Best Bites: Dining out in Dallas-Fort Worth April 11

by Teresa Gubbins

SOUTHLAKE — The average career length of a professional football player is a mere 3.5 years. Smart players, like Rickey Deshun Dudley, who played for the NFL for nine seasons, have something lined up for when they're done.

Dudley, who was born in Henderson, Texas, and who played for Oakland and Tampa Bay, is partnered with Michael Peck, a former assistant basketball coach of the University of Florida women’s team, to open The Wine Loft in Southlake Town Square. Founded in New Orleans and headquartered in Louisiana, The Wine Loft has about 20 branches, mostly spread across the South.

"He was coaching women’s basketball, I was a professional athlete, both of us come from sports backgrounds and are making the transition to the business world," Dudley says.

They offer 75 wines by the glass and up to 250 bottle selections, plus regular mixed drinks. The menu has 12 to 18 items that come off as sophisticated bar food, designed to pair with wine, including lamb lollipops with mint-and-pine-nut sauce; shrimp Scampi with goat cheese grits and pork sausage; escargot and field mushrooms in puff pastry; and wild mushroom and Manchego cheese bruschetta.

Dudley describes the atmosphere as "very upscale, sexy, and sophisticated – there's a lounge with couches, as if you're having a glass of wine at home."

They expect to open at the end of this month. "We're waiting for one little approval from Southlake," Dudley says.

On to the wrestlers

Cyclone Anaya's Mexican Kitchen has been running help-wanted ads for weeks and weeks, but Kim H. confirms it is open (in a new-old dining column she is writing for the DMN. She says they've "blown" into town. Cyclone, see? The DBJ was no betterjust as good: They said it was going to "whirl" into town.) Both Kim and the DBJ have the original Cyclone opening in Houston in 1966, by one Jesús Valencia, a.k.a. former professional wrestler Cyclone Anaya; but the Houston Press says Valencia opened it in 1961. Anyway, it gets mixed reviews from diners, if you can trust online reviews. It went into a space that was once occupied by a branch of Nuevo Leon; no telling whether it will do any better.

Booze at CiCi's

Some branches of CiCi's Pizza are starting to serve beer and wine, on a trial basis. That includes at least half a dozen stores in Mesquite, Garland, Plano, and Arlington. Posted signs tell customers that this is a temporary trial and encourages them to express their support or disapproval. Seems like a cocktail is exactly what you'd need at CiCi's.

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