Times Ten Cellars, Dude Sweet Chocolate, and the Left Bank

I have mentioned Times Ten Cellars before but I'll mention it again because Marian and I decided to celebrate a birthday dinner there. Because . . . the weather is perfect for outside dining, which Times Ten has plenty of, on Friday nights Cane Rosso is there with their pizza oven and their very good Neopolitan pizza, and we like the 7th Street development and enjoy seeing what's new and almost open. Most people go to Times Ten Cellars for a good glass of wine at a fair price, but since we don't even drink a little bit of wine these days we go for the pizza and the setting. I'm never disappointed.

While walking after dinner we stopped in at Dude, Sweet Chocolate, a small retail store next to Fireside Pies (not my favorite as you may recall). If you like chocolate and don't mind spending a little more than you would at the local Kroger's it's worth a visit. The counter guy called it "craft chocolate" which suits what it is and what they do. All the chocolate is made locally and they have just one other store in Dallas. I tasted a little and bought a little and it's real good. Like craft beer compared to Miller Lite this chocolate is a different category than a Hershey's bar, not that I have anything against Hershey's bars, but if you taste this you'll get what I mean.

Finally, I hope you enjoy the development of 7th Street and what city developers call "the area between the Central Business District and the Arts District" because you're fixin' to get more. Over 30 acres of development just south of 7th and west of the river in what is called the Left Bank. See the Star Telegram for a few more details but there's not much known as far as I can tell. The 1.5 million square feet development will be mixed use: hotel, shopping, business and residential. A sign is posted on the property and it appears that some infrastructure work has started. Fort Worth is now the 16th most populated city in the nation and the 10th fastest growing. Most of the other top ten are in Texas but North Dakota has a few areas growing faster than we are. Thank you horizontal drilling.

Times Ten Cellars Fort Worth

Marian enjoying a cool but comfortable evening and  outside table

The chocolate at Dude Sweet Chocolate

 

Breaking News

Italy Pasta and Pizza

My grandsons and I had a rainy-day Saturday lunch at the newly opened Italy Pasta and Pizza, 820 and John T. White. It's newly opened but not new in business,  Italy Pasta and Pizza has been operating  on Fort Worth's eastside for about 20 years and this is their third location.

They have just finished renovating and opening what was built as a Black Eyed Pea in the late 80's, now long gone, and which has been through several restaurant iterations since.

None of that is particularly important but what is important is that the pizza is very good. It's as good a New York thin-crust style you will find in Fort Worth.

I haven't tried anything else but the pizza is good enough for me to return soon.

http://www.italypastapizza.com/

Magnolia Cheese Company

My wife and I happened upon Magnolia Cheese Company because Sunday morning was the first day since June-something that a body could take a walk without carrying half of Lake Whitney as a water supply. Like Alaskans who don't drive in extremely cold temperatures without blankets and such in the trunk of their car, we don't go anywhere in the summer without a mega-cup of ice and sweet tea.

But not Sunday morning. Since it was such a pleasant, sunny, and cool morning Marian and I decided to walk down Magnolia Avenue after mass at St. Mary's. Coffee was somewhere in our minds at the end and then we saw Magnolia Cheese Company. I had been meaning to stop in so we did.

What a treat.

Magnolia Cheese Company serves locally-made (Texas-wide I think) artisan cheeses in a cafe like setting. Coffee and tea are available, bottled waters, beer, wine, and a menu of sandwiches and other items all associated with their cheeses. We weren't ready for lunch so we ordered a "plank" of assorted local cheeses that comes with a few spreads like honey, plum jam, a reduced balsamic vinegar, and a little fruit. The bread is a baguette sliced very thin but perfect as a side for the cheese.

I'll comment on just one of the cheeses. I love blue cheese. The tangier the  better. The plank had a couple chunks of near perfect blue cheese. It really couldn't have been better. The plank was $16 and though it's not lunch for two it's a substantial serving of all the above.

When I return to Magnolia Cheese I'll try a sandwich.  I hope they do well, I plan to stop by frequently. Last thought: the coffee was hot, fresh, and very good. And served in a real white coffee-drinking mug.

More information is available on their website here: Magnolia Cheese Company.

(Okay, one very minor criticism unrelated to what a great place it is. I'm not a big fan of the tricked up website, which is what they have. The copy scrolls over stationary images, it's clever but disorienting and counter-productive, that is, it works against the user learning about the company and sales, imo . . )

Remembering 9/11. The Boatlift Video.

My sister sent me this. I hadn't see it before. It's about 11 minutes long and worth watching.

Top 10 things a guy shouldn't say to his wife right before she returns from visiting her sister.

The ten things I should not say right before my wife returns Monday . . .

Number ...

10. I'm thinking we should have gone for more of a wine color on that new carpet.

9.  Everything's being going great. No problems whatsoever.

8.  Children eat free at Hooters.

7. Mail? I'll check on that.

6. Where do we keep the cat food?

5. Does Fabreze work on cigar smoke?

4. Somebody hacked the Netflix account and added Girls Gone Wild to "Recently Viewed."

3. There is dust on everything. It's amazing.

2. I don't know it's been a while since I have been outside.

And the number one thing I better not say:

1. Children?

..

(I love you dear and we are very much looking forward to your return)

Whataburger's Pancakes. Yes, They're Good.

August 2020 UPDATE

Whataburger continues to produce their hamburgers more or less the old-fashioned way: on a grill, to order. And unlike McDonald's, their pancakes are the same, not pre-cooked and steamed but grilled to order. It takes longer, is more labor intensive, and is more expensive because of the prior two points. But in my opinion their breakfast is a much better buy than McDonald's, Wendy's, Chik-Fil-A or any other fast food franchise. They recently sold the company so that they would have the cash to expand. I hope they keep the original strategy.

For now, if you're going out for fast food pancakes, breakfast burritos, etc, in my opinion Whataburger is best.

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Original post:

Bear with me here.

I have now posted two fast food posts in a row, sorry, it just happened that way.

I took a few of my grandchildren to Whataburger for pancakes today. We usually go to McDonald's but we thought we'd try WB. I was shocked. Three large, fresh-poured on the skillet, served-hot pancakes with syrup, real butter and two slices of bacon: $4.00.

And this picture from the Whatburger website doesn't do them justice because they're not that pretty. They're imperfectly formed like the home-made kind the way they ought to be.

They tasted good, too.

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McDonald's Iced Coffee

I'd like to go on record and say that McDonald's Iced Coffee, no flavors added, is not bad, in fact it's pretty good. For coffee lovers I'd say it's on the weak side of coffee flavor, something an extra shot of coffee would fix, but at $1 for a 22 oz. cup what can you expect.

Does anyone know if you can "double-shot" the coffee at McDonald's?
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Man of Steel Review

First let me say that I liked the movie, partly because it succeeded in disconnecting from 75 years of Superman on TV and film which even when it was pretty good wasn't that good and when it was bad was real bad. I can remember as a little kid watching the black and white television version and thinking that Superman was pudgy and not very tough. And even though the late 70s movie version was popular, Superman just wasn't a modern enough super hero. Not in the Marvel comic book sense. Not in the new Batman movie sense.

Man of Steel changed all that and pulled off a pretty good movie. Starting with Russell Crowe playing Jor-El at the end of planet Krypton's existence, to the young self-conscious Clark, to the tough but lovable and beautiful Lois Lane (Amy Adams). 

Criticism 1: Give a guy a new special effects toy and watch out. The special effects are impressive but how many times can you watch Superman and his enemies crash into buildings, cars, roads, and objet d'art. After the tenth 500 mph flying crash with special-effected demolition you get the point. There were no fewer than 25 flying wrestling matches that destroyed everything in their path.

Criticism 2: Does every action movie these days have to end three times? Superman beats the bad guys once, then they build a Gravitron and he causes that to fail, then mid-kiss with Lois, when you think we're coming to a close, General Zod shows up for a one-on one building destroying duel. It's just too long.

While I'm on General Zod, Man of Steel gets credit for establishing a bad guy with a believable motive. General Zod was great.

Taken as a whole and even given some minor annoyances Man of Steel is worth seeing. Superman (Henry Cavill) was likable, naive without being annoying, and well acted. Lois Lane was beautiful and charming . . . but I said that already.
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Video Games with Mom

My son sent me this. I think some things are just universally true.