blogfromafar

From a Dallasite’s perspective, we live unimaginably North of Town. North of Northwest Highway, of LBJ Expressway, even of Highway 121 (only Highway 380 serves as a northern border of our McKinney outpost). We are not privy to the cornucopia of delights and choices that our more urban friends take for granted. BUT! We have discovered Babe’s Chicken Dinner House in Frisco.

Owned by the same good folks that bring us Bubba’s just off Snider Plaza, Babe’s is an almost-all-you-can-eat establishment in Frisco near the Pizza Hut Park Stadium. Now, I’m no fan of the “trough”: (more…)

On this year’s trip to San Francisco for the Winter Fancy Food Show we sampled two cuisines and three restaurants, and slept in the exit row. Here’s what happened.

First, dining at Incanto, with dishes created by Chef Chris Cosentino of Iron Chef fame (pictured above with Gary), is a cerebral experience. You can’t just settle down and “mangia”; you have to ponder what you’re eating. Chef Chris says his cuisine is from the “…part of Italy that is called California”. He embraces using all of the animal in his cuisine. The titles on the menu point directly to parts, which may be a little disconcerting to those of us who, if we really thought about it, might be vegetarians. On the Sunday night that we appeared there, San Franciscans were out in force. Our appetizers were on the edgy side, then we settled down into a more comforting layer of food for our entrees. (more…)

Yesterday’s post from Zihuatanejo began with coconut tree maintenance and ended with an admonishment to try the local fare and avoid the TexMex trap while in Mexico. Well! Let it be said that, while the right idea and adventurous, it doesn’t always end satisfactorily from the taste bud’s perspective.

Yesterday I saw coconuts gathered by the bar at the hotel, and visited with some locals on the beach who were eating them out of split shells with hot sauce and lime. (more…)

Somebody had to do it! Because my nephew had the prescience to schedule his wedding during a week of bitter cold in Dallas, I’m sitting on my balcony at The Tides in Zihuatanejo sipping coffee and listening to the undulating sea punctuated by the rhythnic clop-clop of coconut tree maintenance nearby.

So – because I know you’d rather be reading this than going outside, here’s what I’ve learned about Mexican cuisine since arriving yesterday. One word: Molcajete! (more…)