A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
No need for a double take. Yes, Deep Ellum is the name of a neighborhood in the Dallas area. And yes, this week's What's On Tap features a Boston bar. But don't worry, Deep Ellum co-owner Max Toste has an explanation: "My business partner, Aaron Sanders, was born and raised around the Dallas area, and Deep Ellum was always his favorite place to go."
Toste describes the Dallas neighborhood as an area teeming with tattoo parlors and rock joints -- the kind of place with "people who don't wear suits to work." "We always thought it would be a cool name for a bar," he recalls. Toste and Sanders found a similar feel in the Boston neighborhood of Allston, so about three years ago, when opening their own bar, the name was a perfect fit.
"I love beer," Toste states proudly. "I wanted to have a bar that was awesome."
What exactly is his idea of awesome? "Our plan was to be very artisanal. Everything we sell and promote is handmade stuff." And that ideology goes beyond just beer into the realm of their cocktail selection and food. Toste's explanation for such strong demands on what Deep Ellum serves is simple: "I don't do anything half-assed."
Read more about Deep Ellum and its complete tap list, as of this Tuesday, after the jump -- and for future draft lists, check out its Web site. Drafts update whenever they're changed.
Dickey's Barbecue Pit is offering its Big Barbecue Sandwich on Tuesday for only a dollar between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
The Dallas-based chain is offering the $1 sandwich to celebrate its 68th anniversary.
Dickey's BBQ president Roland Dickey Jr. said the promotion is "a small way to say thank you to our loyal customers."
Dickey's Barbecue has more than 100 locations nationwide. It originally opened in 1941. Locations in Cary and Durham, N.C. will offer the sandwiches for $2 from 2 p.m. until closing on Oct. 20.
A weekly look at the draft selections in beer-friendly establishments across the country.
The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium has one aim: to be the place to go for great draft beer, especially in Texas, which boasts a neat half-dozen outposts of the watering hole. Residents of Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee also sip suds at Flying Saucers. The newest landed in the suburbs outside Dallas.
Just over three weeks ago, the new Saucer on the Lake opened in a scenic spot overlooking Lake Ray Hubbard in Garland, Texas. "There's all these little communities out there," says Diane Willingham, director of sales and special events. "People working in Dallas drive 30 minutes to an hour to get home ... They want to go to the lake and hang out on a patio." Workers also want to drink beer, and Saucer on the Lake delivers, with more than 80 on draft and a diverse selection focused almost entirely on craft brews and imports.
But as the Saucer continues to expand, couldn't the company risk losing that independent spirit craft drinkers relish? Willingham doesn't think so: "We expand very slowly and don't franchise. Owner Shannon Wynne researches each location himself."
A weekly look at the draft selection at beer-friendly bars across the country.
The Ginger Man began as a Houston legend. Opening in 1985, some consider it to be the first true multi-tap bar in America. By 1994, locations had opened in Dallas and Austin making it a Texas-wide phenomenon (a fourth establishment opened in Fort Worth in 2007). And in 1996, The Ginger Man moved up to the big city (though, yes, Houston is quite a big city) when a "cousin" location, inspired by that original Ginger Man spirit, opened in New York City where people pronounce the word Houston a little bit differently. (Since that time, the NYC pub has even expanded with two locations in Connecticut, Greenwich and Norwalk. Phew.)
But let's get back to that original Ginger Man. Still going strong well over 20 years later, The Ginger Man has taken up the power of the internet to keep their current draft list online. As they say on their site: "We're making a new effort to keep [our draught beer list] page updated, since it is arguably the most important page on the whole web site." Here, here.
After the jump, let's take a look at what The Ginger Man is currently serving up on tap...
It doesn't get any better than this. If I had magical powers and could transport myself to any food festival in the country this weekend, I don't think I'd be able to decide where to go! We've got BBQ in Missouri and Pies in Florida, and starting next Wednesday (4/23), Texas is the place to be with festivals in both Houston and Dallas.
Read on for details about all of these yummy events, and check out the gallery from last weekend's Scottsdale Culinary Festival!
Fans of Paula Deen will no doubt be excited to learn that she plans to take her show on the road, quite literally, as she kicks off a national tour this summer.
The show, Paula Deen Live, will be broadcast in 2-hour segments and is scheduled to visit Shreveport, Charlotte, Nashville, Dallas and Atlanta beginning this summer.
As always, Paula will cook some of her favorite Southern recipes, as well as answer questions and share tips about getting families involved in the preparation of meals.
A Texas-based pizza chain, Pizza Patron, is now accepting pesos at all of their 59 nationwide locations. Many of the stores, particularly those in Texas (others are in California, Nevada, Arizona and Colorado) are located in primarily Latino neighborhoods and, according to the director of restaurant operations for the company, "many of [the] customers travel back and forth to Mexico regularly, and sometimes they end up with pesos left over... [so] now we also welcome the currency of our homeland. We want to make Pizza Patron a better choice for our customers than any of our competitors." The program is a trial one that will last from now until at least the end of February, although it could be extended if it is met with a positive reaction from the customer base.
Even though it has only been in place for a week, the plan has not met with a warm reception. The company has received "hundreds of e-mails," most of them critical. The fact that 10% of sales this week in the chain's five primary stores were in pesos, however, is probably enough to keep the plan in action for another few weeks.
If chicken fried steak ice cream sounds like a bad idea to you, rest assured that it sounds bad to me, too. If it actually sounds like a good idea to you, I am sorry to be the one to tell you that you are mistaken. In either case, the rather unusual combination doesn't live up to the promise, whatever small amount there is, of its name. The concoction was dreamed up and skillfully put together at Dallas Food, who reported that "Flavorwise, this was hands down the most disgusting ice cream I've ever had the misfortune to taste."
They were going for something that would approximate the flavor of cream gravy, with a thick and rich consistency, but in a frozen form. After all, similar things haven been done with bacon (not necessarily to general success, however). Flavor issues aside, I really think that Dallas Food did a fantastic job putting this together, frying the steak and carefully putting together the ice cream, which was flavored with pepper, thyme and CFS drippings. It's too bad that it didn't turn out to be a winner, but as DF points out, it will be on hand to serve to that "one deserving guest" at the next barbecue.
I don't know about you, but I certainly take my fair share from Epicurious, the uber-food website with a giant database of recipes and articles about food and dining, without ever paying a dime. Well, now, I guess it's time for a little payback. And what better payback than charitable payback!
Epicurious editor, Tanya Steel, has developed a fundraising program aimed at raising money for the millions of children who go hungry in the US. The program, called Wine. Dine. Donate., launched on the Epicurious site on August 1st, has three ways to participate.
Throw a dinner party - Each month, epicurious will suggest a dinner menu and offer tips and tricks for entertaining. You invite your guests, prepare, cook, and then at your dinner party, collect contributions from your guests. Afterwards, you can share your experience in the Epicurious forum. This month, the menu comes from chef Michael Mina of San Francisco.
Go to a dinner party - Epicurious has coordinated with America's top chefs and will throw a dinner party once a month at one of their restaurants. You can buy a ticket to the dinner, and the proceeds go toward the cause. On September 18, the dinner is at Michael Mina in San Francisco; October 3 at Via Matta in Boston; October 24 at Custom House in Chicago; and November 12 at Abacus in Dallas.
Fans of 
A Texas-based pizza chain, 
I don't know about you, but I certainly take my fair share from 
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