EATS

From noon to 3 p.m. on Sundays, you can take your aching head to Kitchen 1924 in Lakewood and get a fix for what ails you.

According to its publicist:

Owner Shawn Horne wants to help Dallasites nurse their hangovers with the restaurant’s famed Bloody Mary bar and $10 all you can eat buffet, unless, as Shawn says, “you eat like a killer whale…then no buffet for you!” Guests will receive a free pair of sunglasses to provide shade from the glaring daylight and table centerpieces made with Excedrin, Tums and Pepto Bismol.

The menu includes:

Bacon Corn Bread
Beef Cheek Hash
Farmers Market Quiche
Farmers Market Omelet
Fricken’ (Fried Chicken)
Gouda Scrambled Eggs
Kitchen 1924 Homemade Sausage
Tenderloin Sloppy Joes
Tilapia with Curry Mashers

Kitchen 1924 is located at 1924 Abrams Rd. in the Lakewood Shopping Center. Call 214-821-1924 for more information.

...at the Stoneleigh Hotel on Monday, March 3. The online reservation system OpenTable.com is already taking reservations for Tuesday, March 4, and later.

Do check out OpenTable if you haven't already. Lots of other Dallas restaurants, both new and established, are on their list. You can also reserve tables at restaurants in other cities, which is very handy if you travel a lot or if you're planning a vacation.

PS: And be sure to read about Bolla chef David Bull in Sunday's GuideLive section.

Jason Maddy, an Austinite who worked with David Bull at the Driskill Hotel there, has joined the Mansion Restaurant at the Mansion on Turtle Creek as its chef de cuisine. We wondered who would take this position a few weeks back when it was announced that Timothy Byrnes would leave the Mansion to become Stephan Pyle’s executive chef. The press release mentions that before the Driskill, Maddy worked with David Bouley in New York. A great chef, Bouley.

Maddy also appeared with David Bull on Iron Chef in 2006. And speaking of David Bull, there’s a link to his dinner menu (or part of it, anyway) for the new Bolla opening soon in the renovated Stoneleigh Hotel. Scroll down to the second page and check it out. Mmm, crudo ...

Photo of Jason Maddy (right) and David Bull courtesy of the Austin American-Statesman. Photo by Matt Rourke.

When I was out in Napa Valley, I went to a tasting at Spring Mountain Vineyard (left) for the whole Spring Mountain District appellation.

While there, I found out that the vertical tasting of the winery's big, voluptuous Elivette Bordeaux blend has been rescheduled at The Rosewood Mansion Restaurant. Mark May 3 at 7 p.m. on your calendars.

Spring Mountain winemaker Jac Cole and Mansion sommelier Michael Flynn will lead the tasting with a five-course menu developed by executive chef John Tesar. There's also a price break this time around: It's $175 a person plus tax and gratuity. Call 214-443-4747 for reservations.

BTW, does that winery facade look familiar?

15th Street Cafe in downtown Plano closed earlier this month when the owners decided to do catering only, but restaurant is open again with new owners. The new menu includes American basics like sandwiches and burgers, plus pasta and tacos. Lunch and dinner are served on weekdays. Brunch is available Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Downtown Plano has another new-old restaurant. Go-Gorditas on Avenue K next to La Paloma has reopened as Burri-To-Go. The new place offers burritos and wraps.

Oh. My. Gosh.
On March 8, seven Hill Country wineries will serve wine samples paired with beef short ribs from area restaurants. It's to promote the new Texas Wine Road 290 wine trail. And Texas beef, of course.
Even better --- it's free, although some of the wineries might have a charge for wine tasting.
The seven wineries are scatered along a 45-mile stretch, so there's not much driving to do once you get started.
The wineries and the restaurants: Becker Vineyard (Texas Food & Wine Gourmet); Bell Mountain Wine Tasting Room (Bonterra); Chisholm Trail Winery (Cotton Gin); Fredericksburg Winery (Hannah’s Restaurant); Texas Hills Vineyard (Silver K); Torre di Pietra (Navajo Grill); and Woodrose Winery (Woodrose Winery Kitchen).
If you're coming from Dallas, organizers suggest starting at Texas Hills Vineyard (1 mile east of Hwy 281/290 on RR 2766). For details, call the winery: 830-868-2321.
Each winery will have ribs for 150, so don't dawdle.

Those price-rollback specials that restaurants use to mark their anniversaries are especially attractive when it's a place where you know the food is good. Who doesn't love to save money on a sure thing?

Moreover, when it's a place that's been around as long as the home-cooking heaven Celebration has, those old-timey prices are real bargains in 2008 dollars.

Celebration's anniversary email indicates that this Sunday, March 2, "We would like to offer our meatloaf and roasted rosemary chicken for the retro price of $5.95." (Normally these dishes are $10.95 and $10.50 at dinner, $9.25 each at lunch.)

Celebration is at 4503 W. Lovers Lane in Dallas. Call 214-351-5681 for more information.

This week, Restaurant Critic Bill Addison reviews Shish, the upscale Turkish restaurant from the same people who own the fast-food Turkish place called Selim's Doner House.

The other new reviews are of Cafe R+D, a University Park casual eatery from the company that runs nearby Houston's, and Pho Delavie, a Vietnamese spot in Plano Dallas that serves pho, of course, plus Saigon crepes and other favorites.

Share your own review of these restaurants. Leave a comment below.

Keeping things relative, Rehoboth Ranch patriarch Robert Hutchins of local pastured meats fame notes in his newsletter that his cousin and her family will be selling wild Alaskan salmon caught at Larsen Bay, Kodiak, at the Coppell Farmers Market when it opens in April.

Their catch includes whole Coho fillets (most around 1 1/2 pounds) and Sockeye half-fillets (most in 1/2 to 1 pound packages). All $10.99 a pound. If a few more bits of licensing fall into place, they may be taking orders before then. I'll keep you posted.

Contact info: Kathy Johnston at 972-849-1900 or samssalmon@yahoo.com.

Wow, has Dean Fearing been having a good week, or what?

First, Fearing's got a "best new restaurant" long-list nom from the James Beard Foundation. Then it made Texas Monthly's top 10 new restaurants. And then, the New York Times' Frank Bruni put Fearing's on his national top-10 list list of new must-try places.

Now it's Julia Reed, calling Dean "A Chicken-Fried Gourmet" on most of a full page in the March 3 issue of Newsweek. Not only does the contributing editor loooove the chef's mashed potatoes, she also likes the Barbwires CD he cut with chef-buddy Robert Del Grande, Bliss and Blisters, which she calls "surprisingly good."

Atmosphere is the other big plus, Ms. Reed says, quoting Dean:

"What we all love about restaurants is walking in and knowing you've arrived," he says. "You want people in those seats laughing, waiters hurrying past. You want that addictive feeling of being at the right spot." And whenever I'm there, I do.

With a little smart shopping at Jimmy's Food Store, you can be cranking out cannoli in minutes. Perfect for your next Godfather viewing.

Chef Blythe Beck reports that she and Hector Garcia, owner of Hector's on Henderson, are in partnership with Warner Bros. on her Naughty Kitchen TV show. A crew will be in town shooting the whole month of April. Lucky Blythe: They'll follow her everywhere -- home, work, play. (Shameless plug: They actually arrive in time to shoot the Taste wine panel on March 31.) Warner Bros. will then pitch the show to networks.
In other news, Hector will will be handed the Dallas Film Commission Advocacy Award from Women in Film.Dallas this weekend.

Score another accolade for Dean Fearing and his new restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton Dallas. New York Times dining critic Frank Bruni includes the eponymous room in his top 10 new restaurants across the nation. It's the only Texas restaurant that made the cut.

Bruni explains how he visted 15, including Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc, which I wrote about a few days ago, and pared the lot down to 10. (Ad Hoc didn't make it.) He'll write about the restaurants, including Fearing's, over the next two Wednesdays.

Allegrini, Veronese IGT, Palazzo della Torre 2004, $19.49-$24.99

Wine has been a part of the Allegrini family for generations. Their vineyard, Palazzo della Torre, is a beautifully terraced home to the corvina, rondinella and sangiovese grapes used to make this gorgeous wine.

Part of the wine is made as usual, grapes straight to the fermenter, while a smaller portion of grapes are dried for three months then added to the fermented wine and refermented to add richness and flavor, a process called ripasso.

Layered red and black fruits with an intriguing breath of licorice are packaged in a rich, full-bodied wine that’s perfect for grilled meats or sausage. Widely available at wine stores.

Rebecca Murphy

Looking for more great wines? Check out our Dallas Morning News Wine Competition wine database for the best available.

Doesn't that question just make you gasp? It's the subject line in co-owner Paul DiCarlo's latest e-missive, followed by: "Only on Sundays." OK, we can all exhale now.

Starting March 23 (Easter), Jimmy's Food Store will be closed on Sundays. Hey, Paul, brother Mike, sister Mary and the crew work hard; they deserve one day off a week.

Meanwhile, Paul reports that chocolate Easter eggs are in. Get 'em while they last. Also, Jimmy's is going to give away a 22-pound chocolate Easter egg (mama mia, that's a lot of chocolate) in a drawing on March 22. Sign up now. Jimmy's is at 4901 Bryan at Fitzhugh.

As our colleague Steve Blow mentions over on the Metro blog, Texas Monthly's March issue features its Top 10 new restaurants in the state.

And Dallas has four of the 10: Fearing's at No. 1, Dallas Fish Market at No. 5, Alo at No. 9 and The Porch at No. 10.

The Bishop Arts District's Kavala was one of four additional spots that won an honorable mention from TM, as was Dutch's, Grady Spears' burger place in Fort Worth.

...but get a grip -- it's only for the evening. So don't plan to drop by between 5:30 and 8:30 tonight, because all the baristas will be getting special training sessions. And it doesn't matter how much you bang on the windows and whine and cry, dude -- they're not going to answer the door. So take your laptop and get your latte somewhere else.

As the news story also tells us:

By summer, budget-conscious coffee lovers will be able to pick up less expensive espresso and capuccino at McDonald's, which is rolling out an ambitious coffeehouse program at 14,000 U.S. locations. Meanwhile, Dunkin' Donuts is making a play today for Starbucks customers by offering 99-cent small espresso-based drinks from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m.

At entry-level prices - around $10 a bottle - several wines of Nicolas Catena have earned Robert Parker's "best buy" designation. At the fine-wine end of the spectrum, his 2004 Nicolas Catena Zapata snared a near-perfect 98 from the wine guru.

Just about any way you size them up, whether novice or a connoisseur, the wines of Argentina's Bodega Catena Zapata are worth a look, a taste and, maybe, an investment. Sigel's Elite hosts a tasting 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday. It's free, but RSVP to Mike Friend at the store or 214-635-3162. If you'd like to know more, check out the winery's impressive rundown of endorsements.

Josephine's, the wine bar and bistro at Frisco's Shops at Starwood, has closed to relocate, says owner Chris Gangi (pictured at left). He cited construction and landlord woes as reasons for the move. Mr. Gangi says the new location will be "down the street" from the just-closed one, and he hopes to open it at the beginning of May.

The Rosewood Crescent Hotel (formerly the Hotel Crescent Court) has announced the hiring of pastry chef Gianni Santin as the hotel's new executive chef.

Eric Perelli, who has been at the Rosewood Crescent as part of chef Santin's pastry team, will assume the post of pastry chef.

For more details, skip to the press release on the jump...

Interesting news just arrived from the Dallas Museum of Art:

...It has partnered with Sodexo, Inc. as its new culinary service provider for both the Atrium Cafe and signature restaurant Seventeen Seventeen, as well as provide catering for on-site events. The award-winning foodservice company will be teaming up with Stephan Pyles, the renowned local chef, to create an exciting culinary experience in the Museum’s restaurants and catering operations. Sodexo has experience in many cultural institutions, including the Cincinnati Museum Center, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, and is anticipated to be in-house at the DMA by April 1, 2008.

For more details, read the whole press release...

These fuzzy guys from Dallas - Centennial's James Moll (left) and David Saunders - were among the locals sampling and ultimately bidding on the unique lots at the Premiere Napa Valley barrel auction at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone on Saturday in St. Helena.

But wait: recognize that profile over Moll's shoulder? That's Denny Crane or Capt. Kirk, depending on your orientation. Actor William Shatner was among the hundreds of enthusiasts sampling the wines, including the 2006 Silver Oak Vineyards Napa Valley cab, prior to auction.

(The lot was snagged by The Wine House in Los Angeles. If you want a rundown of the event, check out Alder Yarrow's account on vinography. He tasted all 191 wines. Don't it make your white teeth blue?)

Shatner wasn't the only celeb I ran into on my Napa Valley sojourn. And can you say "foie gras dog biscuits" really fast?

In case you missed it -- it was in the Business section, after all -- check out Chris Wienandt's story about Motopia Cafe, a combination coffee shop-motorcycle shop on Central south of Fitzhugh.
To borrow a line from the story: Where else can you drop in for a caramel hazelnut latte and get your motorbike serviced? Hardly anywhere, I'm thinking.

Maria Halkias looks at how Sprouts and Market Street have made inroads into the local supermarket scene. Of course, Wal-Mart continues to rule the market.

Sunday was apparently a very good night for brothers to be teamed up creatively.

While filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen were busy winning three of the four Oscars they were nominated for, brother chefs Kent and Kevin Rathbun faced Iron Chef Bobby Flay, on the Food Network's Iron Chef America. The secret ingredient was elk, and the Rathbuns were obviously game for it, winning the judges' favor with 50 points to chef Flay's 46.

Kent held watching parties at Jasper's and Abacus, but it was at Abacus that he tossed a six-course dinner party consisting of the five dishes that won Battle Elk, plus an apple frangipane tart with caramel and vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Kevin (left) and Kent Rathbun triumphed on Iron Chef America.
PHOTO: Food Network

Metro reporter Dave Levinthal, who covered last year's doggy dining debate, issues an update.

By now, Dallas pet owners should have a roster of restaurants at which they may dine with their dogs on an outdoor patio.

The Dallas City Council, after all, last year passed a measure allowing establishments to obtain doggy dining permits so long as they abided by the city safety and health regulations.

Instead, the effort to create a more urbane atmosphere in Dallas' dining corridors is a doggone blunder. More than a year later, Dallas hasn't issued a single dog-on-patio permit, having received only six applications in the first place.

Read the rest of Dallas may loosen restrictions for dogs on restaurant patios

Among his Yountville, Calif., troika, Ad Hoc is Thomas Keller's third-tier restaurant, one step down from Bouchon, which is one step down from The French Laundry. But any way you dice it, a Thomas Keller restaurant is several rungs up the culinary ladder.

I made it there recently during my Napa Valley ramblings, and our dinner server recommended none other than Shiner Bock, the only Texas beer or wine on the list, for the third course, Bellwether Farms Carmody cheese with red onion marmalade on buttered toast. Fab together, they were.

That wasn't the only Texas beverage he suggested, coaxing us to order the Big Red Cherry Cream Soda with the chocolate bread pudding. More meh than wow, it didn't two-step the dessert like the Cornet & Cie "Rimage" Banyuls. (Note to beverage director: Think about Dr Pepper from Dublin, Texas.)

Killer course of the meal: oxtail mushroom ragout with house pappardelle, an umami trip-out with oyster, king trumpet and hen of the woods mushrooms. The perfect al dente ribbons made the dish. Napa trendspotting: Oxtail is the new short ribs.

FYI: If you make your way to Napa, family-style Ad Hoc always has one fixed-price menu; ours was $48 a person. It can be easier to get into on short notice than Keller's other spots and, yeah, it's temporary relief from hunger.

Photo courtesy of the Ad Hoc Web site.