[slewfoot]

I did consider a comma. But I was afraid of being taken for a Twinwillow imposter.

He does love his commas.

[slewfoot]

Oh.
kindofabigdeal....

Thats GOOD!

[luniz]

slewfoot said:

Oh.
kindofabigdeal....

Thats GOOD!

indeed...all the more brutal for the subtlety if you can even call it that. remind me to stay on his good side...

[Scott]

Seems like Hanna Raskin sees food as a component of culture (rather than fashion). I'm hoping that tendency, combined with her MA in American History, will translate into some interesting, substantive feature work.

Scott

[Kirk]

Raskin has definitely elevated the quality of food discourse in this town. And with hardly ever tossing an unnecessary French phrase, or referring to the multiple books she has written, in the process.

[Scott]

Raskin's first unabashedly negative review in Dallas is on the stands. Nicely done.

Scott

[Kirk]

Very nice.

[DonnieC]

And she is spot on. Awful awful food. And did I mention the extreme noise level? The bar is right in the middle of the space so there is no escape.
They need to scrap the menu and just go to bar food. No one is going to go there for serious eats (at least more than once!).

[FatCap]

I'm trying to figure out how kitchen execution could have been so uneven as to draw Raskin's "unabashedly negative" review as well as Donnie's (and others') comment. I've eaten at TCT four times, for serious eats--not Lola serious, but certainly serious for a beer pub. I rated the food as good to very good the first three times. The fourth time was a late Monday night visit with another Dallasfood.org frequent poster--we wanted to compare the buffalo meatballs with the meatballs we'd had earlier that evening at another, more "serious" place also frequented by the Park Sillies crowd. That time, what came out wasn't as successful (but was still easily, imo, on par with those from earlier that evening). Service was earnest but rather uneven.

Good critic or no--I do quite enjoy Raskin's writing style and approach--I'm going to differ in opinion on this one.

As for the bar being in the center of the restaurant, to me that's a plus. It's a beer pub.

[DonnieC]

FatCap said:

It's a beer pub.

I guess it is but why try for the big menu then?
As Hanna states, the beer crowd didn't seem to mind the food, so why bother to attract diners.
Seriously, my food was embarrassingly bad. I didn't just not like it, I sent it back. It really was inedible.
It was one of those times when you look down at your plate and say, wow, this is much worse than I would ever do at home, this looks like summer camp food.
The last time I felt the same way was on my visit to Hully & Mo's. 3 stars, my rear.
So, fair to say, TCT is a bit uneven.
They really do need to skip the CFS, et al. Keep it simple.

[Scott]

FatCap said:

I do quite enjoy Raskin's writing style and approach

Speaking of....


(I had to click on the company's web page just to make sure those graphics were legit.)

Scott

PS For anyone here who's never taken a bite of turrón with Plodia interpunctella-infested almonds, I have some leftovers. (Still rinsing.)

[luniz]

luniz said:

And now he's leaving. Does it make me sexist to say I hope they don't replace him with a chick?

I officially retract this position.

[FatCap]

luniz said:

I officially retract this position.

See bottom 2 diagrams above.

[Scott]

According to Teresa "Another Day, Another Break" Gubbins, ex-Observer reviewers Mark Stuertz and Dave Faries will soon be launching an online restaurant guide (with contributions from the prolific Steven Doyle (aka DallasDude) and Brad Cameron of Dallas Vegan). Estimated arrival in early October.

Scott

[Scott]

TG updated her report to note the expected launch date of October 18.

Link to the Critic's Guide site.
Link to the Critic's Guide Facebook page (promising a Stuertz review of Stephan Pyles's "Fuego" next Monday).
Link to the Critic's Guide Twitter page.

Scott

[Scott]

TG updated her report to note the revised launch date of October 25 (with Faries's explanations for the delay).

Scott

[Scott]

Earlier this week on Pegasus News, TG announced that ex-Critics Guide contributor Steven Doyle has launched a new restaurant and entertainment site called CraveDFW.

Tangentially, there's also a new (to me) taco blog in town called Taco Sense.

Scott

[Kirk]

Scott, on 03 March 2011 - 07:59 PM, said:

Earlier this week on Pegasus News, TG announced that ex-Critics Guide contributor Steven Doyle has launched a new restaurant and entertainment site called CraveDFW.

Tangentially, there's also a new (to me) taco blog in town called Taco Sense.

Scott

Don't forget CraveDFW's secondary focus on the art gallery scene. Per TG's article: "'I've been to galleries and it seems like art is an under-served market as far as writing goes,' Doyle said."

[Scott]

Nine months on the job and now Raskin is leaving Dallas. Our loss.

Scott

[Kirk]

Scott, on 16 March 2011 - 10:44 AM, said:

Nine months on the job and now Raskin is leaving Dallas. Our loss.

Scott

Definitely a loss for Dallas.