This week's review takes us to the Shops at Legacy in Plano, where Artin's Grill opened in January, with chef Christopher Short manning the stoves. Please let us know what you think!
Artin's Grill 
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Photo of Christopher Short by Jim Mahoney/DMN
]]>The salad was created by co-chef Chad Houser and appears in the spring edition of Edible Dallas-Fort Worth. It was my first experience with Miner's Lettuce, a green that looks a lot like watercress, but has a milder flavor. A salad with all those assertive ingredients could have been overbearing, but instead was wonderful, thanks to Houser's restraint: Nothing overpowered the whole; it was all about synergy. Those grapes were a surprise, though, adding terrific zing.
Oh yeah, the recipe for the salad appears with my Edible story about Rocky Tassione and Tassione Farms, a local farmer who supplies a who's who of restaurants with his excellent hydroponic veggies. This edition of Edible also includes stories about urban chickens, Motley Farms and the unusual Arlington restaurant Potage, where you pay what you think the food is worth.
Pick up a copy at the Dallas Farmers Market, Whole Foods Market and other locations. Or, take a look online here that lets you flip through full-size virtual pages.
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Canton farmer J.T. Lemley (pictured with grandchild by his tractor), whose field tomatoes are some of the season's most eagerly anticipated, called to say he will be at the Dallas Farmers Market in his familiar spot in Shed No. 1 this Saturday and Sunday, weather permitting. Chilly weather is predicted, but, "if we can get a little sunshine," he says, he'll be there with his crew.
They will start out with his hothouse tomatoes, as well as vegetable starter plants and hanging baskets. He says he's planting his field tomatoes next week, and he reports that his peach trees are full of blooms.
He has also started a Web site: www.lemleyfarms.com. The photos are from last year, but you get the idea.
Starting next weekend, he will be at the market full-time, but you can also visit his farm near Canton, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. What's the advantage, besides a chance to visit a working farm? Homemade peach and strawberry ice cream in season, as well as jams, jellies, sauces and dips. I can hardly wait.
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If you've visited guidelive.com/restaurants today, you may have noticed some differences to the site. Click the link, and if you scroll down past our critics' most recent reviews highlighted at the top, you'll find links to the star ratings for restaurants - both from our critics and you readers - in the left-hand rail (as pictured to the right). All to help you when searching the site.
And now, with star ratings in the rail, we have links to some of the most recent Best in DFW selections at the top of the page above our featured restaurants. And of course, you can still search by cuisine, price range and city in the left-hand rail, and find hot coupons on the right.
Also, if you haven't yet, we encourage you to leave your own restaurant reviews on GuideLive.com. Just register (or log in with your DallasNews.com account information), find your favorite spot, one you'd never go back to again or just an eatery you've been to recently, and rate and review away! And if you ever have any questions with movie listings on GuideLive.com? Let us know.
]]>If you don't know, Aldi is kind of like a no-frills mini-big-box, where 95 percent of the products are house brands "made by major manufacturers." The stores are small, about 10,000 square feet each, and no-frills means things like BYOB, as in bring your own bag. This is the first time the retailer has made a push in Texas.
And bare-bones it is, from the still-in-box product shelving to limited selection among the 1,400 items. There are only five types of pasta, for example, in addition to one whole wheat. But the kicky thing is that the packaging mimics major brands, from the shape of the chocolate syrup container, which shouts "Hershey's" to the Krafty-looking box of shells and cheese.
Most peculiar items: frozen breaded chicken nuggets in the shape of animals and french fries. Yes, chicken nuggets in the SHAPE of french fries.
The prices, tho, are great. And there are some excellent imported German products, such as chocolate and cookies. I picked out six cool finds and wrote about them here.
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Sleek and sexy? Check. Pricey and pretentious? Hardly. And that's exactly why I find Victory Park's new Naga Thai Kitchen & Bar so appealing.
Photos by Mei-Chun Jau: Naga Thai's dining room and the Lychee Mojito
]]>Local eateries making a difference here include State and Allen Lounge in Uptown, Remington's Restaurant in Plano, Twisted Root and Cowboy Chow's multiple locations, Rathbun's Blue Plate Kitchen off Preston and Craft Dallas at Victory Park.
Read all about it. Know of any others who should make this list?
]]>In it, Kummer looks at how Walmart is changing its tune, claiming to be saving local economies (which, he points out, it first played a role in destroying). But the most provocative part of the piece details a blind tasting in Austin between comparable ingredients purchased at Whole Foods Market and at Walmart. Check the original article here.
Meanwhile, Cathy Barber touts four things you'll love at the new Whole Food Market south of Park Lane and east of NorthPark Center, which opens today.
]]>The new Whole Foods at North Central Expressway and Park evokes the kind of excitement that Central Market did when it first opened.
I just got through with a tour, and it's a like a foodie amusement park with a health-conscious, socially conscious veneer. Here are some highlights:
Off the wall factoid: You'll never guess the source of the recycled wood used to make the produce display bins: the original Gilley's in Pasadena.
You can enter the shopping center and go directly to the WF lot using the entrance on the North Central service road at the NorthPark Center light. Or, there's easy entry off Greenville Avenue from Blackwell. If you park downstairs there's an escalator to the store with a separate track for your shopping cart.
It's going to be fun getting to know this store. Hours are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, except the wi-fi-wired coffee bar opens at 7 a.m.
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But the contest wasn't over. Here's how it went: "Finalists were asked to pour three pints in a single flight, with the intention that a single flaw would eliminate the weaker pour.... Upon submission, and much back and forth with his co-judges, Murray stood up and declared the six pints equally 'less than perfect,' and offered the only solution: a pour-off until the perfect pint was poured."
The crowd groaned, he writes. The raffle-ticket-buyers cheered (more pints to buy), and the two tired pint-pourers took uo their positions before the taps. "Minutes later, the perfect pint landed on the judges' table, poured by Paz." The difference between his and Riesner's was "whisker thin."
More than $ 900 was raised for St. Baldrick's Foundation, which funds childhood cancer research. I'll raise a glass to that.
"We expect to be open the first week of July," he emails. And there's more: "We also signed a lease in San Antonio, that should be up and running around June."
He describes the new eatery as "retaining much of the same authenticity and flavors from the original restaurant, while also introducing specialty items inspired by traditional fare from the two cities I lived in while growing up in Mexico. A combination of Mexico City street flair and the coastal flair of Acapulco . In addition, there will also be a greater emphasis on the aesthetic, thus making the overall experience more like that of a nice, modern Mexican restaurant."
Meanwhile, Pineyro's team is gearing up for their annual St. Patrick's Day margarita fest all-day Saturday at the Mockingbird Station location. Cheers!
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