Freetail Brewing

Financing a brewery, either in part or whole, through crowd funding campaigns like Kickstarter is a fascinating phenomenon. Old-fashioned lengthy business plans with amortization charts, projections and risk assessments are buried at the bottom of the recycling bin, or better yet, under a box of hipster-cut, 100-percent organic cotton T-shirts that have been ordered for the top 25 investors. Swag has so much more appeal than Excel spreadsheets.

There are more layers to this either ingenious or disastrous new financing theory than layers of spilled beer on a brewery floor.

Just recently in the Dallas-area, several new breweries have launched successful Kickstarter campaigns. The Bishop Cidery Co. asked for $10,000 and got $20,000. Rabbit Hole Brewing out of Justin raised more than $13,000 in April. Social Brewing in Fort Worth had 117 backers pledge $15,000 in March. Dead Cowboy out of Royce City just launched a campaign today for $38,000.

More »

Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream ... but was it local cream? And did the cows eat organic grass? And who owns the dairy? Tell us, mice. People have questions about their food these days.

Recently I spotted a Texas butter called Falfurrias at the grocery store. The yellow package proclaims that it's "A Texas Tradition Since 1909" with a large GoTexan label. The back of the box tells a story of the Falfurrias Creamery that began in 1909 in the town of Falfurrias, in far South Texas.

My Texas heart did a two-step. I love all things Texas, especially supporting small family-run operations. I thought, "I will buy this butter, and we will make happy cookies."

More »

LDD

Hey, fellas, we're gonna need to see your tickets or you have to move it.

Last year I penned an ode about tailgating on Opening Day at the Ballpark in Arlington. We didn't have tickets to the game, so tailgating was as close as we could get. Minus the unexpected fly over by the loudest machines on planet Earth, it was amazing.

Well, yeah, don't do that this year.

See also:
- Eight Patios Well-Suited to Watching the Game

The Texas Rangers have announced that only cars with ticketed passengers will be allowed in the lots for the first home game of the year. Apparently many of ticket holders got really upset when they arrived at Opening Day last year an hour before game-time and had to park a mile away.

More »

Lorena Garcia's creation, sliced "fancy style" with a plastic fork

It appears Taco Bell has a bit of an identity crisis these days. They are trying to turn our eyes into slot machine wheels by making tacos out of Doritos shells, then having the gall to dare Doritos to make an Inception-inspired chip that tastes like a taco that tastes like a chip. At the same time, they are pulling the Kansas City Shuffle on us by enlisting "celebrity" chef Lorena Garcia to push the ever-evolving Cantina Bell menu. According to Taco Bell's translation, the term "cantina" means "cheap Chipotle rip-off" and Garcia is simply the face to try to make the food seem original and authentic. The term "cantina" actually refers to a bar, so either way you slice it the application of the word doesn't really play.

More »

If you watched tonight's The Taste, featuring Dallas' own Uno Immanivong, then you know that -- spoiler alert -- she was eliminated.

If you didn't catch the episode, you missed some testicle pokes and quite a bit of drinking. You missed oxtail (my favorite of all the offals) and pig's blood. You missed Anthony Bourdain wielding a vibrating reciprocating saw. You missed some heavy foreshadowing by Immanivong herself. And you likely missed a good, old-fashioned scream of "WHAAAAA!?!?" after the judges eliminated Uno for her fish dumplings with crispy shrimp head, which was apparently not offal enough for the judges. But the beef cheek prepared by another contestant was? W.T.F? How in the world is beef cheek more "offal" than fish and shrimp heads?! The world may never know.

Anyway, in the wake of "the most controversial elimination of the entire show" I secured an exclusive interview with Immanivong, just before her watch party at Sunset Lounge. Here's what she had to say.

More »

Somewhere deep in the forest, a napkin tree quivers.

In the never-ending race to kick the fast food scene up infinite notches, Jack in the Box recently debuted their Hot Mess Burger ($3.99). Before we get a fingertip into this thing, let's put this out there. In Dallas, there is one true Hot Mess. It's at Pecan Lodge. It's a sweet potato baked and loaded with barbacoa and triumph, and it is awesome. Try it. Well, read the rest of this post about a different Hot Mess and then go try the one at Pecan Lodge.

Jack in the Box's take starts with a burger and that's where the "ordinary" ends. The burger is "seasoned while it cooks," which to me always invokes an image of a hurried cook discharging a plume of pepper on the patty right before flipping it off the griddle. The burger is then topped with onion rings, pickled jalapeños, pepperjack sauce and mayo, then bound together by two toasted pieces of sourdough. If you were to power rank the fast food bread options, I'd venture to say that Jack's sourdough would be near the top, with bristling competition from any joint that uses Texas toast.

More »

Even in reality TV-obsessed Texas, where there are more shows filmed about drunks, housewives, pint-sized beauty queens, gays, bling, dance moms and cowboys than you can count, odds are you won't score a cameo in one. Still, the more I hear about new Trinity Groves concept Kitchen LTO, the more it sounds like a reality TV show, part Top Chef, part Design Star and part American Idol. But this show will be one you can visit the set of live, over and over, for a front row seat to watch the shit go down.

Well, I sat down with concept creator Casie Caldwell (of Greenz Salads), and she told me the whole story about Kitchen LTO's birth at Trinity Groves, the new restaurant, retail, arts and entertainment start-up incubator at the foot of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. It's a good one.

More »

LDD

A bowl of fresh salsa. Pow!

Flipping through an issue of Rachel Ray's EveryDay at the checkout stand a few weeks ago, I was lured in by a picture of an entirely edible peanut butter bowl, which was a bowl made of one huge Rice Krispies treat, covered in chocolate, then loaded with a peanut butter cream. Crazy, right? Honestly, it didn't even sound good, it was just the pure audacity of it. So, I bought the issue just for that recipe and anxiously awaited our annual puppy bowl party back at the house.

Prior to that bowl of regret, which I'll get to soon, I grilled tomatoes, onions, jalapeños and garlic, tossed in a little olive oil and cooked the vegetables to a slight char. After the vegetables cooled a bit, I whirled them in a food processor with the juice of one lime, a handful of cilantro and a teaspoon or so of salt. (I'm telling you this is to save face. Because if you thought the bowl of regret was all I cooked, you'd probably think unkindly of me.)

More »

Long story short, there's this show on ABC called The Taste. It's just like the show The Voice only instead of blindly listening to contestants sing, judges on The Taste blindly taste contestants' cooking. Seriously, that's like the only difference. Oh, and instead of three famous dudes and a busty chick, it has ... well, pretty much the same thing.

ABC.com

Anyway, there's a former mortgage broker from Dallas who has made it onto one of the judges' teams (that of one Mr. Anthony Bourdain, to be specific), and her name is Uno Immanivong. And why should you care? Because 1) Ms. Immanivong (pronounced "em-man-eye-vong") said the judges would "orgasm" when they tasted her food, and 2) she has plans to open up a Latin-Asian fusion restaurant called Chino right here in town. I had the opportunity to ask her a few questions over the weekend, and here's what she had to say.

More »

Max's Wine Dive, Austin. Via Eater Austin

Artist: Tra' Slaughter

Last week Eater Austin's (and ex Dallas-ite) Andrea Grimes reported that a huge painting of Johnny Cash was stolen out of Max's Wine Dive on San Jacinto Boulevard in Austin. The piece was commissioned to Tra' Slaughter of Houston and this large mural was supposed to spend some time at each Max around the state, including Houston and Dallas.

"Someone had sticky fingers at Max's Wine Dive last week, and it wasn't a result of the signature fried chicken: the downtown restaurant's favorite piece of Johnny Cash art, has gone missing."

More »