The Texas Wine Journal is proud to present Texas Wine Talk & Tasting, a Texas vs. The World® roadshow. Join us for an interactive and educational tasting and talk followed by a mixer with Texas wine producers, the Journal and other Lone Star wine lovers.
If Texas and wine hold equal parts of your heart, you’ll love this intimate tasting event. Experience a blind tasting of four Texas Wine Journal top-rated wines up against four world wines along with a talk about the regions, grapes and people moving Texas wine forward. DATES Wednesday, August 9th and Wednesday, November 8th - both at 7:00 pm. LOCATIONWhole Foods Market (Park Lane) 8190 Park Lane North #351 Dallas, TX 75231 Don't miss out! Tickets are $25 and ONLY 25 tickets are available per event. Get yours before they're gone - 100% of the proceeds benefits the mission of the Texas Wine Journal. FOR TICKETS CLICK HERE *Must be 21 to attend. Wines subject to change based on availability. Sorry, no refunds. **Wine will be made available for sale during the mixer by the bottle and glass. You do not have to have purchased a ticket to the Talk & Tasting to attend the mixer.
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![]() Residents urged to enter Water-Wise Landscape Tour Dallas Water Utilities is now accepting entries for inclusion in the 2017 tour The 23rd annual Water-Wise Landscape Tour (October 14) is open to all landscapes of Dallas Water Utilities customers. The Water-Wise Landscape Tour is co-sponsored by City of Dallas Water Utilities and the Dallas County Master Gardener Association, Inc. • The tour will feature landscapes (back yard landscapes may be included at the discretion of the homeowner). • A Dallas County Master Gardener volunteer will assist on tour day. Demonstration gardens and commercial landscapes will not be eligible for prizes or volunteers on tour day. • All entrants must agree that their landscapes may be photographed for publicity and educational purposes. • All winners must agree to be present to answer visitor questions from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on tour day. Judging Criteria • Design Aesthetic appeal; composition; use of color and plant variety • Water Conservation Efficient irrigation/water use; use of non-vegetative materials such as fences, walls, walks, etc.; use of native or adapted plants; reduced turf area; and use of mulches • Appropriate Maintenance Landscape tidy - healthy, disease and pest free plants; no weeds; plants pruned as appropriate Entry Deadline August 18, 2017. Entries will be judged in late August. The public tour of landscapes will be held on Saturday, October 14, 2017. Submitting Call for Entries Click here to complete the online Call for Entry form, including uploading a minimum of 3 current photographs (including at least one overall view) of your landscape. You can also click here to download a PDF of the Call for Entries form, filling it out and sending a minimum of 3 current photographs (including at least one overall view of your landscape) by mail or fax to: City of Dallas Water-Wise Landscape Tour 1500 Marilla Street, Room 2AN Dallas, TX 75201 Fax: (214) 670-5244 Questions? Call (214) 670-3155 or e-mail: [email protected] The priceless space on Knox Avenue that was once the Chili's makes way for a promising new restaurant from an inspired restaurateur and two rock star chefs. Called Up on Knox, it's from Stephan Courseau, owner of Le Bilboquet, and the chefs are Dennis Kelley and Melody Bishop, the husband-wife duo who previously ran the kitchen at Lark on the Park.
All three will be dedicated to creating a low-key but excellent restaurant, what Courseau calls an American brasserie, that will serve the neighborhood plus any diner seeking a certain California je ne sais quoi, which makes sense since Kelley and Bishop moved here from California and Courseau is French. Is it tedious when people explain jokes? After four years with Le Bilboquet, which has become a top destination for Park Cities diners and lady gatherings, Courseau has learned about and evolved with the neighborhood. "I won't say it was easy, but Le Bilboquet has become the neighborhood restaurant I always envisioned," he says. "I've also become a local, as well. I live four blocks away. When I heard the Chili's space was available, I wanted to stay in the same neighborhood. I'm a hands-on guy. Being a few blocks away means that, 45 minutes after I have dinner, I'm at the restaurant. I'm happy that I get to stay a local guy." "American brasserie" is his attempt to describe what is really just going to be a nice place to eat. "Nowadays, everyone tells you about their concept. I don't have a concept," he says. "I do and I don't. My concept is to try to open nice restaurants where people can have great food, atmosphere, and hospitality. If we need to label it, because we have a French restaurant a block away, we'll call it an American brasserie, a smaller scale of the brasserie, with high ceilings and brass elements in the décor." Up on Knox will be open seven days a week, beginning with lunch and dinner, and eventually breakfast, too. The targeted opening date is September. The menu is still in development, but one thing it will have for sure is an oyster bar. "But at the end of day, the cuisine is not going to be French," he says. "There might be some French techniques, but I want it to be much more expansive. Our idea is to not only be sustainable with local ingredients but also to be able to incorporate any type of influences the chefs think they should incorporate." Kelley was recently laid off from Lark on the Park, an unfortunate turn of events that turned out to be fortunate, as he, Bishop, and Courseau represent like-minded souls. "I always thought they were talented and they embody the perfect approach with a California take on 'local' and also lighter, with not putting 10 things on the plate," Courseau says. "They're such nice people. I worked for Jean-Georges [Vongerichten] and Daniel Boulud, and you find with geniuses they are often gentle people. When I met Dennis, that's what I felt like — he’s a normal guy who wants to create great food, produce proteins, keep it local, and emphasize the hospitality, working together with the people running the front of the house." Bishop is from Dallas originally, and the couple wanted to find an opportunity to stay. "With all these concept restaurants, there aren't that many opportunities for people like them, and part of my mission was to keep someone so talented and passionate here," Courseau says. "It's wonderful to meet two other people who want to keep making great food, that's what it's about in the end." Article Courtesy of Culture Map Personalized learning campus wins Golden PSI Award for social-emotional learning techniques6/20/2017 Dan D. Rogers Elementary School, a personalized learning campus in the Dallas Independent School District (Dallas ISD), has been named the 2017 winner of the Golden Psi Award by the Board of Educational Affairs of the American Psychological Association (APA).
“The committee was most impressed by Rogers’ attention to promoting a positive social environment – mindfulness, social skill development and good decision making – all of which supports child and academic development,” said Tammy Hughes, chair of the Golden Psi Award selection committee. Rogers was selected in part for its emphasis on positive discipline and encouraging students, teachers and parents to address conflict in a healthy and productive manner. The selection committee was also impressed by Rogers’ focus on school safety, which promotes community development and support. Mindfulness practices, including deep breathing, focus techniques and yoga were added into the curriculum last year to help students cope with negative emotions, according to Jeanne Juneau, counselor at Rogers Elementary School. Activities from identifying sounds to writing feelings down have helped teachers and students better reflect on their emotions. “The ultimate goal of our mindfulness implementation is for the students to better self-regulate their emotions,” Juneau said. “This has resulted in fewer reported cases of negative behavior, such as bullying.” The Golden Psi Award is based on factors that include educational adaptations shown to be appropriate for a school’s demographic makeup, the use of evidence-based interventions, measureable academic and/or social-emotional growth and monitoring of an individual’s or group’s progress. “The traditional forms of student discipline such as detention do not apply to Rogers,” Hughes said. “At Rogers, discipline is about teaching students, teachers and parents how to communicate their needs to each other properly.” Rogers received an award trophy and a check presented by the APA for $1,000. Article courtesy of The Hub An opening date of November 2017 has been set for the Epic Waters Indoor Waterpark, a new recreational facility in Grand Prairie at State Highway 161 and the Waterwood Drive.
The water park will be an indoor-outdoor venue with a retractable roof that's open year round. For water park fans, that's a cut above its obvious competition a few miles away, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, which is open seasonally only. It's part of The Epic recreation center, which will feature fitness equipment, indoor tracks, a digital library, and recording studio. The complex will also have a 5,000-seat amphitheater, and more than two miles of trails. The park will have nine water slides, including an outdoor wave pool, a lazy river, an activity pool, a children's area, and an arcade. There will be cabanas, a full-service grill/bar, and private party/meeting areas, both indoor and outdoor. Three of the slides have standout features. The Lasso Loop will be the tallest indoor aqualoop in the nation. The Yellowjacket Drop is an enclosed slide you ride with an inner tube; you come out onto an open drop that sends you high up onto a wall, creating a sense of zero gravity. The Aquanaut is the first double-rider ride, letting you ride with a friend. The water park is running a giveaway for annual passes to the park; deadline to enter is July 1. Article courtesy of Culture Map Abel Gonzales, who has achieved international fame as a repeat winner of the State Fair of Texas' Big Tex fried food award, now has his own restaurant. Called Republic Ranch, it's in soft-opening mode at 3121 Ross Ave., in a space that has seen a number of concepts open and close, such as Salt Lounge, Bungalow Beach Club, Southern Comforts, Ormsby Catering — oh, don't make us go through the list, it's too painful.
This is the first restaurant for Gonzales, but it's really an extension of his longtime catering business. "I've been doing a lot of this food on the catering side, which has been headquartered in this very kitchen, so I know the space very well," he says. "Some of the previous tenants had DJs and a nightlife component that put them in a rough spot in the neighborhood. When I got the opportunity to take over the space, it seemed like a natural evolution." Although Gonzales has made a name for himself as the king of kitschy fried foods — like fried butter — he grew up in the restaurant industry, working in the kitchen of his father's restaurant, A.J. Gonzales' Mexican Oven, in the West End. He has the chops, both in the kitchen and front of the house, as a charming and gregarious host. Rather than fried foods, his menu at Republic Ranch spotlights two of Texas' favorite cuisines. "It's a blending of Mexican food and barbecue," Gonzales says. "It's what I've been doing in my catering work and I know people like it." He's doing tacos with fillings such as rib-eye, chicken, and pulled pork. For full Culture Map article CLICK HERE With the mourning period for Good 2 Go Taco coming to a close, it's time to move on. Happily, there's something new going into its former East Dallas location: Hello Dumpling, an Asian restaurant specializing in dumplings, with an adjoining tea salon.
Owner June Chow is a second-generation Chinese-American who grew up in the Northeast in a family that owned restaurants. "My mother is from northern China, and growing up, we ate dumplings," she says. "We've lived in East Dallas, and for some time, I've felt like there's a need for an interesting Asian restaurant in the neighborhood. I feel like the moment is now." She not only wants to serve dumplings, but elevate their status as something to be taken more seriously than a mere appetizer. "The basic concept is to serve home-made style dumplings," she says. "I'm going to have 8-10 varieties, the kind you would find in every great dumpling place in northern China. My idea is to show that dumplings are not just an appetizer, but in many cultures is part of your main meal." Along with the dumplings, Chow says she'll do hand-cut noodles, a few Asian street foods, some tapas, salads, and sides. There'll also be a rotating dumpling every month. "I want to make it so it's fresh and well made, but not pretentious," she says. "Just something tasty and affordable." Construction is underway, with an estimated opening of early summer. She's transforming the space that previously housed Cultivar Coffee into a tea salon, with bobas and great teas of all kinds. She likes the idea that she's picking up the mantle from a former taqueria. "In my mind, dumplings can be just like tacos, it's just another wrap with potential for great fillings," she says. Article courtesy of Culture Map Getting the grease
“Why can’t you just get along?” I remember being posed this almost-but-not-quite rhetorical question when I served on the Dallas City Council. More than once. More than twice, actually, but who’s counting? It was usually when I was expressing an opinion about some proposed city project, and my opinion differed from the majority of the council. When I was accused of “not getting along,” it wasn’t that I was banging my shoe on the lectern. Or shouting expletives into the City Hall mic. Or engaging in personal attacks or making up “facts” or otherwise flying off the handle. No, I had simply arrived at a different conclusion from my colleagues after independently researching an issue and listening to my constituents. In Dallas, expressing an alternative viewpoint from the majority of the council – particularly one that is in opposition to the mayor – is oddly perceived as “not getting along.” It is considered impolite, a breach of etiquette. One is labeled a “maverick” at best, a less kind moniker at worst. This was made clear to me during a council discussion about gas drilling in parks. In 2013, the city council was debating limits on urban gas drilling. Many residents were particularly concerned about fracking in city parks. Then-City Manager Mary Suhm and her staff had repeatedly assured the council that there would be no gas drilling in parks. Yet Councilmember Scott Griggs and I had uncovered a letter from Suhm in which she had simultaneously assured a gas drilling company that her staff would do their utmost to allow park drilling. So which was it? During a council briefing, I took the opportunity to challenge Mary Suhm on these irreconcilable statements. I didn’t raise my voice. I presented the conflicting documents and pointedly asked Suhm, the city’s most powerful appointed official, to explain this chasm of a discrepancy. I wasn’t surprised when Suhm dodged my questions. But I was surprised by the reaction of my colleagues. I expected them to be similarly outraged by the deceit, or at the very least, concerned. Instead, many of them expressed offense at my interrogation. (One even likened Suhm to Jesus Christ and me to Haman, the Biblical killer of Jews, but I suspect that even Suhm found that a smidge over the top.) Others were less theologically extravagant but nonetheless chastised me for my public questioning. It simply was not done. I half expected to be challenged to a duel. Whether it was gas drilling, the Trinity Toll Road, convention center hotel financing, protecting neighborhoods from bad development, or a range of other issues, I remember the suggestion, at times posed by the city’s daily paper, that those of us who challenge the status quo or question the opinion of the majority should work harder to “get along.” What they really mean, of course, is that we ought to work harder to go along to get along. Not rock the boat. Fall in line with the majority. Ask our tough questions behind closed doors, beyond the delicate ears of the public who might swoon at the unpleasant sound of intellectual debate. The disturbing truth about those who wag their fingers and admonish council members to be nicer is that they fundamentally misunderstand both etiquette and politics. In the realm of politics, manners properly exist to discourage ad hominem attacks, to lower raised voices, and to enforce adherence to the civility of parliamentary procedure. Manners do not, however, mandate a blind acceptance of bad governance, nor do they insist on ideological unanimity. Glad-handing and back-slapping aren’t going to fix Dallas’s very real problems. Something to keep in mind when you head to the polls on May 6. Article courtesy of the Lakewood Advocate |
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