EATS

Next time you're wondering what to feed the kids, ditch the stove and check out YumiToGo.com's $3.99 menu for the little people. The takeout and delivery place, which offers delivery service Uptown and downtown as well as in the Highland Park and Oak Lawn areas, dishes up Asian fusion cuisine. Hmmm, I think I'll take my own advice. My kid might try the chicken or beef skewers, served with rice or noodles. The menu includes chicken nuggets, with rice or noodles. But if you're game for Asian fusion, seems like skewers would be the way to go.

OK, so maybe you groaned when you heard that Cowboys tight end Jason Witten is hooking up for a TV show called Cooking With the All-Pros.

But wait: Jason really is interested in food. We know this personally because we sat on a food-judging panel with him a while back.

This contest involved choosing between Mansion executive chef John Tesar and Fort Worth chef Tim Love, in an all-star culinary throwdown. This was staged at American Airlines Center before the NHL All-Star Game...outdoors, in January, on a 40-degree morning, with gusting wind AND pouring rain.

My hooded down coat might have been unfashionable, but it probably saved me from pneumonia that day. Jason sat next to me at the judges' table, and he was an awfully good sport about the whole weather thing, just as the chefs were. Plus, he was seriously into the food, which was seriously good stuff.

The Mansion will host the first three of Jason's five shows, and John Tesar tells me that he "will appear as a judge and be contributing to a large part of formatting the show." The other two shows would be shot at a local Market Street store. Lubbock-based United Supermarkets LLC, Market Street's parent company, expects to be a primary sponsor of the show.

Eric Bordelet sparkling ciders, $17.99-$27.99

Eric Bordelet makes sparkling cider like it's fine Champagne. He served as the sommelier at the three-star Paris restaurant L'Arpège, so he knows wine. He returned to his family's farm in the Loire Valley of France -- with 49 acres of orchards growing 120 types of apples and 30 types of pears -- determined to make cider with elegant, bright fruit and small bubbles with a fine mousse, or foam, common with sparkling wines.

For the apple cider, he uses, at most, 15 types of apples, almost all heirloom varieties with colors ranging from black-purple to red brown. None of the fruit is picked. He waits until it is ripe enough to drop to the ground. The fruit is chopped and macerated with the skins, in the manner of a red wine.

The result of this attention to detail is evident in each of these sparkling ciders. The Sidre Doux ($17.99) is made of apples with spicy spearmint aromas and flavors. It's slightly sweet, but well-balanced; try it with a blue cheese.

The Poiré Authentique ($17.99) is slightly sweet with pristine pear flavors vitalized by decisive acidity. Pair it with a roasted pork tenderloin.

The Poiré Granit ($27.99), made with pears from older trees is Bordelet's top-of-the-line cider. It has the gravitas of a Champagne, with complex pear flavors and hints of beeswax in an elegant structure. Serve as an aperitif. Available at Central Market stores.

Rebecca Murphy

New Orleans superchef Emeril Lagasse will kick things up a notch with new episodes of Emeril Live! on the Fine Living Network (where Martha Stewart also holds court).

The show spent a decade on the Food Network, and those older shows also will find a home on FLN. According to the press release:

The all-new premiere week airs Monday-Friday, July 7-11 at 7 pm ET. Special encore presentations will air Saturday and Saturday, July 13-14, at 7 pm ET. Beginning July 14, a new episode of Emeril Live! will premiere on FLN every Monday at 7 pm ET, with episodes from the Food Network library re-airing in that time slot on FLN Tuesday through Sunday, giving a new audience a taste of Emeril seven nights a week.

The Napa Valley Vintners Association, which Robert Mondavi helped to create in 1944, has set up an online tribute album for the California wine icon, who died May 16. People are invited to share their thoughts or favorite memories. Thanks to NVV's Terry Hall for sending the link here.

Drew Hendricks, who earned the title of Master Sommelier earlier this year, is on the move again. He's been one of the major draws at six-month-old Charlie Palmer at the Joule, but he's returning to his former employers, Pappas Restaurants, where he will hold the position of Director of Beverage Education.

"This was a decision based on my family," said Mr. Hendricks in a phone interview. "The chance to spend weekends and some nights at home and to be offered the chance to do education, which I love - there was no way I could pass it up."

His responsibilities will include strategizing bar offerings for Pappas concepts with less of a wine emphasis, and training restaurant staffs about the joys of vino.

"So if wine sales don't go up, it's my fault," he joked.

Mr. Hendricks said boss Charlie Palmer, who has a family with children of similar ages, supported his decision. His last day at his current gig will be June 15.

Part of his contract with Pappas stipulates that Mr. Hendricks will be in the restaurants two nights a week, so loyal customers may soon be able to see him at wine tasting dinners at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, his old stomping grounds. (And where another Master Sommelier, Barbara Werley, currently helms the wine program.)