EATS

The Saturday farmers won't be there, but for the farm merchants and farm families with all-week stalls (like J.T. Lemley, the Heddins and others), it will be business as usual at the Dallas Farmers Market, in case you forgot watermelon or tomatoes or onions or peaches or black-eyed peas or cantaloupe or new potatoes for potato salad, etc., for your Fourth of July feast.

I just finished off the last of my Jacksonville Best tomatoes, and while I wouldn't turn them out of my salad, I'm still hooked on Lemleys'. At this time of year, you can eat them plain or with a little salt and cracked pepper, and all is right with the world.

The Sig-O and I stopped in last night to see how Paul Pinnell's new venture is going at One Arts Plaza and got a chance to sample executive chef Joel Harloff's menu. The restaurant crew is still recovering from the grand opening earlier in the week, which Cathy Barber blogged here. Pinnell says they had 600 people.

Without getting into review territory, let's just say that the chardonnay-steamed scallops with sunchokes and heart of palm in a puddle of orange butter was a stunner. Too, I like the way Harloff gives fruits and vegetables a more prominent role in his dishes.

I like the wine list's variety. It also gives you lots of by-the-glass options so you can match courses. The Pavie-McQuin Bordeaux Rose was a good match to a warm summer night: clean, fresh, with bright fruit and a quick bye-bye. I'll be back.

Those researchers at Texas A&M just don't have enough to do. They've discovered a substance in watermelon called citrulline that can trigger the production of arginine, which is similar to what happens with Viagra.

As they point out here, you'd have to eat six cups of watermelon to get an enough citrulline, and yellow-flesh watermelon is the best source. But once you eat six cups of watermelon, you're going to have another problem. Watermelon is a diuretic.

Alberto Garza and John Spanogle are a couple of softies when it comes to their little herd of 40+ goats. That's what I learned at a chef-producer-Friends of the Farmers Market gathering recently. All the goats at La Cuesta Farm have names, and Alberto and John make small-batch goat cheese (left) with their own Grade A milk.

Saturday morning, the cheese debuts at the Dallas Farmers Market in Shed No. 1. They'll have their basic chevre, which is $10 per 8-ounce container. Also their Flame-Roasted Green Chile and Garlic with home-grown New Mexico chiles sauteed in olive oil with garlic; $12 for 8 ounces. And Suave Supreme, a tangy, soft crumbled goat cheese that resembles feta; $14 for 8 ounces.

The men passed around samples, and the cheeses were velvety and fresh-tasting, puddling into pure flavor in our mouths. You know their work is a labor of love - La Cuesta translates roughly as "in one's care" - when their greatest anxiety was taking time away from their goats. They wanted to get back to the farmstead south of Dallas near Laguna Park and Lake Whitney as quickly as possible. Check 'em out Saturday at the market.

It was billed on the press release as an organic farmers market, so it got my attention. But the produce isn't organic, and there won't be any farmers there. Instead, Urban Market brings selected shorts from its produce section to One Arts Plaza from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

You could see some locally grown produce, if UM has it on hand and it's not too fragile to travel. But more than anything, this is Urban Market's way of making its fruits and veggies more accessible to the folks. UM will be back the first Saturday and Sunday of every month through at least September. One Arts Plaza is at 1722 Routh on the east end of the Arts District at Flora and Routh.

This week, Restaurant Critic Bill Addison reviews Lambert's, the new Fort Worth spot from Lou Lambert and Grady Spears. Kim Harwell reviews Cafe Pacific, a Highland Park favorite for 25 years.

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

Photo of Lambert's blackberry cobbler by Michael Ainsworth / DMN