EATS

The best thing about a true neighborhood eatery is the camaraderie among the regulars. Tillman's is taking it to a whole new level and we have the photos to prove it. The Bishop Arts District roadhouse is now hosting Tuesday game nights.

This mostly word-of-mouth event (until now) has friends and family sharing bites and then lingering to play cards, checkers and --- my fave -- Jenga. (Too bad my hand-eye coordination is so poor. If only I had played more Atari growing up.)

Starts at 6:30 p.m. each Tuesday. Tillman's supplies the games. Prepare to be in it to win it.

Tillman's Roadhouse, 324 W. 7th St., 214-942-0988, www.tillmansroadhouse.com

Photos by Stephen Karlisch

It's a matter of survival as customers become more frugal and food gets more expensive. Check out details on how restaurants are getting menu makeovers.

Then tell us, have you seen it happen at restaurants you love?

Read Kim Harwell's latest column to get the dish on new restaurants, including Alberto Lombardi's Pesca, Dali in One Arts Plaza, TruFire Kitchen and Bar and L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, plus other news about dining in Dallas.

Usually when a store offers free sorbet, it comes on an itsy-bitsy plastic spoon. Not so with Sorbeteria, the new sorbet and smoothie emporium that just opened in the strip center at 7700 W. Northwest Highway, across from NorthPark Mall.

Come May 17, Sorbeteria will give out free full-sized servings of your choice of 16 fruit sorbets or nine fruit smoothies. It's a one-day-only grand opening event, designed to get you hooked on a treat that's really good -- and good for you.

We beat the rush and sampled a couple of flavors today. Prices are $3 for a single scoop, $4 for a double and $6 for a take-home pint. The Apricot-Tangerine sorbet bursts with intensely fruity flavor with just the right amount of tanginess.

The Doubleberry Sorbet Smoothie -- a blend of Marion Blackberry and Strawberry Sorbets with fresh berries -- packs a whollop of flavor, plus antioxidants to boot.

The sorbets are made with 90 percent ripe fruit -- much of it from Texas farmers -- and have less than a teaspoon of added sugar per serving. You'd never guess that while tasting these sorbets though -- that's a tribute to the abundance of naturally sweet, ripe fruit used to make them.

Bring the kids for the freebies, and feel good about indulging them with something so healthful.

Sorbeteria
Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily
7700 W. Northwest Highway
214-373-7777

Tina Danze

Need reservations for Mother's Day? Check out our dining guide. We've got brunch , lunch and dinner options. There are buffets with omelet stations, prix fixe meals with fig-glazed quail salad, bottomless mimosas, frozen Bellinis, sushi, specials for kids, chocolates for mom and more. And remember to check back as we'll be adding to the list as more specials hit our inboxes.

Evidently, there are restaurateurs experimenting with the concept of Pay What You Can restaurants . They've popped up in Seattle and Salt Lake City as well as Melbourne, Australia and Vienna, Austria. Some people eat for free, others pay more -- it's all about trust and people taking care of each other. So, can Dallas be far behind? Yes, well, probably...Seriously, if you've heard about anything like this here, we'd love to know...

Starting in May, guests at the Harrah's Casino Tunica in Mississippi will be able to chow down at Paula Deen's Buffet. The room will be divided into stations, including a Hoe Cake & Biscuit station and Little Jack's Corner (desserts, of course).

I was unable to find an online version of the ad from the May/June issue of Cooking With Paula Deen, which reads in part, "Get your eatin' clothes on." You'll have to take my word for it.

No news -- I just loved this snap of chef John Tesar of the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, preparing to do battle with a king crab claw. David Woo shot it Saturday at the Dallas Wine and Food Festival.

Kent Rathbun's award-winning, five-star Abacus restaurant has been closed for a few weeks for a major renovation. Now it's back, with some notable changes both in the decor and in the menu.

Carnival cauliflower-littleneck clam chowder with grilled spring ramps (pictured), salad nicoise and a classic hearts-of-romaine Caesar are among the soup-and-salad starters. But there also are small plates such as ancho honey-glazed quail, wood-roasted foie gras, lobster-scallion shooters, grilled hamachi sashimi, and jumbo lump crabcakes with apple-smoked bacon.

According to a catchphrase adopted by Spiral Diner & Bakery's early devotees: Vegans get plenty.

It's a motto that jabs at vegetarian stereotypes (granola, slightly nerdy) while winking at the pleasure potential of a plant-based diet. We can't vouch for the latter, but there's no denying Spiral's vegan cooking brings a fresh twist to down-home diner fare. And yes, that's vegan, as in "no animal products," owner Sara Tomerlin confirms. "No milk, eggs, cheese or even honey."

Six years after Fort Worth's original Spiral Diner began earning fans (we know Dallas devotees who regularly trekked over to stockpile their freezers), the eatery's second location is now open in Oak Cliff.

Keep reading about Spiral Diner ...

Photo by Carter Rose

Pinkalicious fans are already tickled pink that the book about the 8-year-old with an insatiable desire for pink cupcakes has been adapted as Pinkalicious: The Musical, to be seen at Taste Addison May 10 and 11. Now for those who develop a craving for the colorful confections that will be offered as part of a $20 after-show package (along with pink lemonade and a photo with the cast), we have discovered that it is none other than Delicious Cakes that will be doing the baking. So if you gotta have more, you know where to go.

We aren't quite sure what to make of our pal T.G.'s report today on PegasusNews.com.

Hawaiian barbecue? Spam, grilled?

I am just a simple Texas girl brought up on Texas barbecue, iced tea and Mexican food. This is all new and strange to me, fellow Eatsians. I need enlightenment.

Has anyone reading this already been to L&L, in the Vista Ridge area of Lewisville? If so, please report in and let Eats know what it's all about, before we die of unsatisfied curiosity.

Word has come that Scott and Gina Gottlich, the owners of Bijoux in Inwood Village, are developing a restaurant concept for the Westin Galleria Dallas. No name yet, but it's hoped that the new restaurant will open in late 2008, joining the Westin's other choice dining option, Oceanaire.

Under the guidance of the Gottliches (executive chef Scott and sommelier Gina), Bijoux has become one of Dallas' best-reviewed fine-dining restaurants, with Bon Appetit naming it among the 10 hottest new restaurants in America for 2006.

Read Kim Harwell's latest column to get the dish on new restaurants, including Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, Five Guys Burgers and Fries and new locations of Matt's, Al-Amir, Picasso's Pizza and Grill, Sweet Tomatoes and Pollo Campero.

The annual festival kicks off tonight with Gourmet Cinema -- the gourmet part being a dinner by chef Richard Chamberlain, and the cinema being Sideways. But let's talk about that dinner for a minute. The chef promises goose-fat fries with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Other food too, but it's those fries that tempt.

On Friday, Texas Salute will serve up local and regional foods and wines. Austin-based Treaty Oak Platinum Rum will pour samples of their rum as well as mojitos. You can also sample the latest from Fall Creek Vineyards, McPherson Cellars, Inwood Estates Vineyards and Saint Arnold Brewery, among others. Make a meal out of nibbles from Aurelia's Chorizo, shrimp cocktail from Big Shucks, brisket tacos from Blue Goose, tamales from Texas Tamale, guacamole from Two Chihuahuas, plus hot sauces, desserts and more. Wiseman House from Hico, Texas, will serve truffles, toffee and its decadent sipping chocolate. And yes, I'm "hosting" this one, which merely means I will get up and say HI at some point during the evening.

Saturday is given over to Entertaining With Style, a series of seminars spread out along McKinney just south of Knox. Milestone Culinary Arts Center is ground zero; stop in at 12:30 to taste along with the Taste wine panel. We'll be pairing wines with a killer mac-and-cheese. Also look for a demo by chef John Tesar of the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, along with other chefs from around town.

Sunday is reserved for Taste of the World, with samples from Dallas restaurants paired with award-winning wines. Check the menu here.

Full disclosure: The Dallas Morning News is, once again, a sponsor of the festival.

Every year, Conde Nast Traveler puts out its "Hot List" of the coolest places to go in North America -- and two very different eateries in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have made the list of "Hot List Tables 2008."

Fort Worth's unpretentious Love Shack made the list. The magazine says that chef-owner "Tim Love's tri-level perfectly situated burger joint...comes pretty close to having the perfect burger."

On the luxe end of the dining scale, the other Texas restaurant on the Hot List is Fearing's, which has already mopped up all kinds of foodie awards and media distinctions in its first year of operation. Executive chef-partner Dean Fearing is described as "the chef who dared to put tacos on the menu at the prim Mansion on Turtle Creek."

In addition, the Ritz-Carlton Dallas (which is where Fearing's is located) made the list of 2008's hot hotels, and the Ritz's spa made the list in its category as well. Check out the May issue of Conde Nast Traveler for more.

You read here recently about the imminent closure of the Zodiac Greek Grill, a Main Street lunchtime staple for 17 years.

In today's Metro section, colleague Dave Flick has the story about the commercial economics behind the loss of the mom-and-pop eatery,

Technology blogger Victor Godinez has a review of the touchscreen computers at Cozymel's in Grapevine. He says, "You can peruse certain drinks and dishes (such as a video presentation about the guacamole), scan showtimes at the next door movie theater at the Grapevine Mills mall and even buy tickets through the device with your credit card (you can also watch previews, but there was no sound yet in the machines at Cozymel's), and then pay for your meal." Read the rest of his experience here.

Anybody else tried the computers?

Tomorrow (Wednesday, April 16), there'll be a sneak peek event at the new Chipotle in McKinney. The store will offer free burritos, tacos and drinks from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the 2014 West University Dr. location--it's at the intersection of 75 and 380.

The grand opening will be Friday, April 18, and it'll feature T-shirt giveaways and a contest to win free burritos for a year.

Twisted Root Burger Co.'s Jason Boso (above) is opening a second Deep Ellum restaurant on Commerce St. in late May called Cowboy Chow.

The concept is what I'm dubbing campfire-comfort food with braised meats and slow-cooked sides such as rice, beans and maybe even dipped, fried corn-on-the-cob. The vibe will be "saloon chic" with a restrained wild west decor that Boso promises won't cross over into "theme park."

As for his original burgers and shakes joint, Boso is opening a Richardson outpost of Twisted Root later this year.

Oh, the power of beef.

Photo by Kye R. Lee

As Joyce mentioned last week, Dali Wine Bar and Cellar is scheduled to open April 17. Now what about those other One Arts Plaza eateries? Tei An should be the next to arrive with an opening date guestimated at late April / early May. Screen Door is also expected to open by early May. The opening of Jorge's has been pushed back to June or July. Also, a fifth place has just signed a lease at One Arts Plaza, and we'll have that official announcement later this month.

Pappas Bros., the North Dallas steakhouse, is taking reservations for a May 2 dinner with author, restaurateur and Food Network star Lidia Bastianich and her wine-expert son, Joe. The dinner, at 7 p.m., will feature Italian wines produced by the Bastianich family in partnership with star chef Mario Batali.

The menu offers three courses, plus hors d'oeuvres and a cheese course. Cost is $125 per person, plus tax and gratuity, and reservations are required.

Call Samantha Blossom at 214-366-2000 for reservations. For more information, see the Pappas Bros. Dallas website. The restaurant is located at 10477 Lombardy Lane, Dallas.

Yet another "fast-casual gourmet pizza" chain is invading the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This one comes from Southern California's Laguna Beach, and it goes by the name of zpizza.

Local franchisee Wee Pie One LLC signed a lease in Plaza Towne Center in Flower Mound (at FM 2499 and FM 1171) and expects to open the first zpizza in mid-summer. More locations are expected later for Southlake, Grapevine, the Park Cities, Colleyville and Frisco.

Has anybody out there tried this pizza? It's got 75 or so locations open (mostly in California, Arizona and around Washington, D.C.) but is branching out into Minnesota and Colorado as well as Texas and other states.

Just caught up with the news in yesterday's Star-Telegram that chef and entrepreneur Tim Love has sold his "modern steakhouse" Duce, on Camp Bowie Boulevard.

The buyer is chef Efrain Benitez, whose most recent gig was as chef at Tuscany in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook. Chef Love had run Duce for two years, reinventing it as a steakhouse after an initial fling with a tapas menu.

He still has his original restaurant, Lonesome Dove, in the FW Stockyards, as well as the adjacent Love Shack, a casual burger joint that he expects to duplicate in Dallas' Victory Park later this year. Chef Love's also working with Z Market on a chef-driven food-to-go concept that will be debuting at D/FW Airport in mid-May.

Reader Nga Tran has a question about a restaurant closure in the Old Town shopping center on Upper Greenville, north of Lovers Lane:

Does anyone know what happened with Two Rows on Greenville? It has been a mainstay at the Village for years, and all of a sudden, it shut down last week. Even the employees didn't know it was closing! I tried emailing them at their comment email address, but it bounced back.

Any Eatsians out there with an answer for Nga?