My Favorite Food and Drink Websites

If you are just looking for a recipe, there are the commonly known and frequently visited, Yahoo Food, Food Network, etc. These sites are a little different, offer more commentary, and have specific suggestions. Got a good site? Let me know.

1. Probably my favorite website for food, restaurants, news and commentary. Who else has articles like, New Yorks Best Street Food.
New York Times Food: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/dining/index.html

2. Plenty of interesting food facts and commonly held but untrue beliefs. Does searing meat really hold in the juices? Kitchen Myths: http://www.pgacon.com/KitchenMyths.htm

3. There are hundreds of coffee websites. I have a few I go to all the time. This site they say, is the first. Coffee Research: http://www.coffeeresearch.org

4. The following website is more for the vegetable gardener. But if you want helpful North Texas gardening information, this is great. Gardening Tips for North Texas:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/county/smith/tips/tips.html

5. I like people who are knowledgeable but not arrogant, especially when it comes to wine. This a great blog and suggests wines according to cost per bottle.
Chelsie Wines: http://chelsieswines.blogspot.com

6. Another good coffee website: Coffee Geek: http://www.coffeegeek.com

7. A well done blog with clear recipes, Family Food: http://familystylefood.com

8. Want to make a better cup of coffee? http://blog.liferemix.net/your-coffee-sucks-cheap-coffee

9. Okay, one more coffee website thanks to Jeromey: Sweet Marias, suggestions on roasting your own (that's roasting not growing your own). http://sweetmarias.com

St Martins Wine Bistro in Dallas -- Perfect!

A guest review of St Martins Wine Bistro from RJS:

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be taken out to a fantastic French restaurant in Dallas called St. Martin’s. It is in the trendy, Greenville entertainment district, but is a surprising step back in time with heavy woods, white tablecloths and a live piano providing covers of classics such as Frank Sinatra. After being seated, our friendly but not too friendly waitress, took our order of mixed drinks. I had a Cosmopolitan which was perfect! Very cold with little ice crystals forming on top and not too sweet. I loved it! Charles had a whiskey -- I am sure it was good. The appetizer was the Shrimp St. Martin’s which was heavenly! The sauce was a butter, Dijon, champagne sauce which complimented the shrimp perfectly! Even better was the crusty bread which we dipped in the sauce (I don’t even want to think of the caloric hit that provided). We had the champagne brie soup after that which is as rich as it sounds. It was velvety, creamy and the champagne offered a wonderful slightly tangy balance to all the rich flavors. I was absolutely full after about three bites, but couldn’t stop. (I don't think I will learn how to make it because if I did I would be enormous!) We split an entrée after that because neither of us could have managed to eat one on our own. The Seared Tuna was a light way to end the meal and it was fabulous. I recommend St Martins to anyone who wants a good date restaurant and who has time to spend eating a great French meal.

Don’t be in a hurry, enjoy it, and don’t eat anything before you go!

St Martins Wine Bistro (214) 826-0940
3020 Greenville Ave
Dallas, TX
www.stmartinswinebistro.com

Go online for a free appetizer.

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Editors Note: Since the editor is old and dottering, RJS provides reviews of restaurants in far off lands (Dallas). RJS is a respected hostess and great cook. Good review.

Movie Tavern vs. Studio Movie Grill: A Guest Post

A guest post from RJS

I took a break from the kids last night and went to see Eastern Promises with Charles. We have decided that the movie-dinner-drinks combo is a brilliant idea and usually go to the Movie Tavern in Bedford.
Now before we get started, the Movie Tavern experience has greatly improved in the last couple of years since the original Movie Tavern was bought out. What used to be a dank, old movie theater whose single draw was cheap beer you could drink during your movie with waiters bringing you your meal from a small menu of frozen pizza, micro-waved buffalo wings, (gross) or mini corn dogs (also pretty gross), has turned into a pleasant experience. They remodeled theaters and brought in a full menu including some pretty good salads, a full bar drink menu, a good beer selection and some nice wines as well. Apparently, the trend has taken off, a sign of this being the new chain of Movie Diners called, Studio Movie Grill. The newest one is in Arlington, and as it was the only one showing Eastern Promises (I will save that review for another day) so we thought we would try it.
The first problem was the broken automated ticketing machine outside (I don’t know why since I think they just opened) which wasn’t a really big deal. The inside was very nice and new and without the stale popcorn smells which I appreciated, but the theater seating was a disappointment with row upon row of rolling black desk chairs! Movie Tavern has nice traditional reclining seats and I was not super excited about rolling around with my glass of wine. We ordered chicken nachos, I had a glass of cabernet and Charlie had a margarita. The glass of wine was good and they gave a full glass (I needed every drop just to get through the movie), Charlie had a good frozen Margarita but had to ask for a straw after he got tired of licking the margarita from the glass. The nachos were okay, but there wasn’t much chicken, in fact we had a hard time finding anything beneath the huge mound of shredded lettuce. I think there were a few chips and some chicken beneath all that, but I got a little tired of looking for it. I didn’t mind as I lost my appetite in the first 5 minutes of the movie. They gave us a coaster which had a button you pushed when you wanted to signal your waiter. This didn’t work either, and since there were no waiters in sight we were never able to order drink refills or additional food. Movie Tavern always brings your ticket about 35 minutes before the end of the movie, so you can leave promptly – no such luck here. We had to sit through all the end credits and then some because they waited until the movie was over to bring our ticket. I have to say I will stay with the original here – Movie Tavern has it down. Their waiters are well trained, their food is great, and the entire experience is much more comfortable.

Editor Summary: Go to Movie Tavern