Best Bites: Dining out in Dallas-Fort Worth April 15

by Teresa Gubbins

DALLAS — Here's a new restaurant with a global tale: Selim’s Doner House, a fast-food Turkish place that’s the first U.S. branch of a chain based in Germany.

Owner Levent "Larry" Kirazoglu studied hotel management in Turkey, then came here to pursue his studies further; he was a manager at Arcodoro/Pomodoro and at Café Istanbul before opening Selim's.

Doner, a stacked, shaved meat cooked on a spit that’s similar to shawarma or gyro, was first created by Alexander the Great, who stacked a bunch of meat on a fire to feed his soldiers, says Kirazoglu. Doner kebab sandwiches, served in pita bread, are the No. 1 fast-food item in Germany, home to 5 million people of Turkish descent. Kirazoglu also has plans within the next couple of months to open a high-end Turkish place for which he's currently scouting locations.

Top Pot Doughnuts

Some people in the Pacific Northwest think that Top Pot Doughnuts, which has three branches in Seattle, are a big deal. (Other people know that nothing compares with Dunkin Donuts, which has a mere three local branches.)

Top Pot does the same "cakey" version as Dunkin' (vs. the airy doughnuts sold at Krispy Kreme), and it seems like Top Pot might have interesting flavors, except their crappy-ass Web site is so controlling, you can't get much info. Their slogan -- "hand forged" -- is just plain silly. What doughnut isn't hand forged? Someone's gotta stir the water into the mix and plop them into the vat of oil; give me a break. Anyway, Top Pot is now being sold locally at Starbucks.

New Starbucks flavor

Every year the chain introduces a ta-da new flavor for its lattes and blended frappuccino drinks. For spring 2007, it's Dulce de Leche, part of the chain's Latin-themed product drive that also includes baked goods such as banana dulce coffee cake. Supposedly, it took them a year to develop this flavor, and while that may sound pretty hype-y, if you think about it, it is hard to keep coming up with flavors that'll go with coffee.

Comings, goings

The Cafe Express on 18101 Preston Road at Frankford has closed. A sign on the door urges customers to visit the location a few miles up the road at Legacy. Lack of business was cited as the reason for the closure (duh), although that particular branch was always a little hard to spot. ... Subway will soon start selling thick-crust personal pizzas. They’ve embraced the "speed oven" technology used at Pizza Hut and Potbelly’s, where the item moves along a conveyor, and they promise a pizza in 90 seconds. They probably won’t mention that the pizzas are pre-baked at a central location and shipped to the store for final bake-off with toppings of your choice. The basic is $2.99; meats are $1 extra, while vegetables and extra cheese are free. ... After years of offering its Frosty shake-dessert item in chocolate only, Wendy's started selling a vanilla version last year and will also -- gasp -- swirl the vanilla and chocolate together. They have an eye for the future on a coffee Frosty, too.

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