EATS

I neglected to mention an important aspect of the La Duni experience in the review that came out in print on Friday: brunch.

Folks tend to be either in the sweet camp or the savory camp for brunch, and I lean toward the latter. La Duni’s brunch menu has a lengthy list of egg dishes, and my current fave is the migas cuatro quesos: scrambled eggs gussied up with bacon and a bunch of different cheeses and two kinds of salsa. Crunchy, crusty roasted potatoes flank the eggs.

If I’m in the mood for sweet (and I’ve promised myself to make it to the gym afterward), I’ll order the rollo de canela French toast. It’s quite ridiculous, really: An imposingly tall wedge of their fabulous cinnamon brioche roll is dipped in vanilla batter and pan-fried, then garnished with sliced bananas and strawberries.

Dallas Morning News intern Matthew Haag got to live out a dream common among us foodies: He spent a day learning what it's like to work on the line in a professional kitchen. During his day with chef Mickie Crockett at Trader Vic's, he cooked, he plated, he got injured. See it all and more in his first installment of "Try My Job." (And check back for his next adventure: dipping chocolates at the Russell Stover Candy factory in Corsicana.)

• Video: DMN intern Matthew Haag tries out being a Trader Vic's cook
• Review: Read Bill Addison's review of Trader Vic's

Just when I was about to label squash the wallflower of the vegetable garden, along comes news from South America reported in The New York Times. Scientists have uncovered evidence that squash was cultivated in Peru 10,000 years ago. That means farming in the Americas took place nearly as early as in the Middle East, long considered the birthplace of plant domestication. The article goes on to say that there may have been as many as 10 "centers of origin" for agriculture besides the Middle East. I wonder if those early Andeans were any better at finding ways to spruce up the prosaic vegetable.

No, Paul Pinnell is not retiring when he leaves his general manager spot at Nana in July. Far from it. Paul will be opening his own place this fall: Dali Wine Bar & Cellar at One Arts Plaza in downtown Dallas.

Taste readers are familiar with Paul's elegant and astute wine commentary; he's been part of our wine panel since it started last year. He's dedicated to uncovering excellent and affordable wines.

Dali's centerpiece will be a wine bar made of glass and recycled wine paraphernalia, and the patio will have a view of the downtown skyline. You can sip on site or buy a bottle to take home.

The food is described in a press release as "laid-back wine country meets the urban sophisticate." The chef is still TBA.

That's Paul Pinnell opening bottles for a wine panel tasting as chef Blythe Beck of Hector's on Henderson waits sort of patiently.

Here's the word from the company that makes it:

Robert’s American Gourmet has been alerted to a recent outbreak of salmonella and the potential contamination of Veggie Booty. Due to the serious nature of the health risk, Robert’s has decided to temporarily stop the manufacture and sale of Veggie Booty ONLY until test results can positively identify the source. We stand by our snacks and hope to resume making Veggie Booty shortly.

And here's a news story about the recall.

Other kinds of Booty snacks, and I've seen 'em in several NTx stores, are not affected by the recall.

Sam’s Club and Costco, one of the nation’s top wine retailers, aren’t keen to publicize this. But a little-known section in the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code permits anyone to buy beer or wine at their stores. That’s right: You don’t need a membership. As TABC spokesperson Carolyn Beck says, "Sales can’t be restricted only to members of the club." Yessss.

At the Coppell Farmers Market, I ran into Ben Ackerley, who was selling his family's organic pecans from Quemado and Crystal City, Texas. He's at Coppell Saturday mornings, then moves to the Dallas Farmers Market. This Saturday, though, will be Ben's last. He's heading to New York after graduating from SMU. He says his sister is going to take over selling Rio Grande Organics pecans, but if you want to be sure you get some of these nuts, which are sweet at the center with tannic skins, go this weekend. Meanwhile, I'll find out how serious Sister is about taking over Ben's spot.

Ever wanted a Drumstick with no nuts in the chocolate coating? I have. And now Nestle is making Simply Dipped cones with no nuts in the chocolate, which tops five flavors: Vanilla, Cookies & Cream, Mint Cookie Crunch, Vanilla With Fudge, and Mint.

Major grocery stores should carry them for about $3.99 per four-pack or $6.49 per eight-pack.

Wes Marshall, our Austin wine guy, reports from his recent trip to New York, where he helped spread the word about Texas wine.

While in New York, I asked all the main wine and food magazine writers how they tasted their wines. As it turns out, most know exactly what they are drinking, even though when you see a label, you immediately start having expectations about how a wine will taste, sort of a wine placebo effect.

One magazine said their taste tests were blind, but the only part that was blind was the label. So when they tasted Texas wines, they knew they were tasting Texas wines. Expectations then lead to, “Well, it’s OK, for a Texas wine.”

And there were no ringers to improve the experimental design. (I’m dangerous. I have too many graduate hours in statistics.) So at the few places where they were willing to taste really blind, we mixed Texas wines with gold-standard wines from around the world. Each wine was in a brown paper bag, and none of us knew which was which. That’s called a double blind study. Now that’s rigorous.

Texas wines didn’t always win, but they won some and they were never tagged as substandard wine.

The Taste wine panel met Wednesday to plow through 18 roses. Rose has not had an easy go in Dallas. People here just don't seem to get it, until they drink it in France.

I can't help with the France thing, but here's a tip: Many of the roses, no matter what the style, paired well with blueberries and blue cheese. Go ahead, try it.

In case you missed it, check out the panel's picks to go with fried chicken here.

Wine producer Sean Minor, who's just launching his 4 Bears label, has made it part of his marketing strategy to get his wines into every Southwest Airlines destination in the country. "Southwest is such a pleasure to fly, and I started realizing that the markets I wanted to hit in the first couple of years were their destinations."

While he's racking-up those segments, he's just introduced three wines to North Texas: his 2005 Dry Creek Valley Sauvignon Blanc, 2004 Central Coast Chardonnay and 2002 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. He made them, he says, to be "Monday through Thursday wines that are good enough to serve Friday night." With all of thee beauties coming in under $15 a bottle, he's succeeded in creating a balanced, accessible portfolio. They're at Central Market.

From my e-box:

Fire up the grill, round up your friends, and prepare for a flavor explosion," says The Association for Dressings and Sauces (ADS). The Atlanta-based trade association of salad dressing and sauce manufacturers and suppliers to the industry celebrates July as National Grilling Month.

There's a whole association for dressings and sauces? I wonder if it was created by a historic merger between the Assembly of Dressings and the Concatenation of Sauces? Imagine the pageantry of the Grand Emulsification ceremony. Or maybe the group came out of a schism of the Amalgamation of Dressings, Sauces and Spices? Did overbeating cause separation?

Oh! There's a website where you can -- and I'm not making this up -- find out "The Good News About Salad Dressings and Sauces."

Bill Addison reviews La Duni Latin Kitchen and Baking Studio and La Duni Latin Cafe (and makes me want to skip straight to dessert). The other new reviews are Flavor Asian Fusion and Dessert Bar, Goodhues Wood Fired Grill and the Walnut Hill Lane location of Saltwater Willy's. See who makes the Top 100 and who gets one star.

Our own Tre Wilcox of Abacus had a rocky start with the Quick Fire challenge (which was to make a delicious dish using catch-it-yourself seafood) when he got a bum selection of sea critters.

For 25 years, since it first appeared in the pages of Southern Living, Hummingbird Cake was the magazine’s most requested recipe. The rich, triple-layer treat incorporates mashed bananas, pecans and crushed pineapple, then it’s cloaked in cream-cheese icing. You could make your own, using the recipe from James Villa’s new The Glory of Southern Cooking, in today’s Taste section. Or, if you’re in a hurry, get Celebrity Bakery to bake one for you. It’s available with 24-hours advance notice at any of the seven locations. The basic cake is $28.50.

From my e-box:

Long the global leader in kosher certification, the Orthodox Union is now not only cooking up some tasteful programming on its website, www.ou.org, but is planning to launch a kosher cooking channel of its own. Negotiations are currently in progress with major networks to make OU's innovative kosher programming available to television audiences in North America and around the world.

Later this summer, the OU will debut its cooking program, Simply Kosher, which will feature noted chefs. The first in the series of shows will be sponsored by Gold's: Gold Pure Food Products Co., Inc. A long-time OU certified company, Gold's is famous for manufacturing horseradish, and is well known for its humorous commercials around Passover. It also makes other condiments and products; its affiliate production lines are Nathan's Products, Uncle Dave's products and Chef Allen's products.

The "major networks" line sounds a bit, um, fishy. But OU is the Real Deal in kosher certification so I bet it comes up with a channel somewhere in the local digital universe. In any case, the videos will be on the OU website.

More details about who will be doing the cooking and what kinds of stuff will be featured after the jump.

Torrents of rain earlier this week didn't stem the flow of diners to Olea in Plano, open barely a month. Despite the rain, the place was hopping when I dropped by. The Mediterranean bistro's tapas concept is one of those "can't believe no one thought of this before" ideas: It combines little dishes like Spain's tapas from all the Mediterranean traditions, including meze (Turkey and Greece); crostini, bruschetta, antipasto and stuzzichini (Italy); and canapes and hors o'oeuvres (France). Everything we sampled was first-rate, from the trio of spreads - tapenade, hummus and eggplant caviar - to the very French escargots in pastry. That latter was a reminder that owner Pascal Cayet gave Dallas one of its best French restaurants, Chez Gerard, before moving north to open Lavendou and now Olea. The flip side of the menu is the tradtional lineup of soups, salads, entrees, etc., all reflecting the same pan-Med influence. Oh, and Olea's tiramisu, the overworked often underperforming Italian dessert, is stunning, house-made from the ladyfingers up. Anyone else been by?

Call it the foie gras of the fruit world: a rare delicacy whose flavor is fleeting, intense, and close to perfection. Maybe that's why the treasured Alphonse dessert mango from India hasn't made it to the United States for 40 years. They're starting to be imported again, and Dallas Central Market has them locally. The Alphonse is small and yellow, yielding perhaps half a cup of fruit, but the flavor and texture make a magnificent mouthful: juicy, yielding and creamy flesh that opens into layers of apricot and papaya topped off with a soft citric accent. It's all over too quickly. They're $3.99 each, in the exotic produce bin next to the bananas. Ripening hint: They're usually harvested green, so store at 70 F for optimal flavor and aroma development.

My friend Laticia Davis got me watching Top Chef: Miami, the third season of Bravo's culinary competition series, about a week ago, after she raved about contestant Tre Wilcox (chef de cuisine at Abacus). Now, I'm hoping Tre comes out on top. I think he really stands apart from the rest of the contestants. And I don't just mean in terms of talent. The guy's classy, period.
But here's what Laticia has to say:

I love Bravo's Top Chef....Tre Wilcox is my favorite, he's like 'snow in the summer........... a refreshing surprise.' Hung is a very close 2nd. I like him because he is confident, actually it's borderline "cocky," but that's cool too. Joey, well...he'll be gone soon enough (LOL). I am glued to the TV on Wednesday nights!!!!!

The Food Network site is featuring dietitian Ellie Krieger's online cookbook. It's a collection of short how-to videos in which she shows you how to make healthy recipes from Fettuccini Bolognese and Garden Risotto to Mango Lassi and Maple-Glazed Walnuts.

Look, we take care of our peeps here on the blog.

That's why I rushed to post this link to a printable coupon for 25% off your total lunch or dinner check at the Landmark Restaurant, inside the Warwick Melrose Hotel. You know, that historic beauty at 3015 Oak Lawn Avenue at Cedar Springs, reservations at 214-224-3152.

CLICK HERE for the coupon (scroll down, left side of the screen)

Here's the disclaimer-y stuff: The downloadable coupon is good thru December 31, but some restrictions apply. Coupon must be presented in advance to the server. One coupon per table.

White Knight, Clarksburg, Viognier 2005, $12.99

Viognier (pronounced vee-own-yay) can be a nightmare grape variety. By the time it’s ripe enough to show off its lovely fruit flavors, low acidity and high alcohol can make it downright tiresome. At its best, as in this wine from California, viognier is lush with floral aromas and juicy, peachy flavors with enough zing to keep the aromas and flavors bright and fresh. Enjoy with fried chicken. Available at Whole Foods Market.

Rebecca Murphy

The crisp, delicately flavored Bohemian-style Summer Pils comes from the acclaimed St. Arnold Brewing Co. of Houston, the oldest craft brewery in Texas.

Light and refreshing, it has a sweet, malt flavor balanced by a clean, bitter hops finish.
The company conducted 20 trials before it hit on the ideal recipe, which uses German pils malt and two Central European noble hops varieties.

The stakes are high for this beer: Since Texas summers can seem interminable, the summer Pils has the longest sales period of all the brewery’s seasonal beers.

Just about six months after the closing of Sage, Chris Svalesen has resurfaced at Tucker where he's introducing himself with a summer menu and adding some of his trademark seafood dishes to the regular menu.

Chicken fried steak has been a hot topic among Texas food writers of late. Scott, the man behind dallasfood.org, did an extensive series about CFS that D Magazine eventually ran as its cover piece.

Last week, Robb Walsh of the Houston Press published a cover story entitled “I Love CFS.” (Robb’s cover stories are always intelligent, zesty reads; this one is no exception.) In the story, he reports on his chicken-fried experiences at Ozona, Scott’s top pick, and Allgood Café, where Walsh had a better experience.

I’ll admit, I’m new to the cult of CFS and the dish’s many subtle variations and potential pitfalls. But I’m game to learn. So colleague Kim Pierce and I headed over to Allgood Cafe to check out what the fuss is about.

Special contributor Mike Hiller reports from the floor of the Southwest Foodservice Expo in the Dallas Convention Center:

This is the final day of the 70th annual Expo for the foodservice industry, the second largest foodservice tradeshow in the nation and produced by the Texas Restaurant Association. A battalion of more than 1,000 exhibit booths is spread across the Convention Center. If you're a vendor or a restaurateur, this is the place you go to check out the newest products and services. Among the highlights available to consumers:

Guest columnist Darla Atlas copes with a mom who is too good of a cook:

"When company comes, her kitchen becomes a celebration of Southern cooking: biscuits from scratch, fried chicken, butter beans from the garden, macaroni and cheese (made with Velveeta, the only way to go), homemade peach cobbler, homemade brownies – OK, you get the idea. It's an eating festival. We should give it a name: Gobble-a-palooza. Chow Days 2007. Foodstock."

Read how the fitness-minded Darla copes here.

It’s time for the Dallas Farmers Market Chefs Cooking Class Series, with some of the most popular (and bargain-priced) classes in town. Local chefs demonstrate favorite dishes inspired by market produce.

Each Saturday through July 28 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Individual classes $25 with reservation or $30 at the door. Five-class package $110. Make reservations with prepayment by mail: Cooking Class, c/o AIWF, P.O. Box 12384, Dallas, TX 75225. Make checks payable to AIWF, and include which class(es) you would like to attend.

Classes held in the demonstration kitchen upstairs in the Market Resource Center, 1010 S. Pearl St. Call 214-653-8088 for details.

CLASS SCHEDULE:

SATURDAY: Mickie Crockett, Trader Vic’s (poolside Polynesian)

JULY 7: David Holben, Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse (summer grilling and marinades)

JULY 14: Jim Severson, Sevy’s Grill (summer picnic fun)

JULY 21: Tré Wilcox, Abacus (seafood Abacus-style)

JULY 28: Richard Chamberlain, Chamberlain’s Steak & Chop House (cooking with Kobe beef). For this class only, kids ages 12-16 may attend for $15.

Through midnight Thursday, take an extra 30 percent off clearance items at NapaStyle.com. This is TV chef Michael Chiarello's web site featuring excellent finds for the kitchen and table, many from Italy.

I love this egg basket, already half off at $9.99.

The promo code is SALE33.

Celebrate 100 years of Blue Bell ice cream with a free cup of of Homemade Vanilla this weekend at Dallas Heritage Village (that would be Old City Park to you long-timers).
Blue Bell's rolling history exhibit will be on site from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Dorothy McLeod MacInerney, author of Blue Bell Ice Cream: A Century at the Little Creamery in Brenham, Texas 1907-2007, will sign copies of her book from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday.
The best part: Both the ice cream and admission to the park will be free. You'll have enough jingle left to spring for a Blue Bell root beer float in the Alamo Saloon.

This comes from special contributor Michele Axley:

Manager Brian Perry has less of a crowd to oversee these days with just nine tables in the temporary Promenade Dining Room at the Mansion on Turtle Creek. Six tables fill the adjacent bar area. (A $20 million dollar renovation is taking place in the main dining room, the library, garden room and kitchen. Hotel rooms, etc. will see a facelift in the next re-do phase.)

Was anyone else surprised to hear on NPR's "All Things Considered" Saturday that German Chocolate Cake lept to fame when a reader submitted the recipe to a Dallas newspaper in 1957? I took a moment to peruse the Dallas Morning News archives (which anyone can do through the Dallas Public Library), and sure enough, there it was in Food Editor Julie Benell's "Recipe of the Day" feature on June 3, 1957, submitted by one Mrs. George Clay. Ms. Benell even ran a correction two days later, noting to use half the amount of chocolate. But NPR's ending doesn't jibe with the clipping: It wasn't called German's Chocolate Cake. Mrs. Clay's recipe was for German Sweet Chocolate Cake. Whatever you call it, the chocolate cake with coconut-pecan frosting is a classic today.

A lovely passion fruit-jasmine tea from Fat Straws Bubble Tea was the judges' pick in Sunday's Best Iced Tea Contest at the Plaza at Preston Center. The people's choice winner came from Craft Dallas -- a white peony tea. (That same tea came in second in the judges' tally.)

One of my fellow judges was Lee Q. Garcia of Houston-based Tea in Texas magazine. Even in a tea-drinking state like Texas, Lee drinks a lot of tea. Her weekends are often spent checking out tea spots and events around the state. She says there are more than 130 tea places -- from tea rooms to shops like the Cultured Cup, where the judging was held -- around the state.

Preservation Dallas' Pete Peabody sends over this amusing tid-bit from JetSetModern.com on "Modernism, Sur la Table" by Sandy McLendon.

The point? Nothing changed more in the '50s than food.

Photo: "Long before there was Kelly Ripa, there was Arlene Francis, the most loved and visible female TV celebrity on Fifties daytime television. In a promotional shot, Francis is shown in her New York apartment offering cocktail tidbits made of vacuum-packed meats and cheeses."

I ran across a wine rep at Central Market on Saturday giving out samples of a red and a rose from Famega, one of my favorite Portuguese winemakers. He tells me that the two wines were made at CM's request, no doubt after CM's good experience with Famega's white: a light, crisp vinho verde with a hint of spritz that lit my palate a couple of years ago. The new red and rose aren't fruit bombs. Rather, they're made in the leaner, drier European style. Those in the know will recognize both as excellent, inexpensive food wines. The three wines sell for about $6 a bottle, making them something you can enjoy every day.

A lesson in not to assume that one place will necessarily have cheaper prices:

So over the weekend I was making a Sam's run for paper products and was tempted into buying a Texas seedless watermelon -- a bit over five bucks. And then went across the street to the Central Market (the Plano branch, natch) and saw what sure looked like the same melons there for a buck cheaper.

OTOH, the Sam's melon was easily my sweetest of the season.

In other melon news, I note that cantelope prices are finally down out of the stratophere. Anybody out there know whether the weather was why they were so high for so long? Or am I just imagining that the prices generally come down earlier in the summer most years?

Chef Jamie Sanford and the good folks at Dallas' own Winn Meat Company ("Since 1902") have come up with Something Completely Different:

"The World's First Dry-Age Web Cam." Check it out at winnmeat.com. If you dare!

Here's an excerpt from Larry Bleiberg's story in Sunday Travel about taking a Roadfood tour in Tennessee with authors Jane and Michael Stern:

Before we have a chance to digest the first meal, it’s time to stop for the second. We pull up to Puckett’s Grocery in Leiper’s Fork.

“We have 25 minutes,” Michael says. “Eat it, and beat it.”

I eye the buffet and then back off. Moderate, I think. Moderate.

I order two biscuits and then notice the cinnamon rolls. “Do you make those here,” I ask, afraid I already know the answer.

“Every morning,” comes the reply.

“I’ll have one,” I say meekly.

“Extra icing?” she asks.

I look around at the dining aficionados, some of whom had come more than a thousand miles. I couldn’t let them down.

“Sure.”

Read the whole thing here.

Lowcountry-style okra gumbo. Fried pork chops. Collard greens flavored with pork tails and smoked brisket. Silky stewed butter beans. Gullah rice (in the ballpark of N’awlins dirty rice). Banana pudding made with a custard so creamy I don’t really want to know what was in it.

It’s just a typical lunch during the annual field trip sponsored by the Southern Foodways Alliance, one of my favorite organizations in existence. The annual excursions take place annually in a different region of the South. This year, we’re in balmy, historic, architecturally gorgeous Charleston, S.C.

We've had several reader comments posted re yesterday's inquiry into finding the best pan de polvo, aka ojarascas, in the Dallas area.

First responder Mandy Rodriguez, who makes and sells ojarascas as a sideline ($4 a dozen, or less per dozen if ordered in quantity), came through with a sample of her homemade cookies. They were the ones I liked best, with a true melt-in-mouth consistency and authentic flavor. Email her at rvilla1979@hotmail.com if you're interested in ordering mass quantities of cookies for a wedding or other special event.

An Al Dia colleague suggested Roy's Bakery on Zang Boulevard (at Beckley) in Oak Cliff. Those cookies (which are sold individually) look lovely -- but, to me, they just didn't taste as yummy as Mandy's. Ditto with the cuernitos there, which were very pretty but didn't quite have the taste I prefer.

Find out Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Best Iced Tea Contest at the Plaza at Preston Center. Sample teas from local restaurants including Craft, La Duni, Tolbert's and Fat Straw Bubble Tea.

The event, which was started by the Cultured Cup, is now sponsored by the shopping center. Look for samples throughout the center, and stop by the Cultured Cup to stock up on tea gear.

I will be on the judging panel, but you can vote too. Buy a people's choice ballot for $10 or $20 and you're entered in a raffle for fab foodie prizes.

The contest benefits the Entrepreneurs Foundation of North Texas. So stop by and drink up for a good cause. It's on the southeast corner of the intersection of Preston and Northwest Highway.

The West End's annual Taste of Dallas food and music festival runs July 13-15. This year, organizers are planning a recipe contest. There will be four categories: appetizer, entrée, side dish and dessert. Contestants should email recipes to recipecontest@tasteofdallas.org by July 6th. The finalists from each category will present a prepared version of their recipe to the Taste of Dallas judges on July. 15.

If you plan to shop Saturday afternoon (June 23, about 4 p.m.) at Whole Foods' Preston-Forest location, make the most of your grocery run. Chris Ward, executive chef of the Mercury Grill, will demonstrate how to grill, bake or poach peaches.

On Saturday, June 30, Mickie Crockett of Trader Vic's will kick off the summer edition of Dallas Farmers Market Chef's Cooking Class Series with dishes inspired by her "Poolside Polynesian" theme. The four other featured chefs in the series (running Saturdays June 30 through July 28 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Market Resource Center, 1010 S. Pearl) are David Holben of Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House, Jim Severson of Sevy’s Grill, Tre Wilcox of Abacus and Richard Chamberlain of Chamberlain’s Steak and Chop House.

Dan Gatlin of Inwood Estates Vineyards shared this pic, taken Wednesday evening, of this year's chardonnay crop. The vineyard is on Inwood Road near Lovers Lane. Really. Right in the middle of Dallas.

Mr. Gatlin says the rain hasn't hurt the grapes at all. These grapes will go into the winery's Palomino-Chardonnay blend. The 2006 vintage will be released right before Christmas of this year, he says. Inwood Estates wines are sold in many restaurants and a handful of wine stores.

If you go this weekend, in Shed No. 1 you can look forward to:

The first of Texas freestone peaches. (The flesh doesn't cling to the pits.)
Plenty of blackberries and a few blueberries.
A farmer with corn on Saturday only.
Field tomatoes, including super-sweets, yellow pear and more. (Look for Jacksonville tomatoes, some of the state's best, meatiest tomatoes.)
Peas, as in a full compliment of lady cream, black-eyes and purple hull.
Watermelon and cantaloupe from the Rio Grande Valley.
Also, lots of squash, onions, red and white new potatoes,a few beets and early okra.

In Shed No. 2, don't miss local artisanal items such as Philomena's fresh-baked, stuffed Italian breads, pastured beef, lamb, pork and chicken at Texas Meats, and Kurry King curry mixes, to name a few.

A container full of cookies turned up at the office this week, and the minute I tasted one, I wanted to know where they came from. Turns out they were (darn it!) homemade in Mexico, by the family of DMN colleague Amy Hinojosa, and thus they are not available at any store.

These cookies are usually made as small disks or heart shapes. They are anise-flavored, very short and crumbly (probably because they are loaded with shortening, or more traditionally, lard) and they're coated in cinnamon and sugar. In my hometown of Corpus Christi, we call them pan de polvo, but Amy says they're known as ojarascas in her family.

They're perhaps my favorite form of pan dulce, or Mexican pastry. And really good pan de polvo seems awfully hard to find in Dallas -- unless perhaps you're lucky enough to have an abuela (grandma) who likes to bake. Does anyone out there know where I could buy the kind I remember?

Just a couple more tidbits on Olivella’s, the rockin’ new New York-cum-Neapolitan pizza place I reviewed for this week’s Guide.

One important thing to mention: Right now, the restaurant is BYOB. Charlie Green, Olivella’s owner, told me the wine and beer license will be coming through in a few weeks (licenses of that sort being one of the fun new things he’s learned to contend with as a first time restaurant owner). The wine list, when available, will offer a concise selection of mostly Italian and California wines. That space certainly doesn’t have enough room to stock a huge assortment.

“This is my grandma, this is my mom, and this is me,” said Mary Francis as she pointed to a trio of desserts representing three generations of Southern Italian pastries. She had prepared the treats as the final flourish for a Tuscan wine dinner earlier this week in the back room at her brothers' place, Jimmy's Food Store.

She brought them out to complement a rare Vin Santo from Lionello Marchesi, the wine producer of the evening, here from Tuscany to give his wines a face and story. The fig cookie, also known as cuccidati, was her grandmother's recipe.
The pastry puff was her mom's, who used to make the famous meatballs at Jimmy's before she passed away last year. Finally, there was Mary's own sublime Italian cream wedding cake.

Lionello was overwhelmed. “My Vin Santo has found its mate, but there are three of them," he said. "This could present a problem for me with the Pope.”

Meanwhile, Mary wants me to lay off talking up her desserts because she's already making them as fast as she can. No can do: This is history, told in flour and sugar.
Alfonso Cevola

Kozy Kitchen is the cheerfully funky eatery in Uptown where the omelets are organic, the meat is grass-fed and the sour cream coffee cake is a mail-order phenom.

The former breakfast/lunch only hot-spot is now serving dinner Friday and Saturday nights from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. (Warning: expect higher menu prices after dark) Check out the Kozy nightly specials including lean, healthy protein options in the form of elk strip and just-caught flounder.

Eat right and reward yourself with a piece of organic carrot cake. Hey, it's only fair.

Kozy Kitchen, 4433 McKinney Ave., 214-219-5044, www.kozykitchen.com. Word up: It's still BYOB for now. Reservations are accepted, but not required

Photo: Kozy owners Tiffiany Darnell , Nicholas Pavageuax (seated) and Jeff Wells shot by Courtney Perry

Barry's Food From Galilee is an anomaly on Snider Plaza in upscale University Park: small and simple, with cheap, good food, and BYOB. A Lebanese-American friend of mine once told me it was just like his mom's home-cooking. Last night, one of the staffers pulled me aside to tell me that he would be spending the next several weeks at a new sibling, Taste of Galilee. It opens Monday in Plano. Sure enough, there's one below-the-radar Google entry: The address is 2301 N. Central between Park and Parker. Taste of Galilee upgrades to a buffet, something like $10 for all you can eat, and that great BYOB. Check it out.

So, after winning the first round of the Season Three competition last week, our boy Tre Wilcox (of Abacus) landed himself in the bottom four. But, wait: Do they usually have a bottom four? Isn’t it usually bottom three? Did they pull in four people because it was a tough choice deciding who to send home, or because the show’s producers wanted a little extra drama?

Our critics review Olivella's, Los Molcajetes and Thai Samba, and Bill Addison gives hot sake the cold shoulder in Diner's Notebook.

The 2007 Taste of Dallas is looking for submissions to its recipe contest. If you've got a great appetizer, main course, side dish or dessert, you're invited to enter the recipe. It doesn't have to be original, but give the source, if it's not. Send it, along with your name, address and a daytime telelphone number, to recipecontest@tasteofdallas.org. Deadline for entry is July 6. Finalists will be invited to bring their prepared dishes to Taste of Dallas on July 13 for judging. Winners get gift certificates from selected participating restaurants.

More than 40 are lined up for the event, which runs July 13-15 in the West End Historic District. Admission is free. Food, alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages will be available for purchase. Get details at www.tasteofdallas.org.

When Silver Palate Cookbook co-author Sheila Lukins was here last week (read about it here), she did what all doting grandmothers love to do: She showed off pictures of her grandchild.

Ms. Lukins' younger daughter, Molly, is the mother of 2 1/2-year-old Bailey. "She calls me 'La-La,'" Ms. Lukins confided. "Oh, I just turn to moosh! I can't stand it -- I love her so much."

Older daughter Annabel, out in Boulder, Colo., was getting married soon after Ms. Lukins' Dallas visit. "She loves to cook, she cooks like crazy," Ms. Lukins said. "And do you know what she wanted for a wedding gift? A Viking range!

"Well -- how could I not?"

After Ms. Lukins finished up her demo and presentation at the Milestone Culinary Center (where Viking ranges, coincidentally, are a big part of the showroom), she was off to dinner. She had a 9 p.m. reservation at Stephan Pyles, whose creator she has known for many years, and she ordered signature Pyles dishes: Caesar salad, the cowboy ribeye, and the Heaven and Hell cake.

Mr. Dallas talks about where to get a great martini here.

Small Texas towns and Dairy Queen just flat go together.

Find literary proof in Larry McMurtry's Texasville (where his lead characters congregate at the local DQ like today's cyber kids camp out at Starbucks).

Anyway, we stumbled across a DQ while out and about and I had to have one of those famed curly-topped cones. I even refrained from licking it long enough to snap this photo. (Yes, disturbing.)

Find a high-fat, high-carb cone near you at www.dairyqueen.com.

Richardson food stylist Jane Jarrell tells how to make these fab ice cream sandwiches starting with cookies you make with cake mix. You can mix and match the flavors depending on whether you're serving kids or adults, or sub sorbet for the ice cream.

Score another point for sustainability with Whole Foods Market. The latest move: partnering with Costa Rica's Earth University to sell the program's bananas exclusively in the U.S. Actually, the agreement was forged four years ago. But we are just now getting the bananas, which have a lovely fragrance and full, ripe flavor, in our market. Besides their being raised sustainably, the bananas generate profits for the university. Anything earned with WFM goes to support the operations and scholarships.

The taste and smell receptors leading to my brain's coffee-snob lobe are apparently on the fritz. An editor for the daily Guide section heads up an elite society of café connoisseurs here in the office. We pitch in bags of quality java for our little group so that the lowly grounds subsidized by the paper don't offend our high-tone taste. He sends us a hush-hush e-mail after he's made a pot of snob coffee, then we quietly titter off to the break room for a cup. There are multiple pots, so I'll give them each a sniff and a swirl. The one that smells smooth and rich is our pot, and the one that smells like a mix of metal and drainage runoff is their pot. Today ... I came to find out I've been drinking from the wrong pot — the commoners' pot — this whole time. This means either A). the paper's coffee is better than I've been giving it credit for, B). our fearless leader has been making us pots of Maxwell House this whole time and keeping the Guatemalan-Italian-Kenyan über bold blend to himself, or C). I'm not as good at determining "good" coffee as I thought. I'm going to make myself a cup of green tea.

Not like I need more carbs in my life, but I find myself craving mac-n-cheese right now and I'm curious about where to find restaurant versions that taste truly cheesy and don’t have runny sauces, which I hate. I’ve had some fairly sublime examples at Hattie’s and Mercury Grill over the past few months. Other suggestions? Doesn’t at all need to be high-end, just … righteous.

A couple of weeks ago, Plano-based Bennigan's opened its first sports bar (with 25 plasma screens and free WiFi) in Addison. As part of its official grand opening, this weekend all appetizers, pizzas and burgers are $5. And it's happy hour all day Friday through Sunday, with all drafts $2-$3. The restaurant is 5260 Belt Line Road, Addison.

Banfi, Toscana IGT, Le Rime Chardonnay-Pinot Grigio 2005

The old favorite, chardonnay, and the new favorite, pinot gris, are blended in this bright, light summer wine that will be equally at home at the pool, beside the grill or at the picnic table. Citrusy, with hints of melon and peaches, it would light up a pasta salad or Vietnamese spring roll. Widely available for $10-$12.

Rebecca Murphy

Now, you can get your fix of iced coffee in seconds — at home. N.O. Brew’s New Orleans Style Iced Coffee needs only sweetener, milk and ice to produce a drink rivaling that of any coffee shop. The coffee is brewed in New Orleans’ historic French Market using a unique cold-drip process. The result is a strong yet smooth coffee, with no trace of bitterness — just rich, dark-roast flavor.
The coffee comes in three flavors: traditional, French vanilla and Storyville Mocha. Using one part coffee to two parts milk, a 34.5-ounce bottle makes about 13 8-ounce iced coffee drinks. At $4.99 per bottle, that comes to about 50 cents per drink when you factor in the milk cost. It’s enough to make you think twice about buying pricey iced coffee to go.
N.O. Brew is sold in the refrigerator case of Whole Foods Markets. (Some stores carry only the traditional and French vanilla flavors.)
Tina Danze

From this week's calendar:

Former British royal chef Darren McGrady, author of the upcoming Eating Royally, creates a British-inspired garden menu you can use all summer featuring Horseradish and Herb Crusted Beef Tenderloin with Warm Stilton Biscuits, Cheddar and Green Onion Potato Pie, and Butter Pudding with Clotted Cream and Caramel Sauce, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday; $49. Market Street, 5605 Colleyville Blvd., Colleyville; 817-577-5047.

Just got an e-mail reminder that Burgundy Pasture Beef is making a delivery run to Dallas tomorrow. Since I wrote about this grass-finished beef ranch several years ago, the couple who raise the beef, Jon and Wendy Taggart, have built a boucherie in Grandview, where they sell not only their beef, but other local, pasture-raised meat products. Their chicken comes from Mike Hale's Windy Meadows near Greenville (same chicken Sharon Hage uses at York Street), and the pork comes from the Sams family (of Full Quiver cheese fame), while the lamb is raised in East Texas. You can order the meats online and have them delivered, or make an afternoon trip to the store, something I'm looking forward to so I can chow down on one of their pasture-raised beef burgers. They're at 800 McDuff Ave., just off I-35 south of Fort Worth. Take the State Highway 81/Grandview exit. The Burgundy Boucherie is open Monday-Saturday.

When you've got a bit of free time and want to escape to a happy food place, check out Books for Cooks at AbeBooks.com. The new feature rounds up about half a million cookbooks, searchable by title, author or keyword. Spend time with fun categories such as long-lost diet titles (Hollywood Star Diet Book from 1953 and Martinis and Whipped Cream from 1966) and weird cookbooks (Cooking in the Nude and The Roadkill Cookbook). While you're at it, check your own stacks to see if you've got a hidden treasure.

What a choice last night on Hell's Kitchen:

Should Chef Ramsay give the boot to Joanna, who "could've killed someone" serving spoiled crabmeat (of course, what was it doing in the kitchen in the first place, Gordo?).

Or should he spike Jen, who took spaghetti out of the garbage can, washed it and then figured another boil would kill the bacteria. Oh yeah, and she overcooked 14 beef Wellingtons, shutting down dinner service.

BakeSpace is kind of like MySpace, but for "cookers and cakers" as the site says. It's a recipe swap site (not just for baked goods). It's free to join, and members can post a picture and profile, as well as keep track of their recently posted recipes and those that their friends have added.

But you don't have to be a member to gain access to the library of recipes. Just pick a category from celebrity recipes and hangover cures to vegetarian dishes and meals you can make for your furry friends.

If you like cheap burgers, Burger Hill has a combo meal for $3.29. You get a 1/4-pound burger (all the way), a small fry (it's more like a medium) and a 32 oz. drink. Add chili cheese to your fries for 89 cents. And finish up with a dipped cone (99 cents) or a pecan caramel parfait ($2.29).

I think it's in an old Dairy Queen building: 3850 Clarendon (west of Westmoreland) in Oak Cliff. It may be my new go-to for cheap burgers when I feel like driving farther than Country Burger on Hampton.

After learning last week that sommelier Drew Hendricks left Pappas Bros. Steakhouse for the new Charlie Palmer restaurant, I was curious for more details. Elizabeth Matthews, Director of PR and Marketing for the Charlie Palmer group, was tight-lipped in the most gracious way possible but did fill me in on a few tidbits:

Kathy Goolsby shared this inside info for TV fans:

Fans of The Closer on TNT — which premiers its third season tonight at 8 p.m. — may wonder about the stash of sweets Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (played by Kyra Sedgwick, left) keeps in her desk drawer. My onetime classmate at Arlington’s Lamar High School, James Duff — who happens to be the show’s creator/head writer/executive producer — invited me down to the studio for lunch and a tour while I was in L.A. last month. Like Chief Johnson, I have a weakness for sweets, so the first thing I did when I sat down at her desk was open the top left-hand drawer.

I’m happy to report that it does, indeed, contain a veritable smorgasbord of sugared goodies, from chocolate candy bars to fruit chews. But when I picked up a strawberry chew, it felt a bit hard — and any temptation to consume it was cut short when James walked in and caught me with my hand in the “cookie jar,” so to speak.

“I wouldn’t eat any of those if I were you,” he warned. “No telling how old they are.”

Remember "The Frito pie saga," last Wednesday's Taste cover? We got a fascinating email from Evelyn Watson, a DMN reader in Euless, who has first-hand memories of growing up in Santa Fe. She confirms that not only did Frito pie not originate at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Santa Fe, it was in fact for years served only at the local Dairy Queen, where it had been imported by...a Texan. Read on:

Here are two more berry farms, supplied by Dallas Morning News readers. As always, we suggest you call before you go to be sure there is harvest available:

Ed's Blackberries. U-Pik. $6/gallon, with
top-cut-off-milk-carton-gallons going for $5. About 2 acres of neat
rows of cultivated blackberries in Tarrant County, just south of
Mansfield on FM 1187. The picking season typically runs from mid-May
through the first week in June, and berry-picking is over for this year. Address: 6885 FM 1187 (2 miles east
of the Rendon community). There is a sign at the property during
berry season. The Vances also sells home-grown watermelons, cantaloupes, and
tomatoes, as they mature over the summer. Call Ed or Gladys Vance, 817-478-5653.

Cox Family Farms: Blueberries and blackberries. Near Emory in Rains County. 903-268-6134; www.coxfamilyfarms.com Lots of good photos on the Web site.

So I take my attractive, sealed bottle used for olive oil back to Oil & Vinegar at the Galleria for a refill. No joy. The store, which sold gourmet oil and vinegar in bulk and in bottle, plus spices, ceased to emulsify about a month ago, sez the friendly woman at the Galleria info desk. The website is down, too: "THIS SITE IS NOT AVAILABLE," it shouts in big capital letters.

So to my more expert blog-fellows and to you all I ask: Where can I go now for my fix of the bulk-available tangy Greek olive oil that I picked out after tasting about a dozen kinds of oil back before Oil & Vinegar got cold pressed?

Rain has not dampened the spring crowds eager to shop the season's produce today. I spied one very small farmer selling blueberries and corn at the exit end of the shed. Also, it was great to see John Lucido's produce, home-made pasta and garden veggies, including boxes of long, pale green Italian cucuzza, a favored kind of squash. (Wanna know how to cook it? Go to the next page.) And while the Lemleys were doing a great business in tomatoes, I found the ones at Bettye's next door just as fragrant and beautiful. 'Picked up some gorgeous peaches, too.

As it happens, though, the market still has up the old signage in Shed No. 1, where most of the local produce is found. Farmers and farm merchants have to bring regionally grown stuff: farmers, their own, and merchants, theirs or theirs and others. Dealers may bring produce from anywhere, but some prominently display their Texas goods. Just ask if in doubt. (Hint: Cherries don't grow in Texas.)

Read on for John Lucido's cucuzza recipe.

I

Reader KT had this reply about Noka's new Victory Park location: "dallasfood.org provides interesting information on Noka. I suggest reading."

• Read DallasFood.org's series called "What's Noka Worth?"

What's this on West Lover's Lane? A new Patry's French bistro? Maybe it should be called Son of Patry's. The original on McKinney was one of the city's first "real" French restaurants, run by George Patry, who was the first French chef at Old Warsaw before opening his own spot. This was in the days when we lit firewood for the stove by rubbing two sticks together.

I did flash back, thanks to a little tome I unearthed at Half Price Books. Printed in 1979, it's called Dining In-Dallas: A Collection of Gourmet Recipes for Complete Meals From Dallas' Finest Restaurants. For Patry's we get a menu that includes Crabmeat in Paprika Sauce, Caesar Salad with Patry's House Dressing, Chateaubriand and Caramel Custard.

Now this begs the question: Will son Daniel Patry be using the original Patry's Caesar dressing for the Casear salad at his new spot?

The book includes 21 restaurants. And amazingly, four are still in business. Can you guess what they are?

Celebration Market, the to-go extension of the venerable home-cooking spot on Lovers, has its frozen, house-made soups for half price right now. This is a deal: These are the quart containers that normally sell for $7.95. Think chicken tortilla, vegetable-beef (selling fast), lentil, chicken enchilada plus others. There's always so much good stuff here, from the chef's case items (pot roast, baked chicken) to Celebration's upscale King Ranch casserole and three-cheese chicken lasagna. And of course, yeast rolls. And blueberry muffins. And salad dressings: For creamy cucumber, I say forget the salad and bring out the spoon.

Murray Street Coffee Shop at the polite end of Deep Ellum has long been my favorite source for a java jolt. Our writers have hatched many a scheme here in the shop's loft lounge.

Well, now there's even more reason to drop in. Murray Street has added fresh sandwich plates and even hummus for lunch. At night, decompress after a hard day in the trenches with drinks from the new wine menu or imported beers such as Hoegaarden and Stella Artois.

I'll be the guy in the corner with the laptop and glassy eyes.

3100 Main Street at Murray in Deep Ellum, 214-655-2808

Photo: Chris Hamilton

Our critics review Kenichi, Local, Mooyah and Bubba Jean's. Also, check out our Father's Day dining guide.

Stopped in last evening at the new Noka Chocolate boutique on Victory Plaza Lane, just a few steps from the W Hotel and next door to the upscale Bella Flora floral-design shop.

Noka's a lovely little jewel box of a shop, luxe in a sleek, minimalist sort of way, with an interior by the Shimoda Design Group of Los Angeles. Our colleagues on the Shopping Buzz blog have some pictures posted here.

Owners Noah Houghton and Katrina Merrem told us they're now dividing their workdays between the Victory shop and their original Noka location in Plano. "We love it here," Katrina said. "Everyone at Victory -- the people at the W, all the other shop owners here -- have been so nice, so helpful and welcoming."

The Today Show had an interesting segment on yesterday. According to a new study, high school and college students are spending less of their disposable income on clothes and music and more on dining out. At the top of their list? Sushi and Starbuck's coffee. Apparently, the kiddos have graduated from Mickey D's and prefer finer food establishments these days. That might explain the loud crowd Bill Addison mentioned in his Kenichi review.

Here's a great summer sparkler idea from that recent Piper-Heidsieck-Charles-Heidsieck Champagne dinner at Abacus: To keep your sparkling wine cold, add ice cubes made from the same sparkler. That way, when they melt, they won't dilute the wine. For that matter, this tip applies to any cold summer beverage - lemonade, iced tea, wine coolers - although it's kind of hard to imagine beer ice cubes. Champagne ice cubes, on the other hand - that's my kind of decadence.

Season Three of Top Chef commenced last night with a win for Dallas: After being one of the bottom three in the kick-off Quick Fire challenge, Tre Wilcox of Abacus won the first round with a spice-crusted and seared ostrich dish that included abalone and heirloom tomato risotto. As host Padma Lakshmi pointed out, the two chefs who won the first rounds of Seasons One and Two went on to win the competition. Way to make the home city proud, Chef.

Photo: Tre Wilcox cooking up a storm at Abacus

Sigh. 'Tis the biz. You write rave reviews about someone doing a bang-up job at a great restaurant and then he/she up and leaves a couple weeks later. That's the case with Drew Hendricks, the wine director and head sommelier at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse.

Our Lifestyles intern, Tara Cuslidge, has discovered the glory that is Frito pie, about which she rhapsodizes over on the DMN interns' "Internal Affairs" blog. Thanks for the shout-out re today's Taste cover, T.C.!

Best Cellars, which led the way in bringing value-priced, accessible wines to consumers, has a new name: Crush Wine Shop. It's essentially the same concept, says a spokesperson, with some shuffling of investors behind the scene. Sure hope so.

Sheila Lukins, co-author of The Silver Palate Cookbook, was in Dallas yesterday. She did a midday cooking demo at Central Market and in the evening presented a program (sponsored by Les Dames d'Escoffier) and another demo at the Milestone Culinary Center.

We got to spend a few minutes chatting with Ms. Lukins, and DMN photog John Rhodes shot a short video that will appear on line next week. Look for our story to come soon in Taste, along with a recipe for one of the simple but elegant Silver Palate dishes served at the Milestone's reception, Shrimp and Grape Salad with Dill. (Which was so good that, we confess, a second helping seemed in order.)

How about celebrating tomato season with a BLT sans the bread? That's what the Dallas Central Market has in its chef's case this week. The meaty, firm BLT stuffed tomato has a tangle of lettuce, bacon and ranch dressing in its hollow with a fried-onion garnish. Yes, it's yumilicious. Also good, without the comfort-food hook: curried-chicken stuffed tomatoes. The curry is subtle, with bits of almond for crunch; the only sweet note comes from raisins. The BLT is $7.99/pound; curried chicken is $10.99/pound.

Speaking of Ratatouille, Sur La Table in Dallas is presenting a children's cooking class on Saturday, June 30, with a Ratatouille movie theme.

Instructor Kathryn Hume will show kids (ages 8 to 12) how to make dishes from the movie-inspired cookbook, "What's Cooking?" -- including Colette's Crepes, Croque Monsieur, Gusteau's Ratatouille and Eiffel Tower Cookie Sundae.

The 10:30 a.m. class costs $55, which includes two movie tickets to Ratatouille, a limited-edition movie poster, and a 15-percent discount coupon for Sur La Table. To register, go here or call 214-219-4404. The store is located at 4527 Travis St., just south of Knox Street and west of Central Expressway.

I love vine-ripened tomatoes — and I’m not talking about the ones found in grocery stores that cost an arm and a leg and still leave my taste buds unsatisfied.

Fortunately, I have an inside track on these things — my dad, Maurice Goolsby, who lives in Edgewood east of Dallas where the sandy soil produces some of the best-tasting fruits and vegetables in the world. So during my visit with him Saturday I asked for a local source.

He directed my daughter and me a mile or two south of “downtown” Edgewood on FM859, where a small roadside sign proclaiming “Tomatoes” pointed down a split gravel driveway. The farmer in the field we passed pointed us toward the house to the right, where we not only found ripe tomatoes ($1 a pound) spread on tables in the garage, but also new potatoes (50 cents a pound) — all fresh from the fields.

On Sunday, we feasted on creamed new potatoes, sliced tomatoes and a mess of fresh green beans supplied by my dad. We topped it with warm and juicy peach cobbler made using my grandmother’s recipe and fruit purchased at Ham’s Orchard in Terrell on our way home. Now that’s heaven!

Kathy A. Goolsby

Don't forget that season three of Bravo's Top Chef premieres tonight at 9 with Dallas contestants Casey Thompson of Shinsei and Tre Wilcox of Abacus. Read more about them and their competitors in North Texas talents face off on 'Top Chef'.

Fun story in the New York Times today (by one of my favorite food writers, Kim Severson) about the upcoming film Ratatouille and the pains through which the filmmakers went to create realistic restaurant scenes.

For the past two seasons, acres of cornfields across North Texas shriveled and died for lack of rain. Not so this year. The Texas sweet corn crop has gotten such a dousing that the Texas A&M University crop report says, “No need to irrigate.” Look for corn, grown both locally and out of state, to hit its peak just in time for Fourth of July cookouts.
Get sweet corn Saturday only at Dallas Farmers Market. Check out what else is in season.

Kim Pierce

I was the designated eater on Joyce Harris’s trip to sample Frito Pie at Tillman’s Roadhouse. Tillman's courteously provides a small bag on the side, so you can control the chips-to-chili ratio.
Beyond that, I offered moral support as needed on this project, generally by going home and eating Frito Pie to confirm to Joyce how much people like it.
One Saturday afternoon I stopped at the grocery store for a can of chili (I know! At least it was turkey.) and a bag of Fritos. Before the cashier totaled my order, she asked, without even looking up, if I needed to get cheese and onions too.
Such is the recognition factor of Frito Pie: Even with only half the ingredients, people know what you're up to.

Well, I'm hearing that chef Kelly Hightower's former Dairy Queen-turned-Greek cuisine hot spot, Kavala, is packing in the patrons. Several friends have told me recently that getting in on Friday and Saturday nights without (gasp) a reservation is getting harder and harder.

Hightower has also been desperately trying to add staff to keep up and has placed ads looking for help. Good for him.

I think Hightower has stumbled onto something here. Hey chef, I know this little Burger King where we could do a cozy French brasserie? Qui? Call me.

Kavala, 1417 West Davis in Oak Cliff, 214-942-8100

Don Olegario, Rias Baixas, Albariño 2005, $20.99

Rias Baixas (ree-ahs bye-shush) is a Spanish wine region in the northwest just above Portugal. Here, Spain’s warm, dry climate is moderated by the rias, long fingers of the Atlantic Ocean that reach inland, where the grape variety albariño thrives. This regal, refreshing wine displaying mineral, citrus and peach aromas and flavors with bracing acidity is suitable as an aperitif with Marcona almonds, or at the dinner table with Vietnamese spring rolls or linguine with clams. Available at Central Market, Farpointe Cellar and Pogo’s.

Rebecca Murphy

Alright, gang, here’s the prodigious list of reader recommendations that have been sent in since my column on cupcakes ran last Friday. Please feel free to defend, denounce or generally expound upon any of these spots with a comment below.

Wine and cheese. Yeah, yeah. This class is about beer and cheese and how to put the two together. You already know cheese maven Paula Lambert, who founded the Mozzarella Co., where the class will be held. You may not know Mark Monfrey, a behind-the-scenes kind of guy who imports excellent artisanal beers and spirits. He's also president of Slow Food's Dallas convivium. But the real mark of his devotion to good food and drink is this: He has not one, but two man-size grills bricked into his backyard deck. The class is Thursday, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. $50. At 2944 Elm, in Deep Ellum. Make reservations at 214-741-4072.

• Watch video, read more about Mozzarella Company's cheese and events

Fort Worth celebrity chef Tim Love and his friends from the American Lamb Board hosted a lamb-centric luncheon today at Stephan Pyles. The event was attended by some 20 guests, including restaurateurs Monica Greene of Ciudad, Espartaco "Taco" Borga of La Duni, and Paciugo Gelato's mastro gelataio, Cristiana Acerbi Ginatta.

Executive chef Jeff Moschetti oversaw production of the meal, which had strong Latin influences. Our fave of the four courses: the hickory-smoked lamb chops, served medium rare and melt-in-the-mouth tender.

Speaking of Abacus chef de cuisine Tre Wilcox, you can watch him compete with 14 other chefs on the season premiere of Top Chef Wednesday at 9 p.m. on Bravo. The station's Web site www.bravotv.com has all kinds of juicy bits about the show and past seasons, plus a video promo of tomorrow night's show. Tre has about, oh, 0.5 seconds of airtime (in the promo), but you get an idea of what's in store. Personally, I like the orange-doll knife-sharpener. Sort of says it all. Whatever happens in the competition, we know Tre's chops rock.

If you're shopping at Preston-Forest Whole Foods on Sunday (Father's Day), be sure to catch the cooking demo from noon to 2 p.m. with Canary Cafe chef-owner Mansour Gorji and his locally made pasta sauces. I've already lavished praise upon his pomodoro sauce. Now I can report that puttanesca (costs more, I know) is just as luscious. There's a vibracy to these sauces that's rare in a jarred product, rivaling homemade. And while I love them with artisanal Italian pasta, at home I'm more likely to put them on al dente whole-wheat penne topped with a blizzard of Parmigiano-Reggiano. That and a salad - delish.

Maybe you'd like a little champagne with that Kobe beef? Unthinkable, you're thinking. Not so. You just have to crack open that window inside your mind to the unexpected. Last night at Abacus, at a Piper-Heidsieck-Charles-Heidsieck soiree, P-H Cuvee Brut - the brand's widely available entry-level champagne - wrapped around Kobe beef carpaccio like they were old lovers. Later, three distinguished C-H vintage champagnes - including the rare 1983 Blanc des Millenaires - made the same soft music with roast Berkshire pork loin. What's up with this? There's something about the clean crispness of the champagne played against the subtle flavors of the juicy red meats that brings elegance to both. Credit Abacus chef de cuisine Tre Wilcox with the imaginative pairings.

What makes a martini worth $1,000?

Serving it with a very special twist -- especially if it's a glittering diamond bracelet.

In support of the national charity Share Our Strength, an organization that fights childhood hunger, The Capital Grille is mixing a special fruity Lone Star martini made of Ciroc vodka, crème de mure, fresh berries and garnished with a citrine and diamond caviar 18K gold rope bracelet designed by Steven Lagos (a source tells us the bracelet retails in stores for about $1,000).

$500 from the sale of each martini is donated to the charity.

A truly elegant way to support a worthy cause.

The restaurant has already sold 12 and you can buy one from now until the end of June.

The Capital Grille, 500 Crescent Court, 214-303-0500

David Ninh

While I was searching for Monday-night restaurant specials, I found that Rouge has $3 tapas (they’re normally $6-$12) on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. I went with some girlfriends, but next time I’ll take advantage of the low-lit dining room with my sweetie.

Paul Pinnell, the well-known maitre d’ (and sometimes-sommelier) of Nana in the Hilton Anatole, has resigned from the restaurant. Word is that July 1 will be his last day. Mr. Pinnell has been with the restaurant since 1994. When I emailed my colleague Joyce Harris to inquire about Mr. Pinnell (being the new guy that I am), she responded, “Auuuugh! Paul’s leaving Nana? He’s like an institution.”

No word yet on Mr. Pinnell’s next move, though the hotel and restaurant have already begun the national search for his replacement. We’ll keep you posted.

Just had a conversation with Robert Colombo, the busy restaurateur who owns Trece on Travis St. and who is also opening the Club in the former Draelion space in early September. Food industry rumors flew last week when Samba Room (which was across the street from Trece) closed that Mr. Colombo had acquired the space. Indeed he has, and Mr. Colombo reports that the restaurant will open in October or November as Villa O.

Our colleague Katie Menzer on the Metro "Bold Types" blog has this to share with local foodies who love the State Fair of Texas. (And don't we all?)

So here’s what really happens when you get a bunch of wine geeks together. Sure, there’s plenty of sipping and (less) spitting. But when the Taste tasting panel (suggestions for new name appreciated) set out this month to find the best wines to go with fried chicken, one bottle came up corked. We could not have been more excited, having recently read about this magical science thing wherein corked wine can be “rescued” by pouring it into a container with wadded-up plastic wrap. (I said, not so much spitting was happening, didn’t I?)
James Tidwell of the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas has looked into the problem of corked wine and he thought it might work, although he made clear such trickery would never occur at the Four Seasons.
Photographer Evans Caglage captured the action, such as it was. Alas, the trick didn't work. The wine stayed corky.
You’ll have to wait till the end of the month to find out which (non-corked) wines made the cut with the chicken.

The CityArts celebration in the Dallas Arts District has better than the average festival fare. Shrimp ceviche, beef tenderloin sandwich and crabcakes, just for examples, were all recognizable as billed. And while one could spend $3 for an ear of corn or a cookie, most prices lacked the painful markup that one generally associates with festival food.

Suzanne Marta's post about the truck stop taqueria reminded me of something I'd noted a while back. If the Large Suburban Mall is a barometer of mainstream 'Murken culture, then the food court at the Valley View Center (LBJ and Preston) says something about how mainstream Mexican culture is in suburban North Dallas. Because squeezed in amongst the wallpaper-pattern fast food chains is a realio-trulio Mexican food taqueria. La Paloma Taqueria is friendly enough to us gringos. Menu items are translated and there are even some pictures for the print-impaired. But most of the selections and presentation are pretty much what I've found at places where I was the only Spanish-languange-challenged diner. Is it good? It's so much better than American style fast-food "tacos" that I can hardly say. Is it as good as Fuel City? I need to get back to you on that.

The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook has replaced The Joy of Cooking as my gift of choice to newbie types: newly married, newly moving away from home, etc. So when my daughter set up housekeeping in Austin for her spin at UT, naturally, I got her a copy. But wouldn't you know? One of her favorite recipes - for tabbouleh - was inexplicably omitted between my printing and hers. So I got the call for mom help - not with cooking , but to please fax the errant page.

Greenz, the tasty but healthful salad and wraps place, is offering a new combo deal: Picnic to Go, which includes either two wraps or salads (may we suggest the chiptole chicken?), fresh fruit, chips and cookies for $21.99. There are now three locations of Greenz. The fairly new one at Preston and Forest is between Sonny Bryan's and Mi Cocina, and unlike its siblings, it has lots and lots of parking.

Oh, how I love the authentic thin-crust pizzas with prosciutto and fresh basil at Campania. And I just discovered that you can bring your own wine to the restaurant (even though I've been there a few times before)! Our wine panel has some good suggestions that pair well with pizza.

Fiesta is carrying new flavors of Yoplait Original yogurt, says staffer Kara Kunkel. Here's what she found: mango, passion fruit, tropical peach and pineapple. There may be some interesting smoothies on the horizon.

I’m about to catch a flight for a quick 48-hour weekend in Chicago (anyone have some great Windy City restaurant suggestions?), but I just wanted to say: Wow. I have received SO many emails about the column I wrote about my cupcake quest. Many thanks for all the feedback. I’ll admit, I was a bit afraid I’d be lambasted for my generally negative feelings around Sprinkles, but, with a couple exceptions, a slew of you out there agree that hype is that bakery’s strongest asset.

First thing Monday, I’ll post the lengthy list of reader suggestions I've received for cupcakes around the Metroplex. Please keep the suggestions coming (feel free to comment here), and have a great weekend, y’all!

We just got back from a delicious, and deliciously cheap taco lunch at the Fuel City gas station at 801 S Industrial Blvd.

Ambiance? It's a truck stop, with a small group of long-horn steer in a small pasture next door and a view of the freeway onramp and the downtown skyline.

The drill? Expect a line at both the inside and outside windows if you go at lunchtime for the tasty tacos for $1.25 apiece. You order each separately, so feel free to mix and match and scale your lunch to your appeite.

I went for one each of the spicy pork "pastor," chicken and beef fajita topped with pungent chopped onions and cilantro and lime wedges. They'll also add jalepenos if you like.

Hot sauce comes on the side, if you want an extra kick.

Other food? Drinks and other snacks like Blue Bunny ice cream treats can be purchased inside the convenience store.

So how about it out there foodies?

Where else can we find tasty and cheap tacos???

Exposition Park Café makes the best Bloody Mary I’ve had since my brunch at the Boathouse in New York’s Central Park. But get the full-price version with dinner for the complete Bloody Mary experience. Speaking of brunch, the all-you-can-eat soul food spread at Expo Park Café is substantial, from crawfish and ribs to greens and mashed sweet potatoes. There’s a patio, and it's open LATE on the weekends!

Bring your pooch (or not) to Victory Park's "Sunday in the Park" series from 2 to 6 p.m. In addition to free hot dogs and beer, there will be activities for the doggies, including pet massages, free dog treats and a pet pool. There will also be live music and food and drink from Victory Park restaurants. Also, parking is free at Loc C (off Houston, next to House of Blues).