifically mentioned cassoulet and braised meats as seasonal dishes and this raised the ire of the soon-to-open Boulevardier restaurateur, Brooks Anderson. I ran into Brooks last night and he shared his studied opinion on the issue. Specifically that these dishes and more are offered throughout the changes of seasons in a true French bistro.

Today Brooks backed up this opinion on his Facebook wall in an open letter to Brenner and was signed by the four partners in the business, Brooks and Bradley Anderson, Nathan Tate and Randall Copeland.              Continue reading

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Tim Byres Wins Food and Wine’s “The Peoples’s Best New Chef”…

Chef  Tim Byres of Smoke snags the title for the Southwest region.  Details at dallasnews.com.

Photo by Robert Bostick

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