jsmeeker

It's been said by many that Dallas doesn't really have any good BBQ. Is that true? Well, sadly, I think it has been true. There is some good BBQ in the area, but you have to head west towards Ft. Worth. Or south. But within the city limits, it's slim pickings. But things have improved lately. I hit up two spots over the past two weekends. One is very new and the other relatively new. Pecan Lodge Shed #2 at Dallas Famers Market Shed #2 is an indoor building at the Dallas Farmers Market was supposed to house specialty foods and eateries. It was really, really slim pickings there. But slowly, things are improving. And Pecan Lodge is one place worth the visit. It's not strictly a BBQ place, but they do server of some very good BBQ. The only way they sell is it via a BBQ Plate. That gets you some sliced brisket, pork ribs, and a side of your choice. I asked fatty brisket and what I got was some great meat. Best I had ever had in the city of Dallas. Good smoke flavor. Tender. Moist. Really good stuff. The ribs were pretty good to. When it comes to BBQ, I really pay little attention to sides. But the beans I got were tasty. Really, if you are in downtown, go. If you aren't in downtown, but live in Dallas, go. They are opened Thursday through Sunday. http://www.pecanlodge.com/ Lockhart Smoke House 400 W. Davis Dallas, TX 75208 The opening of Lockhart Smoke House in the Bishop Arts District in Dallas's Oak Cliff neighborhood has been eagerly anticipated for several months. As the name implies, it seeks to recreate the BBQ one may find in the Central Texas BBQ meccas in and around Lockhart, TX. For starters, there is a connection to the Schmidt family. If I have the details right, one the owners is the grand daughter of Edgar Schmidt, owner of the original Kreuz Market in Lockhart, TX. Also, the head pit master at the current Kreuz Market in Lockhart consulted on the place and helped them get setup. To stack the deck even more in their favor, they are getting their sausage FedEx'ed in from Kruez Market in Lockhart. So, with all that said, any veteran of the Central Texas BBQ should have high expectations for this place. Things started off very icy with the place opening up the week of the Super Bowl while Dallas (and a large portion of the rest of the country) was hit by a very major winter storm. Not exactly the best time. BBQ loving friends of mine even braved the dangerous roads to go there. Initial reports were pretty good. A subsequent report last week had very high praises. So, with that, I headed down there yesterday (Sunday Feb 20, 2011) for an early lunch. Foodwise, the thing weakest for me were the ribs. Mine just were not very tender. I enjoyed the brisket. I didn't specify fatty or lean or anything. Just asked for brisket. The slices I got had some fat in them. I found them to be tender and juicy enough with decent smoke flavor. The shoulder clod was something I had never had before any where. While what I got wasn't as good as the brisket (it was a little dry), I think this is a cut I could really like. I found that it had some really good beef flavor. The sausage was just what you would expect with it coming from Kreuz. Awesome. I also tried a bit of pork chop that a friend of mine ordered. That was really, really dry. Didn't like it at all. Next time, I think I may concentrate on just the beef. Maybe ordering more brisket in one order will result in a better sampling. Service wise, it was a little interesting. For people used to the central Texas meat market style of service, there wasn't anything really weird about it. But they did have their own little quirks. Paper doesn't seem to be real butcher paper. What we got this time was white. In pics I have seen previously, it was brown. Also, they wrapped up each different type of meat in it's own paper, then wrapped that all up in another piece of paper. That made unpacking it all at the table a bit of a PITA. Another thing I noticed was employees greeting people as they walked in and directing people to the back to place their orders. When we got there, someone asked if we had been there. Told them some of us had been there, but others were not but we were very familiar with the drill at the places in Lockhart, Luling, etc. Everybody was very friendly. Workers mostly young, "urban hipster" types. When I was waiting around for others to arrive, one of them walked out front and got things out of his car. A Mercedes. It wasn't as crowded as I expected. I was the first person there. If a friend didn't get stuck in traffic, we would have been the very first group to order that day. The crowd picked up, but there was never a big line of people. I've heard that weekdays are a different story. Long lines will form quickly. Get there early, I've been warned. Pricing wise, I think my order came out to $26 or $27 dollars. That was for a 1/4 lb brisket, 1/4 pound clod, two ribs, a link of sausage, and a bottle of Mexican Coca-Cola. In actuality, I think the meat weighed in a bit more. Not much, though.. Not enough to make a fuss over. Pricey? Yeah. Especially the sausage. And I really didn't need two ribs. What I didn't eat, I packed up to take home. So, how was it? Is it the best BBQ place in the City of Dallas? I think based on my recent experiences, Pecan Lodge had better meat on my visit there compared to my visit to Lockhart Smokehouse. But in the strictest sense, Pecan Lodge isn't really just a BBQ joint. Overall, I think Lockhart Smokehouse has excellent potential to become the top place in Dallas proper. I'll certainly go back. Sunday mornings seem to be a good time to go crowd wise. Plus, the traffic going down is easy (as long as you don't try to come down Central and cutover over on Woodall Rodgers) There isn't any BETTER true BBQ place closer to me. http://www.lockhartsmokehouse.com/index.html

I did this test today.. Hunts and Heinz. The contenders. Marked bowls my taping a piece of paper with He or Hu to the bottom. The ketchups poured into the bowls. I blindly shuffled them around in an attempt to not know which was which. I tried to take notes. When I was done, I spooned out the leftover ketchup to reveal which was which. When I poured the ketchups, it was immediately apparent one was thinner than the other. I knew right off that this would make it hard to NOT know which was which. Ideally, it would have been better to have a helper to prepare the sample, but that wasn't in the cards. When it came to tasting, I was surprised. It was a lot closer than I thought. I found one to be "sweeter" than the other. The me, this was really the main difference. I had a hard time picking out other differences. For me, there wasn't a winner like I was expecting. Both were pretty good. Does this mean I will switch over to the other brand? Nahhhh... I think I will keep buying Heinz.

I don't think that one is ever going to die. I'm certain it's not limited to TV, either. Wouldn't surprise me if there are instructors in cooking schools are various levels still telling students this.

Certainly not a new phenomenon with Guy Fieri. Before him, Food Network had Rachael Ray running around eating for "$40 a Day". Also, not limited to TV, either. A newspaper story or magazine story can really put an unknown place on the map. KD1191 makes a good point about what comes after that. Will the attention bring a short term influx of people that will be misread by the owners? Does it drive off people who always knew about the place, but now don't want to deal with crowds? In any case, I bet it's a bit of a double edged sword in a lot of cases.

how about a risotto? The pan sauce is another good suggestion, too.

when I "cut up" a whole chicken, I have a specific way of doing it. Remove wings where they attach to carcass remove entire leg where they attach to carcass remove breast meat from carcass (yields boneless chicken breasts) cut leg pieces into a thigh and a drumstick. Now, the chicken is "broken down" into distinct components. I think using the term "butcher" can apply here, too.

At home? Do you slaughter them too? Yes. At home. I do not slaughter them, though.

I butcher my chickens.

At home, my plates and bowls are either plan white or plain white with a thin blue line/strip around the outer edge. For me, I think designs are OK, but they should be small/subtle and mostly limited to the edge/rim. What I really DON'T like are plates that are colored. Red. Blue. Green. Whatever. Don't like that at all.

I'll toss out a place I really like for breakfast. Mon Ami Gabi at Paris. Sit out on the patio. It's great

David That is a pretty solid list of spots to eat in Las Vegas. I'll echo a lot of what you selected (like L'Atelier, Ping Pang Pong), disagree over your assessment about the beef at Carnevino, and then throw in a few of my own. Sensi at Bellagio (pity they aren't opened for lunch any more) and for an off-strip venture, Vintner Grill. (oh, and In-n-Out isn't exactly "next to" MGM Grand)

To me, "red and bitter" says Campari.

For cooking, I am a Diamond Crystal guy. For baking, I still use Morton's regular table salt in the round cardboard container.

I would be in for that. For sure.

I always like Martin Yan. I don't really cook Chinese, but his shows were always fun to watch. I like all his schtick. The cadence with the cleaver. The "It's no STARE fry it's STIR fry" line and dumbfounded look he would give. That always cracked me up every time. I know he is still around, but I haven't seen him regularly in years. I miss him. It's nice to hear all of these stories about him.

Interesting... Here in Alabama there's roughly equal space for both Heinz and Hunts. I grew up in an exclusively Heinz household so it definitely has that nostalgia thing going for it... and to me it tastes like, well, ballpark ketchup. When I've got a nice batch of home fries cooked with nothing more than beef fat and kosher salt, I much prefer the clean bright flavors of Hunts... it's ketchup... for adults. I'm just wondering if this is a regional thing or if it is just something about the particular store I went to. I was really surprised by what I saw. Obviously, the lone bottle was just a stocking issue. But even if it was fully stocked, it appeared they only carried one variety and size of Hunts. Several versions of Heinz. Regular. ORganic. Salt Free. Some sort of "spicy" one. And there were different sizes, too. I don't really want to hunt around for the Hunts. It's nice to go straight from the office to the apartment without stopping anyplace. But I really want to do this test. And I don't want to wait to long before I cook up some of the fries I bought last night.

I was in the grocery store today after work. Swung by the ketchup section to see what was the smallest bottle of each that I could buy. Saw all the Heinz. Lots of Heinz. Different varieties. Different sizes. Looked for the Hunts. And looked. Then saw the bottle. Yes. The ONE bottle. No, not one TYPE or SIZE of bottle. But really, one SINGLE bottle. It was very clear that Heinz was FAR more popular at this store. Even the store brand had more shelf space. If the bottle was actually smaller, I would have bought it. But it was 28 ounces. Twice the size of the smallest Heinz bottle. Really, I don't need much for this test. Heck, a hotel room service sized bottle would be enough. I did buy a bag of Ore-ida frozen french fries, though. I'll try to find a small bottle of Hunts at a different store.

If we are soliciting suggestions for work shops or demos or whatever, I would really like to see some sort of Sous Vide one. It doesn't even have to be a work shop, per se. It could just be someone preparing a course/dish for the grand feast. But it would be cool to do some sort of "side by side" testing between sous vide and conventional cooking of the same item.

I can pitch in with some basic cocktail equipment. Strainer, some mixing tins, small measuring cups, etc. I can easily fly with that stuff. I've done it before. )

Cool. I'm not super worried about transportation. The people flying in can figure it out. A reduced room rate would be cool, but like Hennes, I have a bunch of Marriott points, too

Ok..I looked at the website and it didn't seem to indicate it was in an airport hotel. Just gave a street address that I didn't bother looking up. I just wasn't sure if it was better to stay "downtown" or in one of the neighborhoods where we will be spending a lot of time cruising around. I just know from my rusty memory that the airport is out away from the downtown area (where GHT is) and also Treemont area. But as long as there are people willing to drive people around, that would be great. I know everyone has there own preferences for hotels. I am somewhat of a "marriott whore", though less of one these days now that I don't do business travel like I used to. I have some points with group Holiday Inn is part of too.

AMP 150 is at the Airport Marriott? Or did I miss some other post? Gotta think if I want to fly out there on a Thursday or fly out on Friday. I have plenty of vacation, so either works. Just gotta look at flights and hotels and see what makes sense. Speaking of hotels, any suggestion on a place that would be convenient? I've been to Cleveland a few times, but I didn't do any driving myself. Was driven around by a friend or took the transit and used my feet.

I know Las Vegas likes to change a lot and how it constantly re-invents itself. Steve Wynn is one guy that certainly has led the charge in the past. IMHO, it was for the better. Restaurants come and go, but it's sad when a true gem shuts down. I fully understand that these are very trying times for everyone out there. They have to make ends meet. Maybe the only way Wynn can do this is to cater to a crowd that won't go for a formal place like 'Alex'. David already detailed changes on the food and beverage scene at Wynn, but if you go to Las Vegas regularly and follow along with what is going on out at Wynn, you know about other changes. Encore added TWO club areas last lear. The "Beach Club" and another night club (Surrender). They want a different clientele. OK.. Fine. They can't keep a fancy formal place around for the folks that don't want to line up at XS or Surrender or pay a ton of money hang out in an ultra crowded pool all day long? That seems kinda odd to me. Caesars Palace can figure it out. So can MGM Grand. Honestly, I'm really surprised Wynn, of all places on the Strip, a place I considered to be the classiest place, can't figure it out. Or maybe worse, simply doesn't want to.

For vermouth, I buy it in the 375 ml. bottle. For spirits, I get the 750 ml for most items, and occasionally 375 for certain "specialty" ones if available. While a 1.5 liter bottle is more economical, the physical size presents a few issues for me. One is storage space. I can't store really big bottles in the space I have. For one, they are probably too tall to fit in the cabinet (some 750 ml bottles have this issue, too). The other issue with storage is that I can fit less different types of spirits in the same space if I used big bottles. Next, there is the handling issue. It can be pretty awkward to pour accurately one handed with them.

Anyone been to Franklin BBQ in Austin? Currently, its setup as a "food cart". I'm told by multiple people that this place is great. Really great. Maybe even the best anywhere. The Full Custom Gospel BBQ blog rates it 6 stars. It's the first and only place to achieve such a lofty score. http://austinfoodcarts.com/2009/11/30/franklin-barbecue/ http://fcg-bbq.blogspot.com/search/label/****** http://www.franklinbarbecue.com/ I'm heading back to Austin in early April. Will be checking it out. But by the time I get there, they will have relocated to a permanent restaurant space a little further south down I-35.