Virtual
Gourmet
HAPPY
EASTER!
❖❖❖ IN THIS ISSUE BIG D Throws a Texas-Sized Food and Wine Party By John Mariani NEW YORK CORNER All'Onda By John Mariani ❖❖❖ BIG D Throws a Texas-Sized Food and Wine Party By John Mariani Pegasus
at the Old Red Museum. Photo by John Mariani
After
decades of dismissing the idea of taking a
guided city tour, I have now come around to
believe that, with the proper guide, I can
learn a whole lot more in a shorter period of
time than if I did my own expeditions,
guidebook in hand, around a vast city like
Dallas.
. . . AND FOR SOME
‘CUE? I’ve
been heartbroken to see what’s become of Sonny
Bryan’s BBQ--once among America's best,
certainly once the greatest in Dallas.
Bought by a company that sought quick
expansion, not even the original Sonny’s on
Inwood Boulevard retains the no-frills goodness
it once had, and the other units should be
ashamed to call themselves Texas BBQ at all.
To my rescue come two places new to me: Off the Bone and Sammy’s, which are as good as Sonny’s ever was but go their own way too. Off the Bone (1734 S Lamar Street; 214-565-9551) is a small spot just outside of downtown where you order from a cramped counter then sit and salivate for a few moments before your lightly smoked brisket and ribs, prepared by owner Dwight Harvey (left), arrive. You can have the brisket chopped or sliced in generous proportions, and they go well with combo platters of smoked beef sausage and pulled pork onto which you shake the sauce. The baked beans and cole slaw are O.K., but I hadn't the appetite for triple chocolate pecan cake. Sammy’s (2126 Leonard Street; 214-880-9064), just behind the Federal Building, is my new favorite barbecue place, though. It's bigger than Off the Bone, more user friendly--you go up and get your own food and then sit down to big tables, affix your bib, shake your head wondering where to start, then dig in. Owner Marshall Prichard is likely to be around asking you how you like his food. The ribs are very good, very meaty and well-fatted, the sausage has a snap to it, and the chicken’s a diversion. Pop one of the fried okra in your mouth and you’ll pop ten more, fast. Aunt Glenda’s potato and cheese casserole is the soul of the South. But Sammy’s is like no other BBQ in town for the deep, rich, very juicy flavor of its beef brisket (right), which might be a dead ringer for the pastrami at Katz’s Deli in NYC. I was really amazed how delicious Sammy’s brisket was, and, though the place is known for his lean brisket, don’t even think of not ordering the fatty version. If you die that day, you’ll already have had a taste of paradise. The pecan pie, not tioo sweet, is a good way to end. Only problem is that Sammy’s is only open from 11 AM till 3 PM Monday through Saturday. They have one customer who comes every day Sammy’s is open, and I suspect he takes leftovers home for dinner. That borders on the fanatical, but it’s pretty rare to find ‘que this good anywhere.
A Report on Dallas' New Restaurants will be published in an upcoming issue of the Virtual Gourmet. ❖❖❖ NEW
YORK CORNER
By John Mariani All'Onda 22 East 13th Street 212-231-2236 http://allondanyc.com
When
the word was out that veteran restaurateur Chris
Cannon and Chef Chris Jaeckle were going to open a
Venetian-Japanese restaurant, not a few, including
myself, arched an eyebrow. Not because there
aren’t correlations between the seafood cookery of
Venice and that of Japan, but because fusion
cuisine, though more rife than ever, seems a tad
passé at a time when all the media hype is
being spilled on molecular and modernist
gimmickry.
Hours: Lunch Mon.-Fri. ; Dinner:
Sun.-Thur., 5:30-11 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 5:30
p.m.-midnight
❖❖❖ COLD CASE A French court ruled that cold poultry
constitutes a weapon, after a
35-year-old man launched a frozen chicken attach on his
girlfriend after showed up
at her house in Luxeuil-les-Bains while intoxicated. An
argument ensued and man
grabbed a frozen chicken from the
freezer and hit her with the bird. The assailant was
sentenced to 24 months in prison. The man had reportedly
been convicted of violence against the same woman twice
before. MAYBE NO ONE WILL NOTICE? Travel and Leisure Magazine listed 15 "Best New Restaurants" in its current issue, even though more than half have not yet opened. ❖❖❖
Any of John Mariani's
books below may be ordered from amazon.com.
❖❖❖
FEATURED
LINKS: I am happy to report
that the Virtual
Gourmet is linked to four excellent
travel sites: Everett Potter's Travel Report: I consider this the best and
savviest blog of its kind on the web. Potter is a
columnist for USA
Weekend, Diversion, Laptop and Luxury Spa Finder,
a contributing editor for Ski and a frequent contributor
to National
Geographic Traveler, ForbesTraveler.com
and Elle Decor.
"I’ve designed this site is for people who take
their travel seriously," says Potter. "For
travelers who want to learn about special places
but don’t necessarily want to pay through the nose for
the privilege of staying there. Because at the end
of the day, it’s not so much about five-star
places as five-star experiences." THIS WEEK:
Eating Las Vegas is the new on-line site for Virtual Gourmet contributor John A. Curtas., who since 1995 has been commenting on the Las Vegas food scene and reviewing restaurants for Nevada Public Radio. He is also the restaurant critic for KLAS TV, Channel 8 in Las Vegas, and his past reviews can be accessed at KNPR.org. Click on the logo below to go directly to his site.
Tennis Resorts Online: A Critical Guide to the World's Best Tennis Resorts and Tennis Camps, published by ROGER COX, who has spent more than two decades writing about tennis travel, including a 17-year stretch for Tennis magazine. He has also written for Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, New York Magazine, Travel & Leisure, Esquire, Money, USTA Magazine, Men's Journal, and The Robb Report. He has authored two books-The World's Best Tennis Vacations (Stephen Greene Press/Viking Penguin, 1990) and The Best Places to Stay in the Rockies (Houghton Mifflin, 1992 & 1994), and the Melbourne (Australia) chapter to the Wall Street Journal Business Guide to Cities of the Pacific Rim (Fodor's Travel Guides, 1991).
MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET
NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Editor/Publisher: John
Mariani.
Editor: Walter Bagley. Contributing Writers: Christopher Mariani,
Robert Mariani, John A.
Curtas, Edward Brivio, Mort Hochstein, Suzanne
Wright, and Brian Freedman. Contributing
Photographers: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery,
Bobby Pirillo. Technical Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.
© copyright John Mariani 2014 |