|
|
Post by pairesta on Aug 28, 2015 8:00:35 GMT -5
Last week I had a business trip to Frisco, and so in my downtime I cruised around Plano. It's weird that I haven't laid eyes on the place in nearly a year to the day. Also it's odd to see how nearly every formerly empty field is now being developed. Went to my old chiropractor. Ate at the Grail. I miss those burgers. I was gonna swing by Pecan Lodge on the way back out of town for a late lunch, but got going late and needed to just hit the road.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Sept 3, 2015 21:46:03 GMT -5
Okay LazBro, when you get back from the Mediterranean we are meeting up over large amounts of cooked dead animals and having a discussion about how awesome your trip was. |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster 
Posts: 10,280 
|
Post by LazBro on Sept 3, 2015 22:15:48 GMT -5
Okay LazBro, when you get back from the Mediterranean we are meeting up over large amounts of cooked dead animals and having a discussion about how awesome your trip was. It's a date! |
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Sept 22, 2015 22:56:22 GMT -5
Hey LazBro I had an odd experience at Meddlesome Moth tonight. My best friend and I went for a beer and to catch up on copious gossip. Now, my best friend is a pretty woman my age, and while she is married and we are platonic, we are close/familiar enough with each other that we might be confused for a couple ourselves. I think one person has even thought we were twins. Anyhow, our waiter was a bartender with a big pirate-style eye patch. Late 40s, seemed like a nice guy, although fairly slow on checking up on us, especially given the low traffic at the bar. But at the end of the meal, we ask for separate checks and he brings them out. My beer comes out to $7.58. She opens hers up and it's a blank piece of paper with a handwritten "It's on me  " During the awkwardly long (10 minutes?) time it takes the bartender to collect and return my credit card, we start feeling increasingly confused about this. Then he points at the TV and says, "I need the Angels to beat the Astros tonight." My friend says "Oh no no no no I'm an Astros fan." Bartender pulls out his phone, the background of which is an Angels logo. Then he saunters off and quite loudly over-shoulder says "It's a good thing I already bought your beer for you." We high-tailed it out of there. I have no clue what was going on, but my friend says she's gonna avoid the Moth for a while. |
|
|
|
Post by pairesta on Sept 23, 2015 6:03:51 GMT -5
Hey LazBro I had an odd experience at Meddlesome Moth tonight. My best friend and I went for a beer and to catch up on copious gossip. Now, my best friend is a pretty woman my age, and while she is married and we are platonic, we are close/familiar enough with each other that we might be confused for a couple ourselves. I think one person has even thought we were twins. Anyhow, our waiter was a bartender with a big pirate-style eye patch. Late 40s, seemed like a nice guy, although fairly slow on checking up on us, especially given the low traffic at the bar. But at the end of the meal, we ask for separate checks and he brings them out. My beer comes out to $7.58. She opens hers up and it's a blank piece of paper with a handwritten "It's on me " During the awkwardly long (10 minutes?) time it takes the bartender to collect and return my credit card, we start feeling increasingly confused about this. Then he points at the TV and says, "I need the Angels to beat the Astros tonight." My friend says "Oh no no no no I'm an Astros fan." Bartender pulls out his phone, the background of which is an Angels logo. Then he saunters off and quite loudly over-shoulder says "It's a good thing I already bought your beer for you." We high-tailed it out of there. I have no clue what was going on, but my friend says she's gonna avoid the Moth for a while. That guy was our bartender too when we went. He definitely had a weird vibe about him. |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
|
Post by LazBro on Sept 23, 2015 11:42:07 GMT -5
Hey LazBro I had an odd experience at Meddlesome Moth tonight. My best friend and I went for a beer and to catch up on copious gossip. Now, my best friend is a pretty woman my age, and while she is married and we are platonic, we are close/familiar enough with each other that we might be confused for a couple ourselves. I think one person has even thought we were twins. Anyhow, our waiter was a bartender with a big pirate-style eye patch. Late 40s, seemed like a nice guy, although fairly slow on checking up on us, especially given the low traffic at the bar. But at the end of the meal, we ask for separate checks and he brings them out. My beer comes out to $7.58. She opens hers up and it's a blank piece of paper with a handwritten "It's on me " During the awkwardly long (10 minutes?) time it takes the bartender to collect and return my credit card, we start feeling increasingly confused about this. Then he points at the TV and says, "I need the Angels to beat the Astros tonight." My friend says "Oh no no no no I'm an Astros fan." Bartender pulls out his phone, the background of which is an Angels logo. Then he saunters off and quite loudly over-shoulder says "It's a good thing I already bought your beer for you." We high-tailed it out of there. I have no clue what was going on, but my friend says she's gonna avoid the Moth for a while. I'm sure I've seen that guy, too, but haven't had the (dis)pleasure of getting sucked into his cone of weird. |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
|
Post by LazBro on Sept 29, 2015 10:27:38 GMT -5
Downtown Plano had a DaLat, which closed a couple months ago ... to make way for a ZaLat. About 3 minutes from my office!
Of course, if they keep the evening-only hours in Plano this will be useless to me, but if we can order lunch, oh man.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Sept 30, 2015 13:10:46 GMT -5
Downtown Plano had a DaLat, which closed a couple months ago ... to make way for a ZaLat. About 3 minutes from my office! Of course, if they keep the evening-only hours in Plano this will be useless to me, but if we can order lunch, oh man. Oooh! Uh, text them before you leave work, pick up on the way home? Try the Reuben. And I haven't yet gotten to try the pho pizza cuz none of my friends want to share one, but one of these days when I just want to have a pizza pigout, definitely having the pho pizza. |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
|
Post by LazBro on Oct 20, 2015 14:30:11 GMT -5
So don't go asking why, but I might be interviewing John Tesar tomorrow. What should I ask him?
|
|
|
|
Post by pairesta on Oct 20, 2015 20:24:30 GMT -5
So don't go asking why, but I might be interviewing John Tesar tomorrow. What should I ask him? "How long before you lose interest in Knife, wander away, and it closes a short time later?" |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
|
Post by LazBro on Oct 21, 2015 15:13:29 GMT -5
It was fun. I didn't talk much myself, with my boss leading the interview, but he was a very engaging, passionate presence. It was a little funny, because he is obviously used to discussing his scandals/social media blow ups, but we weren't there to ask about any of that stuff, and I don't think we were giving him the usual bait. He couldn't help but namedrop Leslie Brenner, and how much he hates her, a couple times.
At least I got to tell him that my wife still laments the passing of The Commissary, where she got what she says is the best grilled cheese she's ever had.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Oct 22, 2015 11:42:07 GMT -5
It was fun. I didn't talk much myself, with my boss leading the interview, but he was a very engaging, passionate presence. It was a little funny, because he is obviously used to discussing his scandals/social media blow ups, but we weren't there to ask about any of that stuff, and I don't think we were giving him the usual bait. He couldn't help but namedrop Leslie Brenner, and how much he hates her, a couple times. At least I got to tell him that my wife still laments the passing of The Commissary, where she got what she says is the best grilled cheese she's ever had. So were you mostly asking him about food in particular? Can I ask what it was for? Too bad I didn't click on this thread a couple days ago, would've asked if it's true that Big Night is his favorite movie. |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
|
Post by LazBro on Oct 26, 2015 9:25:03 GMT -5
So were you mostly asking him about food in particular? Can I ask what it was for? Too bad I didn't click on this thread a couple days ago, would've asked if it's true that Big Night is his favorite movie. I'd prepared and looked forward to more food talk, but we weren't there for that either. Short version: my boss is launching a pet project of hers which is a blog dedicated to featuring, promoting and supporting the business owners of Dallas. Our conversation with Tesar was more about his thoughts on Dallas, his approach to operating a business, his advice to other business owners and his future plans. John Tesar only came onto our radar because he (or more likely his publicist) favorited or re-tweeted one of my boss's tweets. She had never heard of him. She said something like, "I got a re-tweet by this chef guy John Tesar." Naturally that caught my attention. Then when she found out I knew who he was, she said, "We should try and interview him!" and wrote an email to his publicist. He said yes. It was maybe a little frustrating, because throughout the interview he was constantly name-dropping people I know. Tom Spicer, Leslie Brenner, Tim Byres, Dean Fearing, Stephen Pyles. Important names in Dallas, but not the kinds of names my boss would know. I didn't have a lot of room to follow up. BTW, John Tesar claims to have made Tom Spicer the success he was. He also thinks Hopdoddy's is lame. You can read the piece if you want: dallas.trylocal.today/chef-john-tesarI'm happy enough with the article, but the website itself is still a beta version with the final design is in development. I'm not happy with the site at all. I'd rather have waited to publish articles with big guns like Tesar when we had a more final product to show, but my boss wanted it now, now, NOW! |
|
|
|
Post by pairesta on Oct 26, 2015 21:48:35 GMT -5
BTW, John Tesar claims to have made Tom Spicer the success he was. He also thinks Hopdoddy's is lame. Much as I'm not keen on Tesar, he is right about Spicer (although it's still ridiculous that he's name dropping a dead guy and taking credit for his success). But Spicer was who he hand-picked and promoted to plant the garden at The Mansion when he got the post and promoted him extensively. That's certainly where I first heard of him. |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
|
Post by LazBro on Oct 26, 2015 22:36:07 GMT -5
Much as I'm not keen on Tesar, he is right about Spicer (although it's still ridiculous that he's name dropping a dead guy and taking credit for his success). But Spicer was who he hand-picked and promoted to plant the garden at The Mansion when he got the post and promoted him extensively. That's certainly where I first heard of him. I'm just glad my boss didn't say, "Oooo, we should go talk to him, too." Which is totally something she would say. She actually did say, "I need to meet this Leslie person" after the 3rd time Tesar made a jab at Brenner. |
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Oct 27, 2015 12:37:35 GMT -5
Much as I'm not keen on Tesar, he is right about Spicer (although it's still ridiculous that he's name dropping a dead guy and taking credit for his success). But Spicer was who he hand-picked and promoted to plant the garden at The Mansion when he got the post and promoted him extensively. That's certainly where I first heard of him. I'm just glad my boss didn't say, "Oooo, we should go talk to him, too." Which is totally something she would say. She actually did say, "I need to meet this Leslie person" after the 3rd time Tesar made a jab at Brenner. Now I'm imagining you face-palming in front of Tesar any time your boss says anything. Tesar sounds like an awesome Random Roles-type interview. We should get Will Harris to interview him by naming like, 15 types of food he's cooked. EDIT: Pretty sure he does at least some of his own tweeting. The fuck Leslie Brenner tweet, of course, but I've interacted with him a couple times on there. |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
|
Post by LazBro on Oct 27, 2015 14:23:04 GMT -5
Downtown Plano had a DaLat, which closed a couple months ago ... to make way for a ZaLat. About 3 minutes from my office! Of course, if they keep the evening-only hours in Plano this will be useless to me, but if we can order lunch, oh man. Oooh! Uh, text them before you leave work, pick up on the way home? Try the Reuben. And I haven't yet gotten to try the pho pizza cuz none of my friends want to share one, but one of these days when I just want to have a pizza pigout, definitely having the pho pizza. ZaLat Plano is open now, and I noticed driving by the other day that they have inside seating. Which I suppose I should have guessed since the space they converted was way too big to only be a pick up joint. We're definitely doing this next D&D night. |
|
|
|
Post by pairesta on Oct 29, 2015 7:13:57 GMT -5
Was in Ft. Worth for a conference this week. Went to the circling-the-drain Mercado Juarez, a formerly dominant Tex Mex chain from my UNT days. Cannon Chinese Kitchen was really fun. Small menu of small plates dishes, but everything was prepared with a keen attention to detail and fantastic. Little Red Wasp for lunch. Service was a little sluggish but enthusiastic. It seemed surprisingly "corporate" in feel, I don't know how else to describe it. Mi Dia From Scratch is in a jam-packed little strip alongside Bob's Steakhouse and a Fireside Pies. Even on a Tuesday night the parking lot was so full you had three cars constantly circling for a place to park. The food was pretty good, if a bit pricey. Even though I was in Ft. Worth, I arranged it so that I swung by Pecan Lodge for a light lunch before hitting the road back to Houston. It was the "least great" time I've been there. I asked for lots of bark when I ordered my fatty brisket but I just got a standard slice, which was already cool when I got it. It was prepared so quickly that I suspect they had it pre-sliced and just assembly line made my plate. There also seems to be some other cost control measures in place: I seem to remember getting two sides before, plus no bread, and only one rib and one slice of brisket. But still. Everything I ate was top form. This time I really dug their ribs, with a black, incredibly flavorful bark. I like their standard pork sausage alot more than the still-delicious jalapeno beef sausage I got this time. |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
|
Post by LazBro on Oct 29, 2015 7:44:13 GMT -5
Little Red Wasp for lunch. Service was a little sluggish but enthusiastic. It seemed surprisingly "corporate" in feel, I don't know how else to describe it. ...I swung by Pecan Lodge for a light lunch... 1. What'd you try at Little Red Wasp? I see at dinner they have fried chicken three ways, including Nashville Hot Chicken. I'm sure in Nashville it doesn't cost $18. I get you on the "corporate" feel thing, I think. Like Whiskey Cake in Plano. It's one of a kind, but it certainly feels like they were thinking "chain" when they built it. 2. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha lol |
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Oct 29, 2015 7:59:17 GMT -5
Like Whiskey Cake in Plano. It's one of a kind, but it certainly feels like they were thinking "chain" when they built it. Couple weeks ago I called my parents, who live in San Antonio, and they said, "We went to this great new place for dinner called Whiskey Cake! They make a dessert that's whiskey cake. When you come down we need to take you to try it!" |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
|
Post by LazBro on Oct 29, 2015 8:03:13 GMT -5
Couple weeks ago I called my parents, who live in San Antonio, and they said, "We went to this great new place for dinner called Whiskey Cake! They make a dessert that's whiskey cake. When you come down we need to take you to try it!" Oh man! To be fair, I really like Whiskey Cake and wish them their success. I think their eponymous dessert is boring and overrated, but their entrees are almost always good. I sometimes pine for the pulled pork bahn mi. |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
|
Post by LazBro on Oct 29, 2015 8:07:21 GMT -5
Date night tonight. We're either going to that new ZaLat in Plano, the new Lion and Crown Pub up in Allen or what has fast become a go-to, the World of Beer in Plano. I still prefer the Grail for the food, but WOB has it in convenience and beer list for us.
|
|
|
|
Post by pairesta on Oct 29, 2015 8:16:57 GMT -5
Little Red Wasp for lunch. Service was a little sluggish but enthusiastic. It seemed surprisingly "corporate" in feel, I don't know how else to describe it. ...I swung by Pecan Lodge for a light lunch... 1. What'd you try at Little Red Wasp? I see at dinner they have fried chicken three ways, including Nashville Hot Chicken. I'm sure in Nashville it doesn't cost $18. I get you on the "corporate" feel thing, I think. Like Whiskey Cake in Plano. It's one of a kind, but it certainly feels like they were thinking "chain" when they built it. 2. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha lol They have a very scaled down lunch menu: sandwiches, soups, salads. No entrees, or at least they didn't offer the awesome sounding fried chicken three ways because I would've ordered that in a heartbeat (and then slept through my afternoon conference sessions). The Whiskey Cake is a very apt comparison. |
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Oct 29, 2015 9:43:38 GMT -5
Date night tonight. We're either going to that new ZaLat in Plano, the new Lion and Crown Pub up in Allen or what has fast become a go-to, the World of Beer in Plano. I still prefer the Grail for the food, but WOB has it in convenience and beer list for us. Is that WOB like the (recently-deceased) WOB near SMU? What I mean is, the SMU WOB used to allow BYOF, so we would go to the Thai takeout across the street, grab awesome green curry, take it into WOB, and eat curry and drink beer for the whole TV sports event. |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
|
Post by LazBro on Oct 29, 2015 9:53:38 GMT -5
Is that WOB like the (recently-deceased) WOB near SMU? What I mean is, the SMU WOB used to allow BYOF, so we would go to the Thai takeout across the street, grab awesome green curry, take it into WOB, and eat curry and drink beer for the whole TV sports event. I don't know. I don't get that impression and have never seen anyone else bring in food, but I have never asked. If we go tonight I will ask for you. The Plano location has a very suburban feel. It doesn't strike me as a place you could BYOF, which makes a lot more sense near a campus. Actually the Plano WOB has almost no personality in terms of atmosphere. We like the food well enough and the beer selection is terrific. I've never seen it busy, so I wonder how it's doing. |
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Oct 29, 2015 10:20:38 GMT -5
Is that WOB like the (recently-deceased) WOB near SMU? What I mean is, the SMU WOB used to allow BYOF, so we would go to the Thai takeout across the street, grab awesome green curry, take it into WOB, and eat curry and drink beer for the whole TV sports event. I don't know. I don't get that impression and have never seen anyone else bring in food, but I have never asked. If we go tonight I will ask for you. Oh you don't have to ask for me, only if you wanted to ask for yourself.  So Whiskey Cake does try to keep their chain-ness secret - did some research - each restaurant has its own whole separate website that doesn't acknowledge the others - and now thinking of doing an Observer op-ed about what this says about our phobia of chain dining. |
|
|
|
Post by pairesta on Nov 4, 2015 15:39:20 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Nov 6, 2015 11:38:28 GMT -5
Hrm, aside from the industry contacts part... Curiously, the Dallas Observer equivalent is opening up at exactly the same time, because the food editor is moving to LA with his girlfriend. My inner conspiracy theorist thinks she's the Eater editor and one power couple has monopolized the non-LesBren Dallas food writing scene. LazBro the new Blind Butcher lunch menu, served Saturday and Sunday only, includes a BLT made with "housemade jowl bacon and foie gras mayo". |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
|
Post by LazBro on Nov 6, 2015 11:46:39 GMT -5
Hrm, aside from the industry contacts part... Curiously, the Dallas Observer equivalent is opening up at exactly the same time, because the food editor is moving to LA with his girlfriend. My inner conspiracy theorist thinks she's the Eater editor and one power couple has monopolized the non-LesBren Dallas food writing scene. LazBro the new Blind Butcher lunch menu, served Saturday and Sunday only, includes a BLT made with "housemade jowl bacon and foie gras mayo". My god! Also, I wouldn't stress about the industry contact piece. If I've learned nothing in the last two weeks, it's that making those contacts is frighteningly easy (if you put yourself out there). These are people who want publicity. They want to know you. My boss is not a foodie of any seriousness, and with a single tweet and follow up email, I met John Tesar. And next week I'm interviewing Kent Rathbun and very likely Tre Wilcox. I think we're lining up Matt McCallister within the month. |
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Nov 6, 2015 11:49:30 GMT -5
LazBro the new Blind Butcher lunch menu, served Saturday and Sunday only, includes a BLT made with "housemade jowl bacon and foie gras mayo". Okay, this has nothing to do with exciting opportunities created by churn in the food editor world, but holy shitballs. I need to get to Dallas ASAP. |
|
"
