Dallas can say goodbye to the idea of the rotating restaurant. Kitchen LTO will now become Junction Craft Kitchen and will open on May 4 in the old Kitchen LTO space in Deep Ellum, at 2901 Elm St.
Casie Caldwell and chef Josh Harmon have partnered to open the new restaurant serving dinner and weekend brunch. Kitchen LTO was in its seventh iteration with Caldwell's seasoned front-of-house team supporting chef Harmon. The collaboration worked so well that they decided to make it a permanent thing, Caldwell says. "I knew in the first week of opening Deep Ellum that I wanted to find a way to help Josh have a permanent restaurant space when he left LTO," she says in a release. "We decided to keep this great location and bid farewell to LTO. Junction Craft Kitchen was then born." Capturing Harmon's love of Southern and Asian cooking, Junction Craft Kitchen will serve many of the dishes that were served at Kitchen LTO. We are talking Brussels sprouts with fish sauce caramel, hot fried chicken, and Korean sticky duck leg. New dishes include Korean braised beef, boudin po bao, and family-style miso pork belly with steamed buns. An arugula salad sounds good with radish, peanut butter Ritz, peas, and peri peri. There's a poached carrot dish with an elaborate retinue that includes whey and koji, carrot top kosho, and dehydrated okra. For full Culture Map Article CLICK HERE
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Craft Beer Cellar is bringing beer bliss to Lakewood Casa Linda resident Jim Waskow and his partner Stan Nauman are living the post-recession American dream. After years in the corporate world, Waskow at Sherwin Williams and Nauman at General Electric, they hung up their suits to pursue their real passion: beer. Friends since they were students at Newman Smith High School in Carrollton, the pair has been interested in beer their whole lives, so they decided to make it their profession. Last year, they opened Craft Beer Cellar, the first Texas franchise for the East Coast chain, and have been serving up the suds ever since. “We’re just a couple of corporate guys looking to do something fun,” Waskow smiles. “On our worst day, at least we’re working with beer.” The business model is part specialty beer shop, part taproom. On the shop side, customers have hundreds of styles of beer to peruse and can mix-and-match their own six-pack. Craft Beer Cellar specializes in rare and European brews, but if you don’t see the one you want, just ask. They’re happy to order it for you. On the tap side, there are 16 beers on draught, which are switched with a new brew every time a keg runs dry. “We do have one tap dedicated to German beers and another for Belgium beers,” Nauman says. The partners consider themselves a bottle shop first and say 70 percent of the business is retail shoppers, versus customers who belly up to the bar. They also offer growlers for those who want to take fresh beer home. The shop regularly offers beer education events, inviting in brewers from all over the world to talk suds and offer samples. On April 7, attend the free beer-and-cheese pairing with Real Ale Brewing Company, or come down April 14 when Founder’s Brewing releases its cult-followed KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout for those not in the beer-know). While getting the business off the ground took longer than either Waskow or Nauman imagined, now that it’s up and running, they’re thrilled with the first six months. “It’s a chance to enjoy coming to work for the first time,” Waskow says. “That’s a welcome change.” Craft Beer Cellar Ambiance: Casual retail Price Range: $6-$8 Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon-6 p.m. Sunday 6324 Gaston Ave. 972.707.0300 dallas.craftbeercellar.com Photo Credit: Kathy Tran Article by Emily Charrier of Lakewood Advocate The long-awaited Alamo Drafthouse and surrounding restaurants at Skillman-Abrams is becoming a reality.
That flurry of activity you may have noticed at the shopping center surrounding the old Tom Thumb (the even older Simon David) is the work of landlord, Retail Plazas, Inc. (RPI). The company’s contractors, which moved onsite this week, are beginning redevelopment of the center, which they are renaming Creekside. “It’s not always the case that landlords and neighborhoods work this well together,” laughed Trey Hodge, VP of RPI as we stood in the center’s parking lot watching construction vehicles and work crews buzz about, “but lots of people from around here have contacted me to say they are excited about what’s coming. It’s been blighted and ugly for some time, and we get that. Neighbors want the Alamo Drafthouse, they want the new restaurants, and they are going to get them.” RPI began refurbishment last week, working to get the façade ready for Alamo to begin “inside work” this week. “The optimists say Alamo will be ready to open in four months,” said Hodge, laughing again. “The pessimists say it will be six. We will see.” While Advocate readers in both East Dallas and Lake Highlands have debated in which neighborhood this project is located, movie buffs to the north and south will have a new option for cinema, not to mention the restaurant possibilities, coming soon. Article courtesy of Lakewood Advocate, written by Carol Toler After six-plus years, Unrefined Bakery, the gluten-free sweets purveyor, is closing its original location on Buckner Boulevard and moving to a surprising new address. The new shop will be at 6464 E. Northwest Hwy., better known as Medallion Center, and will open in mid-March.
This is the same center that's home to the un-super Target store, and which is undergoing a renovation. The bakery will go into the same section as Subway and Fish Bone Grill. "It's the sixth store, but it will be the fifth, since we are closing our original location," says Taylor Nicholson, who founded Unrefined with her mother, Anne Hoyt. The other four outlets are in Frisco, Rockwall, and Dallas, with locations on Greenville Avenue and in Preston Center. The Buckner Boulevard store will shutter on March 22. The closure is the result of many factors, she says. For full Culture Map story CLICK HERE Retail closed but biweekly Co-Op starts 3/9!
Our retail store is no longer open but because we have short term access to our space at 3614 Greenville Ave (using the kitchen to make our amazing bone broth), we are offering a bi-weekly local pick up CoOp for some of our favorite items (like our addictive chicken meatballs, granola, bone broth, elderberry syrup, meats and more)! Click here to browse our online store, place your orders by Saturday 3/5 5pm and pick up all orders Thursday 3/9 430-630pm. Order and pick up times are strict so don't be late! We hope y'all order with us so we can see your happy faces next week. We would love to see you! What else is happening... Many of you have become fans of our Green Grocer Bone Broth and our Cassie Green Health Elderberry Syrup. These two delicious and immuno-supportive products are sold online as well as in several DFW area stores (and we can ship broth as well nationwide). Check the links for "Where to Buy" pages coming soon. We will continue our Bi-Weekly Meat Share program (still pickup at the Greenville Ave location every other Thursday 430-630pm until further notice). Please follow up on Facebook or Instagram (as well as this newsletter) in order to keep updated on that program. News of a Starbucks moving to the corner of Ferndale and Northwest Highway has many in the neighborhood defensive on behalf of their beloved, locally owned White Rock Coffee, located just a couple doors down from where the java giant’s dirt and building materials are flying. The recently razed Backus Shell station that occupied the spot for more than 50 years seems all but forgotten. But Starbucks isn’t alone in new construction here along the 10100 block of E. Northwest Highway. White Rock Coffee owners Nancy and Robert Baker are erecting a training center for WRC baristas, in a building that sits between their 12-year-old “mothership” and the incoming Starbucks. “Our baristas undergo thorough training, some are certified at [the highest levels],” Nancy says. “We have outgrown the original building — it’s so busy, they are hopping from training to customers, too much.” The training facility, which will inhabit an extensively renovated former cash-lending store, is slated to open sometime this spring. It will include office space and a conference room and will be equipped with the latest gadgets and state-of-the-art espresso machines, “so the baristas can stay on the cutting edge of espresso/coffee technology,” Nancy says. Who knows, she adds, she and Bob might even launch classes for the public. Parking conditions at this Northwest Highway locale, about the only regular complaint, should improve. “We are aware it’s a little treacherous, parking, which is one reason we didn’t put another retail location there. We plan to maximize the lots for parking.” To read the full Advocate article CLICK HERE Finding the right flavor
Consistency is key at Pho Hanabi, so Eric Ton spent years searching for a practical and flavor-filled recipe. He constructed a kitchen in his backyard reminiscent of a mad scientist’s laboratory to experiment with seasoning and cooking methods. He traveled to 10 states across the country to sample the Vietnamese noodle soup, too. “The culture of eating pho is so different from not just state-to-state but city-to-city,” he says. Ton — a consultant who launched the Northwest Highway restaurant — embraces the unconventional. The engineer and culinary enthusiast is not a restauranteur, but he has a business-savvy mind and years of pho-making experience that he hopes will make the eatery a permanent neighborhood fixture. His process is under wraps, but the soup contains an array of spices, including cinnamon and cardamom, and is served with bean sprouts and basil leaves. “As a science and engineering guy, it does not make sense if we do it the traditional way,” Ton says. “It takes longer, and it doesn’t bring out all the flavors.” Besides the quality of the menu items, Ton is focused on providing his staff with a positive experience, which he believes will translate into customer service. “The most exciting part is my employees,” he says. “They are young and energetic and willing to learn. I feel like I can share more with them than making pho or working at a restaurant.” Did you know: In Vietnam, pho typically is served for breakfast. Pho Hanabi Ambiance: casual eatery Price Range: $4-$12 Hours: 10 a.m.- 8 p.m. Sunday-Saturday 10675 Northwest Highway, suite 1635 214.221.0903 phohanabi.com |
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September 2017
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