swirll

Swirll, a coming-soon winery/retail store with a thing for Ls, has an irresistible story: 1. it’s in the davis bldg downtown which is a hot spot for small-biz entrepreneurs 2. it’s a WINE place. Two trends in 1! Not to mention its owners, Louis & Peggy -- an actual mom and pop. They don’t claim to be wine experts, but they came across this awesome franchise called Water to Wine, and wanted to bring it to dallas. They shopped for a site in plano but the landlords weren’t NEARLY as “friendly” ($$$) as the incentive-offering downtown folks. Swirll won’t open 'til june but they’ve already been quoted in newsweek and had profiles in modern luxury and something called red magazine. And now NYCE too. don't want to be the last one, right

1311 Main St, 214-559-6020

bay st deli & grill

Bay Street Deli & Grill is not exactly a Dining Destination; at heart it’s just another office bldg breakfast/lunch canteen. What makes it a little different: It comes from Henry Blitshtein, who owns Jaxx Cafe on Midway Road in Addison which is no Mansion on Turtle Creek, but is still a dependable restaurant with a healthy lunch business. At Bay St. he’s doing some Jaxx items that can be served fast, like hot wings, and also lunch specials like taco salad, crispy chicken, and pot roast, with two sides and bread. The employees at AIM Solutions and Just Brakes, who office in the bldg, are pinching themselves, and there's some spillover from the nearby Doubletree Hotel.

8150 N Central Exway # M1020, 214-696-6464

ranch 1, in the galleria

Grilling chicken seems like, duh, a no-brainer. But it turns out there is bad grilled chicken and good grilled chicken. Ranch 1, a NY-based chain with more than 40 branches including a new outlet at the Galleria, even trademarked this phrase: "the best grilled chicken on earth". Its “classic” sandwich has “gourmet greens”, toasted almonds, and roasted red-pepper sauce on a semolina roll. The Philly has cheese, peppers, and onions. There’s also a chick fajita wrap and a teriyaki bowl.

13350 Dallas Pkwy #3660, 972-934-3229

how about a kiss (see item below) 

another hershey's kiss spinoff, yawn

hershey's, which is a seriously weird company (paranoid, secretive about products, etc), has, after decades of stubbornly clinging to the one the only kiss, gone nuts with spinoffs in the past few years... caramel, fudge, strawberry, TOO MANY to list here. anyway, some people (named marc) are intrigued by the latest, Double Vision, whose Defining Element is that they're LAYERED. as opposed to swirled or filled or mulched. sinking further into the land of tool-dom: the layers consist of either dark + creamy choc or white + creamy choc. but i see this primarily as an opportunity to post some dumb/"zany" hershey's kiss art.

carvel, many of them

a branch of the (connecticut-based) soft-serve ice cream company is going in at the corner of preston & royal. since the first texas carvel opened in flower mound in 12/03, half a dozen have sprouted in southlake, plano, mckinney, hurst, coppell, denton, and carrollton. eventually there'll be 25 stores in texas, with dallas, frisco, and allen on the map. in 2004, carvel became part of a conglomerate called Focus Brands that includes Cinnabon and Seattle’s Best Coffee. it's better than cold stone which is not saying much

divine coffee shop

it APPEARS to be a friendly mom-and-popper over at NW Highway and Ferndale Rd., serving espresso drinks, sandwiches, muffins, cookies, and so forth. and yet its aspirations are so lofty. cut to the website:

... our locally owned and operated business is here to serve you the best-tasting coffee, tea, and smoothies in the state.

goodness gracious. is there no limit to Divine's ambitions? i mean, i can see "best-tasting coffee, tea, and smoothies in our lake highlands 'hood". or ok, maybe "in the city." perhaps even "in the metroplex." but texas is a very large state. after all that, they keep daytime hours only, 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Divine Coffee Shop, 10233 E Northwest Hwy, 214-221-4659

The Cafe

what a quaint name, huh. it's a lunch-only diner just opened by Miriam Alonzo-Theissen (no relation to Tiffany Amber-Thiessen), a native of Guatemala who's worked at restaurants in New York, California, Seattle (which is like its own state, man). This is a labor of love: Miriam makes her own soups (lentil, broccoli-cheese, potato, German cabbage), desserts (apple pie, lemon meringue, carrot-pineapple cake), and her own bread. Monday is lasagna day. She does box lunches, too, for $5.50.

The Cafe, 10505 Shady Trail Dr. #300, 214-351-9200

peanut butter oreos

are these already way old news? i feel like i've seen them and even had them (or maybe that was just a reese's cup), but marc - who i am forced to admit could easily make a living as a new-products scout, his powers of observation and propensity for buying snack foods are THAT GOOD - insists there was a commercial for them on TV last night and that he had never seen them before. i called the publicist i know/knew at Nabisco but her number's disconnected; maybe she was downsized, too! ha. morbid humor. in the interest of sharing any and all food news, and as a tip of the hat to marc: peanut-butter oreos, rah rah.

blue bell fruit special ice cream

it's back! but first, a rumination on ice cream. whose fans fall into two camps: chocolate ice cream vs. not. the first camp, stop reading now. narrowing further, only those who dare admit to a love for candied fruit need proceed. that leaves maybe 15 people who'd probably like Blue Bell Fruit Special. (time for a description. lower the lights, if you will, and put on some soft music.) it's pale pink (possibly "tutti-frutti" flavor?) pocked with candied fruit, mini-marshmallows, and an occasional chopped nut. it only remotely resembles real food but there's something satisfying to the random maraschino cherry or green-tinted citrus peel in the fabulously-fake pink ice cream. Fruit Special appears to be a "seasonal flavor" (can anyone divine Blue Bell's nutso release schedule?). it was available last summer and now it magically reappears (though not in every store, cuz that would be just too predictable for blue bell).

nuclear family returns, sniff

finish up your assembled entree and we'll play a game of twister! (see below)

Super Suppers

that photo (above) is quite heartwarming, isn't it. it's "borrowed" tee-hee from the website of super suppers:

"an entrée assembly program designed to save moms (and dads) time and effort in serving great meals to their families"

sounds yummy, huh. it's one of those pre-fab meal-in-a-bag deals where you take it home and stick it in the oven. Super Suppers comes from Judie Byrd, of the Culinary School of Fort Worth, and opens may 10, selling items such as "Fish in a Flash" and "Happy Family Chicken." actual family not included. to their credit, Super Suppers has two employees with the names "teresa", spelled the correct way, no H.

1906 Abrams Parkway Dallas, TX 75214 214-821-9955

new ziziki's

a 3rd branch of this Greek almost-mini-chain is opening in May. it's going into the shopping center at the southwest corner of Preston and Forest, the same one as Whole Foods, in the spot where Wild About Harry's used to be. that would be: 11661 Preston Rd Suite 309

dark M&Ms

as in dark chocolate, vs. milk. so where oh where are they? in a big hoo-ha press conference at the end of march, MX2 said they'd be available after april 2 to tie-in with whatever the new Star Wars movie is. they come in different colors like black (woooo), purple, dark blue, and silver. dig up your black light! but have not spotted them at 7-11, and they're a limited edition which means we must run out and buy them quickly immediately now before they're gone

wolfgang puck at nokialive

backed by dean fearing's band, he'll be performing some of his favorite austrian tunes. ha. joke. the real deal is that Wolfgang Puck Catering and Events signed a contract last year to provide "the food experiences" at all AEG properties, and so the food operation at Nokia in grand prairie has been revamped. that means puck's company handles the catering backstage, while out front, the little people get better pizzas, more toppings!

subway in deep ellum

The sandwich chain, not the train, opened a branch in Deep Ellum, right across from the (equally miraculous) 7-11. Perhaps you've tried the sandwiches already heh, but this particular branch has a cool, one-of-a-kind decor - sort of urban and vintage-y - that fits the brick location perfectly, looking like something in Chicago or some other non-Dallas-like city.

2609 Elm St. 214-651-9885

magnolia hotel

not content with goldfish, pretzels & chex, the magnolia hotel in downtown dallas just expanded their teensy-weensy kitchen to do room service and bar snax, and also hired a food & beverage chef guy, reid presley. meanwhile, they've been having doug brown, from Beyond the Box, the eatzi's-esque market in downtown dallas, in as consultant and caterer. i'd offer more info but the hotel manager was far far too busy to return phone calls

Times Ten Cellars

is it too soon to mention a place if it isn't opening until "late may"? that's when Times Ten Cellars, a new WINERY (pullease don't call it a wine bar) will open in a 5,000-sq-ft art deco-y bldg that was once the lakewood post office. it'll be a fully functioning bottling facility, with oak barrels, stainless steel tanks, labeling, fermenting, etc as well as a tasting bar and lounge area where you can buy a bottle and drink it on site. the owners, who are pooling their wages earned in the pharmaceutical biz, have also planted a vineyard in west texas.

Times Ten Cellars, coming soon to 6324 Prospect Ave. 214-824-9463

Hungry Howie's Pizza

last night i saw some commercial for a "three-cheez" pizza wherein the crust had a filling of cheez oozing out with a twitty little freckled kid eyeballing the ooze appreciatively.
almost-as-gross-but-not-quite is hungry howie's, a chain outa michigan with more than 300 branches, including a new one in richardson. howie's special "thing" is flavored crusts: butter, garlic herb, onion, ranch, cajun, and sesame. which is so very very wrong. as is this typo on the hungry howie's website:

... The company ended the 1980s with over 160 units in it's system.

do i need to highlight the incorrect "it's" contraction? anyhow:

4251 E. Renner Rd., 75082, 972-235-3838

scramblers

jeez, posting these things takes forever. but i feel compelled to post at least one or two more so that anne doesn't get a big head. that said, i can't not give credit where credit is due: this one came from the plano guy who was thumbing through one of those awful junk mail circulars and stumbled across an ad for Scramblers "omelette grill restaurant", yes, a restaurant devoted to omelettes, with "over 100 varieties". open for breakfast and lunch only. supposedly there is a branch in nebraska, although the owners are from out of state and wary of reporter types asking questions on the phone. who you never know might very well plan to steal your recipe for bacon-and-cheez omelettes, give me a break already

Scramblers Omelette Grill Restaurant, 2041 N. Town East Blvd., Mesquite, 972-681-0400

sayonara savory

thank god there was a word for "goodbye" that began with an S. anyway, this is more cellphone tipsterism from anne bothwell (who is so far DOMINATING "news you can eat"): Savory, the night-time "entity"/bistro operating out of lakewood coffeehouse Legal Grounds, will be kicked to the curb by the end of the week. supposedly the Legal Grounds peeps want to start their own nighttime entity, possibly greek food, and so Savory will serve the last supper on Saturday April 30. Savory chef-owner Joe Hickey, who like all great people is a native of new england, and his partner jonathan calabrese still have their Taste-Allen St complex over in uptown, but they're looking at re-establishing Savory in another Lakewood location

Savory, 2015 Abrams Rd., 214-887-1919.

Vamanos Mexican Pizza

vamanos mexican pizza is at the SW corner of greenville and mockingbird and it stays open until 2 a.m. on weekends. mexican pizza, what is that. vamanos says: bean sauce instedda tomato. they also tout 1. no frozen toppings. 2. chorizo, Made Fresh Daily. vamanos comes from mario ramirez who owns la paloma as well as a bunch of mexican bakeries, and this is the first branch, which is secret-code-speak for "hopefully a chain"

4127 greenville, 214-826-6667