Back Talk Lakewood/East Dallas

Wanted: chicken cookers for the Kick’n Chick’n Drumstick Cook-Off

Just based on some recent research for a story, I know we have several talented chefs living in the neighborhood. If you’re one of them, and if you take a special interest in the art of preparing a chicken drumstick for optimum eating enjoyment, this is for you:

Chefs will compete on Labor Day, Sept. 1, for $1000 in cash prizes. The winner will be he/she who delivers the best grilled-chicken drumstick and/or the best fried-chicken drumstick.

The Kick’n Chick’n Drumstick Cook-Off is a fundraiser for the Deaf Action Center’s Teen Leadership Summits for Deaf & Hard of Hearing Girls and Boys. The registration fee is $50 per team and you must register no later than August 20. Download registration form on their web site. Chefs set up at 9 a.m. and the judging begins at 1 p.m.

Oh! And here's the best part for us non-professional wing lovers — the public is invited to sample the entries starting at 11 a.m. The tasting fee is a mere $5 donation. The contest will take place at Plano Legacy YMCA, 5101 Tennyson Pkwy, in Plano. Call the Deaf Action Center at (214) 521-0407 V/TTY for details on the event or email kicknchickn@deafactioncentertexas.org."

Restaurant review: An East Dallas overview

This one comes from neighbor Chas Barnard, who ran across this restaurant review site on del.icio.us. He and his wife live in Wilshire Heights and say they've tried many of the restaurants on this list, but blog author Chas Kemp (yes, same first name) who appears to be quite a Far East traveler, includes "a couple of real gems that we had never heard of," Barnard says.

Based on the website's suggestions, which thoroughly examine most if not all of the mom-and-pop or hole-in-the-wall type places in our neighborhood, the next place I'll try will be La Victoria at Haskell and Ross.

Starbucks: Our neighborhood's share of the company's closures

Two Starbucks stores along Greenville will soon be gone — the one in Old Town and the one adjacent to Gloria's. They are two of 600 company-owned stores across the United States and nine in Dallas slated to close. The closures will start next month and continue through the first half of 2009.

The other 16 in our neighborhood were spared, and the next closest closure is "NorthPark Mall II", which I'm assuming refers to the much roomier Starbucks tucked behind the AMC theater that receives much less foot traffic.

You can view the full list of closures in the PDF below, or see the soon-to-come metro area closures in the recent DMN story.

Download USStoreClosureInfo.pdf

Former Dallas Morning News man's movie delves into the faltering newspaper industry

I hear a lot of talk lately — I hate to admit more often and with a hint of satisfaction around circles of magazine and new media people — about the impending demise of the printed newspaper.

Back Talk's Jeff Siegel, on the contrary, has issued several thoughtful posts on this blog about plunging stock prices at Belo and McClatchy (companies that own The Dallas Morning News and Star Telegram, respectively) with a sense of concern. But that's because he is (in his own words) "an old newspaper guy" who gets it.

Dinner and a movie at the Magnolia and Social House

When you think "dinner and a movie", you tend to imagine them separately. More like, "dinner followed by a movie, with a long drive in between."

But starting July 18, Magnolia Theatre will be collaborating with Social House to create a dinner and a movie experience for its customers. The Social House, which is right across from the Magnolia, will be offering a $50 package that includes two entrees and desserts with two movie tickets for any film of your choice. (This dinner for two doesn't include alcoholic beverages or appetizers, but any entree or dessert can be chosen from the restaurant's usual menu.)

No end date is in sight, so you should be able to take advantage for a while. Of course, if you're looking for a dinner and dining experience, you could always hit Studio Movie Grill and even skip the walk from one venue to the next, but the Magnolia and Social House combo seems a little more appropriate if you're looking for a nice night on the town.

Neighborhood deals: Free tea samples at Teavana

I was at NorthPark Center this past weekend grabbing a bite to eat and wandering past all of the stores to walk off my meal with a couple of friends. By chance, a friend of mine decided to wander into Teavana (which translates to "a heaven of tea"), a tea shop right across from XXI Forever and next to a sunglass store.

It turns out that Teavana offers free samples of — what else? — tea. Iced, hot and even right out of the pot. From what its barista tells me, the store has free tea samples all the time, and they rotate the flavors every month. I sampled a warm chai tea — tasty!

The store itself is pretty swank with nice colors and aromas. Other than their assortment of teas, Teavana also sells exotic and oriental teapots and sets.

Wine review: 2006 Louis Latour Macon-Lugny Les Genievres

It's not often that one can find an $18 wine that will improve with age. These days, spend less than $30, and you'd better hurry up and drink it. It's as fruity and as interesting as it's going to get.

The Latour (about $18, available at Central Market), though, is a welcome exception. It’s white Burgundy, which means chardonnay, and since it’s Macon, it means it wasn't aged in oak.

This wine is perfectly acceptable now, and I drank it last weekend (with mushroom and artichoke crepes –- why are crepes so little appreciated?). It's still a little tight, with some spiciness typical of young white Burgundies. But let it sit for a year or two, and it will open up, becoming a fuller, richer, more complex wine. In fact, I’ll probably buy another bottle and let it sit for 12 months to see just what happens.

Technorati Tags: white wine,chardonnay,white Burgundy,Macon,Louis Latour

Tolbert's chili resurfaces at Whole Foods and in Grapevine

I'm showing my age here, but a brief in the DMN about X2 Chili being sold at Whole Foods Market made me recall the one-and-only, original Dallas chili-man: Frank X. Tolbert. Tolbert (who died in 1984) was a true bear of a man, tall and lanky and loud and funny and everything I imagined a Texan would be when I was growing up in Minnesota. And in case you didn't know, X2 is Frank's son, as well as an accomplished but eclectic artist, and X2 Chili is a frozen version of what the son cooked up for the father at the downtown Tolbert's Chili Parlor on Main across from El Centro, where those of us who worked at the Morning News back then spent many a lunch and, sometimes, dinner hour.

In fact, the first restaurant I remember eating at when I arrived in Dallas in 1978 was the Tolbert's across from the Melrose Hotel on Cedar Springs at Oak Lawn (there's a Walgreen's there now, and it was a Luby's before). Tolbert's super-serious chili was way too hot for my Yankee tastebuds back then, and that was before I met Frank X. his-own-self at the Morning News, where the guy pretty much had the run of the place. He occasionally wrote a history column, but he seemed to spend most of his time telling stories to youngsters like me when he wasn't holed up with Blackie Sherrod and/or John Anders (also rather elusive but personality-laden columnists at the News back then). Tolbert had a hand in starting up the Original Terlingua International Frank X. Tolbert - Wick Fowler Championship Chili Cookoff, and if you don't want to try the frozen variety, you can get a fresh batch of Tolbert's chili at the remaining Tolbert's in Grapevine, operated by Frank's daughter (and X2's sister) Kathleen.

And I guarantee you that if you click on all of the links in this blog post, you'll have added a mini-history of Dallas and Texas to your party repertoire.

You can win this car

DallasCrowd.com, a site launched six months ago by Dallasite Bruce Taylor, is giving away this sweet enviro-friendly KANDI CoCo on Christmas Eve — enter by logging on to DallasCrowd.com and signing up for their weekly newsletter. If you want a pre-drawing close encounter with this identifiable driving object, here are a few DallasCrowd.com-sponsored events at which it will make a special appearance:

Restaurant review: Kalachandji's

After hearing that Kalachandji's Restaurant and Palace was extending its lunch hours (serving Tuesday through Sunday from noon-3 p.m., with dinner hours from 5:30-9 p.m.), one of the other interns and I decided to go vegetarian … well, for lunch, anyway.

We were initially surprised when our trip took us to a huge Taj-Mahal-style building in the middle of a residential neighborhood (complete with domes and intricate Indian trim — it’s actually both a restaurant and a Hare Krishna temple), but once inside, we felt right at home. The dining area has seating both inside and outside, so after filling our plates, we grabbed a booth in the tree-shaded courtyard.