What's New in Fort Worth Food.

Fort Worth has reached a size and population where a new restaurant, coffee shop, pub, or winery is opening every week. I'm aware of about half of them -- maybe. Here are a few -- new -- food-related enterprises:

1. Not Just Here for the Food. A new weblog from Gwin Grogan Grimes. Ms. Grimes is a former Star-Telegram food editor, a chef, the co-owner with husband, Mark Grimes, of Artisan Bread -- and now a blogger. She is active in the Fort Worth Farmer's Market and in the local-food movement. The breads, pastries and such baked at Artisan are made using locally grown products. Eggs, milk, wheat, all local. I go for the scones and the breakfast bread, but it's all good, as they say.

As to her new blog. Not Just Here for the Food is her take on food, restaurants, Texas, and anything else on her mind. Gwin's a real writer, unlike yours truly, who still hasn't written a sentence he is happy with . .  a sentence with which he is happy . . . who still hasn't written a decent sentence.

Anyway, read her blog: Not Just Here for the Food. It's good.

2. Local chef Callie Salls has started a new venture: Linguine & Dirty Martinis. She is offering chef services for private dinners and catered parties, and gourmet cooking classes. Her website provides the details. Ms. Salls would like it -- if you "liked her"-- on Facebook. We wish her well.

3. Pizza -- "Napoletana" style. Jay Jerrier, owner of Dallas-based Il Cane Rosso is coming to 7th Streeet's, Times Ten Cellars with his mobile, wood-fired, Neapolitan pizza.  Starting September 7 at 6 p.m. Jay will be doing a "pizza night" that is open to the public. Mr. Jerrier trained with the Neapolitans from Associazone Verace Pizza Napoletana and earned his certification. His pizzas get nothing but excellent reviews in Texas-wide publications.

Website: Il Cane Rosso

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Josie, Russ y familia: Buen Viaje!
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Am I missing anything?

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Got a big yard? Rent-a-Goat. Seriously.

Leave it to industrious Americans to find a way to make a couple of bucks replacing traditional lawnmowers with mother nature's original lawnmower/weedeater combination. The goat.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, August 4, that goat-rental companies are popping up all over the country with website names like, Rent-a-goat.com. Their mission: clear your lot of grass, weeds, wood-hay-or-stubble with a good old fashioned goat. The Journal reports that in many cases goats are not only better for the environment, they are cheaper, too.

I have a personal interest in this story.

At least twenty years ago a close friend of mine, who is a potter by trade and a lover of all things mother earth, decided that he and his family were going to spend a few years teaching in Namibia, Africa. So he needed to unburden himself of all the things he couldn't store or care for. Two of those "things" were a male and female goat. He knew I had an acre lot with a fenced pen in the backyard and concluded that I was his best option for the goats.

"I need you to take my goats," he said, "they are no trouble and your kids will love them." Only one of those two statements was true. I didn't reply with a "yes" or a "no" to his request, but one day he arrived at the house and in the back of his green Ford station wagon sat the goats.

"Nobody else would take them and we're leaving tomorrow."

I took the goats.

I am city boy. I grew up thirty miles south of Philadelphia. Bottled milk was delivered to our door every morning. By a dairy. In a truck. My mother could walk to the grocery store. I walked to school. Nobody, and I mean nobody, had a farm animal in his yard within 10 miles of my house.

But that day, my daughter who had talked us into getting chickens and rabbits and kittens now had two goats.

All that to say -- when the Wall Street Journal story says that goats will clear a hillside of every living thing -- I believe them. I couldn't feed our goats enough shrubbery, pecan leaves, pecans, and yard clippings to keep them happy. They ate everything in sight.

Our goats lasted about six months at our east Fort Worth home, then we gave them to a goat farm. My friend is still teaching in Namibia. And the Wall Street Journal article is well worth reading.
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My friend, John Hunter, teaching pottery in Namibia: click here
Wall Street Journal article: (click here)
Rent a Goat: (click here)
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Iced Coffee

This summer, for the first time in my life, I have been drinking iced coffee.

It just happened one day that we were out of fresh iced tea, I was thirsty for a little caffeine, so I poured the leftover coffee from the morning's brew into a glass (it was room temperature), added a little sugar, ice, water, and dash of whole milk. Unlike hot coffee, I like iced coffee a little sweetened.

Coincidentally, a couple days ago the Wall Street Journal ran a whole section on iced coffee. Their suggestions included brewing it cold-pressed to eliminate the acidic tastes. That's way too much trouble for me. As long as your morning coffee is not sitting on a warmer too long it works just fine.

If you have any suggestions for iced coffee that don't include a lot of trouble to prepare it, please let me know. I'm kind of liking it.

Only 1% of coffee consumption is iced, so there's a good chance you haven't tried it. You might be surprised, I was.
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Bistro Bakery of San Antonio. Indigo Hotel on the Riverwalk.

Trust me on this one.

The next time you are in San Antonio, run, don't walk to the Bistro Bakery of San Antonio. 

Why a French bakery baguette served with butter and strawberry jam tastes better than a baguette bought at the local grocery store I do not know, but it does. And so does everything else I tasted at the Bistro. The two days we were in San Antonio we visited the bakery three times. I give credit to my son and his wife for leading the way.

Croissants, baguettes, hard-crusted french bread, and every imaginable pastry, all made by the mostly French-native staff under the guidance of Lucil Watel. Ms. Watel is the mother of one of San Antonio's most popular chef's, Damien Watel.

The Bistro Bakery is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The menu is hand-written on one of those erasable boards and hangs by the cash register. The Bistro looks, feels, and acts like a place that doesn't want a mission statement, or company policy manuals, or cookbooks with pictures. It is more of a family kind of place. I like that. All the food looked and tasted like someone cared.

The lemon tart pictured above? We ordered one -- and it tastes even better than it looks.

Bistro Bakery
4300 McCullough Ave (at Olmos Circle)
San Antonio, TX, 78212-1909
(210) 824-3884

http://www.bistrovatel.com/bakery/ 

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I'd also like to give a mention to Indigo Hotel / Riverwalk and their very friendly staff. It appears to me that the Indigo people have tried to re-evaluate every party of the hotel and gotten rid of things no one wants and added some color, texture, and atmosphere not found at the average Hampton Inn. This ain't your grand-daddy's hotel, that's for sure (wait a minute, I am a granddad, and I stayed there).

Anyway, I had read good things about Indigo Hotels, so I decided to try one.

They get high marks for the following:
1. Large walk in shower
2. Very comfortable bed
3. Large HDTV
4. No carpet in room. Hardwood-floor tiles, the floating kind used over concrete (much cleaner than carpet).
5. Self-parking. Nearby and inexpensive.

Some of the online reviews mention the hotel being in a rough neighborhood, which I do not think is true. It is a redeveloping neighborhood (the hotel itself is part of that redevelopment), but it appeared safe and comfortable to me. The Indigo Hotel Riverwalk is on one of the newly developed forks of the River and in my opinion is a great setting for a hotel.

Price: I'd put the Indigo in the middle price range. It was a good value.

Minor complaint: Quite a few of the rooms had large, beautiful balconies. Mine did not. I would have liked to have known the price difference between the balcony and non-balcony rooms. I didn't notice them until the evening.

 http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/in/1/en/hotel/satsm 

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Yogurtland. Montgomery Plaza. Perfect frozen yogurt.

Marian's been out of town this week so I've been going out in the evening for an ice cream or frozen yogurt -- and most nights I've been going to Yogurtland at Montgomery Plaza on 7th Street.

I can't say one of the frozen yogurt places is better than another -- Yogurtland, Yogolait, Menchies, Pinkberry, Frogberry -- they're all good. But I do like self-serve, which Yogurtland has. Yogurtland serves about ten flavors of frozen yogurt and plenty of fresh fruit toppings. I always choose the tart-plain flavor because I like the contrast with the sweet fruit toppings. I also add a few crushed walnuts for crunch.

I like the buzz of the Montgomery Plaza, at least in the drive-through area, and Yogurtland is a good addition.

I never would have dreamed that I would choose this new frozen yogurt over old fashioned ice cream, but I have and I will.

Unless I'm at the beach.

Yogurtland link.

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