Hey, Pairesta

Our Culturemap is I'm pretty sure just a bunch of press releases with somebody's name pasted in as the author.

Tre is an awesome dude. It was beyond surreal to be sitting in his office at his house just kind of shooting it with him, while his daughter was in the other room doing algebra homework. I can't really tell if he's bulked up even more since Top Chef, but he was intimidatingly buff and had a tiny head. He was kind of built like a goomba from the Mario movie. Very nice, personable man.

He told us the story of his first day at Abacus which was pretty great. I'll share if I have time.

ZOMG you guys I just got a private tour of Kent Rathbun's Hickory led by the man himself, during service, including a station-by-station walk through of the kitchen. I got to stand right next to the grill, stand behind the pass, watch them plate, eat brisket right off the line.

This guy was such a fucking pro. We're all, "Why don't we shoot live in the kitchen?", and he's like "Yeah!" and then he starts walking us through, talking about the food, playing to the camera. The whole thing was broadcast live, but we'll be posting the video to YouTube sometime today or tomorrow. I'll shoot y'all a link.

I still don't know what my boss's long-game is with all this - well, I do, but I'm not sure this is the way to get there - but I kinda don't care at this point.

For a hot second it looked like I might meet Giada De Laurentis (or however you spell it) tonight, but that won't be happening.

Anyway, here's the video of our walkthrough at Hickory lead by Chef Rathbun. The good part starts around the 9 minute mark. You'll see my dumb ass a couple times, but I eventually took the camera from my boss, because she was good at the talking part, but not the "show people what is being discussed" part. This was recorded live, as in, with an audience, so it's not edited or anything (obviously). Sorry about the portrait angle. The live streaming app doesn't support landscape. We're thinking of switching to YouTube streaming instead, since we're not getting much audience interaction anyway, which is the whole purpose of using Meerkat.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciPMJ7n1ST4

Like, meeting Tre Wilcox and John Tesar was cool. These are very accomplished people in an industry I follow and respect. But there was just something about Rathbun. A level of polish, a level of readiness, a level of professionalism that just fucking floored me. I was rapt.

Firstly, congratulations on living the dream. Echoing Ron Howard Voice, I am excited and jealous for you.

That video is gonna be some of my weekend viewing. I watched a couple minutes at work and it was great.

90 pounds in 6 months is a LOT. That is a very dramatic loss, 3-4 lbs a week. He must have had, uh, a lot to give.

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Last night checked out Anastasia Quinones' modern-Mex incarnation of Kitchen LTO. Good, not great. As my friend observed, not a single thing either of us ate was spicy. The salsa was very different from usual, which I liked but she didn't (a little sweet - carrot?) but the chips were A+ flawless. (Entire fried half-tortillas doused in salt.) Poblano corn soup and pumpkin soup both winners, to different degrees; my braised shortrib definitely won the main course round, however. Super tender, with garnish of kale shredded so finely the kale's texture was no longer a worry. And on a bed of "pozole grits", ie, grits with pozole gravy, the single best thing either of us got all night. Her mole enchiladas were the size of a fat man's middle fingers, and not spicy, just chocolatey.

Desserts we were pretty meh on (if you pile a bunch of churros into a hot English-style pudding, they just get mushy and weird-textured), and couldn't come even close to finishing. Not a bad wine list.

Oh man, if I get to be Observer editor you will be Senior Kent Rathbun Stories Correspondent.

Took a KC native to try the KC barbecue at 18th & Vine. To my surprise/delight, he wholeheartedly approved of everything, particularly the burnt ends and the sweet-spicy molasses-based BBQ sauce. It is pretty awesome BBQ sauce. Brisket is good, sub-Pecan but good; ribs were delicious. Mashed potatoes doused in so many green onions they looked like a chia pet, which is exactly how I like my mashed potatoes. The fried okra was totally delicious, but since they slice the okra lengthwise and add a ton of breading, it was very crumbly and fallaparty.

The deviled eggs at new Deep Ellum joint Brick & Bones. I must have them.



There's an awesome sounding beer festival in Deep Ellum this weekend put on by BrainDead Brewing. Less breweries, but hyper-focused on rare or limited edition beers. VIP Tix still available. I'm trying to get my boss to buy my ticket as a work expense so that I can "cover" the event, but also kind of don't want to be responsible for anything at a beer festival.

Step into that power vacuum RHV!

Hey LazBro did Tre Wilcox tell you he's opening a new joint in Plano?

Intrinsic Smokehouse and Brewery, which just opened last weekend in downtown Garland. First of all, gorgeous space. Big open room, brick wall, wood tables and chairs, large enclosed patio. Like I was jealous. This is exactly the kind of space I had in mind for what I want to do in Wylie. I also love that the actual brewing equipment is in full view. Too bad they're not open when they brew, cause I wouldn't totally drink a few while watching that.

At its heart this is a brewery and bar. They currently have 4 house beers on tap with another 3 on the way, plus a selection of guest taps (all DFW-area) and a decent selection of cans and bottles. I don't think they serve any macro-crap. Of the house beers we tried the IP80, a very respectable IPA, and the Picker Porter, a thin but roasty-chocolate porter. Mrs. Snape said it was by no means her favorite, but it was the kind of dark beer you might use as an introduction to the form. It had the flavor, just not the body. This weekend they introduce their stout, so I'll be looking forward to trying it. Everything is very reasonable in terms of alcohol, with the IPA at 6% being their strongest beer.

After fighting with the city to get the necessary permits and permission to open up in downtown, Intrinsic finally caved and added food so they could qualify as a restaurant rather than a bar. Enter Junior's bbq, which is set up for counter service at the back of the space. We tried the brisket, pulled pork, creamed corn and mac and cheese. The brisket was sliced to order, plenty fatty, and has a basic salt-pepper rub. I'll spare you the "not as good as..." because you already know that, but it was good brisket. The pulled pork, scooped from a chafing dish, was not as impressive. Dried out and a bit stringy, it had the flavor but the life had been cooked out of it by the time we ordered, which if this batch was originally ready for the lunch crowd is no surprise. The creamed corn was sour cream based, not cream, and was loaded with jalapenos to deliver a surprisingly spicy kick. The mac and cheese was cheddary, but overcooked and kind of bland. We agreed that next time we'll just get a pound of slice brisket and two different sides. Maybe we'll try the ribs, but their ribs are really pricey, we felt, with a half-rack around $17.

They also have sandwiches, flat breads, really expensive chicken wings ($20 for 12 wings) and a couple other things.

The ordering set up is a little weird. You can seat yourself, and the bartenders and/or servers will come by and get you drinks. At the table you can only order a specific meal called the 2nd lunch (sandwich, chips, soda) and appetizers, but you can't order bbq by weight or sides. For that you have to go to the back counter. BUT, it's a shared tab, so you can start a tab, drink a couple, go back to the counter, add your order to your tab, and still only pay once. Not a huge hassle or anything, but still kind of weird.

Anyway, we will be back for sure, and I'm so excited to have a joint like this in Garland within 20-ish minutes of the house.

So here's my audition for the full-time gig.

I think it came out OK, but not great. Was a very difficult place to write about.

Did you already go to Houston? Where all did you wind up eating?

Well done, man. I thought it read very well and had some great humor in it. Morbidly curious, I had to look up the menu to confirm the pricing thing. Bizarre! I've never seen anything like that.