Dallas News Blog

​Maybe I'll get around to writing this for City of Ate: Why can't Dallas do a proper Hebrew deli? Sure -- it's a dying art and an endangered species. So says David Sax in his book Save the Deli; as NPR put it a few months back, he's on a mission to save the Jewish deli, close to a permanent shalom in the foresaken flyover. Which I mention this morning only because Roasters' N Toasters, the Preston Road outpost of the Miami mainstay, has served its last pastrami sandwich and bowl of matzo ball soup.

The Dallas location remains on the Web site, but Danny Kaplan, president of Roasters, tells Unfair Park from Miami this morning the deli closed two weeks ago: "It wasn't doing the kind of business we expected." Which makes this ... what, the third deli to shutter in that location at Preston and LBJ? (After Deli News Too and Ed's Deli.) "I'm disappointed," says Kaplan, who blames the deli's poor performance on management, his own mispacha. And, whatever you do, don't ask him about Zinsky's. Roasters didn't even make it a year.

I miss Walls. And Bagelsteins. Come back, Gilbert's. All is ... forgiven?

​An old friend stopped by Keller's Cactus Jack's on Lemmon Avenue and discovered that the longtime burger joint is closing this week; SaturdayFriday's the last day after 28 years, so stop on by and say hi or bye, says Jon Keller. After that, he's leasing the property to a California-based Carl's Jr. franchisee, who, if all goes according to plan, will begin an extreme burger-joint makeover on Monday in the hopes of getting the doors open in April.

Keller tells Unfair Park today he's been trying to lease the space for the last two years and has had some takers, but all the deals fell through. This time, it's different: One year ago Carl's Jr. announced its plans to open "at least 121 Carl's Jr. restaurants in Texas over the next 10 years," and earlier this month, CKE's CEO Andrew Puzder announced two franchisees who plan on scattering their patties throughout the Southeast and Central Texas, reaching as far as north as Waco.

The operator taking over the Cactus Jack's space appears to have more in the works up in this part of the state. I've left several messages for Carl's Jr. spokesperson Beth Mansfield to discuss.

Update at 3:19 p.m.: By the way, this isn't one of the RWJP Star Enterprises Carl's Jr. locations. Those guys do have a big piece of Texas (including some of Dallas and Houston), but RWJP, which is the one hoping to open 121 franchises in the next seven years, isn't in Dallas just yet.

RWJP's Ted Croft, a former Brinker exec in charge of their gift-card business, tells Unfair Park they're as close as Denton and are planning on Port Arthur and Longview next before hitting the DFW. Mansfield does confirm, though: The Lemmon Ave. spot is the first stand-alone store announced for Dallas, and she, for one, is delighted: "My brother-in-law in Grapevine has been hounding me for three years."

Mansfield says the Lemmon location is one of the Star Foods Investors Group locations -- Star Foods being a Los Angeles-based franchisee that announced one year ago that it's opening 32 Carl's Jr. locations in Dallas.

The Celebration farmers market, one of the smaller markets the city's considering regulating

​Just last month we mentioned the city's proposal for regulating neighborhood farmers markets -- another bright idea from what Jim likes to call the Municipal Ministry of Food Production. For those who need some catchin'-up, the city wants to make sure the smaller markets, like those at Celebration and at White Rock Local Market, "are complimentary to downtown farmers market." By which the city means limiting the number of markets ("No more than 10 neighborhood markets will be permitted each year"), establishing where they can be held (three miles from Dallas Farmers Market and three miles from each other) and when they can take place ("limited to 24 times per year [and] not to exceed 6 hours per occurrence").

That's for starters. You can read the all the proposed rules and regulations here.

Which is why, tonight at Celebration, organizers of some of the smaller Dallas farmers markets, and the vendors who sell their wares there, are gathering to discuss what to do next.

"We need to be better organized, to be more aware of what everyone else is doing -- to be connected," says Celebration's Leah Ferraro. "Hopefully we can share ideas and information. That's the No. 1 reason we decided to do it. But we decided it would be a good time to start a guild or organization. I've talked to Susan [Pollard] at the Texas Honeybee Guild about this, gosh, for at least a year, but this was a galvanizing force that pushed us to be better organized and get to know everyone out there. It feels so new in Dallas. It's not, but it feels so new, and I hate to see it stopped in its tracks."

​We called it almost one year ago to the day: Bob's Steak & Chop House will be the anchor eatery in the convention center hotel. No surprise there: After all, Omni, which will operate the hotel, owns a 50-percent steak (see what I did there?) in the chain, which is separate from the Lemmon Ave. original. Omni also has Bob's locations scattered at hotels elsewhere, including Fort Worth.

Omni spokesperson Caryn Kboudi says Bob's will be one of five restaurants within the hotel, which will also include a more casual space "that will be very much the essence of Dallas," a sports bar and spots in the lobby and by the pool. "That's all still work in progress and very much top of mind," she says.

But, sure, that's not the big news contained in Omni's release today, in which the Irving-based hotel chain announces the hotel's general manager: Ed Netzhammer, otherwise known as the regional veep responsible for getting the Omnis in Fort Worth and San Diego up and running. "He's very talented at opening hotels," Kboudi says. "The GM obviously leads the ship, so to speak -- everyone reports to him, from marketing to human resources. He's responsible for getting the hotel off the ground and into the sky." (Nice.)

The press release offers further hires, including the director of marketing, for those so interested. Sam?

​Jody Rikhilal's family has been selling its curry powders, herbs and masalas downtown for 18 years, and remained at Dallas Farmers Market during Shed No. 2's $3.2-million overhaul a few years ago. But they decided last week that they'd had enough of dealing with the city of Dallas to remain one more day. And so, on Sunday afternoon, the Kurry King abdicated its throne as the longest-operating Shed 2 tenant and high-tailed it to Garland, where, on December 1, the Kurry King opened shop in downtown.

"The city of Dallas wants to raise up the rents and force you to build out your space into something way too expensive for the area," Rikhilal tells Unfair Park this morning. "There's not enough traffic through that building, but they want you to build it out to whatever they feel like is their vision for the shed. They don't want to listen to anyone. We give them any ideas on what the shed needs or how it could be run properly, and they don't want to listen to you. We want to make it a better place for everyone -- not just Kurry King or Mawker Coffee, but the city of Dallas, everybody. But they don't want to listen to anything." Farmers market officials, of course, disagree.

At issue is a dealer permit agreement, which current vendors inside Shed No. 2 must sign by New Year's Day. The agreement says, among other things, that vendors are there solely on a month-to-month basis; that they need to build out their stalls with more permanent walls; and that the city can move the tenants with a 48-hour heads-up "for cause," in the words of Janel Leatherman, the market's adminstrator. Leatherman acknowledges that an earlier version of the agreement, received by Unfair Park yesterday and available here, did say that vendors could be moved "at any time and for any reason." But she says that language in Section 13 -- which one vendors calls "the dealbreaker" -- has since been changed.

Still, as far as some longstanding Shed No. 2 tenants are concerned, the agreement -- which raises tenants' rents between now and 2011, per this October 2008 vendor permit application -- leans too far in the city's favor while giving tenants few, if any, rights.

"Change is hard, and change is difficult," says Leatherman, who, earlier this month, told Unfair Park that she wants to have the shed completely filled by the end of 2010. "We're sad to see the Kurry King go. They were part of the process when the buidling was being designed, when I wasn't here. And the people who see the vision will end up becoming the winners in the long run."

​A week after discovering that Dallas Farmers Market's Shed No. 2 has one new tenant -- and, by the way, that Chicago-style deli's actually called the Old World Sausage Co., and it's scheduled to open at the end of this week -- Unfair Park brings news of another. And this one is no small build out: As you can see from the photo above, taken during my visit yesterday to pick up cookies, more or less the entire front half of the shed's been cleared out in the last couple of days to make room for Pecan Lodge Catering, which, by the time it opens in late January or early February, should take up 1,500 square feet in the front of the shed.

So says owner Justin Fourton, who, with wife Diane, has been operating the catering company out of Frisco for the last year, after ditching their gigs at Accenture in order to prepare "authentic Texas cuisine." The couple had spent the last couple of months looking in downtown Dallas and Deep Ellum for a permanent location and settled on Dallas Farmers Market. They've signed a three-year "recurring permit" with the city, which is in the process of reviewing Pecan Lodge's plans before allowing build out.

"We just happened by Farmers Market and saw the specialty foods shed, and it was perfect fit for our business," Fourton tells Unfair Park this morning. "We use fresh, local produce and Angus and organic beef, and it was an opportunity for us to be as close to our food source as possible with good traffic coming through on weekends. We felt it was the right place. [Farmers Market administrator] Janel [Leatherman] has been very helpful, as has the rest of the staff, and it's been a smooth process to get in."

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As one door reopens in Deep Ellum, another quietly shuts: Three weeks ago, Daddy Jack's Elm Street location turned out the lights for good, ending a long run in the former home of the Buffalo Club (anyone? anyone?). The Web site's dead; the phone's been disconnected. Which isn't to say the space will sit empty for long: Deep Ellum Foundation president Barry Annino tells Unfair Park this morning that over the last couple of weeks, "several" interested parties have been sniffing around the site, which should become a hot spot once the Green Room re-opens in January.

​In the end, anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to the bankruptcy of Bob's Steak & Chop House on Lemmon Avenue thought that the eatery would most likely wind up in the hands of Bob Sambol's former partner, Bill Lenox. He made no secret of his desire to buy the joint out of Chapter 11; he made keeping Sambol part of his bid; and in the fall, BSCH Management, owned by Lenox and Omni Hotels, set the minimum bid for Bob's when it went on the auction block. It wasn't till last month that another contender appeared: Del Frisco's, which offered $240,000 for the steak house before bidding was halted for various legal reasons.

But when bidding reopened last week, another party showed up -- something called Carryforward Enterprises, LLC, which, according to court documents, last week bought the debt Sambol owned to Frost National Bank. (Back in May, when Sambol's Silveroak Holdings filed for Chapter 11, that amount was $380,034.) When reached by Unfair Park this morning, Richard Grant, the attorney representing Carryforward, didn't want to say too much about the sale or his clients -- only that, yes, "there was an auction held yesterday, and we were the successful bidder." He took our info and said he'd pass along the number to his clients.

(Update: Thanks to the handful of Friends of Unfair Park who have passed along Carryforward's certificate of organization on file with the Texas Secretary of State, which lists ex-Zales exec Michael G. Shost as the initial registered agent.)

Sambol, when reached at the steakhouse moments ago, said he didn't want to name those behind Carryforward ("I'll let them make it public"). Matter of fact, he says, "I don't really know a whole lot about them," though two of the main men behind it are, he says, "good customers and good guys."

​There's a little more life in Dallas Farmers Market's Shed No. 2 these days; it's no longer just Mawker Coffee, the Kurry King, meat and cheese outta Greenville, soaps and jewelry and some "imported" tchotchkes. $3.2 million later, it's still a long way from being the "foodie's delight" promised by the city, but it's "trying its best despite the city," says one vendor while pointing out Rosey Ridge Farm's Mennonite-made breads and jams (praise the Lord, indeed) and the Texoma Winery product available for $1 per sampling.

But those and others are transient tenants selling product off folding tables; the city still has to figure out how to get vendors to sign agreements without locking them into choke-hold contracts. That said, you can't help but notice the latest vendor moving into the front of the shed -- the "Chicago style deli" at top, whose counter is under construction. (Dallas, apparently, has given up trying to do a decent New York-style deli and headed instead for Chicago.) This is as "permanent" as it gets, but we're short on details till Monday morning.

​May I suggest, at this late date, a sure-fire brussels sprouts recipe for those in need of a last-minute green thing on the table tomorrow? You will not regret it. Also: Balcones Baby Blue, which, far as I know, is the only made-in-Texas bourbon commercially available; guaranteed to get you through any family gathering. And, for those who'll spend the better part of tonight cooking and/or driving and/or drinking, a few musical selections: unreleased Band rehearsals (with horns!), the best Stones cover you've never heard, Centro-matic redoing something from Redo the Stacks, my favorite Michael McDonald song ever, some Bobby Patterson just because, a most delightful collection of punk classics all folked up (includes Lisa Loeb and the Bad Livers), the four-track master of Edie and the New Bos performing on Fry Street in 1987 and ... what's that, Greggo? Yes, Fry Street.

To all the Friends of Unfair Park, we hope yours is a most happy Thanksgiving. We love you all. Yes, even you. Back on Friday.

Kimberly Thorpe

If you haven't been to the Spaghetti Warehouse in a while, it looks exactly as it did the last time you were there.

​The Spaghetti Warehouse celebrated its 37th birthday on Wednesday with an all-day draft special and a Beatles cover band -- and, if you were born in 1972, a slice of cake was on the house. Granted, 37 isn't exactly a round number. And Wednesday isn't exactly the most happening of nights in the West End (where, come to think of it, 2009 isn't exactly the most happening of years). Still, the restaurant made the effort: balloons out front, special events on the menu. Come one, come all.

"I'm here for the anniversary party," we said at the door last night.

"You're looking at it," said a waitress. Behind her, a few families ate peacefully, while waitresses moved calmly between the tables refilling glasses of soda from a pitcher.

Upstairs, Glass Apple, a Beatles cover band, played to a small audience of diners; most had no idea it was the restaurant's anniversary. But rest assured: The restaurant has maintained its campy flavor -- though now it's almost like Disney World's Haunted House, as though the dark corners and old casino-style carpeting possess an anachronistic, stylistic flair.

The general manager, 49-year-old Kevin Walker, a lifelong local, was on hand, moving from table to table. He's been working for Spaghetti Warehouse for 10 years, but at the West End location for two.

"The biggest thing that hurt us was when the West End Marketplace closed down," Walker said during a break as he shared a booth with Unfair Park. "People thought the West End closed too. But obviously we're all alive and well down here."

​I've had today's date circled on my calendar since October 7: This was to be the day Bob's Steak & Chop House went on the auction block. And ever since this morning, when we got word that there was at least one heretofore unmentioned notable interested in taking Bob Sambol's Lemmon Avenue eatery at a deep discount, I've been trying to reach both Sambol and Robert Milbank, the Dallas attorney who took over as trustee after the U.S. Trustee deemed Sambol too conflicted to best represent the interest of his creditors. Several messages later, and no luck.

Finally, moments ago, I got hold of Sambol at the restaurant, and he says today's auction "was abruptly ended because of a lot of misunderstanding or clarification of terms." There are presently two bids on the table: one from BSCH Management, which is owned and operated by Bill Lenox (Sambol's partner back when he opened the Lemmon Ave. location in December 1994) and Omni Hotels Corporation; and one from Del Frisco's. The Del Frisco's bid of around $240,000 is slightly higher than BSCH's, but, according to Sambol, Milbank ended today's proceedings because of myriad questions over the bidding process. It's scheduled to resume on November 23.

Till then, Sambol says, "It's business as usual, and I am still at my restaurant, and I am looking forward to sticking around." Which may not be as simple as it sounds, because while Lenox's bid includes a caveat that will allow Sambol to remain at his namesake eatery, Del Frisco's does not.

"I am hoping that no matter what happens," Sambol says, "I get to keep running this restaurant."

​Dallas-based 7-Eleven's had a few proprietary wines on shelves for some time, among them Sonoma Crest and Thousand Oaks, but today comes word that the convenience store's actually in the private-label business thanks to a partnership with its Japanese sibling, Seven-Eleven Japan. And, whoa, Yosemite Road is quite the bargain: Says the press release, both the Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon will sell for $3.99 a bottle. Who needs a Trader Joe's, anyway?

"We prefer to think of it as value," says 7-Eleven spokesperson Carole Davidson, when Unfair Park said of the Napa Valley-produced product, "Wow, that sure is cheap." She also laughed. "But, yes, it is inexpensive. ... We do have a couple of proprietary labels, but they're a little higher-priced than this offering."

Like, what, $4.99?

"$9.99," Davidson says. "What's different this time is we've used our global scale, to the extent we're lauunching this in Japan today -- effectively, last night. We expect this to be in 15,000 outlets under the Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd. of Tokyo. We'll have it in 2,000 stores in the U.S.; the rest will be in Japan. They have department stores and supermarket chains where we expect the wine to be sold." She adds that the move into a private-label wine jibes with "aggressive" efforts over the last year to brand most everything edible in the joint with the 7-Eleven name.

The wine won't be available in the U.S. till next week. But expect a taste test on City of Ate sooner than that. Got that, FTC?

​So, no, Bob's Steak & Chop House on Lemmon Avenue didn't go on the auction block September 30, as we said would happen back in mid-August. Legal whatnot delayed the sale of Bob Sambol's bankrupt eatery. But yesterday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Harlin DeWayne Hale gave the okee-doke to go ahead with an auction on November 4, with the opening bid starting at the $215,000 now being offered up by BSCH Management, LLC. And, of course, longtime Friends of Unfair Park are well are that BSCH is owned and operated by Bill Lenox (Sambol's partner back when he opened the Lemmon Ave. location in December 1994) and Omni Hotels Corporation, with whom Lenox went 50-50 back in January.

After the jump is Hale's order allowing the sale to proceed. He also spells out how the auction will work: Interested parties have till close of business on November 2 to submit bids, and on November 4, interested parties will get together in attorney Robert Milbank's downtown office for The Big Sale. (Milbank, you'll recall, replaced Sambol as the Chapter 11 trustee, per the U.S. Trustee's wishes.) Six days later, all goes according to plan, Hale will make it final. I've left messages for Milbank and Doug Skierski, who's actually Milbank's legal rep during these proceedings. Maybe I should call Mike Modano too. And Norm Hitzges.

​Seems like forever ago that Plano-based Metromedia Restaurant Group shuttered Bennigan's and Steak & Ale -- but, nope, it was just July of last year. A few Bennigan's locations resurfaced shortly thereafter, when Richardson-based Bennigan's Franchising Company, LLC assumed the position and reopened 100 eateries, half out of the country. But now comes word that both Bennigan's and Steak and Ale (founded by the late, great Norman Brinker) may yet live on ... in your grocery store, per an agreement with Los Angeles-based Global Icons. And what's on the menu? You guessed it: "Among the signature dishes under consideration are Bennigan's Turkey O' Toole and Monte Cristo sandwiches and the Death by Chocolate dessert; or Steak & Ale's Kensington Club sandwich, the herb-roasted prime rib or Hawaiian chicken."

Patrick Michels

Former Cowboys cheerleader Terra Watson has moved her booming business down to Expo Park

​Former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Terra Watson spent the last 12 years designing and manufacturing pro-team dance and cheerleader uniforms -- including her former teammates' Christmas presents to Cowboys fans, which are still on Santa's to-do list. But business isn't boom-boom-booming the way it used to; one client, the Dallas Desperados, took a season-long time-out. Which is one of the reasons why Watson's moving from the sports arena to the ... breastaurant.

After all, they're all the rage in this busted economy; back in March, Nightline came to Arlington and found it so hard to choose between Hooters, Bone Daddy's and Twin Peaks. Watson counts the latter among her clients; also on the list is Cadillac Ranch, which doesn't have a local outpost.

"Why wear a T-shirt when you can wear something that is actually flattering to a woman?" Watson says, citing but one reason why she's designing the eateries' unis. "That's my goal with the breastaurants: I want that niche." So far, so good: This week she moved to a bigger studio space in Exposition Park.

​Courthouse News this morning draws our attention to the plight of Brwa Aziz, a dentist in Iraq for whom the mission has not been accomplished. Aziz, you see, enjoys sinking his teeth into North American fast food. He's already serving up smoothies, as a franchisee of Canada-based Juice Zone, and for the past year he's been trying to open up a Wings-Pizza-N-Things outlet in the third-largest city in Iraq. The Wings on Fire? That's the lip-smacking, tongue-scorching taste of freedom.

But in a lawsuit filed in Dallas County District Court, Aziz claims the Northwest Dallas-based fast-food chain -- founded by the man behind Pizza Inn way back when -- has taken a small fortune in franchise fees and purchase orders (close to $200,000) and refused to send him the start-up materials. Aziz also says he's spent more than $170,000 to prep the location that's costing him $7,000 in monthly rent (!) while he waits for the stuff to be sent from the warehouse. (Quick, someone get Troy Aikman on the phone! Wingstop to the rescue!) Aziz, incidentally, has a local lawyer: Sheldon Goldstein.

​Newspapers 'round the country are filled this morning with obituaries, such as this one from The Washington Post, mourning Norman Borlaug, who died Saturday at the age of 95 at his Dallas home. All the obituaries more or less read the same: father of the "Green Revolution," Nobel laureate, the man who saved hundreds of millions from starving to death. The man who fed the world.

But in 2002, former Dallas Observer food critic Mark Stuertz profiled Borlaug for this cover story, which chronicled Borlaug's battles with enviroactivists who damned his efforts as "a Western public relations stunt designed to fatten the agro-industrial complex, not feed the hungry." Why? Because he advocated using chemical fertilizers and genetic alterations. Far as they're concerned, it's organic or nothing.

What does Borlaug say to those who advocate such agricultural methods? "God bless you," he says. "Use all of the organic matter you want. But don't deceive the world into believing that we can feed 6.2 billion people with organic matter alone. If we tried to do this, we would plow up all of these marginal lands, cut down much of our forests, and much of that would be productive for just a few years. Without chemical fertilizer, forget it."

Mark won a James Beard Award for his piece, which is worth a revisit this morning.

​Since last we visited the bankruptcy case of Bob's Steak & Chop House on Lemmon Avenue, there have been a couple of notable developments -- among them, the appointment yesterday of Dallas attorney Robert Milbank Jr. to take over as the Chapter 11 trustee, replacing owner Bob Sambol per the U.S. Trustee's wishes. Which is hardly the headline. This, however, is: On Friday, attorney Mark Ralston, who's handling the bankruptcy for Sambol and his Silveroak Holdings, filed with the court documents outlining the reasons why BSCH Management, LLC -- which is owned and operated by the Lenox Restaurant Group, Ltd. and Omni Hotels Corporation -- should be the so-called "stalking-horse" bidder when Bob's goes up for auction. That will most likely take place on September 30.

"Lenox," of course, is Bill Lenox, Sambol's partner back when he opened the Lemmon Ave. location in December 1994. And should no one file an objection with the court by a September 18 scheduled hearing, Lenox becomes the lead bidder for Bob's at the auction. Meaning: If no one else wants the joint -- and interested parties have till 5 p.m. on September 28 to submit bids, along with documents that show they can foot the bill -- it'll go to Lenox and Omni, which bought a 50-percent stake in the brand name in January.

So, what's the starting price for a bite of Bob's? Says the term sheet, the gross purchase price begins at $150,000. Plus, the new owner will assume "administrative priority liabilities for employee wages and related taxes, alcohol and beverage taxes, sales taxes and Chapter 11 professional fees not to exceed the sum of $50,000." And, yes, one of the stipulations of the deal is that Bob stay with Bob's: "Purchaser desires that Robert J. Sambol remain involved in the management and operation of the restaurant after the closing of the transaction on terms and conditions that are acceptable to both parties." Sambol couldn't be reached this afternoon; no doubt we'll talk to him later today, however.

Much more after the jump, including the entirety of the filing.

​A couple of weeks back, we mentioned that the U.S. Trustee handling Bob's Steak & Chop House's Chapter 11 reorganization wanted Judge Harlin D. Hale to appoint a Chapter 11 trustee to replace owner Bob Sambol. Because, see, as far as Willliam Neary's concerned, Sambol -- operating here as Silveroak Holdings, Ltd. -- has far too many conflicts to best serve the "interests" of the myriad creditors to whom he owes money. Among the conflicts: Lee Thompson's gone-missing $300,000 investment in Bob's, which led to the criminal indictment by the Dallas County District Attorney's Office.

After the jump, you'll find Sambol attorney Mark Ralston's response to Neary's motion, which was filed on Tuesday. Ralston says, in essence, that Sambol had always been up front about the criminal case and, for now, it's nothing "more than [an] allegation of wrongdoing by Mr. Sambol." He also dismisses Neary's other concerns, including the possiblity of Sambol's selling out to former partner Bill Lenox. Writes Ralston, "The fact that a party formerly involved with Silveroak may be interested in acquiring Silveroak's business does not in and of itself mean that it is the best interests of creditors to appoint a chapter 11 trustee."

Now, back to the criminal case pending against Sambol. Because there is an update.

The first Whataburger in Corpus Christi

​Right -- this should probably be over on City of Ate, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to make this inexplicable (on my part) Esquire subscription count for something, so here goes. For the September issue, which just landed in the mailbox, editors asked chefs (and TV-show hosts) from 'round the country what their favorite fast food is, and the winner is ... In-N-Out Burger, which, last we checked, is "evaluating" the Dallas market, but no promises. No less than Alton Brown and Thomas Keller and Charlie Palmer said it's the bestest.

But locals figure into the "honorable mentions" category: Stephan Pyles, Esky's chef of '06, likes him some Taco Cabana, while Dean Fearing name-checks Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse. Tim Love, on the other hand, says, "What a burger." Is it lunch yet?

Julie Powell

​Word is the Dallas Museum of Art still has overflow-simulcast tickets left for tonight's appearance by Julie Powell, the former blogger-turned-book author whose moniker makes up one half of the movie title Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as the Austin native who spent a year cooking her way through Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. My review of Nora Ephron's adaptation of both Powell's book and Child's sparkling memoir My Life in France will appear in next week's paper version of Unfair Park, as the movie opens August 7.

But Powell's in town today -- hey, look, she had tacos for lunch -- and about an hour ago we sat down at her hotel to talk about having one's life story merged, at times rather uncomfortably, with that of a cultural icon who taught the world to cook and taught a self-proclaimed government drone "what it takes to find your way in the world," as Powell writes in the book. Below is our interview, fresh out of the oven. And for those playing along at home, you can still find her blog -- The Julie/Julia Project -- resting comfortably right here.

The original Vern's Place

 A Friend of Unfair Park sends the bad news:

I went to Vern's in Deep Ellum for lunch today and found it closed!  No more home cooking.  The hand-lettered sign said they're out of business.

A Deep Ellum landlord who just went by the place confirms it, and the owner of a nearby restaurant says yes, sadly, it closed Tuesday, matter of fact. The venerable, beloved palace of soul food formerly known as Vern's Place had recently moved to Deep Ellum, and word from several quite-full Friends was that the home cooking was as good as it had ever been. (The original spot was an old favorite of mine, given its proximity to my father's auto parts store in Fair Park.)  But Deep Ellum business owners to whom Unfair Park spoke this evening said business hadn't been good, despite the recent offering of a $5 lunch special till the end of the month, and rumors abounded that the place was about to close. The phone number there no longer works.

Far as I can tell, there are no 99 Ranch Market groceries in Texas -- most are way out west, in California, Washington and Nevada (with the stray site in Atlanta). To the relatively short list, add Plano: GlobeSt.com reports this morning that the 25-year-old Asian grocery store chain will take over 60,000-plus square feet at Spring Creek Parkway and N. Central Expressway -- site of a former Albertson's, matter of fact, acquired two years ago by Centennial Real Estate Co. LLC and Westmount Realty Capital LLC during The Great Grocery Site Sell-Off of '07.

No word on when the store will open, and there are 45,000 square feet in the shopping center left to develop -- should be easier with a new anchor, sure. And, yes, seems that people do love this place; like, really love it. Mmmm, bakery: "Fast and convenient for these modern days." Wonder how Asia World Market, Saigon Taiepei and H-Mart feel about this.

It's been almost two months since Silveroak Holdings, Ltd. -- better known as Bob's Steak & Chop House -- filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas; on this otherwise slow news morning, well, it seemed like a good time to check in. Which, as you'll see from the doc below, is putting it rather mildly: On Tuesday, the U.S. Trustee in charge of the case, William Neary, filed papers asking Judge Harlin D. Hale to appoint a Chapter 11 trustee to replace owner Bob Sambol, who Neary thinks has far too many conflicts to adequately and appropriately serve the "interests of creditors."

Among the issues: the $300,000 Lee Thompson loaned Sambol for the cigar bar, which never happened and instead led to a criminal indictment against Sambol; and the increasing likelihood that Bob's on Lemmon Avenue will be sold -- perhaps to Bill Lenox, Sambol's former partner and the president of Bob's Steak & Chop House, the franchising entity that recently sold a 50-percent stake to Omni Hotels. Lenox, according to the filing, has been providing the original Lemmon location with money during the bankruptcy proceedings, and Neary considers a possible Lenox acquisition a conflict of interest: "Lenox has indicated that it will participate in bidding on the Debtor. As Sambol and Lenox have a lengthy history, it is likely that Sambol will negotiate a position for himself when the Debtor is sold." Neary believes the creditors would be better served by someone without ties to Sambol buying Bob's.

Concerning the missing $300,000, Neary is particularly concerned. He writes, "At a minimum, an inability to explain the disposition of a $300,000 investment is 'incompetence' or 'gross mismanagement.' Combined with the indictment, questions of fraud and dishonesty arise." Hale should have a decision by August 10, the next scheduled hearing. I've been unable to reach Sambol this morning and will update when we talk. Till then, the filing follows after the jump.

Update at 2:30 p.m.: Several Friends of Unfair Park have also directed our attention to the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission's delinquent list, where Bob's makes an appearance. Notes the site, "No sales or deliveries may be made on or after the effective date below," which is July 8.

Houston Press

Just two months ago, Jennifer Miller, the spokesperson for Colorado-based Smashburger, told Unfair Park that the chain's anticipated expansion into Dallas, announced 'bout a year ago, didn't happen for one simple reason: "In Dallas, we're just waiting for the right partner at this point." Looks like they found one: Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Leonard Davis's BIGG Capital Holdings, LLC has signed a 30-unit deal with the Denver-based chain to open joints "in the Dallas area," with no further details offered in the press release save for the fact that Davis will own the burgerias, but Smashburger will be responsible for the day-to-day operations.

Says Davis in the press release, "I've had great success in the NFL, and my career with the Cowboys continues to drive me. But I wanted a business opportunity that made sense with my life after football. Smashburger has all the right things in place to be a huge success in Dallas and nationwide. They have a great management team and a compelling concept, and the burgers are hands down the best I've had."

Kimberly Thorpe

By late Thursday, set-up was nearly completed for this weekend's annual Taste of Dallas Festival in the West End. So be warned: Ross Avenue (past Lamar Street) is already blocked off and will not be reopened until Monday. There are plenty of small parking lots in the area; however, DART may be the smartest way to arrive.

What to expect? Mostly the same as last year, except there will be NBC5's "DFW's Got Talent" contest. Get there at 3 p.m. today and Saturday to perform before judges. Finalists move on to the next round on Sunday and compete to win $5,000. And Jason Kidd will make a cameo during the NBA and Sprite's Slam Dunk Showdown.

Patrick Michels

The decor recalls great moments in Texas music history. Also, that time Kelly Clarkson sang at a Cowboys game.

It happened yet again. Late last week, a Friend of Unfair Park in the retail real-estate business heard that California-based In-N-Out Burger was "finally coming to Dallas." It was 'round this time last year that D's Nancy Nichols heard the same thing via a commenter on SideDish. Wasn't the first time someone engaged in a little wishful blogging; won't be the last.

But, no. Ain't happening. At least, not at this moment. Which isn't to say it the Irvine-based burgeria with locations in California, Utah, Nevada and Arizona won't make a move into the Dallas market at some point, just not any time soon. Still, Carl Van Fleet, vice president of planning and development for In-N-Out, knows precisely why these rumors keep cropping up every year or so.

"We are evaluating as part of our long-term growth planning a variety of markets, including Dallas, and part of that evaluation involves investigating sites," he tells Unfair Park. "We've been doing that, but no deals have been signed. We continue to look at and evaluate a variety of markets, but by no means are we coming there imminently. Just doing our long-term growth planning and evaluating ... and investigating some sites in the process. Again, nothing happening beyond that at this stage."

And now, about that Walt Disney development in Frisco ... or, perhaps, not.

Haven't seen much work being done in the former Baby Gap in Preston Royal Shopping Center, where, back in November, the missus espied a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission private-club permit application hanging in the window for something called Taco Mundo. But on the occasion of tonight's official opening of Carolina's Mexican Cuisine on Rosemeade Parkway -- the first of Mi Cocina co-founder Carolina Galvan-Rodriguez's latest offerings -- it seemed like a good time to find out  when the joint's opening. Turns out, very soon.

Says publicist Sharon Adams via e-mail, "Taco Mundo is opening July at Preston Royal. We have a tentative date of the 14th. The event will benefit Heroes for Children." She also forwarded along a sneak preview of what to expect when it opens. It's after the jump.